Wait! In case you read my earlier post and decided I need medication pronto, WordPress says I need catchy titles to tantalize my audience. It’s right here on the can!
I’ve observed a curious phenomenon going around ArmitageWorld these past few weeks. Writers have been enthusing how much Richard Armitage has affected their lives. Through his work, they’ve tapped into a higher level of creativity and its output. Comments have chimed in to agree. This sentiment is not unusual, after all we are fans. Enthusing about out object of affection is what we do. The curious part is I seem be like a tiny island in this ocean of effusiveness.
Don’t get me wrong; I like the guy. He’s talented, intelligent, gorgeous and seems a genuinely nice bloke. I enjoy his work and look forward to future projects. I’ve seen almost all his roles – once. Listened to most of his audios -once. I might journey across the pond to see him onstage – maybe twice. It’s as if I soak it all in, visually and aurally and then I’m sated. My mind has recorded and cataloged it. I have no impulse to watch his stuff repeatedly from start to finish. Oh, I will watch a favorite scene again for screen-caps or discussion but you won’t find me sitting through an entire episode of Robin Hood. Having said all that, I admit to revisiting both his TV and print interviews more because I find RA the man much more interesting. As hinted by the title of my blog, “The Watcher” I like to observe people and unravel their mystery. As Servetus has blogged on identity (the cite which I can’t find), we can never really know what is behind a celebrity veneer besides what they want us to see. My observations tell me RA has still waters that run quite deep. But that’s another post.
Anyway, I’ve have pondering the creativity issue. I’m unsure why RA hasn’t affected me as much as others. It could be the nature of my personality. It could be my longevity in fandom and a sense of having been there done that. It could be a certain jadedness creeping in. However, I do know that his fan community has had a bigger impact on me. Servetus’s fascinating blog introduced me to a community of mature, intelligent, educated, thoughtful women and it’s through their creativity that I feel inspired to write again. I suppose in a sense, RA while a captivating man, is not real to me. He exists in another closed snow globe world where I can watch the flakes fall for a while, before moving on to something else. It’s his fans with whom I feel connected. Although we may not be acquainted in real life, we share the same thoughts, concerns, woes, livelihoods, and workaday lives. Because I can identify, I feel more motivated by the fanfic, videos, artistry and blogs. I think, “if she can do it, I can do it.” While RA is easy on the mind, as it were, I think we don’t give ourselves as fans enough credit for the level of enthusiasm and creativity we inspire in each other.
Or am I missing something here?
Rest assured I do like me some pretty, repeatedly. So I leave you with a lovely one tweeted today by RichardArmitageNet.com:
Richard Armitage shows that dancer's physique; Spooks S9; Courtesy, RichardArmitageNet.com
“Oh, I will watch a favorite scene again for screen-caps or discussion…”
Oh, that’s how it starts.
OML 😉
Nah, I seem to be offbeat as those things go. My friends tease me I finally broke into double digits in the number of DVDs I have, whereas they have over 100. I used to rewatch old shows when I was younger, but now it doesn’t seem interesting enough for me.
I can’t stop looking at that picture. It’s incredible, I just love his outline in it.
With regards to creativity, I sort of agree with you, as it happens. I’ve not started to write fanfic about the guy’s characters (nor read, for that matter) or write hilarious limericks, equally hilarious fake emails + fanletters, and I don’t do fanvidding. I don’t think I’ve even put together a single wallpaper for my computer (no need – others have done so many beautiful ones), just the occasional, simple forum avatar.
“But you started blogging, ah-hah!” you might say, but no. I had been blogging for a fair few years, just not regularly. And I didn’t start blogging just because of RA, but because I read that if you want people to actually read your blog, you should find a topic. The blog(s) I was doing were the humdrum general stuff no one cares about (nor did I), and I was thinking that if I want to blog about a topic, which topic would I choose? Entertainment, because that’s what I love. I love books and I love watching movies and I love certain (musical) artists, and I have a tendency to gush over stuff I like, so hey, let’s blog about that. It’s been a lot about RA since I started, but I don’t consider myself an RA blogger as such. He just happens to be the main actor I’m into, hence why I write about him more than others.
I blog for a variety of reasons, including being part of a community, practicing to have a routine and sticking to it (currently failing – haven’t written a review today yet) and just general writing practice, but the main thing is that I blog because I enjoy it. If other people out there find the blog and get some enjoyment out of reading it, it’s a bonus. 🙂
You know what I think is most appealing about his physique is that it’s a dancer’s body. Each muscle is developed but lithe, so you get a more defined outline with the bulk and just enough fat under the skin. Mmm.
So you’re a blogger who happens to like RA. How do you see yourself on the fandom spectrum (ranging from new to any fandom to weathered veteran/burned out)?
Oh gosh, I’ve been a fangirl since I was about nine and smitten with ABBA … in the early 1990s, so only about 15 years after the rest of the world! Then followed The Flying Doctors, The X-Files, James Whale, Modern Talking … All of which are still very dear to me (okay, I haven’t listened to JW on the radio for years but I did light up when I saw him on a Sky News show a couple of years ago). So even though I might fall out of the extreme fandom, I still carry a torch for them ten-fifteen years later, so to speak. “Repeat offender” is probably the best way to describe me, because “veteran” sounds a bit too serious! 😀
Were you part of fandom or crushing all by your lonesome? I’m trying to get a feel for experiences in groups as well.
Jaded old timer of a fan reporting. It’s been too long since I have visited your blog Judi and I feel very remiss!!
i’ve had a fairly checkered history with the fandom. I didn’t ever think that I would follow an actor’s career as I have with RA but there was, and is, something that keeps dragging me back to participate in the fandom. I started out just commenting on a discussion forum but two things finally led to me leaving. One was Guy of Gisborne (my fellow posters would discuss nothing else), and the second (and possibly the strongest incentive to leave) were the flame wars. I couldn’t stand the jealousies and the arguments that occasionally arose. I escaped to blogging to avoid conflict. I don’t consider myself creative in the least. I am in a medically based profession and I often feel that there is a very deep divide between myself and other bloggers who are more intellectually/arts/education based. I quite often feel very inferior on an intellectual level with other bloggers and I feel I am on the periphery (which is not unusual for me socially in RL either). The common ground seems to be that all of us enjoys RA’s work and I keep coming back to discuss it. I think participation in this fan community is an escape for me – both from personal issues and from my work where I am confronted by human tragedy on an almost daily basis at the moment. If I didn’t have The Hobbit to speculate on; Harry Kennedy, John Porter and Lucas North to admire, Guy of Gisborne adulation to astonish me (lol), and other fans to communicate with, I think I would be a far more stressed out individual than I am. With his work I can relax and forget about RL for a few precious minutes 🙂
Thank you for your honest comment. I want to reply to a few points you raised in a future post. I’m glad you commented and hope you feel free to continuing in doing so. I’m none those things you listed either; at times I feel my profession as stymied my ability to creatively express myself. So I understand the intimidation factor. But it’s important not to get discouraged.