Taking Richard Out of His Box

Not long ago a body was unearthed from its burial place under a car park in the UK. It may be the corpse of King Richard III, the last monarch in the War of the Roses. Various tests have been done to help determine the identity as a small group of zealous supporters longing for the king to gain his rightful place in history have watched the world become aware of him. Despite confirmation, Richard III will still be confined to a villainous image. He will still be seen by a significant number as the man Shakespeare portrayed as a scoundrel who callously killed his nephews and anyone else who stood in the way of what he wanted. And if he really has been unfairly maligned by the Bard, few will appreciate the fact. Such is the effect of a drama with a powerfully developed character — its ability to drown out anything that would give lie to it.

Richard Armitage in The Hobbit is also an unearthing. It is a star emerging to all but a few rabid fans who have waited for several years for the public to recognize it. Despite this rise to the larger public’s notice, will Richard, like his namesake, also remain confined to an image? I hope not. I hope his Thorin Oakenshield will be sufficient to give lie to the notion that he’s only a heart throb. But when I consider the effect of his portrayal as John Thornton in North and South followed closely by Guy of Gisborne in Robin Hood, and hear the current rhetoric about the hot dwarf, it’s hard not to see him remaining in the box marked tall, dark, handsome man who is extremely masculine and sensitive and must be a romantic figure.

When women in the U.S. alone get hold of the almost Svengali like appeal of his, the marketing of his roles will be narrowed to romances. Much like was done with Colin Firth and Gerard Butler only they aren’t Richard Armitage. He goes way beyond them in sex appeal. Yes, I’m biased, but I’m also not blind. Some women I know have never seen the likes of Richard Armitage, and those who have really watched him are blown away. One told me, “I laughed at your reaction. I really did. I thought you were just having a mid-life meltdown with all that’s going on in your life. Phew! I was wrong! I have never seen anyone like that!” To which I said with as much humility as possible, “I know.”

But for a good long while I’ve been finding that a trap. He’s too capable to be left to roles as a mere love interest, only useful for awakening desire. Granted, he does love interest so well, but how long can we dwell there? Doesn’t it get passe’? Or is our need as women so intense we must continually feed it with characters who engender passion? I can only answer for myself. I’m bored with this. And I’m way past the place where I wrote about his characters’ effects on me. I was actually past it when I wrote the piece but was compelled to capture the phenomenon so I wouldn’t forget. Now I want what I always want — a good story and characters that move me but without the added noise of squeeeing.

I’m all squeeed out for now. And it’s only my snark gene that continues on with the appearance of it yet with a twinkle in my eye hoping some of you catch on to my mirth at the manipulation we receive as fans.

I long for more from Richard Armitage. I long to see him leverage his ability as a chameleon and apply his fine sense of a story. When do we get to see that without the pr machine pandering to women? Playing them like a fiddle? Harsh words you say? What else to make of this? LOL!

Yes, I know I’m whining, but really, I just hate to see Richard getting in the box however big it may appear. A little Armitage Protection Mode at work? No question. And my control freak dictates this:

Dear Richard,

I hope once you get past all the hype for The Hobbit that you can really sit back and consider what’s next and do not feel compelled to give people exactly what they want. You once said of a character that he was only interesting when he didn’t get what he wanted, and it would be over if he got it. The same logic could be applied to you and your fans. Please don’t give what it seems we want. We don’t know what’s good for us. Yes, I am a capitalist, but not when it comes to art. Ignore my capitalist, please. Go with your heart.

Just please stay out of the box, or at least don’t let the marketers close the lid on you.

Other than all of that, I hope you have a Merry Christmas.

Signed,
One of your crazy fans who knows you have much more in you in than tall, dark, handsome cotton mill owner

P.S. Maybe a little chat with Viggo Mortenson might be helpful. Yes, I’m a control freak. Now listen to your mother, er, big sister. :D

The rant is done, and I want you all to know I am emphatically not against his being cast as a romantic figure, and I’ve been thinking about what I would like to see in that respect. More coming up on that and on Richard III. I’m not even close to being done with the “good” king.

edit: I am not down on Richard Armitage. I think he’s a great talent, which I would like to see succeed as some other great talents have succeeded. Neither do I begrudge him making money. Money is necessary to live.

But I had to say something about what I am seeing. More later on contributing to facilitating this. That’s the post where I admit my guilt. LOL!

December 22, 2012
Categories: Fandom, Movies, The Hobbit . Tags: , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 296 Comments

Unearthing Richard

Richard Armitage has a penchant for redeeming the character of Richard III and that inclination may be in line with the stars. What else to explain the windfall of attention from the dig done in Leicester this week?

The infamous king, who has long been a source of controversy among scholars, was possibly disinterred from his resting place under a council car park (in Yankee = public housing parking lot):

And now I’m wondering how “Gary” will deal with this while traversing the rubble to chase after his son. I hope Richard Armitage can do split personality well; otherwise, this opportunity will slip away. No, I don’t mean that. Our boy is too smart for that. Yes, I’m biased. :D

Read more about the dig here.

To read more about Richard Armitage’s desire to mount a production of Richard III that gives an alternative account to the one left by the Tudors and Shakespeare, go here. And please note Richard Armitage is not directly involved with the petition.

September 13, 2012
Categories: Movies, Rumors . Tags: , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 7 Comments

Telling Stories

This is actually my day 6 post!

As with the other days, please remember this is part of a much larger conversation about Richard Armitage, and again, you would be pleased by checking out the rest of it here.

Yesterday, I was away from home and had several hours of uninterrupted time while I waited for the high school track team to finish their meet. This time was to be used for finally getting a video completed which was to go with this post. The thing had me in its grip all week, and my hard head was determined to conquer, so the first few hours yesterday were spent in my hotel room continuing to wrestle with it. Check out time came, and I had to move my tussle to a reliable wifi spot — the local McDonald’s. I did eat something while I was there; free food is always an enticement (such is the “perk” of a school bus driver), and as I was wiping my hands of the last bits of my Filet-o-fish sandwich, so I wouldn’t smudge my laptop’s keyboard, a rough looking couple sat down near me. They had a laptop too and were aware that my seat was next to the only electrical outlet in the dining area. The man asked if he could plug in, and then he started quizzing me about my computer. Knowing I had to get that damn video done, but being a people person and being someone who can be easily distracted, it was beyond my power to ignore these people who were continually trying to talk to me. Oh, I mentally berated myself for choosing McDonald’s as a place to work, berated myself for committing to post every day, and berated myself for not wanting to listen to these people.

So I finally closed the WordPress session and turned to take a full look at these two. The man had on dirty clothes, was unshaven, and some of his front teeth were missing, but it did nothing to keep the twinkle in his eye from drawing me. The woman, who was a tall, painfully thin, dark eyed beauty with almost a regal presence, looked a bit wistful for something. This is where I cut to the chase to ensure this post doesn’t run to near 3,000 words. These people were homeless, and the man is probably a genius and the woman supposedly a former wife and mother with four children, which ended when she became a meth addict. Now, this is far from my first in-depth encounter with someone who is homeless, and it’s not going to be my last, but it is the most fascinating. I spent the rest of the day with them, and I won’t bore you with all the details as they’re considerable, but I did end up taping them with their consent, and I’ve already verified some of their information as accurate and will continue to try to verify some more. From what I know so far, these two need their story told. What a privilege it would be to tell it!

This morning when the story just wouldn’t leave me alone, I thought of ‘West of Memphis,’ which I plan to see, and I wondered at the considerable power Peter Jackson has to get a story told. And now Richard Armitage is in his camp, and if he is as quick a study as he appears, he will leave that place much different with almost none of it the result of new found fame. Richard is a storyteller. He has continually revealed in his interviews that he insinuates himself into the storytelling process. Sometimes the writers have talked about it:

One of our great casting coups is Richard Armitage (who plays Sir Guy of Gisborne, the Sheriff’s right-hand man), modest man of sharp intellect…Today, he knocks on my door with a pencil and pad. Can he ask me some questions about his character? I tell him, truthfully, that I can’t believe he is here – an actor of his talent, sitting on my sofa, talking to me about playing this part. I feel so lucky. Suddenly I stop myself – do I destroy what little (gamma-male) authority I have by being so candid? I glance at him. My concerns are unfounded. He is blushing. A man of his talent. I remind myself that the only folk more insecure than writers are actors. — Dominic Minghella on the set of Robin Hood, 2006

Article here

And Richard is aware that he may sometimes be a pain with his need, but he can’t help it:

I don’t think I’ve gone anywhere near the high point. It may not even be in front of the camera. The older you get, the more critical you become. Whoever writes the stuff I’m in must think I’m a complete pain in the backside, because I will question them about every word the character utters.

And I’m excited about where that might lead:

I suppose I’m a bit too curious, but I think I probably will have a crack at directing at some point.

The rest of the article here

He must be in heaven right about now, and all because someone saw more than his ability to look adoringly at a female. What a shame it would be if he were consigned to nothing but that, nothing but our drooling and gushing over his sexual appeal. Oh, I’ve done my share, but that is not what brings me back again and again to see what he’s doing. Since the Vulpes Libris interview, I have been firm in my belief that he wants to tell a story. Richard III? He has talked about it a lot. So obviously, it’s a story he wants to tell, but is it his passion? Some of his fans think so, and eventually, we’ll find out.

Before I finish this post, I must say a hearty thanks to people and places on the web that make this blog possible. Yes, I’m saying that if they didn’t exist, I would not be able to run this place. LibraryGirl and the ladies who maintain the lovely database at Richard Armitage Central, Ali and her cohort Wendy at RichardArmitagenet.Com, Annette at RichardArmitageOnline, and all of the ladies at C19. If it weren’t for all of these people and their propensity to discuss and archive, I know I would never have started this blog nor have delved this deeply into what I believe is the most fascinating part of Richard Armitage. Thank you all for the great pleasure of doing that!

Edit: updated the Conversations page, so no more cheating. :D And I did not forget about Bertold Brecht. More on him after FanstRA.

second edit: I eventually talked about Brecht here.

March 18, 2012
Categories: Interviews, Movies, Robin Hood, The Hobbit . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 14 Comments

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