Confessions of a fangirl (part 3)

Keep calm and be passionate/a fangirl

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Brace yourselves! After this post, I hope to have everyone convinced that fangirling does not just involve silly obsessions with fictional worlds and its characters. It can become so much more than that! It's a passion that fuels your existence and distracts you from the hard or dull life. Fangirling sends you on an emotional rollercoaster, to experience fun, fear and frustration (often all of them in just one episode of a TV show or one chapter in a book xD). And don't we all enjoy a bit of drama in our lives as long as it's not turning our own everyday life upside down?

This post is for all fangirls out there, who are having a hard time and feel misunderstood. I hope this helps you to keep doing what you're passionate about. You are not alone! Just look at my previous posts! I'm as crazy as you are! ;-P

So, here's my list of reasons why I love being a fangirl, (which might help to better understand the average fangirl or will prove that I should not live among normal human beings. That's for you to decide! ;-P):

#1: Reality is a lovely place, but I wouldn't wanna live there!

Many people use the stories that books, movies or TV shows tell to escape the dull, awful, or as Owl City sings, lovely reality. No matter what life feels like at any moment in time, we all crave the escape into another world.

If your life doesn't have enough drama, you want to feel the emotional turmoil that characters go through. If your life has too much drama, you sympathize with the characters and feel that you're not alone with your worries. (If you are a proper fangirl like me, it might even go as far as triggering motivation - as in: "The Doctor wouldn't give up now!" ;-P) And if your life is all hunky-dory at the moment, you might still want some kind of diversion with the help of your favourite TV show or book at the end of the day.

So, let's face it! The real world is not enough. We always want more - more of the great adventures that our favourite characters embark on. But at the same time, we should thank God every day that we are spared the loss and heartbreak that our favourite characters have to suffer. (At least, to the extreme extent to which it is sometimes portrayed in these fantastic worlds.)

On the other hand, this is exactly the reason why we watch or read these stories. (In the end it always comes down to telling a good story.) We want to know how people would react in such extreme situations, while reassuring ourselves that this will never happen to us. A delicate relationship between reality and imagination is at work here, particularly with TV shows or books that involve the supernatural. (which I watch a lot. ^^) For example, you wouldn't really want to have these superhuman beings in real life. (Right? Okay, some fangirls might disagree on that point. ;-P) Still, you love to read how a romantic relationship between a Shadowhunter and a Warlock would work out (Malec!!!) or watch what happens when there are three Doppelgängers around.

#2: Thought-provoking

Having the fantasy element in a book or TV show doesn't mean that everything that happens in these stories is completely hypothetical and out of this world. Even in these fictional worlds, values and rules exist that resemble belief systems in real life. As a fangirl, you contemplate the values that are portrayed in the book, movie or TV series and you question the actions of the characters.

All of a sudden you finde yourself immersed in the story and you feel with the characters when they fail, you are happy when they do the right thing, or you are disappointed when they made the wrong choice. This is the stuff that gets you into heated discussions with other fangirls, but more on that later. Through analysing the motives of your favourite characters or the value system they follow, you can learn a lot about the real world. Often the inspiration for these stories lies in the reality. Most normal people couldn't be bothered with such analysis. Proper fangirls though love to make an in depth analysis of the intentions and motivations of fictional characters. It is fascinating how much stories can teach you about human nature and right and wrong.

#3: Being passionate

If you don't let them, nobody can take away the joy you feel when caring for a character. I know, it's totally unreasonable but that is the curse of a fangirl: Caring about this person, but never being able to meet her or him. It is a fine line that fangirls tread  between the insanity of caring for someone who doesn't exist and not losing grip on reality. Still, it can't be helped and the average fangirl will form a strong attachment towards the person in the story. And if they die, it can give us a very hard time. We all know how hard it is to read the last Harry Potter, right? =( (Cassandra Clare will probably also destroy our lives with City of Heavenly Fire... If she kills Malec, I swear I will *+@-#+~~~!!!)

To watch how characters change from the beginning until the end is what keeps us glued to the screen or pages. We long for Elena and Damon to end up together (Sorry, Delena all the way! ;-P), we want to know how things between Clary and Jace will finally work out (God, these two are complicated! Can't they just be together already?! ) and we want the suspense that leads up to this moment. We love the moment when Bilbo decides to follow the dwarves on their journey to take back Erebor and when Harry follows Hagrid to begin his life as a pupil in Hogwarts. Those magic moments are what keeps us watching or reading.

If you're one of the more 'serious' fangirls (Serious as in your condition is serious. ;-P), it might happen that your obsession completely takes over your life. As soon as you start daydreaming about your favourite characters, or associating almost anything in your real life with a reference to a TV show episode or a scene in a book, you know you are infected.

Examples for this can be:

Oh, [insert random event that has only slightly to do with what happened in the episode] reminds me of an episode of [insert TV show here] where they also...

Oh, it's like in [insert book title here] when they...

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Another example of this is my recent obsession with Doctor Who. As always I started caring a lot about the characters. At the moment, I am still in mourning for Rose. Even after having watched more than half of season 3, I still can't believe she's gone. I really miss her and the farewell scene between her and the Doctor was sooooooooo heartbreaking. Martha is alright, but it really hurts to see the Doctor's heartbroken face every time something in connection with Rose comes up. (I'm currently watching season 3 - so no spoilers in the comments, please!!!)

Sorry for the little digression, but I couldn't hold myself back. At least, this shows how an obsession with a character works. (You're welcome! ;-P)

Anyways, when this obsession has taken over your life you've got to let all this energy out. Many fangirls make the most amazing artwork, write fanfiction (or a blog ;-P) or even craft something out of wood, metal or any other material you can think of. There are no boundaries to your creativity! Don't let other people get you down, when they mock you for being in love with a fictional character. It's your problem, not theirs! ;-P

To have this overwhelming passion for a story and its characters is a good thing! More and more people tell me they would love to be able to fall in love with a book or TV show like me, but they couldn't. And I realized that my love for these stories and its characters is such a big part of my life that if I imagine it without fangirling... Well, it feels like a great black hole opening up in front of me and pulling me in! A bit melodramatic? Probably. ;-P But seriously, I can't imagine living without this love for stories.

So my advice would be: Don't fight it! It's in your nature and other people might be envious of your ability to get completely lost in a story.

#4: Friendship (Because fangirling together is even more fun than doing it on your own!)

Sometimes you will even find people like you! People, who are also obsessed with stories and characters. The best friendships can develop out of this common hobby. After heated discussions about how Sherlock survived the Fall, why Damon has to be so stupid and go off killing people (again!) or how it is possible that demons are able to get inside the Institute in the movie adaptation of City of Bones (when in the book it is completely impossible!), you also start talking about other real life stuff. And before you know it, you are not only having the best fangirl DVD nights ever but also go out together and do all kinds of things together. You made new friends!

It even keeps you in touch with people around the world. Fangirling about the latest episode/book you've seen/read can serve as first opening lines to talk about other news as well.

And that's why I love being a fangirl! (In your face, haters! ;-P)

I hope this helps to understand fangirls a little bit better now! Either that or you think that I'm completely mental. xD (Gosh, I need to get a life, right?!)

Let me know what you think in the comments! 

Check out Confessions of a fangirl (part 2) here, if you need more information for better understanding! ;-P