JUSTIFYING FICTION AND FANGIRLING

Breathless giggling that can go on for hours. . .

Glazed eyes staring dreamily at nothing in particular. . .

Permanent residence in the possibly overpopulated Cloud Nine. . .

Heartfelt singing of almost every love song known to humankind (dance steps a la High School Musical included)...

Yup, these are definitely some of the symptoms one gets when Cupid decides to be the off-to-no- good archer that he is. Symptoms that the not-hopeless, anti-romantic will find cringe-worthy. But not all love stories told are between a ballerina and a skater boy, hubby and wifey, and our beloved grannies and grandpops. There are existing unique tales of romance like that of a bookish girl falling for her literary white knight as well as the nerdy gamer pining for the voluptuous sorceress from a video game. I, myself, have a serious case of unrequited love since I fell for a century-old vampire that made my adolescent years very sparkly *cue in: dreamy sigh*.

  

Fancying that cryptic guy from the pages of your favorite book?

A larger number of the youth’s population than what most people would like to believe found their “The One” on novels and TV screens. Fandoms are established and Fanfiction.com still flourishes; Twitter accounts and Facebook pages have been incessantly created with the sole purpose of upgrading the status of fangirls (and the occasional fanboys) to the next ultimate levels. However, with the words “fictophilia”, “not normal” and “unhealthy obsession” flying around, it becomes a bit more challenging to enjoy the fruits that only an affair with a fictional character can bring. But truth be told, it is not that different from most relationships (discounting the obvious, that is). It has its own ups and downs but more of the former than the latter if I may say so myself.

Can’t help but to find the guy from that anime anything less than cute to outrageously hot?

After indulging myself with a nonstop weekend marathon of The Twilight Saga (my shameless obsession since fifth grade), I was reminded of the wonderful reasons why most fictional characters destroyed me to any other (human) men:

1. You will NEVER get tired of looking at them. Or picturing them in your mind. (Whatever you prefer.)

Can you think of any literary hero or movie protagonist that was not defined as anything close to ultimate perfection bordering to not human? No. Just no.

Of course they will always smell like “cinnamon and vanilla”, “pure male” or “heaven”, and will be described as something akin to “like he stepped out from a magazine”.

from iwanderasalonelycloud.tumblr.com

2.  They ALWAYS have the right things to say.

Those God-sent lines uttered from their perfect lips that will probably sound tacky and goosebump-raising (the bad kind) coming from the average boys can and will make fans scream their lungs out.

from dasiphora.tumblr.com

3. They don’t just slouch on the couch to drink beer and watch the sports channel.

From a teen alpha wolf on a full moon to gorgeous swordsmen from a medieval Europe fantasy epic, or a dapper entrepreneur with a penchant for the naughty – these fantasy boys-to-men know how to live the life!

from campus1602.rssing.com

4. A+ is probably the predominant grade on their report cards.

A philosophical cancer-survivor with all the right junk in all the right places?

An enigmatic, mind reading vampire with numerous degrees in medicine?

Color me impressed (and in love!).

from its-anselelgort.tumblr.com

5. They deserve all the loyalty awards that they can get.

The top quality (or the worst, depending on whose perspective) of any of the best males from the literary and movie world is his extreme loyalty to his object of affections (#Swoon!). You won’t see him flirting with a girl in a bar or find suspicious messages from an unknown number lying around his inbox. Sometimes too loyal that fangirls don’t find it funny anymore.

from mtv.com

….Shake that off, entire men population!

Can’t get your Mr. Right out of your head . . . . Or your eyes off the movie screen?

Of course, there is the fact that fangirls will never have the pleasure of being loved back by her dearest. Almost all of us, the fangirls, are over the point that they are just imaginations of the mind made more legit by the books and the movies. This is just a teeny-weeny little problem in a fangirl’s world – that and the other small problem that our boys are positively smitten with someone else.

Ouch.

Written by Jolene Gabionza

Photograph by Jelou Galang

Writer twitter: @Billie_Jene

          Jolene Gabionza

Chocolate is my addiction
Procrastination is my passion
I live in history and myths but never in the moment
Many things but never an early bird

Editor-in-Chief twitter: @jeloughee12

          Jelou Galang instagram: @jeloughee

Sometimes in outer space
(But maybe just spaced out)
Full-time rockstar alien on Earth