Richard Armitage as Media Image vs. MrA the Human Dude (Who Probably Hogs The Remote Sometimes)
--And Is It Really All About Him? ~or~ How Fandom Can Make You Less Grumpy
By MsGigglePants, in her livenud alter-ego :}
AN APOLOGY: To anyone I irritate or frankly enrage with this post, please forgive me. I'm really, really new and unaware of the various toes I may be treading on. If this is just moronic, please ignore it and move on to the next FanstRA post. :} I wrote this as a reaction to my New Fan bewilderment over The Armitage Effect and decided to post it pretty much as is: rambling, disorganized, and a bit insane. Here we go!!
I'll begin by saying that I'm very new to this fandom, and I know I'm not breaking new territory with this post. I have, in fact, read other posts on pretty much this exact theme. Far from revealing some fascinating insight into our mutual interest, I'm just one more pilgrim striding the well-worn path. The only reason I'm still posting this - and I'll admit to some late-night moments of utter cowardice - is that I'm hoping some other fan in the gasping / flailing stages of this addiction will read this and think: "Oh! It's not just me." For indeed, it's not just you. Or me. Or even just "us". :} We share this delicious madness with many, many others.
I think one reason we may be so nuts for RA is because due to his famous privacy, he's a bit of a blank slate. We can project onto him whatever thoughts or emotions we most want him to have and, unresisting, his oh-so-beautiful media image seems to comply. But… I wonder… I suspect that if I found out too much about MrA, it might dull his shine a tad; not because he's not a great person - I suspect he is - and not because he's not a fantastic actor - I know he is - but just because he's human. And like all human people, he's complex. Has charms we don't know about, but also faults.
Understand: the revelation of faults wouldn't change *him* a bit. He'd be exactly the same as he's always been; the difference would be in our knowledge and perception of him, and in the interface between our reality and our dreams of him. The transaction between us, the fans, and Richard Armitage, the actor, is on the surface a fairly simple one. But I think it has become more complex and personal for many of us *because* of the fierceness with which MrA guards his privacy, and the fact that in consequence, he can appear to be *whatever* we're looking for.
We all fell in love with John Thornton, or Porter, or Thorin, and then found it oh-so-easy to transfer at least part of our affections over onto media figure Richard Armitage, because that image is so obligingly insubstantial… but if any of us found ourselves in an actual relationship with the real MrA, it would end that fantasy quickly. Again, not because he's a bad guy; but because he is human and therefore three-dimensional. Heir to the same quirks and tics as our real-life significant others (God bless them). Most importantly, he would probably insist on having his own personality and opinions and wishes and desires. (Most inconvenient!)
In the end, I think my fascination with him is more about me than it is about him. He is undeniably beautiful (I use the word advisedly, because he is not only handsome but also has a fair character), charming, talented, intelligent, and in many other ways disconcertingly near perfect. But his charms don't draw me in on a simply physical basis, nor on the strength of his goodness. Part of the attraction for me is that when he looks out of his photos, he does so with very little backstory, and so I can create whatever context I wish. Having a terrible day? "Don't worry," his twinkling eyes say. "The afternoon will be better. I'll be 'round for a glass of wine and a chat." Wish my husband were paying me more attention? No problem. I can go watch Mr. Thornton in the train station with Margaret Hale and then imagine I were the center of someone's absolute yearning in that same way. It's been interesting noticing this, and watching my private bellwether to see what I feel is lacking in my life. Sudden Harry Kennedy craving? Time for more laughter and possibly some snuggles. Lucas or Porter? Well. (ahem) Part of that is undeniably sexual, but part of it is also a wish for a strong protective partner.
And I wonder how much of our communal attraction to him is driven by his mystery… how much of it is more about us than about him. At this moment, you may be scoffing: "Impossible! Have we the twinkling blue eyes, and the manly shoulders, and the pert (peachy) buttocks? Are we Guy of Gisborne?!?" (or Lucas North, or insert character name here). "Have we inspired others to behave in ways they might not otherwise have done?" (I'm thinking of the letter to fans containing: "be willingly good, extra good, extra peaceful and extra forgiving".) And the answer is No, no, and… yes.
No, obviously none of us have that physique or we would be in the bathroom all day admiring it rather than online sighing over photos of RA's. (Dammit. I don't even know anyone who has that physique and would let me borrow it for a while, just to look at it. lol)
No, none of us are Guy, or Lucas, or John Standring -- and neither is MrA. While he brought them to life with an earnestness and vulnerability that made them seem utterly real and transparent, that is his art. He works at that constantly, probably to the exclusion of much else. (I'm not saying he isn't selfless and warm and probably a fantastic cuddler (imagines THEN MAKES SELF STOP IMAGINING), but I'm thinking most of his waking hours and energies go either to the work or to resting and relaxing after. Being more than one whole person at a time has got to be rather time-consuming. God help him if he ever does a double role a la Patty Duke in the Patty Duke Show ("'cause they're cousins/ identical cousins all the way" - NO TERRIBLE EARWORM OMG crap crap crap) - but I digress). (Also, I apologize to any readers with good grammar. I completely lost control of my thought process & parenthetical asides there (only there? Hush, Nasty Inner Voice)). ()))(() <<- Extras, just in case. ;)
The last point of my rambling narrative is this final question: "Have we, like MrA, inspired others to behave in ways they might otherwise not have done - to "be willingly good, extra good, extra peaceful and extra forgiving"?" And I would answer this question with a confident YES. Because whether MrA is actually truly Harry Kennedy under all the media hype (in which case, God bless him, all his human faults and frailties aren't a problem - I don't think any of us would throw Harry out of bed for eating crackers) - or even if he were to be, horror of horrors, a secret TV-remote-hogger, it's immaterial. His influence has already improved many of us. Our interest in him, or in "Richard Armitage", the lovely fellow who urges us to be better people and inspires us to try harder and "be good", has caused us to spend hours meeting new people and interacting with them. Since becoming involved in this fandom, I've picked up some creative hobbies I hadn't thought about in a long time… Part of that is MrA's influence, reading about his painstaking work inspires me, but part of it is the amazing creativity of the fandom. It challenges me and calls forth my own creativity.
Yes, sometimes (often) we're looking at his chest and pining. But sometimes his fans are raising money for charity or engaged in other group activities that cause us to learn new skills or pick up old ones. Very frequently - I would say I see proof of this almost daily - we support each other in our many and varied endeavors, we commiserate through the trials of the day, we research and study and learn things we might not otherwise have considered… and we're not doing this for his approval. We're doing this for each other. The community of friends I've stumbled onto has been simply lovely. They have inspired me, made me laugh right out loud on many occasions, and prompted me to *think* more than any group of people has in a long while.
And slowly, it's become more about new friends, and about who I can allow myself to be while I'm chatting with them, than it is about MrA, either as true human or as mythical construct. I still think he's the bee's knees. I would LOVE to meet him and talk to him over a glass of wine. I would totally and completely check out his backside, because he spends time on making it lovely and to not admire it would be discourteous. (cough) Truly.
But I'm getting over the initial tendency to imagine that he's *really* Thornton or Harry. As lovely as that would be, it's an unfair expectation. He must be allowed to have his faults and frailties, his moments of extreme annoyance during which he calls people cows or grumps at them about the air conditioning being too high. He must be allowed (much as I regret saying it) to belch. And scratch inelegantly. And to not be lionized as The Most Perfect Partner In The World for each of us, whatever that might entail… because we created that partner for ourselves and pasted it onto the beautiful but unknowable cipher that is Richard Armitage's media image.
Frankly, I think it's an incredibly smart strategy to limit contact with social media (at least as himself) and to let the world make of him what we will, once he's provided a basic framework. The basic framework he's provided is marvelous. It's warm and human and someone that we'd all (obviously) like to hang out with and talk about acting, or boots, or whatever. I hope he can continue to protect his private life and maintain the space he needs for the brilliant work he does. I hope he has his own Most Perfect Partner who perhaps belches or scratches inelegantly, and who allows him to do the same. And who is able to ignore the hordes of possibly crazy people who trail him, projecting their own needs and wishes onto him frantically.
Good god. Imagine if he was some version of a positive-emotions Boggart. (blink blink) It'd be like GuySweetHarryWETPORTERScratchedUpPorterHarryCryingLucasGUYTIEDUPGUYTIEDUPGUYGUYGUYThorinCuddlyThorinOhMyGodMYPRETTYPONYTHORIN?!!SmirkingGuyJohnStandringHoldingYourHandAndLeadingYouUpstairsMrThorntonUntyingHisCravat(thud)
And with that mental image, I leave you.
By MsGigglePants, in her livenud alter-ego :}
AN APOLOGY: To anyone I irritate or frankly enrage with this post, please forgive me. I'm really, really new and unaware of the various toes I may be treading on. If this is just moronic, please ignore it and move on to the next FanstRA post. :} I wrote this as a reaction to my New Fan bewilderment over The Armitage Effect and decided to post it pretty much as is: rambling, disorganized, and a bit insane. Here we go!!
I'll begin by saying that I'm very new to this fandom, and I know I'm not breaking new territory with this post. I have, in fact, read other posts on pretty much this exact theme. Far from revealing some fascinating insight into our mutual interest, I'm just one more pilgrim striding the well-worn path. The only reason I'm still posting this - and I'll admit to some late-night moments of utter cowardice - is that I'm hoping some other fan in the gasping / flailing stages of this addiction will read this and think: "Oh! It's not just me." For indeed, it's not just you. Or me. Or even just "us". :} We share this delicious madness with many, many others.
I think one reason we may be so nuts for RA is because due to his famous privacy, he's a bit of a blank slate. We can project onto him whatever thoughts or emotions we most want him to have and, unresisting, his oh-so-beautiful media image seems to comply. But… I wonder… I suspect that if I found out too much about MrA, it might dull his shine a tad; not because he's not a great person - I suspect he is - and not because he's not a fantastic actor - I know he is - but just because he's human. And like all human people, he's complex. Has charms we don't know about, but also faults.
Understand: the revelation of faults wouldn't change *him* a bit. He'd be exactly the same as he's always been; the difference would be in our knowledge and perception of him, and in the interface between our reality and our dreams of him. The transaction between us, the fans, and Richard Armitage, the actor, is on the surface a fairly simple one. But I think it has become more complex and personal for many of us *because* of the fierceness with which MrA guards his privacy, and the fact that in consequence, he can appear to be *whatever* we're looking for.
We all fell in love with John Thornton, or Porter, or Thorin, and then found it oh-so-easy to transfer at least part of our affections over onto media figure Richard Armitage, because that image is so obligingly insubstantial… but if any of us found ourselves in an actual relationship with the real MrA, it would end that fantasy quickly. Again, not because he's a bad guy; but because he is human and therefore three-dimensional. Heir to the same quirks and tics as our real-life significant others (God bless them). Most importantly, he would probably insist on having his own personality and opinions and wishes and desires. (Most inconvenient!)
In the end, I think my fascination with him is more about me than it is about him. He is undeniably beautiful (I use the word advisedly, because he is not only handsome but also has a fair character), charming, talented, intelligent, and in many other ways disconcertingly near perfect. But his charms don't draw me in on a simply physical basis, nor on the strength of his goodness. Part of the attraction for me is that when he looks out of his photos, he does so with very little backstory, and so I can create whatever context I wish. Having a terrible day? "Don't worry," his twinkling eyes say. "The afternoon will be better. I'll be 'round for a glass of wine and a chat." Wish my husband were paying me more attention? No problem. I can go watch Mr. Thornton in the train station with Margaret Hale and then imagine I were the center of someone's absolute yearning in that same way. It's been interesting noticing this, and watching my private bellwether to see what I feel is lacking in my life. Sudden Harry Kennedy craving? Time for more laughter and possibly some snuggles. Lucas or Porter? Well. (ahem) Part of that is undeniably sexual, but part of it is also a wish for a strong protective partner.
And I wonder how much of our communal attraction to him is driven by his mystery… how much of it is more about us than about him. At this moment, you may be scoffing: "Impossible! Have we the twinkling blue eyes, and the manly shoulders, and the pert (peachy) buttocks? Are we Guy of Gisborne?!?" (or Lucas North, or insert character name here). "Have we inspired others to behave in ways they might not otherwise have done?" (I'm thinking of the letter to fans containing: "be willingly good, extra good, extra peaceful and extra forgiving".) And the answer is No, no, and… yes.
No, obviously none of us have that physique or we would be in the bathroom all day admiring it rather than online sighing over photos of RA's. (Dammit. I don't even know anyone who has that physique and would let me borrow it for a while, just to look at it. lol)
No, none of us are Guy, or Lucas, or John Standring -- and neither is MrA. While he brought them to life with an earnestness and vulnerability that made them seem utterly real and transparent, that is his art. He works at that constantly, probably to the exclusion of much else. (I'm not saying he isn't selfless and warm and probably a fantastic cuddler (imagines THEN MAKES SELF STOP IMAGINING), but I'm thinking most of his waking hours and energies go either to the work or to resting and relaxing after. Being more than one whole person at a time has got to be rather time-consuming. God help him if he ever does a double role a la Patty Duke in the Patty Duke Show ("'cause they're cousins/ identical cousins all the way" - NO TERRIBLE EARWORM OMG crap crap crap) - but I digress). (Also, I apologize to any readers with good grammar. I completely lost control of my thought process & parenthetical asides there (only there? Hush, Nasty Inner Voice)). ()))(() <<- Extras, just in case. ;)
The last point of my rambling narrative is this final question: "Have we, like MrA, inspired others to behave in ways they might otherwise not have done - to "be willingly good, extra good, extra peaceful and extra forgiving"?" And I would answer this question with a confident YES. Because whether MrA is actually truly Harry Kennedy under all the media hype (in which case, God bless him, all his human faults and frailties aren't a problem - I don't think any of us would throw Harry out of bed for eating crackers) - or even if he were to be, horror of horrors, a secret TV-remote-hogger, it's immaterial. His influence has already improved many of us. Our interest in him, or in "Richard Armitage", the lovely fellow who urges us to be better people and inspires us to try harder and "be good", has caused us to spend hours meeting new people and interacting with them. Since becoming involved in this fandom, I've picked up some creative hobbies I hadn't thought about in a long time… Part of that is MrA's influence, reading about his painstaking work inspires me, but part of it is the amazing creativity of the fandom. It challenges me and calls forth my own creativity.
Yes, sometimes (often) we're looking at his chest and pining. But sometimes his fans are raising money for charity or engaged in other group activities that cause us to learn new skills or pick up old ones. Very frequently - I would say I see proof of this almost daily - we support each other in our many and varied endeavors, we commiserate through the trials of the day, we research and study and learn things we might not otherwise have considered… and we're not doing this for his approval. We're doing this for each other. The community of friends I've stumbled onto has been simply lovely. They have inspired me, made me laugh right out loud on many occasions, and prompted me to *think* more than any group of people has in a long while.
And slowly, it's become more about new friends, and about who I can allow myself to be while I'm chatting with them, than it is about MrA, either as true human or as mythical construct. I still think he's the bee's knees. I would LOVE to meet him and talk to him over a glass of wine. I would totally and completely check out his backside, because he spends time on making it lovely and to not admire it would be discourteous. (cough) Truly.
But I'm getting over the initial tendency to imagine that he's *really* Thornton or Harry. As lovely as that would be, it's an unfair expectation. He must be allowed to have his faults and frailties, his moments of extreme annoyance during which he calls people cows or grumps at them about the air conditioning being too high. He must be allowed (much as I regret saying it) to belch. And scratch inelegantly. And to not be lionized as The Most Perfect Partner In The World for each of us, whatever that might entail… because we created that partner for ourselves and pasted it onto the beautiful but unknowable cipher that is Richard Armitage's media image.
Frankly, I think it's an incredibly smart strategy to limit contact with social media (at least as himself) and to let the world make of him what we will, once he's provided a basic framework. The basic framework he's provided is marvelous. It's warm and human and someone that we'd all (obviously) like to hang out with and talk about acting, or boots, or whatever. I hope he can continue to protect his private life and maintain the space he needs for the brilliant work he does. I hope he has his own Most Perfect Partner who perhaps belches or scratches inelegantly, and who allows him to do the same. And who is able to ignore the hordes of possibly crazy people who trail him, projecting their own needs and wishes onto him frantically.
Good god. Imagine if he was some version of a positive-emotions Boggart. (blink blink) It'd be like GuySweetHarryWETPORTERScratchedUpPorterHarryCryingLucasGUYTIEDUPGUYTIEDUPGUYGUYGUYThorinCuddlyThorinOhMyGodMYPRETTYPONYTHORIN?!!SmirkingGuyJohnStandringHoldingYourHandAndLeadingYouUpstairsMrThorntonUntyingHisCravat(thud)
And with that mental image, I leave you.