orangerful | Fandom memories -- Gillian Anderson (Reply)

So...it was just announced this week that Gillian "Dana Scully" Anderson will be one of the guests at this year's Dragon*Con

Time for my to ramble a bit about my first fandom, my first girl crush, and how unbelievabley uncool I was in high school

I've rambled about X-Files a little bit before, but mostly when leading up to why I love Joss Whedon and Buffy so much. But, really, X-Files was my first fandom. It probably was for a lot of people since it was lucky enough to be a popular show right when the Internet was born. I used to spend hours on the Prodigy message boards reading people's different filks and short stories. I avoided going out on Friday nights so I could record each episode on VHS (and edit out the commercials, you could fit an extra episode on SLP if you took out the commercials, that's 7 episodes per VHS!). I even wrote a full script (with a guest starring role for myself...I didn't know what "Mary Sue" was yet, but dammit, Mulder's sister's name was Samantha and so was mine, IT WAS A SIGN). And while I had a megacrush on David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson also played a large role in my geeky adolescent life.

I wanted to be Scully so bad. When I went to the mall and shopped at Express, I wasn't looking at the booty shorts. I was eyeing up the suits (I eventually bought one that was slightly too small but on clearance. It was a gorgeous dark blue). When I had to get my glasses, I comforted myself in finding a frame that looked like Scully's (which were not hip or chic, just pretty average glasses). I even remember trying to hold my mouth the same way Gillian holds hers, that slight pout and a bit of tightness. And that red hair. OOOOh I wanted red hair sooooo badly.

But the biggest thing that X-Files helped bring to my life was my awesome friendship with

bittertwee. She was already friends with my Uncle and I had talked with her when they would visit, but we connected when the conversation turned to X-Files and we both realized we were huge fans of the show. We kept in touch via snail mail and then email, discussing all the different aspects of the show as it changed over the years. While I was drooling over David, she was obsessing over Gillian. It was the start of me learning how to really pick apart a show and examine all the different layers.

In the end, the show let us down (Two words - Butt Genie) (more Chris Carter's fault than anyone elses), but all those years of complaining together built up a very strong friendshp that I cherish to this day.

So I'm hoping that Gillian Anderson is in the walk of fame at Dragon*Con so I can go up to her and thank her. Her sheer awesomeness made me demand more from my female characters on TV and also of the actresses I saw. It won't be the waterworks of meeting Felicia or Joss, but probably more like the babbling I did to Sean Patrick Flannery.

Still, I look forward to embarassing myself in front of this talented woman if I can get the chance ;-)