Welcome To The Hellmouth
Opened: August 8, 2008
Welcome to Emily The Vampire Slayer, my name is Emily (surprised?) & this is my personal webspace that is free for me to say as I like in. You don't agree with my ramblings? That's fine, leave. I'm not out to offend or upset anyone but, like most, I'm very opiniated... that can often get in the way of my desire to be friends with everyone I meet because I won't drop my beliefs for anyone. Why should I? But feel free to take a look around and comment my blogs. Any questions, issues or complaints can be addressed here.
You Say Fangirl. I Say Squee!
19.08.08
I believe that everyone needs their own personal fandoms, whatever they may be: TV shows, books, movies, music, a paritcular musician... the possibilities are endless. I, myself, have quite a few.
I suppose the most obvious are Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel, maybe even Supernatural and Twilight. But there are others. Gossip Girl is one, James Marsters is definitely near the top of the list... um, Tudors too possibly. Can my fandom be Collectormania? Oh, to hell with it, of course it is. The Whedonverse in general is my fandom - that means Joss Whedon as well. Vampires are and so is music (all kinds of music!). All the actors from Buffy and Angel and also Jensen Ackles. Chinese Food (shyeah). Marilyn Monroe is. The Internet is a major fandom of mine. Dollhouse, even though it isn't out yet. Graphics and icons are.
Fandoms are entirely important because they give the fan something to believe in. Before Buffy I felt decidedly dead inside. I liked the passion I felt for things when I watched it, it filled a missing part in myself because it was my first real fandom, I don't quite remember where my mind was at before it; life before Buffy seems a far-off and miserable place. Especially the entrance of Spike/James Marsters into my life (well, sort of).
He caught my eye in the weirdest kind of way, I couldn't explain why I suddenly loved him as soon as I saw him, but he was fabulous. It was this one day on Youtube, I'd been looking all over for 'Real Wild Child' by Iggy Pop but the only version I'd been able to find was this annoying girl band. Anyway, I kept looking through the results until I saw 'Spike - Real Wild Child - Iggy Pop' so, with only the intention of listening to the song, I clicked on it.
I really love that song, but my eye was drawn to the first comment which said: "He is sex". I was ever so slightly intrigued but not that much because I know many actors who lots of people think are 'the sex' and I couldn't care less about. I did sort of know who he was, I knew for quite a while before that Spike was the blonde vampire from Buffy but I didn't have a very clear mental image of him. I was concentrating more on the song but I watched the video with mild curiosity... and by the end, for no reason I can really explain, my heart was pounding. I didn't realise then what a big thing this was going to be for me, but I watched it again... and again... and soon I was very interested. I sought out other Buffy videos and watched in clips and songs the story of the Spike/Buffy relationship which I immediately fell in love with.
Eventually, I just asked my Dad to get Buffy. I watched it all in the space of a few weeks, I loved it, I was addicted and I cried like crazy when Spike died. I hadn't been able to contain my excitement over his appearance in Season two. My Dad bought Season One Friday evening and I watched it until five in the morning, and then finished watching it by noon on Saturday. I begged him to get me Season Two for when I came home from my auntie's on Sunday. He said he would if he could and it was all I could think about all weekend.
When my Mum picked me up on Sunday, I nearly screamed in her face: "Did he get it? Did he get it?" When she said yes, I was so happy I can't begin to explain the feeling. I had no idea what was happening to me and I didn't care.
Season five was where obsession really kicked in. I got it on Wednesday and stayed up literally all night watching it. Then on Thursday, I got my Mum to take me back to get Season six which I spent most of the night watching; and when we went away for a short caravan holiday on the Friday, I snuck it with me even though my parents told me not to because they were worried about me and how obsessed I was becoming.
I started back at school on the Monday and spent most of the weekend searching for Season Seven, though part of me was scared to find it because I knew it was the last one and I was terrified of what I would feel at the end.
Sunday evening we got it. I watched some then, some Monday, and some Tuesday. Trying to spread it out. I finished watching it on Tuesday. Spike died and I went downstairs sobbing my heart out. For weeks after, I had to watch some Buffy everyday to stop me from having a nervous Breakdown but I watched all the funny ones, the happy ones and sexy ones.
One Saturday morning, I got up out of habit to watch Buffy on FX even though I had all the series on DVD. It was the episode 'Afterlife' where Buffy has just come back from the dead in Season six. My Mum sat and watched it with me and when it had finished she said that she would like to watch it. I was thrilled, I'd being trying to get my family interested for quite a while and I also now had an excuse to watch it all again from the start.
So I watched it with my Mum, with Jake and Chelsey watching odd bits with us too. We even spent a chunk of our holiday in Turkey watching it.
When we'd finished, I wasn't the only one wanting more. That's when we did the obvious next thing and got Angel. We watched that dedicatedly too and I could hardly wait for the appearance of Spike in Season five, which was everything I'd hoped it would be, except for the wanted reunion with Buffy... I guess I'll just have to hope the Season Eight comics deliver that.