chloe
There’s no secret in my life that I am in a lot of fandoms as there are a lot of books, TV shows, films etc that make me happy and are influential to me. So, for my blog this month, I thought I’d put together a list of the fandoms and these books, TV shows, films etc that have influenced me the most. These are in the order of the time they came into my life.
Harry Potter.
Now, I’m sure it’s no surprise to see Harry Potter on this list as I’m sure it’s on many people’s. Harry Potter came into my life way back in 2001 when I was like two/three years old when the first movie came out. It became very influential to me. I never went to see the first movie at the cinema but my brother did and he came back raving about it. It’s one of the my earliest memories and my mum had started reading the books so that night, she read the first chapter of The Philosopher’s Stone to me. Flash forward to 2007 when The Deathly Hallows book came out and I read all of the books on my own for the very first time. Before that, my mum read them all to me but when The Deathly Hallows came out, I read them all for the first time on my own. And then I reread them three times before even thinking about another book.
So, I owe Harry Potter my absolute love of reading. Reading has had a huge impact on my life and I owe that to Harry Potter. But not only has it made me fall in love with reading but it gives me a huge magical escape and again, I cannot thank J.K Rowling enough for that.
Star Wars
I can’t believe I’m actually about to try and explain my love for Star Wars and how influential it’s been to me. I first watched A New Hope in 2005 when I was six years old and I was immediately in love. Princess Leia is such a huge, influential character for me. Honestly, I wish I could have told Carrie Fisher how much she and Princess Leia have influenced me. I was just so happy and still am so happy that I have such a strong female role model to look up and will continue to look up to for the rest of my life.
Another character that just means the world to me is Poe Dameron who is a new character to the franchise but he means the absolute world to me. As soon as he came on screen, I was immediately smiling and throughout the whole of The Force Awakens I was just praying that he would be in the next scene. He’s such a strong character that obviously cares so much about the people around him and I admire that so much.
If you know me, you’re probably sick of me talking about Star Wars by now but it just means so much to me. The characters, the story and just the love in these films are incredible and I’m so happy that it’s in my life and will continue to be in my life for a very long time.
Shadowhunters
You know how I mentioned that I reread Harry Potter three times before thinking about another book? Well City of Bones was the next book. In 2007 when City of Bones came out, my mum got it for me because she thought I’d like it and boy, was she right. Although, when I first read it back in 2007, I liked it but didn’t think much about it until much, much later.
Head forward seven years to 2014 and I fell in love. In 2014, one of my friends from high school kindly let me borrow all of The Infernal Devices and all of The Mortal Instruments because I really wanted to read them as City of Heavenly Fire had just been released. Honestly, not since Harry Potter had I fallen in love with a book series so quickly.
The two characters that immediately and still have a huge impact on me were Alec Lightwood and Will Herondale. Now, Will Herondale is 100% my favourite character in literature and I don’t see that ever changing. Will is a character who taught me no matter how shitty my friends were at that stage, I will always find somebody in my life who means the world to me and I have, shout out to Dani right. He also taught me strength and so many more things that I can’t go into else I’ll end up crying I’m sure. And Alec Lightwood, where to start. Back in 2012, I came out as bisexual to my friends and I just felt so lost. Not because they weren’t supportive, because they were but just because I didn’t know my place in the world. And then I started reading about Alec Lightwood and that completely changed. He is the character who gave me the confidence to be the person I truly am and I will never thank Cassandra Clare enough for that, like honestly he has such a huge place in my heart and that’ll never, ever change.
Flash forward to this year, 2017, and I have a parabati tattoo and Dani will soon have hers too.
Glee
To be quite honest, I could argue that Glee could be one of the most influential things on this list. Glee started back in early 2010 over here in the UK and I was hooked from the start. My friends at the time used to absolutely take the piss out of me because I loved this show so much. They didn’t understand why I loved it so much and it made me unbelievably sad. But, I didn’t let my love for this show die and it still lives on to this day.
The characters in Glee really taught me that it was completely to be okay to be different and that was one of the most influential things to me, ever. It really helped me find myself and be who I am. I still happily constantly rewatch it from the start and will still laugh and cry and just feel inspired all over again. It holds a very, very special place in my heart and I cannot wait to get a part of it tattooed onto my skin forever.
Twilight
Yes, I can hear that collective groan. No matter what you think about Twilight, you cannot argue that it shaped YA fiction forever. I first picked up Twilight when I started high school in 2010 and loved it. I read all four books, watched the movies (although only Twilight and New Moon were released at this stage but Eclipse wasn’t too far away) and then reread all the books again, re-watched the movies again and repeat for about a year or so.
Twilight is a series that really made me fall back in love with reading. Also, high school was awful years of my life and Twilight was something that really got me through that. Yes, to the end. These books and movies are things I hold so close to my heart and was my first kind of introduction to fandoms. I found so many friends through Twilight and most of those I still talk to to this day and I’m thankful to have them in my life. So, I’m so happy that Twilight exists. Yes, it has problems and they aren’t perfect books but they still mean a lot to me and I can’t wait to do my yearly reread next month.
The Maze Runner
This is another series where I don’t even know where to start. Well, let me put it this way, you know the original trilogy? Well, I have those books nine times and two of those are in languages I can’t even read. The impact this series has had on my life is actually unreal at this stage. I first picked these books up in 2011 when The Death Cure first came out and I fell in love immediately. I love these books with all of my heart and I owe them my absolute life.
July 8th 2016, I was starting my second reread of them of the year and it’s a moment I’ll never forget. I was literally a few pages in when I got the phone call to tell me my nan had a stroke and my life has never been the same since that moment. This numbing feeling was all I could feel but I looked back down at my book and one quote on the page stuck out to me, “if you ain’t scared, you ain’t human.” A line I very much needed at the time. A couple of days later though, I was reading The Scorch Trials which is my favourite book of all time, and there’s a line in that it reads “What Thomas did hear, however, gave him little hope. Between garbled, unflattering names, Thomas heard the words “we’ll find you.” and “when the time is right.” And bam, I was in tears because again, I just needed those words at that time and I’m happy this series is in my life and will always be my favourite series of all time.
(Let’s not talk about The Scorch Trials movie.)
Marvel
Marvel films. Let’s be honest, everyone and their dog has seen as least one Marvel movie at this stage. And, yes I’m one of those people who never, ever shut up about them. Marvel movies are honestly one of my absolute favourite things in the world and I will never stop watching them and I’m so happy that there’s a constant stream of them.
The first Marvel movie I saw from the Marvel reboot was Captain America; The First Avenger. And Captain America remains one of my favourite superheroes of all time, I adore him with all of my heart. I love how much love he has for his friends, I love how much he loves people and I love how much strength he has. He is a character that has really shaped who I am as a person, I would not be as strong as I am now without this character in my life.
But also, I’ve made so many friends through being a Marvel fan which makes me so happy. I love the Marvel fandom and I’m happy that most people in it are so lovely and accepting. I also love that they equally made my best friend happy.
McFly/The Vamps/5SOS
I’ve grouped these three bands together because they’ve just influenced me in such similar ways. Now, this does probably does belong higher up this list because I got into McFly back in 2004 but we’ll just go past that.
McFly are a band who influenced me from a young age, when Five Colours came out I used to run around my house screaming it at the top of my lungs. This band truly changed my life in so many ways, because of their Keep Calm and Play Louder tour, I got into Stakeout who I’ve made so many friends through and because of Stakeout I’ve found so many other bands and I am forever in debt to McFly. This band’s music just means so much to me and they will forever be the band that I got up to.
Again with The Vamps, they are a band who have influenced me in so many ways. I’m not into The Vamps as much anymore as I now sadly have some bad memories attached to them, which is nothing to do with them but more to do with some of the people I met through them. But The Vamps are a band I love and James McVey will always be one of my idols and I can’t thank him enough for everything he’s done for me and so many other people. They’re a band that always make me smile when I see them live and I hope are a band I will be able to see live for still many years to come.
The main reason I love 5SOS is because they bought me my best friend; Dani. We started talking at college through our mutual love of 5SOS. Basically, I wore my ROWYSO tour shirt on the induction day, Dani was with someone else who didn’t end up going to college, we added each other on Facebook, were too scared to talk to each other, started liking things on Facebook to show each other we liked the same things, started talking on the first day and within two minutes we didn’t want to be separated and the rest is history. But, I also love 5SOS because they just fill me with so much joy. Luke Hemmings again is one of my biggest idols and I adore him more than I can physically tell you. But no, I’m not one of those fans, the other three boys mean absolutely everything to me. I cannot thank this band enough for everything they have done for me, I hope one day I can meet them and tell them but for now, I guess this paragraph will have to do.
Teen Wolf
I was so late to the Teen Wolf train it’s unreal. I started watching Teen Wolf in December 2015 and binged the first four and a half seasons in about two weeks. I’ve never fallen in love with a TV show in quite the same way I have with Teen Wolf. As soon as I finished the first episode, I was crying by the end because I just loved it so much. Little did I know just how much, series 5A in January 2016 would effect me.
If you know me, you’re probably absolutely sick of me talking about Josh Diaz but I’m about to go off one again. Josh Diaz is a character who has influenced me in so many different ways. He makes me so fucking happy. It’s one of those things where I can’t even really explain why he has effected me so much. Honestly, when I have a hard decision to make, I have to ask myself what would Josh do. He’s a character that just really made me feel like I wasn’t alone and I love him with every single fibre in my being. I have never ever cried more at a character death than I did when Josh died.
I also owe a lot to Scott and Stiles. Again, I’m relating this back to my best friend is anyone surprised? Me neither. She is my Stiles and I am her Scott. That’s just how our friendship works. She is the person that I will die for just like Scot and Stiles would do for each other. I’m so glad she also got into this show and we can still talk about it forever. I love her with all of my heart just like I’m sure Scott and Stiles do.
With Confidence
Ay, here we are, my favourite band of all time. I only got into With Confidence in June 2016 when Better Weather was about to come out. Which is an album that has influenced me the absolute most out of every single album I’ve ever listened to. Every single song on this album has a special meaning to me and I still remember listening to them for the very first time and I remember how every single one of them made me feel. This band are just so, so special to me. In fact, just to put it into perspective. On February 24th 2017, I first saw them live and the last time I saw them was September 28th 2017 and in that short period of time, I saw them seven times. I’ve traveled all over the country for this band and I cannot thank them enough for absolutely everything.
Now, to get a little bit personal. On my arm, I have lyrics from their song Gravity that read “I fight through to see tomorrow” and it is in Josh, the drummer’s handwriting. Late last year/early this year, I went through a stage in my life where I had to listen to Gravity every night before I went to bed because it convinced me to actually go to sleep rather than basically ending my life. It was one of the absolute worst times in my life and I can’t thank them enough for helping me get through that stage and one day, I’m sure I’ll pluck up the courage to tell them.
Skam
The last one, FINALLY! Skam is a Norwegian TV show that really blew up all over the world in 2016 during it’s third season because of Isak and his storyline. I watched all of Skam when the clips of episode eight of season three and I am still in love. This show basically follows a different main character each season and tells their story, each episode is broken down into clips which were uploaded everyday and then the full episode was uploaded on a Friday. My favourite thing about Skam is that it wasn’t scared of dealing with hard topics and it was just beautiful. It dealt with loneliness, friendship, sexual assault, sexuality, mental health, religion etc. It’s a show that has had a huge impact on me and so many others and I’m still sad that it’s now ended.
The character that has impacted me the most is most definitely Even. Even really taught me that I am not my mental illness, I am so much more than that and I am worth so much more than it. He also taught me that it’s okay to be myself no matter what and that I should keep my head held high and surround myself with people who truly love me and respect me.
So, there you have. The things that have influential me in my life so far. I love every single one of these things will all of my heart and that will never change. What things have influenced you most in your life? Let us know by tweeting us at @Fuzzable
See you next month!
