Cate Blanchett’s #TárNation Is Hollywood’s Hottest New Cult

On the evening of my 28th birthday, I received a paper mask of Cate Blanchett’s face. It worked like a charm for taking the sting out of missing her at the London Critics Awards the next day—something I mercilessly relayed to my friends who managed to see her. Soon after I received it, I started to feel like this was a part of something larger. It wasn’t until everyone and their dog had told me they were going to see Cate’s latest Oscar-nominated feature Tár, and afterward their thoughts, that I realized I had a reputation: I was a Tárt, if you will.

“Tárt” is one of many terms that have been coined by the internet (Tárt, Tárfluencer, Tárnation) since the film’s release last fall, encompassing the uniquely dedicated fanbase following both the character (and the actress) like sheep to a shepherd. For me, years of obsessing over minute details in Blanchett’s work and subconsciously saving memes and magazine photoshoots on social media finally had its own label.

It only takes a quick social media search to see that I’m not alone in my Cate-meets-classical-music appreciation. Something about the cold-hearted and callous Lydia Tár has elevated Blanchett’s fandom to an entirely new level. Since its release, young girls have begun lining up in red carpet fan pits to vie for handwritten tattoos from the actress. There are t-shirts in honor of the character. Friendships are put to the test when someone claims that the film didn’t work for them. And on top of it all, Lydia has become her own self-aware entity. As Cate gears up to compete for her third Oscar win, her #Tárnation is ready to risk it all to support her: friends, social media followings, and sanity be damned.

Read more at The Daily Beast.