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Researcher on fandom
seer
2009-09-24 19:10


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Oh, good, hoping that your paper meets with success so that we'll get to see it :)

As for where do I view K, pretty much as LucaM described, I too avoid any film that is an invasion of his privacy, it has been very rare that I have watched anything of that sort, save for the few times on the old Kweb where there was such a dustup in comments that I went to see what all of the ruckus was about (but I truly don't enjoy seeing him when he doesn't wish to be seen, the look on his face at times can actually make me queasy).

Body language can be read both in motion and in 'stills' - in other words he doesn't have to be moving, it can be a snapshot, and I can still get a pretty good idea of what his thoughts might be. Keanu is unusual in that he tells more in what he's not doing than in what he does. Certain aspects of body language are difficult to control completely, even when you're trying to - my fascination in watching K is in the fact that he actually controls his body language pretty well - and it's intriguing to speculate on the reason he feels the need to control that in any given situation.

But back to your original question - I'm not a gallery cruiser as a rule, and the only time I end up at youtube (or blogs, ezines, etc) is when Apprentice sends me there ;). Most of what I see are promos and interviews for them, the red carpet events, and photo shoots. I do confess to taking looks at shots of him with women on occasion - friends, family, co-workers and 'the flavor of the moment' because his body language with women especially intrigues me. When he's 'out with the guys' he's himself, but when he's with a woman there's something else going on (and I don't mean in a romantic sense ;).

Two exceptions to that - when he's with Kim or ADC. Even as comfortable as he seems to be with Sandra B, there's still a little something else there.

If I'm a fan it's not of the actor (although I have enjoyed the films I've seen and think he's done much better work than most critics give him credit for), I'm a fan of the Man :).

seer
2009-09-24 19:19


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Having said that - to go to your query on 'the everyman'. I've never found myself thinking of anything but the character he's portraying as I'm watching, his appearance doesn't factor into it at all. I'm not one of the fish that thinks K is always K no matter who the character is supposed to be ;). For me he literally disappears into the character, so while I understand what you're getting at it doesn't apply with me as a viewer in Keanu's case :).
seer
2009-09-24 19:46


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Oh, and unless I've lost my mind (which is always a possibility ;), Sam is half Chinese.

And I think that Ani's 'less expressive' is along the lines of minimal acting as opposed to 'over the top' which so many American actors are guilty of :).

Anakin McFly
2009-09-24 20:41

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Heh, the Hags musical.

I am flabbergasted. I am not sure that I have come across this concept before. Is it along the same lines as "all Asians look the same"?

I thought it was pretty common - the stereotype of Asians as being more reserved, submissive, introverted... such that if someone looks Asian the association is automatically made.

And yeah; Keanu isn't half Asian. I'm not even sure where the Chinese bit comes in even though I have his family tree going back via his father to his great-great-great-grandparents. There aren't any Chinese last names in there, so either it was through some female ancestor, or it's more of a Polynesian thing as you say. His grandmother was said to be of Chinese heritage though, but her name was Sarah M. Victor, so it might have been her mother.


It has been suggested that Keanu has an exotic look, which may be the hawaiian/asian part of him; he also can and has played the everyman, average-joe american. Though he is an actor so should be able to play any role. But, looking at the roles where he has played an everyday Joe Bloggs, do you think the exoticism of his look has subverted the role of the everyman?

That reminds me of this:


He can look, from moment to moment, faintly oriental, with his slanted black eyes -- he has Chinese, Hawaiian and British blood in him -- or crew-cut clean Caucasian; he can be Californian (especially in his locutions: I'd not been asked whether I felt a really cool dude before) and exotic, like a Canadian-Indian -- I kept seeing his profile in ancient Inuit sculpture, which Winnipeg has museums full of.

- "Most Excellent Prince" http://www.whoaisnotme.net/articles/1995_0122_mos.htm

Another article:


After Bruce Lee’s tragic accidental death in 1973 (three weeks before the release of Enter The Dragon cemented his place in the superstar pantheon), things were pretty slow for male Asian leads, until a goofy Chinese/English/Hawaiian kid from Toronto entered the pop culture lexicon in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989). Ted “Theodore” Logan isn’t explicitly referenced as Asian, and maybe that’s part of why Keanu Reeves has attained a mainstream longevity and range that eluded Shigeta and Lee. He’s Asian, but not quite, and there’s something malleable about his handsome leading man looks that doesn’t scream “foreign”. (Lee was 1/8th German, but you wouldn’t have known that if I hadn’t told you.) Reeves has been given a chance at many kinds of material, including romantic comedy, Shakespeare, and experimental indie films. But the movies he’s most known for fall squarely within the limited parameters for Asian actors in Hollywood – buffoons (the Bill and Ted movies) action and kung fu heroes (Speed, The Matrix movies), and inscrutable mystics (The Matrix, and, if you count surfer dude obliviousness as a kind of Zen bliss, Bill and Ted). And Hollywood must still be tone-deaf to the idea of an Asian man as an object of sexual desire if Diane Keaton chooses a crabby, flabby Jack Nicholson as her true love over Keanu Reeves the doctor (!) in Something’s Gotta Give (2003).

- "The Asian Conundrum", http://www.whoaisnotme.net/articles/2009_0309_asi.htm

Regarding Neo:


These days the mass international audience — including white American teenagers — think nonwhite style is what’s happening. And the true meaning of movies like this one finally lies in how it teaches us new ways to be cool.

This is great news for Keanu Reeves, whose extraordinary handsomeness, at once Asian and Caucasian, masculine and feminine, makes Neo his ideal role.



"Stuck in the middle with Neo", http://www.whoaisnotme.net/articles/2003_0515_stu.htm

This seems to be a recurring theme in many descriptions of Keanu, and it was also one of my first impressions of him - as a default kind of person who could be anybody, any race, any sex, any personality. He's just got this... template look to him, which is at the same time everybody and nobody.


He’s not your classic hot leading man. Dressed in jeans, a blazer, T-shirt and hiking boots, the dark-haired actor is a little on the skinny side to be considered a legitimate hunk. His olive-skinned complexion is too flawless to call him ruggedly handsome. You’d be tempted to call him pretty, but that’s a term reserved for teen studs who make regular appearances on TMZ.com or People magazine’s Star Tracks page.

It’s that you just can’t type this dude.



- "Keanu is a man of a few soft-spoken words", http://www.whoaisnotme.net/articles/2008_0408_kea.htm


Keanu is unusual in that he tells more in what he's not doing than in what he does.

Yes.
LucaM
2009-09-24 21:21


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mascnz, want a real anecdote about fandom, which is taking place right now as we type ? reality-tv style ? :D

I read the script for Keanu's next project, "Henry's Crime", yesterday. someone posted a link at IMDb and I downloaded the script and read it. Loved it, but that's a different story in a different thread ;)
Noticed the mention of a book on a nightstand. Future Shock by Alvin Toffler.
that's all there is in the script. a mere mention of the title on a book cover.
nothing more. not any other reference to it. but since the Matrix movies taught me the importance of details ( yet another story) and since I wanted to read that book for a while ( was mentioned here and there in some materials I've read), picked it up today... and I'm completely drawn in. Because it addresses several issues in the script. And quite a few questions that have been spinning around in my head for some time... but couldn't put my finger on them.
Thing is, if it weren't for the script, I might have postponed reading this for a long time. The mention came exactly at the right moment.
It's probably 'just' a coincidence ;)

so there it goes. that's what fandom does for me.
I'm getting mystical ;) :D

inkhuldra
2009-09-25 00:11


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One thing that hasn't been discussed here, but which I saw mentioned in another forum (sorry, I forget which) was how female fans respond to any news that "their" idol (in this case, Keanu) may be in a relationship. Most fans will say that they're "happy for them", but one person wrote something which I believe to be true in many cases. I forget how she put it, but it went thus'ish: When an idol gets "taken" (i.e. becomes romantically involved with someone), he also becomes "unavailable" in the fans' romantic fantasies. And for that reason, they secretly want him to be single so that they're allowed to dream about him (even if they know full well that they'll never meet him in real life). Somehow, for some reason, a guy who is in a relationship is perceived as not being available even in fantasies.

Edit: [snippage]

As for my being a fan of Keanu, I realised a long time ago that fanhood can only be fully enjoyed if you keep at a distance from your idol. I've lost all respect for some of my rock idols simply by getting to go backstage and seeing how they treat their fans. For the same reason, I don't want to know too much about the private lives of the persons I look up to. It's hard to fully enjoy their music or movies if you know about too many of their flaws. And in my case, seeing one of my rock idols (40+ years old) chase a 15-year-old girl backstage was one of the biggest nails in the coffin of my respect for him. You just don't want to see your idols being that human. And the saddest thing about it all was that, once I'd seen enough to no longer be a fan, it also put an end to my being a member of the fan community. That was what I missed the most.

Anakin McFly
2009-09-25 09:24

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Then what about fans of actors who are already married, or those who are dead (like Heath Ledger)?

I realised a long time ago that fanhood can only be fully enjoyed if you keep at a distance from your idol. I've lost all respect for some of my rock idols simply by getting to go backstage and seeing how they treat their fans. For the same reason, I don't want to know too much about the private lives of the persons I look up to.

Yeah, I agree.

seer
2009-09-25 12:00


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Inkhuldra your post made me think of the way fan fiction seems to go. Writing about characters that actors have created many fans will write their own scenes - but many others seem determined to keep to character canon and already established relationships.

I think maybe this is one of those 6 of one, half a dozen of the other things. It depends on the fan how they adjust to the partnership status of their fave. Some can realize that fantasy is fantasy, and they do their own thing regardless of the actor's real life situation. Others adjust their fantasies to the actor's reality. I agree though that there are fewer of the ones who will continue to fantasize over an 'off the market' celeb.

You just don't want to see your idols being that human.

That pretty well covers it ;). I wonder though if many fans haven't really thought about this particular aspect? There are so many of them who seem determined to make their celeb into their own image of who s/he is.. Maybe this is why closer association can end up being a disappointment? In general fandom probably is better from a distance ;).

inkhuldra
2009-09-25 14:30


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I had a crush on one of my rock idols for many years, and I got to meet him several times. It took a long time before I started to see aspects of him that turned me completely off him: his inability to cope with growing older (he'd obviously rather still be in his early 20s), his never-ending hunt for virgins (he was obsessed with virgins to the point of near-paedophilia), and him asking me for prescription painkillers because the keyboardist was a drug user (I didn't give him any).

To me, the disappointment of seeing the behaviour of several of my rock idols seeped over to me not enjoying their music like before. I can't listen to Motorhead without remembering going backstage and seeing several band members snort coke like it was the most natural thing in the world. And that's only one of many things I've witnessed, because I lived in a city where getting to meet the bands was fairly easy. Another thing I remember well was when a fan who had come from another continent went over to his long-time idol, told him where he'd come from, and asked for the guy's autograph. He got it, but the stuck-up star never looked at him. He was too busy eyeing a groupie at the other side of the room.

I guess that musicians, because of the rowdy lifestyle on the road, can be a much bigger disappointment to fans than idols (like actors) who are in situations where they're expected to behave like humans instead of half-animals. I remember hearing about how Bret Michaels of Poison had a girl brought to his hotel room, and afterwards he kicked her out naked and threw her clothes out the window. I can't imagine any actor doing something like that without getting slammed in the press. But fans who travel to see their idols will often hope against hope that they'll get to exchange a few words with them. I think that fans who ask for autographs often do so because they don't know what else to say, and asking for an autograph at least gives them the opportunity to get close enough to feel like they got to meet their idols. Also, with the idol looking down while writing the autograph, the fans get to look at him for a few seconds without feeling embarrassed. AND they get to bring home evidence that they met the guy.

As for fans of idols who are already married (or dead), I don't have any experience with that, nor do I know anyone who do. But I've found myself fantasizing about gorgeous single guys at work, but when they got girlfriends I no longer felt like it was appropriate to fantazise about them.

And as for Keanu, I do find him very attractive and I like him as a person (that is, how I know him as a person after reading various interviews over the years), but I know full well that he's not the kind of guy I could be in a relationship with. I have very different wishes and requirements in that area. A normal job and non-fame are two of them. ;-)

LucaM
2009-09-25 15:39


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oh, I don't know...
I'm an observer.
Was never interested in getting autographs or crowding in front of airports just to get a glimpse of 'the star/s'. Never fantasized about having a personal relationship with 'my idol'. But often fantasized about being a fly on the wall of a set, even if it's a prop wall ;) I'm interested in who he is and how the magic is created. How does he get a character on, what does he tap into, how much of the character is left behind and how much is carried home after the final frame is shot... I want to know who's inside the Mickey Mouse suit.

Ever dismantled a toy when you were a kid ? Neither did I. And yet, now I want to deconstruct a real person. In the less intrusive way possible.
Call me crazy.

Anakin McFly
2009-09-25 17:12

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As for fans of idols who are already married (or dead), I don't have any experience with that, nor do I know anyone who do.

I was in Back to the Future fandom for several years. Lead actor Michael J. Fox was married and still had a very devoted fanbase. There weren't any hard feelings towards his wife Tracy, because he evidently loved her and she him, and they and their four kids come across as a very pleasant and happy family. So I don't really think that had any negative effect on how fans viewed him.

Though it seemed that in face of this, there was a lot more fan fiction - romantic or otherwise - based on his often-single characters rather than Fox himself. Maybe it's down to whether fans are more fans of the actor or fans of the characters.


Was never interested in getting autographs or crowding in front of airports just to get a glimpse of 'the star/s'. Never fantasized about having a personal relationship with 'my idol'. But often fantasized about being a fly on the wall of a set, even if it's a prop wall ;) I'm interested in who he is and how the magic is created.

I want to be a scriptwriter on a Keanu film. That's the best way I can think of of meeting him, if ever. Bonus points if we get to collaborate on the script.

Ever dismantled a toy when you were a kid ? Neither did I.

I did. :D Not so much toys, though, as clocks, pens, remote controls... sometimes I managed to fix broken ones, other times I didn't and just kept the parts. I have a jar full of springs. :\ And another container full of clock cogs.
LucaM
2009-09-25 17:19


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come to think of it, I dismantled pens, too... and still do.
with your springs and my collection of various pen parts... we might assemble something. ;) :D
Anakin McFly
2009-09-25 17:21

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Like a Keanu. It's always worth a try.
seer
2009-09-25 18:49


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Oh Gods, Keanu Ink Pen, I can see it now...

roflmao!

Anakin McFly
2009-09-25 19:32

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Seeing as how the fish have yet to compare him to an ink pen, I'm sure this will confuse them.
seer
2009-09-26 04:35


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Yeah, a confused fish.. I have this image in my mind.. ;)

Ok, this is completely off topic (well no, maybe not, since it's a fan thing) but have any of you ever googled yourself? I googled me and found all kinds of things, none of them having to do with me. However, when I googled LucaM I found a few bits - and when I googled Inkhuldra and Anakn McFly I hit paydirt :D..

Anakin McFly
2009-09-26 09:16

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Yeah, I've googled myself. Among other things discovered:

1) At least one other person using the name Anakin McFly. Among other things, he's a member of some porn site. That is so totally not my account. He's also French and his name is Simon (either the porn site guy or the other one, if another one exists), and hangs around film soundtrack sites a lot. Favourite movies are also Star Wars, Back to the Future and The Matrix. We've talked.

2) People posting my writing on their sites without my permission, one time extending this poem with extra verses. At least they gave me credit, but still.

3) Someone had joined some strange bodybuilding forums with my username AND linked to my IMDb profile AND had taken one of the photographs I had linked on IMDb, and started a thread asking if people thought I was hot. (gist of the replies were: 'eat more'.) I deleted the photo, so that's a dead link now. That... kind of creeped me out.

:\

xariesgirl78x
2009-09-26 10:46


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I remember writing a letter to Michael J Fox when I was little ( I absolutely was in love with him then), around the time he married Tracy, congratulating him. It seemed to be a good one because I got a picture back.

I don't know if I'd ever write to Keanu, because I wouldn't know of anything clever to say..lol.

Those shows that are so intrusive on celebs going "At seven o' clock this person went here, at eight this person was at this party.." and so on are just terrible. Movie stars are human beings just like the rest of us.

They just have a superduper cool job.

Anakin McFly
2009-09-26 15:04

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I remember writing a letter to Michael J Fox when I was little ( I absolutely was in love with him then), around the time he married Tracy, congratulating him. It seemed to be a good one because I got a picture back.

...that is so awesome. Do you still have the picture?
LucaM
2009-09-26 15:44


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Ani, that person admires you ;) :D
see, the dark sides of internet popularity ... :(

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