Fandemonium

I can honestly say that my friend Matty* is the biggest The Office fan I have ever met. And no, I’m not talking about the poor American remake but the original BBC sitcom created by Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant. He has both seasons and the Christmas specials, he can tell you anything you need to know about ‘Wernham Hogg’ (the fictional business The Office was set in), he has memorised entire songs sung by ‘David Brent’ (Regional manager of the Slough office of ‘Wernham Hogg’ and main character of the series) and he (unapologetically) quoted ‘Brent’ during his 21st speech. For me, Matty* encapsulates the term 'Fandemonium’.

But, it does not end there… His latest obsession is Scrubs (the NBC comedy set in a hospital). He currently owns 4 seasons and is waiting (not so) patiently for the 5th to air on Australian television. He can quote his favourite character 'Dr Cox' word for word oh and, I almost forgot, he owns the soundtrack.

To most people, Matty* would seem geeky. If I didn’t know him I would probably imagine him as an awkward, anti-social, unfit, overweight 21 year old male who spent most of his time in front of the computer or television.

I would be completely wrong…

Sure Matty* is a 21 year old male but he is far from the anti-social stereotype I just described. He is a Business student at QUT, he has friends, he goes out every weekend, he has a girlfriend (who is also a local model) and he is an avid rugby player (who travelled to South Africa in 2004 as part of the Under 20’s Australian rugby union team). Most guys I know are envious of Matty’s* situation.

When John discussed the erroneous nature of stereotyping in his lecture it really hit home for me. Sure Matty* encompasses everything a ‘fan’ is except, he doesn’t fit the image. In fact, he’s relatively normal.

Anyhow, the whole thing really got me thinking. Perhaps ‘Fandemonium’ isn’t as eccentric as we would like to believe. Perhaps there is a hidden ‘fan’ in all of us. If you’ve ever really liked something, I mean looooved it (whether it is a book, movie, band or computer game), you’re already halfway there.

Over the Christmas holidays I watched 5 seasons of The Sopranos consecutively. It got to the point where if I didn’t get my daily dose of ‘Tony’ and the gang I felt cheated. My day was not complete. Do I consider myself a crazed fan? Hell no! But perhaps (secretly) I am.

Maybe it’s not ‘Fandemonium’ that’s the problem. Maybe it’s socialisation.

Now I’ll leave you with a random quote from ‘David Brent’, “Quitters never win, winners never quit. But those who never win and never quit are idiots”

* Name has been changed to protect person’s identity (and to protect me from being seriously hurt by said person)