Something’s been on my mind for a few days now- in fact, if I’m honest, on and off for a long time. I’m intrigued by the way certain actors, musicians and so on attract followings- speaking as someone who just paid an unmentionable amount of money (well, not all that much really) for two signed photos of Rose McGowan from eBay, and who is giving serious thought to joining Nicola Bryant’s fan club. In fact, the whole business of fandom is odd at the best of times. Last year I went to the London Expo, which for the uninitiated is basically a massive collectibles show held in an aircraft-hangar sized hall in the Docklands. In among the many trade stands selling t-shirts, trading cards, CDs, videos, books, action figures and so on, they had what was called the Actor Zone, which was basically a place to get autographs at a variety of prices. These ranged for £20 for James Doohan (who looked terribly, terribly frail) through £15 for Walter Koenig and Michelle Trachtenberg to a rather embarrassing £5 for Norman Lovett. But what was weird were some of the other actors there selling their photos and autographs for around £10- Bond girls like Maud Adams from ‘Octopussy’ and actors from American shows of around 20 years ago, like Richard Herd from ‘V’. Surely, I thought, as I parted with £25 for Chase Masterson’s signed photo and CD, there can’t be anybody who remembers them?

I suspect that if you could plot intensity of fan devotion against the subject’s actual success and fame, you’d probably find the greatest intensity somewhere in the middle. The really big stars of our days are inaccessible, protected by hordes of security gorillas and PR people- you’re not going to see Jennifer Aniston down at HMV signing copies of the latest volume of ‘Friends’ on DVD because some people are just too big to make personal appearances. By the same token, every lower division football club has its unforgettable characters, whose performances live on among a few thousand people who actually saw the games in question. I never saw Steve Cooper’s goal for Tranmere against Barnsley circa 1990, but it’s still spoken about in hushed tones today. No, the real devotion is reserved for people in the middle- the ones who are semi-accessible. A good convention appearance can raise an actor’s standing with the fans of a show no end, or it can raise awareness of their show among the uninitiated. You have only to look at the impression Victoria Pratt made at SFX in 2002 to see that- she started by making a joke that most of the people in the hall had never seen any of her work, proceeded to be thoroughly entertaining and by the end of her slot had the convention in the palm of her hand. Having to work for your fame helps too- somebody like Victoria Pratt has to work constantly for their public profile because they can’t expect to be carried to public popularity like a character in a more widely watched show.

I’ll stick with Victoria Pratt for a while- not only because she’s a terrible flirt and no man is safe within ten yards of her, but because in interviews she’s mentioned that she apparently has quite a large gay following. Leaving the Rosie O’Donnell jokes aside for a second, apparently the make-up artists and dressers on Mutant X let her in on the secret- it’s her combination of femininity and physical strength that appeals, or so we’re told. And I’d agree, with misty-eyed recollections of her wearing a backless gown at the opening ceremony of the convention. But why should certain actors or characters attract a gay following? It seems (although this may just be my limited experience) to be a phenomenon of gay men and female characters, although I’m open to correction on this, but whether it’s Judy Garland or Patsy Stone, there’s a phenomenon going on there that I don’t quite understand. The makers of ‘Will and Grace’ do, though; the character of Karen seems to have been put together with gay icon status in mind. There’s an element of strong tragic women in there (Joan Crawford in ‘Mildred Pierce’ comes to mind), but I don’t understand the identification process or why a certain character should suddenly and spontaneously appeal in this way. If there are any lesbian icons out there, I’d love to know- or on reflection, perhaps not...

I’m no nearer reaching a conclusion as to why certain individuals have followings and some don’t- there are probably as many answers as there are desperately sincere fan sites on the web. Why, for instance, am I considering joining Nicola Bryant’s fan club when I probably wouldn’t join one for Janet Fielding or Bonnie Langford? They both did basically the same job for comparable periods of time, but for me Nicola will always be associated with coming home from rugby on a Saturday afternoon, smelling of sweat and mud and aching to high heaven (that’s me, not Nicola). Why buy a fake signed photo of Rose McGowan and not Alyssa Milano or Holly Marie Combs? Actually, that’s not a bad question- I’ve had a thing for Alyssa Milano for at least fifteen years now and I’m glad she’s playing a lead in a network series. I suppose it’s to do with people’s work touching your life in one way or another at a particular time- and it happens most with actors and musicians because that’s what any self-respecting actor or musician sets out to do, to strike a chord in your soul.

There were some discussions at SFX in 2003 about what makes a good fan. The leads of Smallville and Stargate SG-1 were pretty much agreed that a good fan enjoys your work, supports your show and maybe lets you know it, but at the same time respects that an actor is an actor and they have their own life and their own friends. I’d no more think of forcing myself into Rose McGowan’s life than I would of inviting myself round to my bus driver’s house one night with a four-pack to watch the match. It’s a complicated relationship- the stars depend on us lesser mortals and our fickle viewing habits to keep their shows on the air, but by the very fact of watching them, we’re making the leads into millionaires- the same is true of football. The likes of Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alyson Hannigan must have come out of the last series of Buffy as millionaires several times over (although not with the way the dollar’s going at the moment) and the days of Hannigan signing Buffy box sets in HMV are probably long gone, but the fact that such people still acknowledge their fans and the stage door still exists shows that the weird relationship between fans and stars isn’t going away just yet. In fact, the recent growth in large organised signing sessions with up to twenty or thirty actors in attendance seems to suggest the opposite- it’s easier than ever to meet a certain actor for the specific purpose of buying their autograph, and if you can’t get to one of those there are enough people around who will sell you signed photos. Of course it’s one thing to buy from eBay and another to buy from a professed autograph dealer, but what you pay for with a dealer is an increased amount of certainty that what you have is a genuine autograph signed by a certain person at a certain place and a certain time, but authenticity is ultimately in the eye of the beholder, and the certificate of authenticity which separates a £10 photo from eBay from a £50 photo from a dealer is little more than a placebo for the doubtful purchaser. I decided long ago that the only signed items I’d genuinely collect would be ones I obtained in person, and a couple of conventions and book signings later it’s interesting to see what I have and who I’ve met, but their significance isn’t transferable and only lasts as long as I can tie it to a particular place and time.

So, I don’t think I’m any nearer any conclusions, but it’s been interesting to meander around some of the highways and byways of a subject to which I may return in due course. In the meantime I’ll continue to pursue my strange preoccupations with certain artistes and I hope everybody else does as well.