Ewan's penis (and other things)
Things that have entertained me lately, for various reasons, in no particular order: Two Lumps; bridge crossings; the sad decline of epic-writing since the mid-90s; Ewan McGregor; a truly driven artist. Also Le Morte d'Arthur, which I am currently rereading. I'd forgotten just how plain wacky it is, and now, of course, I'm seeing them all as anime characters in their endless tournaments. Magic moonbeam Excalibur attack!
Happiest of happy birthdays to cin1607!
Also I've been thinking about bodies. This is because of Ewan McGregor - or rather, it's because of Obi-Wan Kenobi, which is not, in fact, the same thing. It's also because of all the screencaps of David Hewlett's naked ass that I've seen floating around. (I'd like to make it very clear that I have no objection whatsoever to screencaps of David Hewlett's naked ass, btw. Really not. no.) Somewhere in there I started to think about how, to me, characters in movies and tv series etc don't look exactly like the actors who play them. I mean, obviously there is a strong resemblance. But to me, they aren't the same and sometimes the phenomenon of checking out an actor in all his other roles to get a better view of the body, as a sort of secondary canon, leaves me... hm, I don't even know how to put it. Thinking that I clearly don't think like other people about this, I guess.
When I look at a tv show, what I'm seeing is an interpretation, an approximation - both in the sets and the actors. This planet looks approximately like a wooded area outside of Vancouver. This character looks approximately like David Hewlett. And so on. (When I look at Spock, for instance, I have to translate quite a bit in my head to get from what I see to what the show tells me I'm seeing.) And a photo of actor X being himself doesn't look like a photo of actor X as character Z. to me. And hence, the naked penises of various characters played by Ewan McGregor don't necessarily look like the naked penis of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Okay, they probably do. If Obi-Wan had flung off his robes, I'm pretty sure we'd have seen the same old penis and not, say, something pale blue with feathers. But I don't feel that seeing Ewan McGregor naked is necessary for me in order to write about Obi-Wan, ditto. (Not that I have any objection to Ewan McGregor naked. Do I even need to say this? Are there people who have objections to Ewan McGregor naked? Can I have their share?)
It's not, obviously, an RPS squick type thing. And really it's not a squick type thing at all, just a slightly confused thing (and an ongoing fear of bleedover, which I've already caught glimpses of in SGA, too). These bodies, to me, are not those other bodies. If La Timberlake ever manages to appear in something on a screen near me, and I am moved to write about his character, this character will not have all those tattoos (at least, if I were in charge of makeup I'd do something about the little puppet one...).
Did I have a point? I really don't know if I had a point. I'm curious about whether other people think the characters look exactly like the actors, or not.
Book-to-movie fandoms are a whole separate thing, too. There it's usually more about whether the character looks anything like the actor at all. :)
Happiest of happy birthdays to cin1607!
Also I've been thinking about bodies. This is because of Ewan McGregor - or rather, it's because of Obi-Wan Kenobi, which is not, in fact, the same thing. It's also because of all the screencaps of David Hewlett's naked ass that I've seen floating around. (I'd like to make it very clear that I have no objection whatsoever to screencaps of David Hewlett's naked ass, btw. Really not. no.) Somewhere in there I started to think about how, to me, characters in movies and tv series etc don't look exactly like the actors who play them. I mean, obviously there is a strong resemblance. But to me, they aren't the same and sometimes the phenomenon of checking out an actor in all his other roles to get a better view of the body, as a sort of secondary canon, leaves me... hm, I don't even know how to put it. Thinking that I clearly don't think like other people about this, I guess.
When I look at a tv show, what I'm seeing is an interpretation, an approximation - both in the sets and the actors. This planet looks approximately like a wooded area outside of Vancouver. This character looks approximately like David Hewlett. And so on. (When I look at Spock, for instance, I have to translate quite a bit in my head to get from what I see to what the show tells me I'm seeing.) And a photo of actor X being himself doesn't look like a photo of actor X as character Z. to me. And hence, the naked penises of various characters played by Ewan McGregor don't necessarily look like the naked penis of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Okay, they probably do. If Obi-Wan had flung off his robes, I'm pretty sure we'd have seen the same old penis and not, say, something pale blue with feathers. But I don't feel that seeing Ewan McGregor naked is necessary for me in order to write about Obi-Wan, ditto. (Not that I have any objection to Ewan McGregor naked. Do I even need to say this? Are there people who have objections to Ewan McGregor naked? Can I have their share?)
It's not, obviously, an RPS squick type thing. And really it's not a squick type thing at all, just a slightly confused thing (and an ongoing fear of bleedover, which I've already caught glimpses of in SGA, too). These bodies, to me, are not those other bodies. If La Timberlake ever manages to appear in something on a screen near me, and I am moved to write about his character, this character will not have all those tattoos (at least, if I were in charge of makeup I'd do something about the little puppet one...).
Did I have a point? I really don't know if I had a point. I'm curious about whether other people think the characters look exactly like the actors, or not.
Book-to-movie fandoms are a whole separate thing, too. There it's usually more about whether the character looks anything like the actor at all. :)