Fictiophilia: The Attraction to Fictional Characters [Fangirl or Fanboy]

Fictiophilia the attraction to fictional characters (urban dictionary) is more commonly known as fanboy or fangirl or fandom. There’s something about fictional characters that we grasp on to, whether they are villains or the good guys/girls. I, personally, like to grasp on to the villains (movie, story, and even video games). And as with anything else, I have to attraction to three fictional characters: The Joker (The Dark Knight’s Joker) and Master Sargent from Halo. My recent Fictiophilia has been with Joan Ferguson from Wentworth TV Series as well as Joan Ferguson from Prisoner: Cell Block H. But what draws us to these fictional characters?

I feel the number one thing that draws us is the mere fact they are just that, fictional. They aren’t real and therefore, they can’t hurt us as real humans can. Those of us who have built a wall to the real world and real people find comfort in letting fictional characters into our lives. We know what they are about and if need be, we can discard them at any given moment without the guilt. The other thought is we can live our fantasies through them, whether they are good fantasies as in saving the world (Master Sargent) or destroying the world (The Joker). And even those out to destroy people (Joan Ferguson) who get in the way of our goals, even if we don’t know what the goal is.

Master Sargent. What attracts me to Master Sargent is he looked upon to help save the world from alien invaders. He is given a body of armor and excellent weapons to use, yet, he’s not indestructible. He gets killed time and time again, but he is able to do the mission as many time as needed. Why? Because he’s a fictional character in a video game called Halo. Once he gets killed, I, the player, am able to do the mission again. Master Sargent, in a sense, never dies. Through Master Sargent I can control where he goes and who he kills. I become Master Sargent, a hero for a few minutes in time.

The Joker. What attracts me to the Joker (and I’m speaking of the character played by Heath Ledger and might be adding Jared Leto once I see Suicide Squad)? I’m not quite sure. I like his
nonchalant ways when speaking to one person or a group of people. He likes to changes his story on how he got the scares on his face. First, the story was he did it to himself because his wife wanted him to smile more. The next time he told the story, his father did it to him when his father was drunk. But what I like more about The Jokes is he doesn’t let anyone get under his skin. He does, like any villain, get under your skin and the more you resist the more the drive is for him to accomplish his goal. And once the goal is achieved, he will find more ways to get under you skin. Which leads me straight into Joan Ferguson.

Joan Ferguson was a bent screw (another word for prison officer or guard) in the TV series Prisoner: Cell Block H. She not only got under people’s skin, but she bullied the prisoners into giving her their money, running a numbers ring inside prison and making moonshine down in the boiler room to sell to other prisoners for a profit. She had runners to do her dirty deed for all activities she conjured up. She also had what was called her “mid-night” walk in which she would do body searches in the middle of the night which were really ways for her to touch the prisoners in in appropriate places. This was one aspect of Ferguson I obviously didn’t care for. Prisoner touched on this part of her character very briefly and focused more on her ability to bully people, beat up people, steal from people, all under the noses of other guards and the Governor (aka Warden — depending on which side of the pond you’re from). Enter Wentworth’s Joan Ferguson. She didn’t run a numbers game or create moonshine in the boiler room, but she did bully people, or tried to, so she could take over the prison. For both Fergusonses, it’s about control, by any means necessary and for Wentworth’s Ferguson, if it meant making someone so scared of her that they peed their pants each time they saw her, then so be it. Is this what attracts me to Ferguson, the ability to scare the piss out of someone? Or is it the uniform?

I’ve thought about Ferguson and what the attraction is and yes, a lot of it is the uniform. When she’s out of uniform, as we have seen when she’s at home, the attraction is gone. If Master Sargent was out of uniform I would not feel the same for him. If the Joker did not don his suit and make up, I would not have an attraction to him either.

So what is it about the clothes and make up? Is it the hiding behind a mask while revealing out true nature to the world? Is it the ability to be something we are not while being exactly who we are at the same time? Is this what we want for ourselves, to be able to hide behind clothes and make up while being allowed to show our true nature to others?