I feel a rant coming on... (wanky post is wanky)

[ellecain]

Read the comments and understand. Pics for the non-Merlin fans

That's just.. I don't know what to say. I've seen similar reactions in other places and it just makes me so sad. At IMDB under Merlin, there's a thread called Unattractive Gwen (no really!) where the comments are along the lines of "I'M NOT RACIST BUT Gwen is ugly/untalented/lacking

Comments

[papier]

They're worried about 'historical accuracy' in a show that features magic and dragons? I call bullshit.

I didn't watch the full series but I've heard that ALL the actors have come across well to critics and viewers alike.

[ellecain]

LOL funnily enough, the bits that bother people include the presence of tomatoes and the characters eating sandwiches - nobody seems to complain about the dragons and unicorns! People are weird that way.

Oh, and the whole cast is just adorable, give the series another go. Aren't you a Brit? The honour of your legends is at stake! :-)

[briar_pipe]

Thank you. Thank you thank you.

1) Guinevere has established chemistry with every major actor on the show and some minor ones. There are people who ship Gaius/Gwen. There's talk on the Gwen friending meme about some who are intrigued by Uther/Gwen. Every room she walks into, every person she's on screen with, the chemistry is there. Along with Arthur, she's the most pan-shipped character on the show.

2) Angel Coulby is gorgeous. They put her in the plainest clothes possible and pin up her hair to keep people from noticing how pretty she is, because that is for later reveals. Watch the interviews.

3) The historical accuracy argument has been debunked by many people using many different sources. It's whitewashing bs pulled by prejudiced people who are ignorant of real history.

[ellecain]

Wow, Gaius/Gwen and Uther/Gwen, really? I need to get out more!
(maybe I should give up my fruitless search for Uther/Nimueh and get on the Uther/Gwen bandwagon)

You know, the thought didn't even cross my mind that they might be dressing her down on purpose! Now that you told me it seems so obvious. I had just put it down to the fact that she's a servant! Wow, I'm dense. :-)

[briar_pipe]

Well, the Uther/Gwen is new. There's one on the kink meme and one here. And Gaius/Gwen is one of the reasons for the founding of camelot_tree.

I didn't really cotton to the dressing down until I saw her in an interview (next to Katie) and thought, yeesh, they're equally gorgeous! And then I realized what they must have done on the show. (It's a dressing down in terms of makeup, too - a little mascara and her eyes are stunning.) So no, you're not dense. We're not meant to notice.

[briar_pipe]

Oh, and my 15 fav Gwen icons are here, if you're still looking. I also link to several Gwen-inclusive icon posts here.

[perverse_idyll]

Truth: I haven't seen a single episode of Merlin yet. I'm simply going by the visuals that have been posted around fandom: icons and screencaps and a couple of vids.

Judging Gwen solely by her face? She's already my favorite character. The artistic directors may have dressed her down for a later surprise reveal, but as it is, her face is gorgeous and expressive and eyecatching, and I fully believe what briar_pipe says about her having chemistry with everyone in the cast.

And good grief, what are the criteria for "hawt" these days? If she's not it, I'll… never mind. *snags Angel Coulby for myself*

[ellecain]

Heh, the criteria for "hawt" are so high that I'm surprised any human female even comes close, let alone fulfill them. :-)

[static_pixie]

If you have to preface something with , 'I'm not racist but' you may want to rethink your opinion.

Ick. Though this does give me incentive to check out Merlin. Like rei_a_yuy said, to whine about historical inaccuracies in fantasy is kind of absurd. Though it doesn't surprise me all that much, given racewank09.

[ellecain]

IAWTC. Racefail does not surprise me anymore.

Don't tease me! Watch Merlin! You're a Draco fan, and Aja basically described Merlin as H/D fandom around 2002! Arthur is just another blond, repressed boy with daddy issues. And his dad is a (kinda hot) evil tyrant too! :-) Come on, you know you want to! *tempts*

[ptyx]

Those people are stupid. Gwen is one of my favourite characters in the show, and she's lovely.

[ellecain]

Gwen is just adorable, I love how she starts babbling in front of Merlin when she's got a crush on him because I do that so often in RL. It was why I first liked her and she keeps getting better with each episode. :-)