Mad fangirls in the attic!

[Momentary crush, and most recent fandom: Edward Rochester - as played by utter hotness Toby Stephens for BBC's "Jane Eyre". The man is not safe! Nor are his fangirls - so beware! Image courtesy of Walford Galleries - whose selection of celeb hunk portraits ironically reflect quite vividly the very subject of my writing! ;) All rights served, and thanks!]

Soundtrack: Roxette & Eminem. No, here's a little about the art of fangirling. Which comes to fascinate me more and more. Especially due to all the things (fandoms) we girls (and some boys too!) have in common. The sincerity and mutual interests. Astonishing to say the least. I do enjoy it. But how, you may wish to inquire, did these thoughts stumble upon me tonight? Basically, I was doing my usual round of searching the net for pictures and art involving a certain mister Rochester (Monday's the big Jane Eyre-day, of course), or should I say - his alias. Beautiful thingies galore, making it hard to pick, so I was looking around quite a bit. Consequently, I ended up surfing LiveJournal com's, which is what I then usually do, and I realised all the funny similarities between the various sites which had "tagged" (meaning referred to) Jane Eyre somehwere, listed something of interest related to the series, or declared themselves hopeless fanatics - such as myself. I am completely besotted - in no way unfortunate! - and how could I not be, seeing that this drama is so unbelievablt dangerous! Toby Stephens is completely lethal! Should have big warning signs and red lights all over him. The TV channel woman didn't even mention it, when she introduced the episode beforehand, that he'd appear with his shirt open and everything; she simply told us about the "exciting, continuing adventures of Jane at Thornfield" - exciting my ass; now, that's an understatement of the century! Wry smiles, winking, flirting; I thought my heart should rip open. And, fact is, I just had the grand epiphany of getting proper confirmation, I'm not the only one to endure this fatal treatment. There are thousands of quite normal individuals out there, who identify with my situation, and we call ourselves fangirls. All of us. But it doesn't stop there, oh no. There seems to be a variety of series, films, artists, whole concepts that are - in general - immensely addictive. Continuously building up entire networks of innocent followers, worshippers, admirers - the number increasing as I write. Naturally, these concepts are all fabulous, and do deserve their group of supporters, but do they actually understand how dangerous it's becoming? We spend so much time induldging in what they have to offer, and we don't mind! We anticipate every move they make, and when they don't offer anything further, we start making up stories of our own, based on them, which we call fanfiction! We create "you know you're obsessed"-threads, and spend hours skimming the Imdb for information and trivia. Naughty details that we can chat about, later on, with fellow slaves (sorry, fans) and brag about to anyone who'd care to listen, trying to make ignorant outsiders interested as well, not willing to fathom how we're trapped and trapping others. Such time consuming activities, which we grow so accustomed to, we couldn't live without it. I am absolutely lost to this tendentious trend; absorbed in my predilections; I check my favourite communities every day, I write fic's, I participate in discussions at (more or less serious) boards, I compose songs, I crop icons, I doodle and make wallpapers. I collect old classics, tunes that are destined to remind me, to bring back memories, and make fan-mixes because I want to continue remembering. I take part in conventions, quarrels (like who's the sexiest Doc ever, f.ex., none less relevant) and long chats; I promote fandom with sincerity and absolute seriousness. Yes, speaking of things in common, these are just some of our guilty pleasures. We're shippers; we cheer for fictious couples who don't even get together on-screen, we download tons of photos (since this is some kind of confession tour, I've got more than 4000 Doctor Who-themed ones) and we mourn the end of every season, every scene, every lyric. We have our own lingo, our own fandom vocabulary, and terms that non-fans won't even wish to learn. Rules of attractions that apply solely to us. I get new dedication, addictions, on a constant - well, monthly - basis. Some linger, some are more ephemeral, but they all mean a great deal to me. I have an endless amound of words to describe my fondness for them and use my thesaurus when I can't come up with more. I really should write more often about this, too; it's important, it's my life - it's becoming my most important hobby. I'm trying, indeed I am, but my mind keeps taking off, in somewhat odd directions, like 19th century England. Can't ever make fangirling coherent, that's part of the point. Now, after the slight derailment that was Ep. 2 of Jane Eyre, here is the full truth - well, not quite, but partly: we're mad. We're all very, very mad girls with nasty little minds and too much spare time on our hands. Some call us teenager-ish, and silly, some tell us we should know better and spend our precious lives more wisely. Yield to sensibility. Some even claim it's wasting away minutes we'll never have back. But we disagree. For us, it's worth its prize in gold. Pure entertainment. There's no price, only profit. Our intentions are...honourable, mostly, or - hardly think so, but our enthusiasm, our passion, our affection are utterly (compensatingly) genuine. Moreover, the loves, and our personal beloved, are strikingly overlapping. We just happen to adore the same kind of works. It's a genre-thing, I guess, but not consistenly. You come across all sorts of people, in all sorts of strange places, and they happen to enjoy the exact same TV programmes that you do. I started out looking for Jane, and found - Tennant. David Tennant. Old-school Whovians who were moping about Rose. Australian gals who loved John Simm and thought Gerard Butler was hot in "300". I discovered due to their overly eager icon-making, with small creations depicting folks like Gerry, David, Darcy, Chris and others of my fancy. Sorted into desirable categories; whole sections of likeable articles; labelled in the same manner that I have grown used to. Hunks and sweetness, squee and smiles. Rather disturbing trains of thought; picturing what we would want to do with (or to) whatever's-his-name if we ever met him, face to face, but these are all dreams, and happy ones, these are products of our fantasies, or intrigued imagination, and that's what makes it even better. I suppose, when you know few others close to you who fully grasp the idea of being a proper fan - I count to five, almost, and that's being kind - then it's just wonderful to uncover that there are numerous like-minded persons out there, out in the wide world, who are similraly enthusiastic about similar things. Unexpectedly too, I must admit. I didn't know Phantom-fans (Phans) would enjoy "Becoming Jane" or that "House M.D"-addicts would idolize Billie Piper. Technically speaking, I adore them all - and thus I'll adore all the other fans. It amazes me. But, naturally, some the concepts have qualities in common, as well, it's not only us. Same actors, same nationality (strangely, most of them are British, lol), same topics, same tone, atmosphere, background. Marvellousness in practice. Imagine being the mastermind behind all this; the writers and producers and true story-tellers; I tell myself, those are the ones we really have to thank. They come up with the original ideas, and will forever be remembered for them; they may look back on their careers and say; my goodness, what a difference I made for these people, how I managed to thrill them in unthinkable ways! I made them friends for the purpose of a common love - what could possibly beat that? For it is incredible, it is superb, it is worthy of rememberance and nods of honour. Take the example of "Heroes" and "WHO", for instance. Christopher Eccleston binding them together, even given lines that allow him to repeat his "Fantastic!" catchphrase, and Japanese überstar Hero (the glorious Masi Oka) being a Doctor-style Time Traveller - and ridiculously cute on top of it! Next, you have "Life on Mars"-star, above-mentioned John Simm, travelling in time again as DW's The Master, and combing those two fandoms, making fangirling quite a bit easier, that's what they all do; The Simpsons creating character-of-honour for a.o. Tom Baker, James McAvoy getting all tangled up, literally, in the universe of Jane Austen, and - not to forget the degrees of separation. Yet another momentum of our madness. I'll illustrate: Laura Frasier dated David Tennant in Casanova, and played Christina Cole's sister in "He knew he was right", where David played a priest, very awkwardly, but also brilliant, and Christina on her hand tried to kill David, as an evil witch on Doctor Who, whereafter she was a Bond-girl in "Casino Royale", flirting with Daniel Craig, but that just didn't quite suffice, so now she's chasing after Rochester in "Jane Eyre", and Rochester himself, Toby Stephens, starred in the Bond-film "Die Another Day", as we all know, in addition to starring in a Poirot-episode opposite Marc Warren and Annette Badland, who've both been on "Doctor Who", as well - and finally, the latter was in "Casanova" with no other than Laura Frasier. Surprised? Not really. I could go on like this for a while, but I should call it a day. I'll simply round off by declaring how it dawns on me that these are all circles. Good ones, that is. Fan-communities make the circles come full; uniting us in shared appreciation. So, my theory is, it's all about emotions. We enjoy stories that evoke - well - participation, of sorts, and heartfelt involvement. And these do. Objects of fandom may be severely different, but they hold an element of wanting us to feel something, to hold dear the main characters, to remain loyal for the rest of our days. Which we will. Scary as it might seem. Not to all, of course, but it will take some time - or, forever, to stick to the standard - to get me off the Doctor Whook. Hook. Pun. That's yet another item of our fellow tradition. Fans; no better, no worse. We're as good as it gets! To be continued, and never forgotten. Love's labour never lost.