The Fine Line Between Fangirl and Stalker

I am a self-confessed fangirl.

I like things. I like to like things. I like movies and music and books. I like actors and directors and authors. And within the confines of these areas, I am a bit of a fangirl.

With books, I’m obsessed with John Grisham and Elizabeth George. With Grisham’s books, I must buy them in hardcover, so I will buy them the day they are released. I will squeal with excitement when I find out either author is about to have a book released. I often devour them in a few days.

In the movie and tv show world, I am both a Trekkie AND a Star Wars fan. So when anything of either is announced, I get excited. Or rant about it. I’m looking at you George Lucas.

Then there are the actors. Oh the sweet, good looking actors. Tom Hiddleston, Chris Pine and my new like Benedict Cumberbatch. And the women too, I simply adore Helen Mirren and Dame Judy Dench. But at what point do you go from being a fangirl like myself, to being a stalker?

I have a Tumblr where I follow some really cool pages. Things like Bookshelf Porn, Cabin Porn, plus so many cat ones it’s ridiculous. I also follow some fan pages of both Hiddleston and Cumberbatch, mainly for the obscure but handsome pics they seem to find.

But it’s places like Tumblr, or other fan sites dedicated to their favourite celebrity, which at times scare the living wookiees out of me.

At the moment, Benedict Cumberbatch is travelling to various countries. He’s been in New Zealand finalising some things for the final in the Hobbit trilogy. From New Zealand it was then rumoured that he is was on his way to Japan. Completely fine right? Well kinda. This bit of information had taken the interwebs by storm, so much so that people began lining up at the airport in anticipation of his arrival.

So you are thinking, “So what? That even happened with the Beatles!” You are correct! But in 2013, when the world of technology has expanded so greatly, someone had actually set up a LIVE STREAM of Cumberbatch arriving at the airport.

Dafuq?

I couldn’t believe it when I read this. He is just getting off a plane! He’s probably tired, feeling yucky (because long flights are zero fun) and he gets bombarded with people and cameras and a live stream!! There were around 5,000 people watching this live stream. And NO I was not one of them.

Is it just me, or is that super creepy? What’s even worse is that I read an article where someone had tweeted Benedict’s every move IN HIS OWN HOME. Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong!

Now I like Mr Cumberbatch, and if he wanted a pash I wouldn’t turn him down, but I never in a million years would stalk his every move. I couldn’t even bring myself to go to a movie premiere to meet the guy!

Having said that though, I HAVE met the Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block, but that was in the confines of the concert arena and I certainly didn’t stalk them. Ahem.

At first the Tumblr posts seem innocuous enough. The gorgeous photos, funny stories, the occasional set pics. But the constant set pics, the ships, the obsessive fandom, even giving some of the celeb’s nether regions their own Tumblr blog (I kid you not) just seems all a bit too much, and a bit too … ICKY.

Time for a cull I think. When someone like me, who is gregarious and out there and often grosses people out finds something distasteful, you know there is something wrong with it.

Is there anything you have seen in the fandom world that has freaked you out? Ever participated in a particular fandom?