Ewan's penis (and other things)

[flambeau]

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

Comments

[_inbetween_]

I tend to see whatever the "facts" of the image on screen are and seem to differ in that from you, as it very much throws me out of a fic when bodily details are described that I know differ strongly from the person on screen.

[flambeau]

Well, yeah, if someone says Fraser is blond, I'm going to be confused. But on the other hand, Angel doesn't age, and Boreanaz does. For me, what I see is representation; that representation is obviously canon, but there's still a step between the actor's body and the character's, when I look.

[_inbetween_]

*nods* I know where you are coming from and what you mean. And I could have told you that you are not alone! On the contrary, I do feel that I am very much in an unwanted position of opposition, because of my instinctive reaction - as I said, being thrown out of a fic without wanting to.
It seems that only a little canon is needed and at some point the rest of it becomes a burden to some fanfic writers? I can understand the looks-issue with characters that exist both in books and film, or real people (from biographies, or VIPs) being used. When the source is not even a play but a TV series though, I do not see why the image has to differ.
This is going to haunt me for a while, I know :)

[cathexys]

well, i don't think you're in the unwanted opposition considering that eye colors have become the cliche of fanfic criticism :-)

bodily authenticity is quite often taken as the epitome of canonicity.

and of course there's a spectrum. like, i couldn't do what james does below and simply not care that it's another actor. when i read daniel, i see shanks and not spader. and like zoe below, i do often let my feelings for the actors bleed into my like or dislike for the characters. but i think the thing is that we ought to be *aware* of doing that [and, as i've argued before, i find it problematic to be lectured against RPS where i literally play with a highly constructed image] by people who bodybleed all over the place and thus erase any firm fiction/reality boundary.

[sorry, torch for being all over your lj...anything to not work :-) and i wonder whether ces will give me the "reality" lecture now :-)]

[_inbetween_]

Before I answer - and before I forget - I have to quickly say to Torch that "actor ≠ character" is very much my opinion as well. I even researched a bit in that field but did not find satisfying theoretical tools. To me, this is a different discussion though

[cathexys]

and then there are people like me, who just never *notice* eye color :-)

but changing Draco's hair to red (though i will always support everyone's right to write these stories and retain my right to not read them :-) is not quite the stuff of the OP, is it?

or maybe we're just agreeing? :-)

[_inbetween_]

*snort* lucky you.

The stuff of the what? I was just trying for a non-incidentary example here, you know :S

*g* noooo idea. I have not heard the term body-bleeding before today, I think, and it would be a rare thing if someone agreed with me (completely).

[flambeau]

Oh, please, make yourself at home, pull up a chair! Talk about authenticity! ;)