"I Used To Be Normal!" Four generations of fangirls tell all on their 'boyband-itis'
“I used to be normal !” screams sixteen year-old Elif as she attempts to stifle the tears that are streaming down her face.
No, Elif isn’t in fatal danger and no she’s not won the green card lottery either. She is simply sat with her girlfriends, in front of a TV set, watching One Direction’s latest tour film.
If you didn’t religiously follow a boyband in your teenage years then you’ll be left scratching your head after this opening sequence, but it turns out a surprisingly large amount of you will know exactly how she feels.
While we often disregard the latest teen boyband obsessions as a modern and commercial scourge, the latest iteration being South Korea’s BTS, director Jessica Leski’s comprehensive and touching study of the phenomenon compels the viewer to rethink.
Elif is one of four women, each of a different generation, who agree to bare all on their varying degrees of “boyband-itis”. There’s twenty-something Sadia, who at the age of 12 would rush home from school to write a Backstreet Boys newsleter to her 12,000 online subscribers, Dara from Australia who couldn’t imagine a world without Take That and Susan, aged 64, who often appears sporting the preppy shirt and tie her beloved Beatles were best known for.
Once the shock value of the women’s obsessive fandoms subsides, it becomes clear that boybands have been a force for good in their lives. Through the thoughtful relaying of anecdotes and timing of the women’s retrospective analyses, Leski establishes that boybands enter girls’ lives at a key moment in their tumultuous teenage years. It turns out Nick Carter’s rippling abs, Harry Styles’ baby-blue eyes or even John Lennon’s aloofness can bring a teenage girls’ burgeoning sexuality to the surface while providing a safe, warm and loving space for them to explore the concepts of love, desire and whatever else crosses a teenage girl’s mind (I’m struggling here).
As the viewer grows more and more attached to the film’s lovable leads, we find out that they’ve all dealt with some exceptional hardships in the past. In this case too, boybands were that reassuring friend and warm embrace that they so desperately needed to help them get through the day. Sadia half-jokingly refers to the Backstreet Boys are her longest ever relationship.
So yes, they may be a formulaic commercial venture at heart, but “I Used To Be Normal : A Fangirl’s Boyband Story” is a triumphant and jubilant eye-opener to the fact that boybands really can be an important part of a young person’s life.
Officially released on Vimeo and other streaming services earlier this week, we highly recommend watching. Who knows, it might stir up some pent-up emotions of your own.
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