IAmPenelope
So, as said, here is my explanation on my Penelope fascination…
It all started when I was a wee boy of Primary School age, and the watching of a newly bought VHS (who remembers them?!) of Thunderbirds. I was already familiar with the show, and as a typical boy, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see new awesome vehicles and explosions, as is wont of Thunderbirds. This one particular episode on the tape (The Imposters) was different however; it was darker, and I remember being rather gripped by it. I won’t go into the full story here, but, in fine, it ended up focusing partly around this character (Lady Penelope) and her assignment of clearing the good guy’s name who she belonged to.
Now, this didn’t altogether happen straightaway, but more in ‘stages’ with rewatches, and growing up. But, over that time, I realised this change in Penelope’s character attitude halfway through the episode from her usual team-player thinking to a more solo/glory-wanting one, with completing her mission. That got me ‘interested’ in part of her character. Another ‘part’ which I found I began to like, was that, (as part of her overall mission) Penelope was in need of following these tracks found to the supposed hideout of the bad guys, but in doing so, her car gets stuck in some mud, resulting in her needing to continue on, on foot… on foot, down this track in the woods, in high heels. And in one particular scene, where Penelope is making down this track, she needs trudge her way through unavoidable mud which, her shoes (I think?) ultimately causing her downfall (pun intended), she ends up falling into the mud.
As a young boy, I was only knowledgeable of mud from a boy’s perspective of playing over my local parks come rain or shine, and in trainers; so I got curious as to what it would’ve been like to have worn heels as Penelope did, and why she wore them as she did in a snippet scene shown. I tried to understand it in my own way, and realised that I liked how her feet looked in her shoes, and how ‘out-of-place’ they looked in the mud. Over time, I realised too that there was a liking for the sense of karma involved too – her fall being karmas retribution to her being rude in an earlier scene. The whole thing was so different to her usual character that ultimately seeing Penelope in the mud I just found incredibly hot.
And it is because of that ‘liking’ of seeing Penelope in heels, making through the mud, and ultimately falling in it, that I’ve simply wanted to see someone – a ‘Penelope’ – be a ‘Penelope’ in real life, and to see it… *embarrassed face*