FanstRAvaganza 2 is here. It’s STARTING.
You know what that means. It’s time to stop beating around the bush and be frank. Yes, I have a confession to make – about a really guilty pleasure. It’s not about food, or sex or even a good book. No, it’s nothing as benign as that. It’s so wrong, I can barely say it.
I am crazy about Sir Guy of Gisborne.
- This guy.
Yes, despite John Thornton, Harry Kennedy or even Lucas North (don’t get me started on that one), it’s this character of all Richard Armitage’s portrayals that I adore the most. No matter he’s a murderous henchman who cold bloodedly kills people onscreen and countless others off-screen. He sadistically tortures villagers. He woos the maiden he obsessively loves by burning down her house and attempts to blackmail her into marriage by threatening her father’s safety at every turn. He’s locked in a bizarre unholy love/hate alliance with a scheming madman of a Sheriff that defies Freudian analysis. He’s deaf and blind to certain machinations around him and isn’t the sharpest sword in the rack. He flies into a blind rage and runs through his scheming sweetie (see what I mean). Finally he redeems himself against all odds and dies a heroic bloody death. Until then, he’s the most unchivalrous, chauvinistic 12th century black knight brutishness can buy.
- In case you missed who I’m talking about.
But hey, he’s good looking and hot in black leather, so it’s all good, right?
- Seriously, this guy right here.
My inner feminist just squeaked in horror and fainted dead away. Oh, maybe not? Should I be appalled with myself? Am I being – shallow? What would momma say? So, for FansRAvaganza, I will explore the reasons why I hate to love this bad boy and why this character is so compelling. Yes, I”m talking All Guy All The Time and I will be joined by some of the best Guy experts in the field. One aficianado, who you all know well, will join me to sort things out in an evocative interview. Another Guy lover has graciously provided a wonderful slideshow for your consideration. There will be lots of pretty, pretty pictures, and a few polls. Festivities with conclude with a very special surprise, so stay tuned. Don’t forget to check daily with the other partipating blogs:
- Avalon’s Blog
- CDoart
- From the Quill Tip
- Me + Richard
- Mesmered’s Blog
- Nevermind, Mr. Armitage
- Phylly’s Faves
- RA Frenzy
- RA Viewers Perspective
- Richard Armitage Vids & Graphics
- The RA Fan Blog
- The Spooks Fan Blog
- The Squeee!
- White Rose Writing
- Guy of Gisborne (Richard Armitage) doing what he does best, thinking bad thoughts; Robin Hood S1.11; all pictures courtesty of richardarmitagenet.com and richardarmitagecentral.co.uk
I’ll read your posts with interest as Guy has failed to impress me, I hate to admit as I know I am in the minority. The challenge for you and the Guy experts is to try to convince me he is worthy of all the attention he is given :). Looking forward to your posts:)
Oh, has a gauntlet been thrown down? I believe it has, and it looks like Guy’s! I feel a answering post coming… 😉
Whatever, Mulubinba… we know you love Gizzy. Just admit it already! 🙂
Nat! Welcome. 🙂
“All Guy all the time” I’d pay for that channel!I don’t necessarily agree that prior to his heroic death “Until then, he’s the most unchivalrous, chauvanistic 12th century black knight brutishness can buy.”There were many times he put himself out there, usually for Marian.I look forward to this week with much joy and anticipation!
That’s true but remember for every good thing he did for Marian, he managed to undo it soon after. His chivalry didn’t last too long.
Yes but through S2 they were less and less done in cold blood and sometimes you could see hints of remorse or at least he wasn’t proud of them anymore.If only Marian would have really cared for him and be by his side I believe at some point he would have truly changed.OML 🙂
Oh don’t worry, you’re preaching to the choir. I had to set up a few straw men so I could knock them down.I agree about Marian. As I was musing with kindred spirits last week, too bad Guy and Marian’s relationship couldn’t have played out in a post-watershed program instead of a family show. 😉
What has more worth, burning down someone’s home or being willing to lay his life down for the woman he loves? “Without her my world may as well turn to ash.”
He certainly knew what was in store for him, didn’t he? He was truly a tragic character.
He ends up a character of truly operatic proportions before it all plays out–a beautiful disaster, indeed. Far more interesting than the balding fellow who looks as if he’s constipated so much of the time who is the titular star of the vehicle.
“I am crazy about Sir Guy of Gisborne.” Yayy! Welcome to the club! *wide grin*I don’t think you’re/we’re (only) shallow, it’s not just the leather. His expressions, the passion with he does everything (mostly at the end S1 and in S2) is part of his attractiveness, IMO.OML 🙂
Yes, we’re not “only” shallow (love the honesty implicity there). I agree, it’s a combination of many things.
It was simply an amazing performance. From the first series through the third, an indelible character was created. I’m not certain that it was completely a triumph of actor over scriptors/producers. I think that lot actually read the audience tea leaves, and understood that they had to give the actor a free rein (image of Gisborne on horseback – Neigh, Ritchie! Still galloping across the Hungarian plains?). Think best to stop here, before being drawn into stallion analogies…
“Think best to stop here, before being drawn into stallion analogies… “Don’t worry Fitzg, this isn’t a family blog. Er, do we have any underage people here?“I’m not certain that it was completely a triumph of actor over scriptors/producers.” Funny you should bring that up. The same topic was brought up during the abovemetioned off-blog discussion. Maybe I will work in some of my responses.
In season 3, him on the white horse with that trim belted waist, next to Bobbin on the black horse..even the camera followed Gisborne. I love that scene.
He looked every bit the aristocrat. RA can even act horse-sitting. 😉
My word, but he looks so regal on a horse. Great posture. *thud*
Season One Guy is my favorite. Season Two is a close second except for his final act of violence. But no matter what, he was always lovely to look at.
Welcome bccmee! Yes he certainly was lovely. Must have been the guyliner. 😉
Although I’m a John Thornton girl, have to admit Sir Guy is the sexiest of RA characters, so I’m more than ready for a daily dose of Guy’s goodness!!!! 🙂
Welcome to the blog Summer. I shall try to do my best.
I write very little about Guy for two reasons — one is that the microexpressions are awhirl in that performance — Armitage is harder to analyze there than anywhere else in his work so far, I find — and the other is that my own emotional relationship to Guy is extremely convoluted. I identify with him to a frightening extent. I look forward to what you and the other fans will say.
Yes, but that’s what makes the character so fascinating. RA’s use of expression and body language told us more than the actual words. Glad to have you here. Tomorrow will be about my conflicted reaction to him.
I’ve given up worrying about being conflicted over him. He hangs out in my den and eats my Cheez-Its. My pets love him. He’s like–family! Really, really hot, smouldering sexy family . . . and in there’s the way he reminds me of my dad. NO, not in the hot black leather clad henchman way. The boy who didn’t have an easy time of it growing up, who yearned for love, hot-tempered but also loyal, gullible and naive in certain ways . . . a vulnerable soul beneath a gruff exterior.
@Angie,”Really, really hot, smouldering sexy family . . . “How could a sentence so wrong just be so completely right!
LOL!! Well, if lovin’ Guy is wrong, I guess I don’t wanna be right!And you know, I’m from the south. It DOES get hot and steamy down heah . . .
GoG…can’t live with him, can’t live without him!My “love” for Guy is totally & completely shallow! He looks good in black leather (more s2 & 3 – didn’t like the gold cravat thingy from s1). And he looks good when he is trying on armour and when he is changing from one black shirt to another! I did like the flashes of goodness, Walk About – especially.Ohhh and the Guy smirk…I love that too!BTW…first time visiting your blog…I’ll be back!
Hi tyme4t..I believe I’ve read some of your fanfic..well done!
@AnnMarie – sorry you must have me mixed up with someone else…I believe there is another person on C19 that has a similiar name (time4tea)…The only fanfic I have done is the occasional haiku/limerick (result of last year’s RA-ganza) and daydreaming… 😉
Welcome tyme4t! You will be entertained with much pretty. But er, don’t you mean he looked good when he was taking the armor *off”? 😉
Oh, Judi, I’m not sure I have the guts to really say what it is I love about Guy, but I look forward to hearing about your conflict. LOL! Yeah, I’m sadistic. 😀
Oh c’mon, you know you want to!I might create a special post for Anonymous people like you. Something like Post Secret. How does that sound? 😉
Oh, THAT scene, judiang. I admit to conflict over Gisborne. The personal response is at odds with the “second wave feminist”. It grates. But what the heck. I admit to the decades-long devotion to Mr. Connery. So why hide? Feminists are human, too.I did also think that mustardy-gold scarf was not the finest moment of Frances Tempest’s designs, either, Tyme. We needed the throat. The Voice projects so well from it…
I don’t want anything to interfere with my watching his Adam’s-Apple acting, either. The little mustard scarf was a potential distraction there.And yes, Fitzg, feminists are indeed human. And you’d have to be something less than human (or perhaps more) not to respond to the Magnificent Black Leather-Clad Alpha Male–even if it’s to turn your back on him. I don’t notice many people who are neutral about Guy. You either really like the character–or you really don’t. But he definitely makes a lasting impression on you.
I’ve noticed the same thing about reactions to Guy. Very interesting, eh? I’m working on Mulubimba’s challenge for Thursday. Going to take a fast run at converting her.
Good luck with the conversion efforts, Judi. I do find people’s almost knee-jerk reactions to Guy very intriguing indeed. And I really should be trying to get to sleep, but I’ve started playing with my Windows Live Movie Maker and I can see this could get addictive . . .
Oh, you’re going to love Wednesday’s post then. It seems you and I may share the same concerns. The scarf didn’t both me. It simply wasn’t really needed.
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Love the Gizzy-love, Judiang! (Can we be BFF’s?)I am seriously torn between JT & Gisborne.They’re both so beautiful in different ways…and the BROODING!!! S3 Giz is my favorite. So sexy. Redemption. The Meg episode! (Although I really like the necklace epi in S1.)
BWAHAHA! Maybe I can tip you over into the Dark Side. I had some nervousness about this project but it’s turning out to be really fun. See what y’all got me into? 🙂
Nat, S3 Guy ROCKED from the top of his greasy/lustrous mane to the tips of his boots with the jangling spurs. Sexy, angsty, totally wild with self-loathing, grief and hatred, boozy and out of control in the beginning, then the return of that confident swagger after his visit to Prince John’s Red Door Salon and Spa and transformation into Glamour Guy (don’t hate him because he’s beautiful) . . . only to be humiliated once again. That wonderful cat-and-mouse game with Sherry in the castle . . . and then their “final” battle . . . sinking further into the depths after coming so close to his dream of being Sheriff . . . and that dawning for him, the unconditional love and kindness of that young girl and his admittance of his sins and follies . . . the revelation about his family, about Archer . . . brothers in arms . . . and yes, redemption. I cried buckets (the Meg ep and the final ep) but I was so glad he got to go proud and free. I appreciated that fact all the more after what they did to Lucas . . . well, don’t get me started THERE. Anyway, Guy is EPIC. *grin*
I’m tired of you holding back like this. Tell us how you *really* feel. 😉
My first visit here, lured by FanstRAvanganza, and oh the relief that I am not alone in my mad obsesssion for a man who would have been dead for over eight hundred years, if he had ever really lived. How bonkers is that, I had been thinking. But the affliction is obviously dangerously infectious.I’m as corny as Kansas in August…
Welcome Giselle! Hope you have fun here with the rest of us lunatics.
Heh. You have my attention. 🙂
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Judi, I love this post. I cannot wait to read the rest. I really love how you write.
Thank you! I’m writing in “what you see is what you get” style which seems to be working so far. 😉
Oh, and I just realized that what I posted was not my final ’cause your pingback was not what I had as a final. Just sayin’. 😀
LOL! Gotcha 😉
Judi, I was so put out with WordPress, but now I’m just relieved my data isn’t lost. Were you affected at all?
No, I simply couldn’t access WordPress. Never occurred to me they could lose my stuff. Yikes!
They have been attacked lately. A couple of weeks ago they were hit with DoS attacks, and now I don’t know what to think. Last year they were hit as well, and they did lost some data, so I’m not taking any chances. I still like WP better than blogger, but hey, if this keeps up, I may go back to blogger.But I would much rather think about Guy. 😀
Not sure what’s happening. A lot of sites have been experiencing DoS attacks for the last two weeks, unfortunately some sites I frequent. As for WordPress, my tech friend is coming in this weekend and migrating this blog to my own server. Should be fun. Sigh.
Oh, I did post the final. You should read it. 😀
Hi there!Late to the party as usual. I am completely converted as a Guy fan but it it wasn’t immediate. I forget which episode really converted me as it was a slow process. But by the time Guy is rescuing Marian from the tree, I was very annoyed by her behavior there and he had won me over to the dark side!The fact that you came to Guy starting with Season 2 must have made a difference to your reaction to him. (He had been much more tamed by then).
Hi Phylly3, latecomers are always welcome. I suppose you’re right; I did see the “better” Guy first. But looking at S1 it’s likely I still would have been drawn to the character especially during the last 1/4 of the season when Guy’s possessiveness of Marian appears tempered by something more.