Five misunderstood characters...

From fannish5: Aug 29, 2008 - Name 5 characters you think are often misunderstood by fans.

1. Torchwood - Captain Jack Harkness. As with all the Torchwood characters, fan characterization puts him all over the map - which is, of course, fair enough, but I have a very strong notion of what his character is and I find the variances jarring, especially when Jack is depicted as cruel or uncaring. I see Jack as very much of a "what you see is what you get" kind of character. By nature, a sweet, loving man with a sense of mischief and and curiosity about other people; forced by war and circumstances into the military when young, which made him develop an inner toughness and pragmatism as necessary. He cares very much about others, and feels protective about the world. He tries endlessly to make reparation for the time he almost destroyed humanity in "The Doctor Dances", and to make the Doctor proud of him.
   
   
2. Doctor Who - The Doctor. Here I think we simply have a difference of interpretation, depending on the fan, and a divergence between those who became fans of the new Doctors (Nine and Ten) and those who came to know and love the Doctor from earlier periods, especially those who did so in childhood. I see the Doctor as much less alien, psychologically and physiologically, than many do: it's his humanity that appeals, not his alienness.
   
   And he's very sexy. Flirty, even, in all the wrong ways.
   
   
3. Batman - Batman or Bruce Wayne. I have heard many fans say that Batman is insane - and I couldn't disagree more. I interpret Batman as the sane man in the insane world, who takes on himself the dangers he does not want other to undergo because he feels protective of his city. He is obsessive because he needs to be, but it's the obsession of genius, not of madness.
   
   
4. The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett - Francis Crawford of Lymond. There are fans who love and appreciate Lymond. There are other fans (and readers who do not become fans) who see him as petty, whining, self-obsessed, rude, unkind, and arrogant. Except for the last point, they are totally wrong.
   
   
5. Shakespeare - Hamlet. It never would have occurred to me to include the Prince of Denmark in this list, except that over the last few years I've met a number of people who don't like the man for a litany of reasons - all of which I think are a misunderstanding of the character. Hamlet is the perfect gothic hero: dark, romantic, funny, insightful, intelligent, judicious, and caring.
   

Vivid, engaging, densely plotted...

A wonderful review and commentary by Anne Malcolm on Dorothy Dunnett and the Lymond novels which I seem to have missed when it was first printed. An interesting sentence:

Romantic leads tend to come in two types: the d'Artagnans, open-hearted, courteous, valiant and uncomplicated; and the darker, more interesting Athos types, whose virtues are laced with an undercurrent of menace. In Francis Crawford of Lymond, Dunnett has taken the latter type to a dazzling extreme.... At times his light, ironic repartee calls to mind the artfully inconsequential conversation of Lord Peter Wimsey.

But J.R.R. Tolkien never lingered in obscurity for decades... did he? The Hobbit was winning awards when it was first published, and The Lord of the Rings came out in the 1950s, and was already popular and famous by the late 1960s when I first read it.

Too bad Anne Malcolm didn't mention the DDRA.

Torchwood series 2

Another good article: this one about series 2 Torchwood. Now, didn't I make all these points myself a few zillion LJ posts ago?

Especially the 'more sex, please' item. Love the line, "We really need to get back to the good old-fashioned interspecies deviant sex plots." I heard things from Russell T Davies and the BBC that made me suspect they want to make Torchwood more kid-friendly. I hope not.

And more Martha. Oh, yes, yes, yes, more Martha, please! And this time, give her a good dynamic role in the plot.

Torchwood and other TV shows....

This New York Times article about current TV shows is fun. I went to it for the Torchwood mention - which is a big spoiler if you haven't seen the end of series 2 yet, and most Canadians haven't.

I was amused by their easy acceptance of slash:( Read more... )

I don't like the comments on Heroes at all. Sounds like more new characters (faugh) and focus on the old characters I didn't like (Maya). Ah well: gives me an excuse not to watch, when I don't have time anyway. Who am I kidding? Of course I'll watch, initially at least, if only to see how Nathan Petrelli survives - and because I want to see Peter Petrelli again.