I know, I know.....teenagers say this. Usually it's someone from a movie or a book or a show.
My friends and I used to joke about being in love with characters from anime or books. We'd make lists of which male characters were "ours."
My best friend and I have also joked about being in love with Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice.
But this particular instance that I want to talk about is the few months in which I actually fell in love with a fictional character.
No joking, no making lists. Real. Genuine. Love.
This is about the time I fell in love with The Doctor.
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I mean.....just look at that face. How can you not love that face?
It started out as admiration. I truly admired him. He's brilliant, eccentric, compassionate, fun-loving, and amazing. He can be a bit rude sometimes but he doesn't really mean it in a nasty way. At least, as long as you're not being an ass.
He also never gives up hope. Not really. He will do anything for his friends and what's more, he brings out the best in them. He shows them how amazing and adventurous life can be. He teaches them what loyalty and compassion truly is. He shows them how brilliant they really are.
He hates weapons. He looks for non-violent solutions but knows that sometimes you have to take a stand. He says never give up; there's always a loophole; there's always a chance; sometimes, some days everyone lives!
He is a kind man but also a hard man.
As I continued watching his face and personality change, I saw what remained the same. The dark side of him. The anger. The guilt. The sadness.
I bawled my eyes out when he said goodbye to Rose. I rejoiced when he found Donna again. I cried again when he said goodbye to Rose yet again....and cursed the writers. And then I just cried a whole lot more when Ten turned to Eleven.
And as I got used to Eleven, I continued to see those same pieces of who the Doctor really is all along. The Boy Who Ran Away. The Oncoming Storm. The Thief. The Raggedy Doctor.
And I saw a great man. He's a good man, no matter what wrongs he may have done, what mistakes he had to learn from, what horrors he unleashed on enemies. (I don't care if he murdered Empress Rossca's children; they were spiders, they should go the hell away.)
He tries so hard to do the right thing, to save everyone, to keep on standing up for what is right. A lot of the time, it doesn't work out as well as planned. People die, good people. He has to say goodbye to so many friends. The world may be saved but not everyone is there to see it. Not everyone knows what good he does to keep the universe safe.
He's just one man.
And I know that he's a fictional character. But for one summer, he was as real to me as you, (people of the internet), and I. I loved him. Admired him. And most of all, aspire to be as great a person as he is. For an imaginary man.
Considering how some of my peers might idolize the Kardashians or some crappy rapper, I guess maybe having a fictional character for a hero isn't that bad.
I'll keep hoping, like a child, that someone like him is real. I'll wish harder than I ever wished to see the Borrowers in my living room wall; more than wishing my animals could talk; even more than while waiting for my Hogwarts letter that never came. Because The Doctor is just the kind of brilliant man to save us from ourselves.
But in the meantime, I'll try to be that kind of ....woman. I think that the way the world is going, we could all gain a lot by aspiring to be brilliant.
My friends and I used to joke about being in love with characters from anime or books. We'd make lists of which male characters were "ours."
My best friend and I have also joked about being in love with Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice.
But this particular instance that I want to talk about is the few months in which I actually fell in love with a fictional character.
No joking, no making lists. Real. Genuine. Love.
This is about the time I fell in love with The Doctor.
I mean.....just look at that face. How can you not love that face?
It started out as admiration. I truly admired him. He's brilliant, eccentric, compassionate, fun-loving, and amazing. He can be a bit rude sometimes but he doesn't really mean it in a nasty way. At least, as long as you're not being an ass.
He also never gives up hope. Not really. He will do anything for his friends and what's more, he brings out the best in them. He shows them how amazing and adventurous life can be. He teaches them what loyalty and compassion truly is. He shows them how brilliant they really are.
He hates weapons. He looks for non-violent solutions but knows that sometimes you have to take a stand. He says never give up; there's always a loophole; there's always a chance; sometimes, some days everyone lives!
He is a kind man but also a hard man.
As I continued watching his face and personality change, I saw what remained the same. The dark side of him. The anger. The guilt. The sadness.
I bawled my eyes out when he said goodbye to Rose. I rejoiced when he found Donna again. I cried again when he said goodbye to Rose yet again....and cursed the writers. And then I just cried a whole lot more when Ten turned to Eleven.
And as I got used to Eleven, I continued to see those same pieces of who the Doctor really is all along. The Boy Who Ran Away. The Oncoming Storm. The Thief. The Raggedy Doctor.
And I saw a great man. He's a good man, no matter what wrongs he may have done, what mistakes he had to learn from, what horrors he unleashed on enemies. (I don't care if he murdered Empress Rossca's children; they were spiders, they should go the hell away.)
He tries so hard to do the right thing, to save everyone, to keep on standing up for what is right. A lot of the time, it doesn't work out as well as planned. People die, good people. He has to say goodbye to so many friends. The world may be saved but not everyone is there to see it. Not everyone knows what good he does to keep the universe safe.
He's just one man.
And I know that he's a fictional character. But for one summer, he was as real to me as you, (people of the internet), and I. I loved him. Admired him. And most of all, aspire to be as great a person as he is. For an imaginary man.
Considering how some of my peers might idolize the Kardashians or some crappy rapper, I guess maybe having a fictional character for a hero isn't that bad.
I'll keep hoping, like a child, that someone like him is real. I'll wish harder than I ever wished to see the Borrowers in my living room wall; more than wishing my animals could talk; even more than while waiting for my Hogwarts letter that never came. Because The Doctor is just the kind of brilliant man to save us from ourselves.
But in the meantime, I'll try to be that kind of ....woman. I think that the way the world is going, we could all gain a lot by aspiring to be brilliant.
