I have truly come to the realization that I really have an obsessive nature. It usually is over a tv show, a movie, a book, or a song even. Sometimes it can last only a week, sometimes years even. How does one get this type of personality? I have no idea, but I can't remember a time when I haven't been like this.
The biggest obsession that I have ever had, one that will probably never go away but isn't as severe now has been Harry Potter. The sad thing is, I know others who are a lot more obsessed with Harry Potter than I ever could be, yet I still am free to admit that Harry Potter has been my life for these past 10 years. The great story about this though, is that when the books first came out I refused to read them. It was until I watched the Sorcerer's Stone in the theater that I started becoming interested. THEN it wasn't until after The Chamber of Secrets came out on DVD when I finally decided to actually read the books. The only reason why I did that was because I found out the 3rd movie was going to come out for another year and a half so I couldn't wait to find out what happens next. And to make it even better, I didn't start with the first book I jumped right into the Prisoner of Azkaban I think I have only read the first two books once or twice maybe.
My obsession with Harry Potter continued to expand until I was reading fanfiction online almost every night. I even started writing my own fanfiction and that is actually where I first started realizing how much I enjoyed writing. I even began to learn random facts about the actors from the movies. Like I can still tell you to this day when Dan Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and Tom Felton's birthdays are. At the end of a movie when they show all the actors names (before showing the full cast) I can tell you who they are all. For Christmas one year I got the Scene It DVD Game but it only covered till movie four yet I I could always get the answers for the random facts about the actors. I don't even remember how I found all the information I did, yet I did.
Ever since the last Harry Potter movie came out there has been this void within me. I feel as if I need a new obsession to last me the next ten years. Instead though I find something that I obsess over for a couple months on end and then they kind of fade away. If you look back on my blog there have been posts about Doctor Who and Bollywood another obsession, just nowhere near as intense as with Harry Potter. I don't think I could even find another "phenomenon" to obsess over like I do with Harry Potter. I think mainly because instead of just books, there were also the movies and it took ten years to finish so it was easy to continually find a reason to obsess over it.
Now I find myself drawn to foreign tv shows/movies. Harry Potter is actually foreign even so I guess I've always loved foreign films haha. Well some how it started with Doctor Who, then I found the lovable and adorable Merlin, now there is Sherlock Holmes and Downton Abbey. All of course from the wonderful world of the United Kingdom. With their attractive accents: Scottish, Irish and the multiple dialects of England as well. Britain... sure does know how to create wonderful and brilliant actors. So yes, I have become obsessed with BBC tv series. Sometimes I just get so bored with the same old American story lines. With the detective stories, the medical stories, the police stories, and then now-a-days the supernatural crap as well. The story lines may be similar to that of the US and Britain but the culture is definitely not. You really have to train yourself to understand their sense of humor and their slang which can be quite confusing at times.
Then sometime last year I started watching Bollywood movies and would watch a couple a day! And those movies are about three hours long or longer! EACH! This time instead of listening to accents in my own language I had to adapt myself to listening to a foreign language and reading subtitles. It took my awhile to grow accustomed to it but eventually it didn't bother me at all.
NOW it comes to my most recent obsession. Kdrama. What is kdrama you may ask? Korean drama tv shows. I have so far watched two different series and I'm watching a brand new one now that I have to wait every week to watch a new episode. What is wonderful about these series is that each series... is only one year so only about 24 episodes MAX! Meaning, when I start the series...I know that it will actually have an ending instead of being cancelled and hanging me loose. Also, its longer than a movie so you can become hooked or obsessed like me easier but it isn't a show that lasted ten years and you start getting bored with it after the first three years!
What can I say? I'm a dork, a nerd, and a freak! I really don't care! I have determined that I love learning about a different culture by watching their tv shows. After awhile you start picking up different phrases in the foreign language (aka Hindi and Korean so far) and understanding where they come from. It really is fascinating to me.
So I am proud to say that I am an obsessed freak when it comes to foreign tv shows/movies! Right now, my current favorite tv series are: Doctor Who, Merlin, Downton Abbey and Faith. There really isn't a tv series in the US that I am obsessed with right now. I don't anxiously wait to watch an episode when it comes on air, sure I have shows I watch but if I miss an episode meh no big deal I don't really care. However, a new season of Doctor Who starts this Saturday on BBCAmerica.... and guess what? I will DEFINITELY be watching that when it comes on! It's already set to record on my DVR! BA HAHAHAHAHA!!!!
1 comment:
Hi Stephanie. I am not obsessive like you. I think it's a generational thing, though, because my kids are. Those of us who grew up without a VCR or a DVD player or (last but not least) the Internet probably just don't have the obsessive capacity as you yoing'uns. However, if you like foreign-ness, and Britishness in particular (as I do), let me recommend something: Agatha Christie. She's a great potential obsession, I think, for many reasons. Obviously, she wrote a bajilion books, of varying quality, almost all of which are widely and cheaply available. Also, there are several movies and TV series based on her works (novels but also plays). Many of the movies are from Hollywood, but all of the TV series I'm aware of were produced in the UK. Furthermore, she was married to a prominent archaeologist and spent many winters (the digging season) in Iraq and Syria. Because she traveled widely, her books are often set in exotic locales that she knew a lot about--or at least she knew a lot about the British perspectives on those places. She even wrote a non-fiction book (which I love) about her life on a dig in Syria. She published it under her married name. Oh! And she wrote other novels under a pen name because they are not mysteries. She also wrote an autobiography that was only published after her death. And since her daughter (AC's only child) died in the last few years, at least two new "tell-all" AC biographies have been published. Last of all, she lived during an eventful period of British history and had some juicy events occur in her own personal life. All in all, she would make a great obsession that would last you at least a couple of years. Mostly reading, I admit, not watching TV, but it's very entertaining reading. There's a reason she sold so many books, you know. ;)
I am glad to hear you are doing well, whatever you may be obsessed by. Best of luck in Utah. I am excited for you.
Love,
Karen Marie
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