Behavior #11: Narrow Worldview

This isn't a behavior per se, but while rock subculture people tend to have wide-ranging interests, for a lot of fangirls, fangirling is their only hobby, breeding a peculiar form of passivity. For example, most serious music fans have at least tried to learn a musical instrument at some point, but fangirls almost never learn to play guitar or any other instrument. Copybands – the Japanese phenomenon where a group of people get together to attempt to play carbon-copies of music by a particular artist – are almost entirely the purview of fanboys, not fangirls. On the other hand, fanboys who cosplay admired band members may find themselves the target of a tremendous amount of sexual attention from fangirls (double it if the fanboy plays in a copyband in addition to cosplaying). It's like the instinct to worship is so ingrained in fangirls that they'll even chase after a simulacrum of their idol rather than the real thing. Even touching a fake is exciting, apparently.

Since most fangirls only like one band or a small handful of bands, they also generally lack knowledge about music in general. Some of them may track down bands that were known influences on their idols – for example, some Sakurai fans are, in fact, familiar with Bauhaus (even if they did precious little to show it on The Mortal's tour). But for the most part, the types of musical discussions rock fans thrive on leave fangirls in the dust, especially if those music discussions focus on Western artists. This is another reason why Japanese fangirls would have nothing to say to their idols if they actually met them – after the relative merits and demerits of various guitar effects pedals, one of the most popular topics at musicians' parties is Western rock bands, and most fangirls don't seem to know any.

In extreme cases, fangirls may lack interest in anything not concerned with their idol. Attending the idol's shows is first priority and everything else is secondary. For these fangirls, no amount of money is too much. They spend their entire disposable income chasing bands, and thereby may end up having difficulty dealing with a variety of real-world situations and forming relationships with anyone who isn't also a fangirl (though given the frequent and vitriolic nature of fangirl feuds, maintaining any friendships at all may be difficult). This can only be thought of as a vicious cycle whereby fans are initially drawn into fandom because it fills some hole in their souls, but the deeper they slide into it, the harder it is for them to connect with the general world. Retreating into subculture worlds can be an extremely positive thing, but only if those subculture worlds foster a positive identity construction process rather than identity erasure.

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