Unpopular fandom opinion alert...

[denorios]

So convention photo-shoots, okay? I seem them all the time all over LJ and Tumblr, because, you know, people meet their heroes and their idols and heartthrobs and they're thrilled. And I totally get that, no arguments from me. Who wouldn't want a photograph to commemorate a really important moment in their life

Comments

[author_by_night]

I mean, I'm kind of weird in that I generally don't care that much about the actors anyway. I think if I were in the SPN fandom I'd be totally frustrated, because I'd be like "yes, Jensen Ackles is hot, can we talk about the actual show now?" If I met an actor on a show I like, I'd probably get his autograph, but it wouldn't be like "this is me with (character)!" So... I might not be the best judge here.

However, I don't see how it's an unpopular opinion to not want actors to be touched like that in photo shoots. I'm sure it is, but that's so wrong to me. By all means take a silly photo, that's fine, but there's silly and there's creepy. What you describe sounds creepy.

[elsaf]

I remember James Marsters (Spike on Buffy) saying once that sometimes he feels like everybody in the world is walking around with a little piece of paper in their pocket that says "I get a piece of James Marsters." Of course, he was talking about meeting fans on the street and in restaurants, not convention appearances. He also said that the thing about actors is we get to stare at them. He said usually, we know it's rude to just stare at a person in public. But when an actor is on stage, everybody has the license to stare as much as they want and it's OK

[scripsi]

I've met Jason Isaacs once and he was a complete darling and seemed happy to have his photos taken (as himself- nothing silly over it), but I felt rather embarassed over it and would have kept my distance on the photo if he hadn't put his arm around me. If I hadn't been with friends who pushed for it, it wouldn't have happened. I'm very happy to have it, but I've never posted it anywhere. So yes, I don't get posing and such at all.

[denorios]

See, that I understand. That's just normal, posing for a photo with someone (and Jason Isaacs does always come across as a darling, doesn't he? I love that man). It's when you see all these con photos, and I just can't imagine going to a shoot like that and being all 'I want you to do this and stand like this and wear that and then pull this face and I'll do this'. That's what I mean by moving the actors around like puppets or props just to get a visual snapshot of the fantasy you have in your mind. To me that's just weird, not to mention almost demeaning and dehumanising.

[frelling_tralk]

I know what you mean, sometimes the whole thing gives me a bit of second-hand embarrassment, but I guess that I've never really thought about it in terms of feeling badly for the actors, I'm more cringing on behalf of some of the fans :P I see it as the actors making appearances at conventions and photo ops are doing so on the understanding that fans are paying to interact with them, so I guess that I assume that they expect requests for different poses and so on as part of the deal going in?

There's definitely a line though, and Misha really shouldn't have agreed to a request of his body being licked. Even if he personally doesn't mind/thinks it's funny, that's only going to encourage fans to push boundries more and more, and most other actors wouldn't be so comfortable with being asked to do something like that.

[denorios]

Misha is just fandom catnip, I swear, and he knows it. He's so much trouble. I sometimes wonder if the man has any boundaries at all!

I just wonder how much gets dismissed with this 'it's part of the job' schtick, they know what to expect, they agree to it - yes, but should they have to? Even if they agree to it, does that make it any less like a meat market?

[snogged]

I know what photos you're talking about.

I wouldn't call them a pet peeve of mine. I mostly just shrug it off because you're only in there for about three seconds anyways.

I do like the proposal ones though. David Tennant was part of a cute one.