hmpf | As she sat staring at videoclips of John Simm

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You know, I still haven't made up my mind about whether he's good-looking or not. And that after a year and a half or so of fancying him.

I know he's *attractive*, in some hard to define way. But, good-looking? I don't know. I just don't know.

The journalist who called him "ugly-handsome", ages ago, was wrong, though. He's not ugly. Just kind of... utterly "normal" looking, sort of. Sometimes. Unspectacular, unremarkable.

And then something happens, now and then, and he turns... "startlingly attractive", I think some other journalist put it. And yeah, it is startling. Kind of mind-boggling, really.

*boggles*

I'm also amused by how he seems to be always the short one. Is he really that short, or do they just always team him up with giants?

Yikes, I'm looking at celebrity pics. What's wrong with me? *g*

Current Mood: amused

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

neuralclone.livejournal.com

Hmmm.... but I'd say the whole point of this particular type of story is that the protagonist is redeemed - in fact there seems to be an entire fantasy sub-genre devoted to this from Dickens' A Christmas Carol onwards. (Sorry if that sounds a bit wordy and pretentious, but it's a difficult idea to express.) The not-very-nice (or as John Simm put it, "a bit of a dick") protagonist has some kind of supernatural experience which teaches him the error of his ways. Hollywood (not exactly a bastion of High Art) has done it numerous times over the years. For example, a few of my favourites:

Pleasantville - Dorky boy protagonist learns that life is more complex and interesting than old 50s TV shows; slutty girl protagonist learns that reading can be more satisfying than sex.

Groundhog Day - Nasty Phil the Weatherman is forced to live the same day over until he gets it right and becomes Nice Phil the Weatherman.

Big - Little boy learns that growing up isn't all it's cracked up to be, and there aren't any shortcuts to adulthood.

And yes, I liked all these movies. %-}

Apart from enjoying this particular genre, Sam was the character I identified with - unlike most people who were "Squee! Gene!" It probably has something to do with me being another intorvert who shares some of his character flaws. And I thought - I really thought - that they were setting Sam up to learn from his experiences (what else was all that stuff about feelings and gut instincts?) Instead Matthew Graham let me down badly, and in the process tainted everything which went before. I probably wouldn't be putting it too harshly to say it poisoned something which I'd rather enjoyed before...

From:

hmpf.livejournal.com

>It probably has something to do with me being another intorvert who shares some of his character flaws.

Haha, yes. We should form a club. With Sam as honorary president.

And yeah, I thought everything pointed towards some form of learning/redemptive experience, too. Guess that's what I get for believing too much in conventional storytelling patterns!