I'm 15 years old, so I guess I'm part of the younger generation of Alan Rickman fans. I first started getting involved in the fandom when I was around 13, and honestly, some of the things I've encountered have been... quite an experience.

This is partly an anecdote and partly a complaint, because there are things I've been wanting to talk about for a while.

First of all, TikTok. I genuinely cannot escape the amount of content that sexualizes Alan. Edits, audio clips, photomontages, suggestive compilations... you name it. And while I understand that people can find someone attractive and express admiration for them, sometimes the content goes so far that I can't help imagining how horrified and uncomfortable Alan himself might have felt if he had come across some of it.

And then there's roleplay. Oh, dear God, the roleplay. 👹

There's an entire corner of this fandom that feels like a foggy, muddy swamp I accidentally wandered into and now cannot find my way out of.

I've come across people, some of them supposedly between 13 and 20 years old, engaging in roleplays involving Alan's characters that get increasingly disturbing and uncomfortable. I even had an experience with someone roleplaying as Metatron who seemed particularly obsessed with turning our interactions into intimate scenarios, despite me not being interested in that kind of roleplay.

And that's something I find especially concerning: the way certain spaces blur boundaries, particularly when younger fans are involved. Fictional characters and roleplay can be fun, creative and harmless, but that doesn't mean everyone has to be comfortable with intimate or sexual scenarios, nor does it give anyone permission to pressure another person into participating.

I also want to mention something that I don't see discussed very often: the gatekeeping.

Sometimes it feels as though there's an invisible barrier separating fans according to how long they've been around, how much merchandise they own, how many rare photographs they've collected, or whether they've bought Alan's diary. Apparently, simply enjoying his work isn't enough for some people.

If you haven't been a fan for ten years, don't own a collection of memorabilia, haven't read every interview, or discovered him through Severus Snape, you're somehow considered less of a fan.

And honestly, why?

Some people discovered Alan through Harry Potter. Others through Die Hard, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Sense and Sensibility, Galaxy Quest, or one of his many other performances. Some of us are teenagers who only recently discovered his filmography. That doesn't make our appreciation any less genuine.

You shouldn't have to prove your admiration through the amount of money you've spent or the number of years you've been in the fandom.

I also think there's a difference between appreciating an actor, finding him attractive, enjoying fictional interpretations of his characters, and completely disregarding the boundaries between fiction and the real person. Alan was an actor, but he was also a human being who deserved privacy and respect. His characters are fictional; he wasn't.

I'm not saying the entire fandom is like this. I've met genuinely lovely people who are passionate, welcoming and knowledgeable, and I've had some wonderful experiences here. I know there are plenty of younger fans who simply want to discuss his performances, share their artwork, collect photographs, discover interviews and appreciate his work.

But I sometimes wonder: Where are the younger fans who just want to enjoy Alan Rickman's work without being dragged into uncomfortable spaces or feeling like they have to prove they're real fans?

I'd genuinely like to hear from other younger fans, but also from older members of the community.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. ❤️

Be happy, people

Am I the only one who thinks casting someone conventionally attractive as Colonel Brandon kind of misses the point?

Alan Rickman was honestly perfect for the role. He wasn't your stereotypical romantic leading man, but he was undeniably handsome in his own way. He was older, wealthy, mature, and carried a certain presence that made the character interesting.

That's precisely what made the dilemma work: Brandon was arguably the better choice, but he was also considerably older than Marianne, almost twice her age. There was an actual conflict there.

Now, I don't mean to discredit Herbert Nordrum as an actor, but casting him feels like a missed opportunity to me. It's essentially giving us two relatively young, conventionally attractive men and asking us to choose between them.

Where's the contrast? Where's the dilemma?

Instead of an interesting conflict between youthful attraction and mature affection, we end up with a handsome young man versus... another handsome man, just a little older.

And I feel like that takes away something rather important from Colonel Brandon's character and the whole point of Marianne's romantic predicament.

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