Musings on the nature of beefcake and the TPTB
Batten down the hatches, here comes hurricane Dark Angel. I am afraid I found that I like Dark Angel so I am afraid the next couple of weeks might be a bit DA heavy on my lj. It must be the name Logan. I can't resist.
In other news, I was thinking about beefcake/sex appeal and how the TPTB use it or are sometimes surprised by it.
Granted, sometimes Beefcake Potential (BP) is the only reason particular actors get employed. I am sure that was by far the number one consideration for the both leads on One Tree Hill. At least, that is the only way I can explain how the hideous lack of acting talent passed the casting director by (James Lafferty gets better, Chad Michael Murray...doesn't.)
But I am thinking about other situations. Sometimes, the TPTB have someone who they'll know be a BP and it's a good chunk of the reason for casting them. Angel on the first three years of Buffy had his own plots and storylines but a big reason for having him there was not just to deal with vampire lore or give Buffy angst, but because he was so hot and the show's BP. There's a reason they hired David Boreanaz for Angel and not the guy who played Principal Snyder. Likewise, Max on Roswell was hired not just for his angsting skills.
And even shows that are not about beefcake at all utilize the BP stuff, and usually end up knowing/guessing right as to who the BP will be. Farscape is not primarily or even secondarily about BP, but it's pretty clear that if anybody will end up as BP, it will be Ben Browder as Crichton, because unless you are into tentacles, your options are otherwise nil. And on Battlestar Galactica, TPTB know that women are a lot more likely to find Lee appealing (hence the towel) than they are Tigh (the latter's disturbing tendency to flash his arms and have on-screen sex notwithstanding). And there is a reason why Firefly's Mal and Simon are not malformed dwarves and it's not just because it's hard to find malformed dwarf SAG members.
The really interesting thing is when the TPTB get blindsided. Before the first Lord of the Rings movie nobody thought anyone would go mad for Legolas. I went hunting for pics before the movie (I liked book Legolas years ago) and there was a notable dearth. But after the movie, there was a huge Legolas mania and Orlando Bloom was launched on a career of killing things with swords. And on Veronica Mars, I always thought the fandom love of Logan caught TPTB by surprise. Duncan was the one who was supposed to be the pin-up, the one viewers wanted to be with Veronica, what not. But something else happened entirely. Logan wasn't even supposed to be ANY kind of a pin-up or love interest in the beginning.
Does this ramble go anywhere? Nope. But it was fun anyway.
In other news, I was thinking about beefcake/sex appeal and how the TPTB use it or are sometimes surprised by it.
Granted, sometimes Beefcake Potential (BP) is the only reason particular actors get employed. I am sure that was by far the number one consideration for the both leads on One Tree Hill. At least, that is the only way I can explain how the hideous lack of acting talent passed the casting director by (James Lafferty gets better, Chad Michael Murray...doesn't.)
But I am thinking about other situations. Sometimes, the TPTB have someone who they'll know be a BP and it's a good chunk of the reason for casting them. Angel on the first three years of Buffy had his own plots and storylines but a big reason for having him there was not just to deal with vampire lore or give Buffy angst, but because he was so hot and the show's BP. There's a reason they hired David Boreanaz for Angel and not the guy who played Principal Snyder. Likewise, Max on Roswell was hired not just for his angsting skills.
And even shows that are not about beefcake at all utilize the BP stuff, and usually end up knowing/guessing right as to who the BP will be. Farscape is not primarily or even secondarily about BP, but it's pretty clear that if anybody will end up as BP, it will be Ben Browder as Crichton, because unless you are into tentacles, your options are otherwise nil. And on Battlestar Galactica, TPTB know that women are a lot more likely to find Lee appealing (hence the towel) than they are Tigh (the latter's disturbing tendency to flash his arms and have on-screen sex notwithstanding). And there is a reason why Firefly's Mal and Simon are not malformed dwarves and it's not just because it's hard to find malformed dwarf SAG members.
The really interesting thing is when the TPTB get blindsided. Before the first Lord of the Rings movie nobody thought anyone would go mad for Legolas. I went hunting for pics before the movie (I liked book Legolas years ago) and there was a notable dearth. But after the movie, there was a huge Legolas mania and Orlando Bloom was launched on a career of killing things with swords. And on Veronica Mars, I always thought the fandom love of Logan caught TPTB by surprise. Duncan was the one who was supposed to be the pin-up, the one viewers wanted to be with Veronica, what not. But something else happened entirely. Logan wasn't even supposed to be ANY kind of a pin-up or love interest in the beginning.
Does this ramble go anywhere? Nope. But it was fun anyway.