Celebrity Crush

    We live in a society that puts an incredible amount of worth upon actors and actresses. Think of when you read a magazine. We're so fascinated with these people who perform in movies and TV shows, we read about their trips to the grocery store. We look at pictures of them grabbing their morning coffee. The average person is just short of obsessed with at least one celebrity. However, this is only natural when they're portrayed as characters that we admire so much in stories. This is where the term "celebrity crush" comes in. Every person has had an irrational crush on a celebrity at one point or another.
    This trend has been going on since the beginning of pop culture. For the girls, there was Elvis, for the guys there was Marilyn Monroe. In my parents day, there was David Cassidy and Farrah Fawcett. Most girls of this age fantasize about men like Ryan Reynolds, Bradley Cooper, James Franco, or (one of my personal favorites) Joseph Gordon Levitt. It's easy to see why these actors are so dreamy. Besides their dashing good looks, they are portrayed in romantic comedies as the all-around good guy who will make you laugh and bring you breakfast in bed. In action movies, they're seen as heroes who will brave any danger to protect you. However, there is one celebrity crush of mine (and I am sure that I am not the only one), that I will absolutely never understand.
    Here I am, sitting watching Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, seeing as Johnny Depp frolics around in black eyeliner and dread locks, and I can't help but wish I was Penelope Cruz, his leading lady. If you think about it, there's really nothing attractive about this man. He's a forty-something year old guy. He's portraying an unwashed, borderline homosexual pirate wearing more jewelry than I even own. What is it about this guy that makes girls swoon at the sight of him? Is it the pirate accent? Maybe the captain's hat. Or perhaps there's just something positively irresistible about the life of piracy, the spray of the sea, and the mystery of mermaids. Whatever it is, it's enough to make me (and just about every other girl who's ever seen the movies) to overlook Johnny Depp's lack of sanitation in depicting Captain Jack Sparrow.
    Apart from Captain Sparrow, all of my celebrity crushes starting from childhood are relatively normal when compared to other girls my age. Everything started with The Beast from Beauty and the Beast. After he turned into a prince, it ruined everything. The Beast was so sweet and wonderful. Then, for the longest time, it was all about Matthew Broderick in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. When he serenades the audience with Danke Schoen, my heart would just melt. Ever since 10 Things I Hate About You and 500 Days of Summer, my go to celebrity crush has been Joseph Gordon Levitt, with his boyish smile and good-natured characters.
    Every girl has her irrational love interests in different actors. For instance, my little sister has recently has acquired a thing for Keven Bacon and Tom Cruise. My other sister's first crush was on Link from the Legend of Zelda games. I have a friend who wanted to marry either Neville from Harry Potter or Harry Osborne from Spiderman for the longest time. Some may say having these crushes is weird or stupid. There's obviously no possibility for a relationship with these characters that we've built up in our heads to be so perfect. However, I see these crushes as healthy. It gives a girl hope that a guy out there exists who will fight of Gaston for you. A man who will help you ditch school and bring you on a joyride throughout Chicago. Even a ruggedly gay pirate who will fight off Black Beard is better than nothing.