One Direction Research Paper

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In today’s society, just the mere mention of the name “One Direction” can cause a young teenage girl to experience heart palpitations, sweaty palms, and an intense desire to jump up and down. Even during the nineties, with the births of *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys, the reception from the fans have not been as enormous as it is now. In terms of fan reception, teenagers are an interesting group as they represent a wide, powerful community that interacts smartly through social media. Not only does there seem to be an established relationship between the bands and their fans, but there also seems to be a strong effect in the fans’ psychological states, creating an infatuation that exceeds the standard admiration. The worldwide infamous boyband, One Direction, was formed in 2010 on the British talent show, the X Factor. Originally starting off as individual artists, the British musical producer Simon Cowell recruited Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik and formed them into a group, where they …show more content…

From life-size cardboard cutouts to graphic t-shirts, the five boys can be found almost anywhere in a store targeted for young girls. What causes this crazed mania? Neuroscientist Stefan Koelsch delves into the reasoning, “As soon as Directioners listen to the music and find the music pleasurable, what happens to the brain is that a neurochemical called dopamine is released and provides feelings of joy and happiness… the girls are not crazy, the girls are just excited” (This Is Us). Quite often, the media likes to pit One Direction fans with the so-called “Beatlemania”. Morgan Spurlock, the director of “This Is Us” states, “[o]nce you get outside of the country wherever they go they are chased by hordes of fans. We were in Mexico City and there were 5,000 people camping outside the hotel… such a massive global phenomenon and it’s only growing”

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