This clip was a collage of the Singapore promotion tour that Ant and Dec, then known as PJ & Duncan, did perhaps some 10 years ago. So you get to see familiar faces such as Gurmit Singh and others whose names elude me. But what really interested me was the "declarations of love" made by some fellow Singaporean teenagers at that time.



Re the end of the clip when they interviewed these teenaged girls with raging hormones who were big fans who booked taxis to follow PJ & Duncan around, and one of them said "I will die for them". Another said that she would do bungee jumping without the cord (for them). Errr... and what for???

Hmmm... This clip was probably in the mid to late 1990s so the girl must be about the same age as me now. How would these girls think of their declarations now?

Such a wonder, these hormones does to people. Now looking at such a declaration I'd still say she's mad, but it probably made a wee bit more sense if I were to hear it when I was a teenager like her cos I was once mad about stars also. But seriously and frankly, never ever to that extent of declaring that I would "die" for them. That is, for the lack of a better word - "siao".

I don't think anyone would want to die for the current reincarnation of Ant and Dec (they always mocked their own singing career as something they did in their 'former lives').

Anyway, reminded me of that huge hoo-ha when I was in secondary school when there was this news about how a fan of Jummy Lin insisted on having her name on her IC changed to "Lin Zhi Ying", the Chinese name of Jimmy Lin. Parents were outrage, teachers were mortfied, and the public bewildered at the extent of the influence celebrities had on teenagers. Then there was this huge debate on whether we should allow our children to have idols, and how we should educate them that idols are nothing but fantasies.

Fortunately, I don't get to hear much of these kinds of news these days. Well... at least in Singapore, that is (that incident with Yang Lijuan and her idol Andy Lau comes to mind).

But that said, I still do see some extreme fans around these days. There was one time when I was standing opposite a young female student on the MRT who had her bag pinned with images of a band member from Taiwanese band Mayday. Not stopping at that, her file was filled with collages of this singer, she had key chains and handphone straps of the singer, and she had even carved his name on her arm!!!! Ouch...

What would you do if you were a parent?

I think at the end of the day, teenagers need positive attention and support from the people around them, particularly from their family. This obsession over a particular person to me indicates that this adolescent is emotionally lonely and does not have role model in her life, a role model who should been a caregiver close to her. Hence, celebrities turn into surrogate role models who can appear in their lives to provide comfort whenever they want to (videos, CDs...) and who will never criticize them in person, making them safe to associate with.

Note that the above was said on the assumption that this qualifies as an 'obsession'. Idolizing is normal not only for teenagers but for every one. Is just that if the line between fantasy and reality becomes blurred, that's when the danger comes in.

So, if you were a parent what would you do?