SHE thought it was the type of behaviour you would expect from a teenage girl, but Jessica Leski would soon discover being a fangirl has no age limits.
The year was 2012 and the then-31-year-old had become madly obsessed with English-Irish pop boy band One Direction.
“I would describe it as the feeling you get when you first start really liking someone or falling in love,” she told news.com.au
“It was completely unexpected, I had never liked the whole boy band thing and I certainly wasn’t the demographic they were targeted at.”
Yet, Ms Leski found herself developing an obsession for the group, much to distaste of all those around her.
“I was literally talking about them all of the time. I couldn’t stop,” she said.
“I would be at a family dinner and talking about One Direction because they were always at the front of my brain.
“In the end, I only had two friends who would listen to my ramblings, so I decided to find an outlet to express myself.
Motivated by her undying passion, Ms Leski headed online in search of acceptance for her lonely obsession.
“I had all this knowledge on the topic because I spent so much of my time reading and researching,” she said.
“I decided to start a Tumblr and I quickly found this whole thing was far bigger than I had ever imagined.”
It was through Tumblr Ms Leski discovered there was many other fangirls, like her, taking to social media to express their appreciation for the world of boy bands.
While exploring the creativity and magic that came from the pictures, fan art and fan fiction shared on social media, she found herself drawn even deeper into the fan world.
“It wasn’t long until I found myself falling under the spell of these fangirls,” she said.
“They were hilarious, creative and looked out for each other in a way that can only been found with fandom.”
As a filmmaker by trade, Ms Leski decided to set out on a journey to create a documentary of the unique subculture in which she was now deeply immersed.
Teaming up with fellow Melbourne-based producer Rita Walsh, the duo spent three years traversing the globe interviewing fangirls she had connected with on social media.
It wasn’t just teenagers that took part in the project, Ms Leski interviewed fan girls across a number of generations, music theorists, songwriters, educators, adolescent psychologists, neurologists and even former boyband members in order to explore the strange phenomenon.
“It took me by surprise when talking to the Beatles fangirls because I discovered their experience was a lot smaller than we have today,” she said.
“They may have shared it with their friends and maybe written John Lennon some fan mail, but they couldn’t send a tweet of their fan art like we can today.
“Even fangirls of the Backstreet Boys struggled to share their stories and were often left to find pen pals overseas.”
When all the filming was done, Ms Leski had learnt how lucky she was to have become a fangirl in an era where everyone is connected.
Despite all their handwork and effort, money on the project has begun to dry up and it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to finish the documentary.
In order to combat the issue Jessica has once more turned to internet and is using crowdsourcing site Kickstarter to raise the funds needed to release her project.
Having already raised over $12,000 it appears the filmmakers are well on their way.
The donations have been humbling for Ms Leski and she believes they are an indication of the strong bond that holds all fangirls together.
“The community is my motivation for getting the film finished, so I can show being passionate about happy pop music isn’t as weird as it seems,” she said.
“I think there is too much of a double standard around fangirls, if I had decided the opera was my obsession it would be OK because it’s high art.
“We are no different to boys screaming and crying at the footy. In the end we are all have something that can turn an adult into a teenager again.”
As for One Direction, Ms Lesksi is still a huge fan, although she admits there has been a definite shift since Zane left.
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