Ida Thoresen, a photography student from Norway, explored the world of fandom this summer, specifically the fandom of the American rock band My Chemical Romance. She was in a young teen when she decided to dedicate her life to the art of photography and has since found her inspiration through music, another huge interest in her life.

”This Is The MCRmy” is the project she’s been working on for the last several months and it’s meant to give an insight to the heart of a die-hard fan. A “fandom” is a term used to refer to a community of fans which grow around a certain area or interest. It can be fans of books, movies, TV shows, common hobbies — or in this case, a band.

“My Chemical Romance tend to have extremely dedicated fans who are passionate about the music, the community they have created, and they are often creative and intelligent people,” said Thoresen. “I wanted to explore who their fans are, why they are fans and get to know them. The result this far is very much a celebration and documentation of their spirit.”

Thoresen has been a fan of My Chemical Romance herself for many years and finds the fandom an interesting phenomena. With this project she asks herself a question that is common among fans of many bands: ‘How can a band become such an important part of people’s lives?’

”I can still become a little puzzled over why on earth one band — four guys who create music together — can mean so much to myself and so many people all over the world,” said Thoresen.

She wanted to get to know these fans to find answers, discuss the matter and find what they might all have in common through the fandom they are all involved in. By talking to fans among her own friends and through other communities she found that it was a question that many were curious about, and so decided to show them through the lens of her camera.

“It would have been easy if I had unlimited time and money, but I was on a strict schedule with no budget,” said Thoresen. “I had to dig deep through Internet communities and even newspaper articles to find fans who lived fairly close to me.”

The project involves photos of teenage and young adult fans who have followed My Chemical Romance from different areas of the band’s existence. Each subject is portrayed with something from the My Chemical Romance world that means a lot to them, everything from tattoos or the band’s designed clothes to their proud collections of records and special editions.

“It surprised me many times through it in terms of the visual direction it was taking and how the story was moving along. But to me it still feels like I’ve just been scratching the surface. I realized before I started that this would be a long-term project, and it’s one that I’m more than willing to pursue,” said Thoresen. “It’s a combination of both my biggest passions, photography and music, so I won’t stop until I can look at a finished project and feel that I’m proud of what I’ve created.”

You can see Ida Thoresen’s project “This is MCRmy” on www.idathoresen.tumblr.com and http://magazine.bildernordic.no/photographers/alumni-2013/ida-thoresen.aspx.

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With the world always having a country or two in rebellious uproar, there is always one denominator that seems to be the main cause: Money. You could see it in the Tunisian Revolution in late December 2010, the Egyptian Revolution in late January 2011, the ongoing Libyan Civil War that started in February, and the uprising in Syria that began in March.

The governments of these country had in one way or the other blocked certain rights of the citizens which led to mass protest. In some cases, like in Egypt, the main cause for protest revolved around a rise in poverty and massive unemployment. But what a lot of people focused on throughout the Arab Spring movement was that the citizens who revolted were those whose basic freedoms were being denied them.

In the previous dictatorial regimes, the ability to exersize freedom of speech has been seriously hampered by the authorities, blocking internet or social networking access. According to Dan Robles, founder of the Ingenesist Project and a blogger on several top social media communities, even though the regime in Egypt had a lot of money, oil, and guns, the Egyptian government was taken down by what he calls “social currency”.

Social currency, or ‘Rallods’ according to Robles, is “all value that is not directly articulated with Dollars.” This form of currency is regarded the most valuable and important form of currency that can be obtained in this world; however, you will never see it used in economic situations by the government.

According to Robles, a society cannot “try to produce an airplane, a sandwich, or a surgical procedure without intellect, creativity, compassion, empathy, ethics, social values, or community awareness”. Social currency is the only type of currency a community will essentially need in the production of anything of greater importance, and it could cause problems if it wasn’t included and drawn upon in the production process.

As seen in the recent uprisings and revolutions throughout the middle eastern world, the people have and are using their social currency in order to obtain the rights and freedoms that human being desires. Along with that, social currency is also helping citizens obtain the other forms of currency important for survival, money.

The challenge for the world, which could take some time, is to convey and utilise all forms of value in an economic system. According to Robles, this change in the economy is already underway and we will soon be able to exchange Rallods with Dollars every day. This could lead to countries with healthier economies — relying not only on contribution from the government, but from the people as well.
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