“…is thinking she should be somewhat disturbed that her favorite TV character (now) is a brilliant, arrogant, somewhat socially inept man who eats A LOT, makes friends with alien whales faster than people, is apparently deathly allergic to citrus, and doesn't even realize that he'd give his own life for the people he works with. What can I say I ♥ Dr. Meredith Rodney McKay! When did I become such a fangirl? 8-B"Really, when DID I? Because I used to make fun of people like this. At least I used to laugh at them. Then again, I can’t really talk. I had my first crush on a TV character, that I remember, somewhere around 3rd grade when I fell in love with Templeton Peck a.k.a. Face from the A-Team. Ah, the dreams I had about Dirk Benedict’s face…that was before I was capable of separating the character from the actor, of course. And I think there was a crush on Marty McFly, too, but that’s so long ago it’s hard to tell now. I know I liked Alex P. Keaton, for sure. Reagonomics and all!
Looking back now, I am not sure I could ever put together a neat list of ALL the TV crushes I ever had. Of course, part of the problem is that it doesn’t just include TV. You have to include movies, books, and even plays into that list. Lately, it began to concern me a little that I truly do seem to keep falling in love with fictional characters.
The list includes characters like Superman/Clark Kent, Fitzwilliam Darcy from Pride & Prejudice, Han Solo from Star Wars, Trip from Star Trek: Enterprise, Niles Crane from Frasier, Ron Weasley & Neville Longbottom from the Harry Potter books, Richard Castle from Castle & Captain Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly (both played by Nathan Fillion), The Doctor & Captain Jack Harkness from Doctor Who, Dr. Daniel Jackson from the Stargate movie, Wolf from The 10th Kingdom, Xander from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Seely Booth from Bones, Patrick Jayne from The Mentalist, etcetera, etcetera. The most recent is Rodney McKay from Stargate: Atlantis. The Doctor from Doctor Who has been a slightly different character with each actor, so some I like better than others. David Tennant’s 10th Doctor really set my heart a-fluttering, though.
The reality is that I truly enjoy these shows. It’s the only way I get to see these characters to really get to like them. The difference between now and when I was in the third grade, I think, is that I am fully aware of the difference between the actor and the character now (well, I like to think I am – Nathan Fillion and David Tennant make it a little difficult to keep the line from blurring). When I was a kid, I couldn’t see that line. Now I am more able to recognize that I’m drooling over, I mean, watching a character that was created rather than a real person.
I do truly enjoy looking at characters in a literary sense, though, and breaking them down using the critical tools I learned to apply to great works of fiction like The Iliad. And when I think of that, I realize that it’s probably one or two particular aspects of these characters that I like so much. Intelligence, heart, and a certain sense of bravery frequently show up when I look at who I’m choosing to have a crush on. And maybe that says more about me than it ever does about the fictional characters themselves.
