Pop culture psychology

"I've always believed that readers choose favourite characters who either remind them of themselves or who act as they wish they could."
Kazuya Minekura

I was soo crazy about the Harry Potter series back in the day that I was...well there was no better word for this - Obsessive. Its a good thing that I wasn't living in the UK or I bet you my ass I would have definitely been one of those insane fans that stalk their idol. Dude, I would have totally stalked JK Rowling. Seriously. I would. I even Google Earth her house. I kid you not.

Anyway my favourite character out of the series wasn't Harry or Hermione but Ron Weasley .

The reason why I loved Ron so much was because I saw so much of me in him. Back in the day I was jealous, sarcastic, hotheaded and I was always stuck in someone else's shadow. I can always relate with Ron and how he felt about needing to prove himself to his family. Everything that Ron did would never be something new, one of his brothers would have done it before him and done it better too. Its the curse of the youngest child. Always coming second and living in someone else's shadow. And I can relate to that. I can still relate to that but now that I am a little bit older and becoming my own person. I no longer feel like I am living in anyone else's shadow...well, not as much as last time anyway.

And then came the angry phase. The everyone-hates-me-nobody-loves-me phase. Its called being a teenager. Enters Carmen Lowell of Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. Angry, bitter, dramatic and all around pissed off. Goddamn. I was her.

This woman threw a rock through her dad's window. I threw a paper weight across the room and shattered my mirror (not one of my proudest moment mind you) but you see the similarity? She hurt herself, so did I. She planned to run away from home, so did I. And the only thing that holds her together wasn't her family but the friends she had. The similarity was so close that my friends who read the book would tell me that when they read it, the can't get my face out when they think of Carmen.

These days I don't really see myself in any of the books I read (ok maybe with the exception of Becky Bloomwood) but lately people who are close to me have been saying that a certain TV character is reminding them of the Constantly Dramatic One. Intriguing. Who?

Wilhelmina Slater of Ugly Betty.

Amusing how the Constantly Dramatic One managed to come all the way from finding similarity with a sidekick to having similarities with a scary leading villain. I don't think I am Wilhemina though but waaaay too many people have pointed it out. So for the benefit of a doubt, I say maybe a little bit. When I am pissed off. And being bitchy. And sometimes...the Constantly Dramatic One can be a little bit.....uuhh...scary. At times. I stress - at times.

But if you asked, I rather be Amanda. She is sooooo deliciously bitchy.

Seriously, I would build a shrine and worship this woman.