I love movies just as much as the next guy, but I never seem to get into them as much as others. For example, my girlfriend cries during any sad part of any movie. I, on the other hand, never cry. I might get a lump in my throat, but I never get so deeply involved in a movie that I cry, scream or show any other sign of extreme emotion.
Even though I do not cry during movies, I do realize it is normal for many people to do so. It is definitely not irrational to experience emotions as a result of watching a movie. It is rather irrational, however, to decide to live your life based on a movie.
When the Harry Potter books first came out, a teacher at my middle school wouldn’t allow her students to read them for credit in her class. At that time, I thought that was ridiculous because no person in the world would be crazy enough to decide to live as a wizard just from reading a book. Unfortunately, I now know some people truly are that crazy.
Recently, Lyle Monroe Bensley, a 19 year old from Galveston, Texas, was arrested for mischievous actions. According to Bensley, he is not a 19-year-old young man from Texas, but is instead a 500-year-old vampire.
Bensley was arrested last week after breaking into a stranger’s apartment, hissing at her, hitting her and biting her neck repeatedly. His justification for his actions was he “needed to feed.”
The woman was able to get away from him and call the police. Once the police arrived, Bensley once again expressed his need to feed and begged the police to restrain him because he didn’t want to have to kill them.
The woman suffered minor injuries, and a mental health hold was placed on Bensley.
Now, it might be completely insensitive for me to say this, but this guy is crazy. I mean, in the picture online, he does not look like the kind of guy who would like the Twilight Saga, but I guess you never know these days.
The worst part is the guy was not even on drugs. I know that might sound bad, but it just means the guy was completely serious in believing he is a 500-year-old vampire.
I started this article by talking about Harry Potter. After hearing the story about Lyle Bensley, I was curious about the ways people have taken Harry Potter overboard. I was definitely not disappointed by the findings of my research.
Results ranged from concerts in which all the participating bands have names based on the Harry Potter books to a Russian man who legally changed his name in order to gain votes as he ran for governor. My favorite, I have to admit, is the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association.
That’s right, there are actually schools that have quidditch teams, and by schools, I mean prominent schools such as Harvard, Yale and Duke universities. Even our tiger friends over at Louisiana State University have a quidditch team, which has recently played schools such as the University of Arkansas and Texas Tech University.
The members of the teams hold broomsticks between their legs and run around scoring points as shown in the movies. If you cannot find it in yourself to believe me, there are plenty of videos posted on YouTube that might be a bit more convincing.
Believing you are a vampire and biting a woman is strange to say the least. Renaming yourself and being a part of a “muggle” quidditch team are both rather humorous. Unfortunately, movies have been blamed for incidents that have been fatal.
The Fast & Furious movies have been blamed for many deaths as results of car accidents. These accidents have taken place in Indiana, California and Florida. This, obviously, is taking the movies way too far.
In no way am I trying to encourage people to stop watching movies, nor am I trying to discourage admiration of an actor or even a character in a movie. There are some movie characters we should all strive to be more like.
However, next time you want to suck a stranger’s blood, strut around on a broomstick while wearing a cape or road race with the guy next to you at the red light, think again about how your life could be changed. You could end up in jail, on the Hall of Shame at your school or even six feet under.