As I previously posted the other day I have been a fan and have had a crush on Sean Bean for close to 20 years. This has had me thinking lately about how people turn having celebrity crushes, and general fandom of a celebrity, into something much creepier: becoming a stalker. Where exactly is the line drawn?
Over the years I have read posts by women online begging to meet Sean. I have always been very realistic about meeting him, meaning that I know that I probably never will. What the heck are these women going to do once they meet him? I have always wondered that. Are they going to say the whole 'I'm your biggest fan' spiel, or take their clothes off in front of him, or even hope that he will magically fall in love with him and they will end up together? If you have fantasies about a certain celebrity floating inside your head for years and then you seek them out on purpose chances are that your dreams are going to be crushed because celebrities are human just like anybody else. They can be the type of person who loves to talk, or they can be the type that wants to avoid people. Who the heck knows!? If they are sane they will find you creepy as hell for flying 5,000 miles in order to try to meet them, because I know I would if I was in their place!
I don't think there is anything wrong with having a crush on an actor or actress, as long as you are grounded in reality. I think people go over the edge when they start asking online where the celebrity in question lives and beg and beg to meet them. Women are drawn to male entertainers like a moth is to a flame. A guy can be in a really bad hardcore punk band and I guarantee you that there will be women who want to screw him just because he plays guitar or sings. When you are a fan you have to realize that you are not special, because there are thousands upon thousands who also like them. Thinking that you have some sort of special connection with them is just something made up in your mind because you can't have such a thing with somebody that you have never personally met. Plus, the fact that you have barely a clue as to what kind of person the celebrity is in real life.
This brings me to how celebrities are portrayed in the tabloids and online. I think that fandom in general can have a beehive mentality, meaning that they will assume something about a celebrity as a group and not really question the information provided to them through the press. Tabloids would love for all of us to believe that being an actor is a glamorous, but I really don't see it that way. When you become famous you are stalked not only by fans but by the press who, if you let them, don't let you live a private life. I think it would be horrible not to be able to go where you want in fear that somebody is going to misinterpret what you do. There are, of course, 'celebrities' who love the press and who are attention whores, but the ones who are just doing their jobs deserve more respect than that. The reason why all of this happens is because the press thinks we are constantly interested in celebrities. Personally, I feel that some things should remain a mystery. I don't want to know the personal details about somebody else's life because that is none of my business. Would you want people to know intimate things about you, such as why exactly a relationship you were in didn't work out? Do you really need to know something like that?
When it comes down to it I am a fan of Sean Bean but I don't think I am special, think we are connected* or feel that I have to meet him in order to live a fulfilled life. Maybe that's the difference between a fan and a stalker; a fan respects a celebrity and is happy with just watching them on film while somebody over the edge feels the need to invade their privacy and somehow force themselves into their lives.
* As far as I know the only thing him and I have in common is the fact that we both have the same exact eye color. I'm pretty sure that he doesn't love old school punk or own a pair of purple Converse. I will eat my words if I am proven wrong on both those counts!
Wow. That is strange, you and him having the same eye color. It's even stranger because I was printing out pics of Sean Bean the other day, and realized that I have nearly the same eye color as him too. I was really hyper after I noticed that...:D
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