Over the course of my life, there have been movie stars that have made me swoon and bands that I have loved, but I have never wanted to actually meet any movie stars or band members. I have never asked for an autograph, nor do I ever intend to. Why you ask? Well, it’s simple really. Reality just can’t do them justice. I fell in love with the personas they portrayed, not the actual people.
Many take their fandom too far. They think movies stars are really like the characters they play. There are many stories of psychotic fans that have committed terrible crimes for the sake of their “love.” One of the more public people was John Hinkley, Jr. who shot President Regan in an effort to impress Jody Foster. He also shot a police officer, a secret service agent and press secretary, James Brady. The most concerning fact is that his doctors think he has recovered enough to be let out of the psychiatric facility he now resides in. Although he has been permitted to leave periodically for visits with his mother, some of his actions while on leave from the mental facility lead me to believe that he is pretending to be well, when he is anything but. Anyone who considers Lee Harvey Oswald a role model is not someone meant for life in society. Read about the trial of Hinkley here.
Another example is the murder of John Lennon. Mark David Chapman shot John Lennon in the back and shoulder five times and while waiting for the police appeared to be reading The Catcher in the Rye. Prior to the shooting, Chapman was obsessed with Lennon but after becoming a born-again Presbyterian, became disillusioned because Lennon made the statement that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus and that he didn’t believe in God. Chapman became enraged and targeted Lennon. While his attorney entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, Chapman later changed the plea to guilty. He has been denied parole eight times, the eighth being in 2014. His next parole hearing will be in August 2016. We can only hope that hearing will result in a denial also.
While it is perfectly fine to enjoy someone’s work, as I have done many times over, whether musically or theatrically, I don’t delude myself into thinking what I see is what I am going to get should I ever have the opportunity to meet them. They are playing a role. It is not who they are. While I might have liked the character in a movie or a cute boy in a band, I am pretty sure the real people are nothing like they are portrayed to be; and as far as I am concerned, why spoil the fantasy?
;)
