I have always wondered what goes through the "fan" mind. I am not exempt from being a fan or being blissfully apart of a fandom. Sometimes in the back of my mind I am thinking that I am turning into one of those crazed fans. You know, the ones who are addicted to every piece of information that becomes available, the "I MUST KNOW EVERYTHING" types. For example, how many sugars they take in their coffee, kids, siblings, blood type matches to give blood transfusions for their actor; you know for that off chance that there is a horrible accident or (great mother forgive me) the big "C". What gets me are the ones who know all the names of the past/present/possible future relationships the actor was/is or will be involved in. That is scarry to me. How do they know? Who do they talk too? Then there are the ones who sell their first born and their siblings just to go out of their way to travel to wherever filming happens to be located of their favorite show/actor(s) then pester them for autographs and pictures.
Don't worry, I won't sell my kids, I love them more than anything in the world. I hate needles, so there goes the blood transfusion, and I hate it when people are up in my business so why the hell would I want to bother other people?! However, I find myself mesmerized by particular individuals in the celebrity world and I could not understand as to why. Well, I still do not fully understand as to why eventhough I have a BA in Psychology (masters on the way... possibility this will be my thesis). Is it that we need to connect with the characters that they play? Well if that was the only case then we would stop the obsession at the character, but we do not. We as fans focus on the possibility that the actor/actress will emulate any character they portray or that the way they handle interviews means that their true pesonality is showing. No. No, actors are the best liers in the world. Meaning, when they go infront of a camera, they are playing up to their audiance, pulling a T S Elliot; never show your true self in your work. Yet, we continue slobbering or obsessing over the actor/actress and follow their career on to the next set of movies/TV/plays. Moreover, even if the writing and directing is terrible, we the fanatics, praise the tallented actor for making the movie better than it would have been without them in it. I will ponder more on this later because I am concidering more serrious issues about fandom; the actors themselves.
I wonder; what do actors really think of when their faces are plastered and worshiped by their fans? Some actors seem to enjoy the attention, some like Harrison Ford, wishes to be left alone. Others demand privacy, yet throw themselves into the thick of the throngs of people begging to touch them. Lady GaGa is famous for that because she truly loves her fans because she recognizes that without them, she would not be famous. There are so many theories on the fans themselves but litle in the way on what the affect fandom has on the famous. How about those scary ones who stalk their obsession? Recently, Sandra Bullock had a problem where someone broke into her home to remove articles, artifacts or whatnot. Thankfully, she was not home. However, this is not always the case. While I was growing up, there was a famous woman who was stalked and slashed 17 times, she survived. Then there is Stephen King's Misery, even though this is about an author you get the jist because we do not need to go into a book review but, when you have a fan so bent on a story and you did not write it the way they wanted; becareful, they may keep you hostage and break your legs and "care" for you while you write another story or change the plot line.
As you gaze on this, you see the various gentlemen above to which some you may know and may be not so much others. I apparently have an affinity to British and Australian actors. One of them I have followed his career, especially when the internet made it possible to do so and there is no doctoring that fact up, another flitted in and out of my life until he ate a dragon and lost his nose, yet another made the most famous mystery solver heart pounding. Finally, the last two almost have nothing to do with American TV or Hollywood. Unless there are impossible missions to accomplish or vanquishing pesky vampire hunters and the other has shrews to tame while wearing fishnets. As you can tell, I made references to movies and their actors, if you can guess make a comment; if not, enjoy googling. I "love" each one of them, maybe one more than the others (A LOT MORE) and there are some that I have not pictured.
I wrote the word love in quotations because I really do not love them in the sense as a relationship. Although, I do realize that there are those fans who would dissagree. In fact, we have seen many fans burst out in tears/faint/vomit because they are within 20ft of the object of thier desire. I have to validate their feelings because it is possible that the actor/actress is the only positive image in their lives. Doctor Who, (yeah I know what you are saying, roll your eyes) since 1963 has been a positive fun spot in millions of fans, long and short term, because he really is an anti hero, but a hero nonetheless. The good Doctor has a message of hope, friendship, and adventure. Some of those subjects are the only good thing to look forward too at the end of the week. Yet, I know I cannot "love" them like I wish I could.
Some of them have or had wives or lovers who stay with them for reasons that is entirely foreign to me. I can say that he has a lovely smile or I enjoy the way he looks, in fact sometimes it is down right sexy the way that one raises an eyebrow. However, I do not know any-single-one of them personally. So how can anyone love someone from afar without ever knowing that person intimately? I want to answer this question, I want to understand this, although if I find out I probably will deni it and go for what is comfortable: jammies, healthy snack, and my favorite actor.
