Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is way more than just a 19th-century Gothic novel collecting dust on your bookshelf. When you look closer, it’s actually a blueprint for modern celebrity culture. Swap Dorian’s gilded Victorian mansion for idol’s dorm, and the story stays the same: Fans worship idols, and the same time they manufacture them, then punish them for failing to stay divine.
Let's think about it. Dorian is the original ult bias, beautiful, charismatic, frozen in time by the desperate adoration of others. But no one survives being turned into a god. Not Dorian. Not your fave. And the more fans demand perfection, the faster the idol’s humanity rots behind that flawless public image.
Let's break down why your favorite idol is living in a horror story, and how you might be holding the knife.
The Faustian Bargain of Fame
Dorian Gray makes a deal with the devil (or, well, a cursed painting): Stay beautiful forever, no matter how corrupt you become. Idols? They sign contracts with entertainment companies that demand the same impossible promise: eternal youth, eternal charm, eternal marketability.
Dorian’s Contract: His portrait ages and decays while he stays eternally young and beautiful.
Idol’s Contract: Their real struggles (exhaustion, heartbreak, mental health issues) get airbrushed away while the concept stays flawless.
The Horror Twist: Dorian's sins and aging show up in his portrait, locked away in an attic where no one can see. An idol’s struggles? They’re also hidden, until they’re not. A sudden hiatus for "health reasons." A leaked photo with dark circles. A tearful apology for daring to date.
The Lesson: Fame isn't a gift. It's a transaction where idols trade their humanity for your love. And the exchange rate is getting worse every year.
The Hidden Portrait = Your Idol’s Locked-Off Self
Dorian's portrait is the perfect metaphor for the celebrity duality we see today. The public idol is untouchable, divine, perfect. The private human? Trapped, suffocating, and slowly falling apart.
Dorian Gray: Commits murder, ruins lives, indulges in every vice imaginable, but his face stays angelic and innocent.
Your Bias: Cries in the bathroom, misses their family, has panic attacks, dates in secret, but their Instagram stays #Blessed #Grateful #PositiveVibesOnly.
The Fandom Paradox: Fans claim to love their idols unconditionally, at the same time create this impossible standard, then turn violent when idols can't maintain it. Gain weight? "She’s letting herself go." Date someone? "He’s betraying us." Show exhaustion? "Lazy ungrateful rich kid."
The Truth: You don’t love the person, babe. You love the idea of them. And when reality doesn't match that fantasy, you react like Dorian stabbing his own portrait in a rage.
From Stan to Stalker: The Toxic Evolution
Dorian doesn't start as a monster, because he becomes one, slowly corrupted by his obsession with his own image and the power it gives him. And fandoms follow the exact same dark progression.
Stage 1: Pure Adoration ("I'll Support You Forever!")
Dorian: Basil Hallward paints him as a muse, pure and radiant.
Fandom: Streaming parties, fan letters, crying tears of joy at concerts, genuine appreciation for the music
Stage 2: Ownership ("You Owe Us Your Life")
Dorian: Treats people as objects for his entertainment, demands control over his narrative.
Fandom: Tracking flight schedules, invading personal space, fan wars over "who deserves success more," expecting idols to perform perfection 24/7
Stage 3: Punishment ("If I Can’t Have You, No One Can")
Dorian: Destroys his portrait and himself, in a fit of rage.
Fandom: Hate campaigns over dating rumors or marriage announcements. Death threats over weight changes. Literally throwing things on stage.
The Chilling Parallel: Both Dorian and toxic fans believe love = possession. And when the idol resists or shows independence? That "love" curdles into something truly ugly.
Plot Twist: You're Holding the Paintbrush
Wilde’s real genius wasn’t just in Dorian’s decay, it was also in showing how society creates monsters by demanding impossible perfection. Idols don’t crumble because they’re weak. They break because fans and companies force them into an impossible mold.
Think about your own contradictions:
"Mental health matters!" you tweet. Then complain when your bias seems "low energy" during a comeback.
"Idols are human too!" you post. Then analyze every smile, every interaction, every outfit choice for hidden meanings.
"Love yourself!" you scream at concerts. Then body-shame idols who don't match your aesthetic preferences.
The Wake-Up Call: Every time you police an idol’s body, relationships, or emotions, you’re not "protecting" them. You’re adding another layer of paint to their Dorian Gray portrait, the one that’s festering while they smile for the cameras.
Let Your Idol Be Human (Or Watch Them Destroy Themselves)
Dorian’s story ends in tragedy because he could never escape the impossible image others forced onto him. Today's idols are still trapped in that same cycle but you have the power to change the narrative.
How to Stan Without Becoming Lord Henry:
✅ Love them, don’t own them. They don’t owe you their youth, their love life, or their pain.
✅ Celebrate their humanity. Weight fluctuations? Normal. Dating? Normal. Crying? Normal.
✅ Remember the person behind the image. Their "perfect" image is your creation. Don’t weaponize it against them.
Or you can keep screaming "fighting!" at someone who's drowning in the expectations you helped create. Your choice.
Final Thought: Wilde Was Right
"Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing."
Replace "people" with "fans," and "everything" with "idols," and Wilde might as well have been writing about stan culture. We know exactly how much streaming numbers matter, how much a comeback costs, how much profit our faves generate. But we've forgotten the value of letting them be human.
Stop treating idols like beautiful objects to be consumed and controlled. Let them be people, messy, imperfect, growing people before their hidden portraits become too damaged to repair.
Because in the end, Dorian Gray is a warning about what happens when we love the image more than the person underneath. And right now, that person is suffocating.
0 Comments
don't use this comment form, use the embedded disqus comment section. No spam!
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.