Really, though...

[tencrush]

That Colin guy from Merlin is one of the fugliest people on the telly at the mo. That's not a subjective opinion on my part, that's like scientific fact or something. He's one of the two reasons I don't watch Merlin, the other one being that it's about fucking wizards. See also: more fucking wizards (Harry Potter), fucking trolls (Lord of the Rings) and fucking blue fairy people (Avatar). Do not be telling me I should be watching any of this shit, I cannot take it seriously.

I voted Neil Patrick Harris in the Big Gay Battle on After Elton. John Barrowman is just too gay to be allowed to win these sorts of things. I'm joking, of course (not about voting, I did vote NPH), there's no such thing as TOO GAY, but if there were, I'm pretty sure JB would qualify. But no, I purposefully voted against JB. For reasons I explained like a year and a half ago, I don't think he's the greatest candidate for big gay role model. Neither is NPH, probably (Man, he only came out like 3 years ago, dudes, really? Weird, I thought it was longer ago.), but there you go.

Comments

(frozen)

[tigercheetah.livejournal.com]

I love Merlin, it's one of the few shows that's stopping me from thinking about Torchwood too much. I find Colin attractive from certain angles but yeah he is slightly strange looking, even more so than Matt Smith.

Most people love the show for the fun interaction between Arthur and Merlin - and the 'when will Arthur FINALLY find out that his servant can do magic' storyline that's being dragged out - rather than because of the wizard side.

(frozen)

[meleth.livejournal.com]

Really, I could have sworn that Arthur found out in the last episode, but apparently he meant that he saw Merlin weeping in the forest, not that he saw Merlin throw a guy against a tree with magic.

(frozen)

[dune-drd.livejournal.com]

What I find most disconcerting is that I thought NPH was the epitome of hetero-ness in How I Met Your Mother - AND I BELIEVED HIM

(frozen)

[caledonius72.livejournal.com]

Sign of a great actor m'dear!

(frozen)

[dune-drd.livejournal.com]

Indeed - I had to look it up before I believed it

(frozen)

[meleth.livejournal.com]

He's a pretty femme-coded straight guy, though.

(frozen) "Supergay"

[caledonius72.livejournal.com]

My sister has a phrase she uses for something or someone that is beyond just gay - it's "supergay". And i agree, JB is supergay, but I still love him ;-)

Though I think you're right as to a big gay role model it's all a bit thin on the ground in terms of candidates. If we could smoosh them together that would be super.

(frozen) Re: "Supergay"

[tencrush]

Well, yeah, of the people there I think Adam Lambert is probably a better Gay Man of the Decade than any of them, NPH spent almost 7 years of the decade in the closet, FFS. It just seems like it's become a GAYEST Man of the Decade competition as opposed to a gay site's MAN of the Decade competition.

(frozen) Re: "Supergay"

[caledonius72.livejournal.com]

The problem with the gays (of which I'm one) is that we can't tell the difference. When it's a gay site/magazine that asks a question like "Man of the [___]" we automatically assume that they're looking for a gay, and we are more biassed towards those gentlemen of a similar persuasion, so our vote slants that way anyway.

However ask us about who's the sexiest/hottest/cutest and then sexuality doesn't count, it's the sixpack that does.

Just a little insight into how the gay mind works for you there. All sweeping generalisations are copyright to me.

(frozen)

[taversham]

How very dare you!

He's gor-...Well, no, I suppose you're right really. But he looks quite hot from some angles. When he's all windswept when he's looking for the Druids is sexy.

I find it interesting that fucking aliens are fine while fucking wizards are not, though. To me, Merlin and Doctor Who are very similar, only when Merlin fixes everything miraculously they just say "oh yeah, it was magic" rather than "all the people around the world collectively thinking 'Doctor' made everything be fine again" or whatever.

(frozen)

[tencrush]

His eyes are too far apart, he has an oddly shaped head and HUGE ears. No. I just can't.

I can't STAND fantasy. I like sci-fi, but I HATE fantasy, I'm just weird like that. I didn't like where Russell took Who either, the magic jesus stuff, this coven bringing the Master back, throwing a diamond at a hologram shit, it's just not sci-fi for me and I think it's ridiculous. In fact, I can only just about stomach Star Wars because it's got robots and spaceships, all the jedi mumbo jumbo irks me no end. And I have to keep reminding myself that Yoda's just some alien as opposed to a troll.

(frozen)

[whitesangria.livejournal.com]

No you aren't weird. I don't get the fantasy thing either, but huh... run an SF con in Toronto. Who knew?

(frozen)

[meleth.livejournal.com]

But the Doctor was Merlin once.

(frozen)

[nobleroman1.livejournal.com]

Is that 'Colin guy,' the one who plays Merlin? If so, I have to say I find him more attractive than Russell Tovey (sp?). Can not see why people make a big fuss over him. First time I saw him was in BBCA's showing of Ashes to Ashes, and my reaction to him (RT) was quite similar to your reacion to Colin.

(frozen)

[tencrush]

Yeah, the one with the ears. Tovey also has huge ears, I can see why some people find Tovey cute, he's got that babyfaced thing going on except with really big ears, but I don't really get that one either.

(frozen)

[eandh99.livejournal.com]

I don't find either of them attractive, really. In Merlin I'd rather ogle Bradley or Katie, in Being Human Aidan is the decorative one for me.

(frozen)

[mellacita.livejournal.com]

I said the same thing, once upon a time. Now I am making offensive picspams.

I also hated LOTR, and look what happened. Be careful.

Not too excited about blue people, which is a guarantee I will get into it after everyone else gets bored of it.

(frozen)

[tencrush]

But he's... just wrong from every angle.

Everyone is telling me I MUST SEE THE BLUE PEOPLE IN THE CINEMA for it is beautiful and I will regret not having seen it in the cinema and such. Ain't gonna happen.

(frozen)

[iko.livejournal.com]

It has been well-known for a long time that NPH was gay... but it's been limited to those in theatrical circles, like Broadway. (When he took over the Emcee in Cabaret, it was definitely talked about since one couldn't help but see him in posters in this area.)

(frozen)

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

Ok, let me first say that I am not trying to start a shit-storm here. Really.

A year ago I would have voted for JB. But since CoE, I can't. Unfair, probably. But somewhere inside of me, I would have expected an openly gay male with the stature of JB to say something about some of the homophobic remarks in CoE.

Yes, I know, not everyone thinks the remarks are such. I can only judge by my gut reaction and the reaction of my gay male co-workers and friends (not to mention the reaction on After Elton).

If I inserted a racial or religious minority in the line "so you're a bender, you take it up the ass" (may not be an exact quote), with, so you're black, you collect welfare?, or so you're a Jew, your cheap right?, I think its obvious how offensive the line is.

Now I'm not so sure about the face scar and other things, but that line coupled with Andy's interest in Ianto's sexuality when he's going to speak to Rhiannon (is he gay? Uh, Andy, he's frickin' DEAD) made me extremely uncomfortable. Ditto for my gay friends.

Now maybe JB did say something about it, who knows. But unlike GDL, he can afford to take some risks and confront these issues. But to sit by silently while the gay male community fumes, does not make for a Gay Man of the Decade IMHO.

And while I understand that you don't want to piss a lot of people off, if he and RTD were such good buddies, he should have been able to take him aside and say, 'Rusty, don't go there.' And if he did, and RTD being the genius that he is, didn't care, then I think JB should have issued his own statement after the shit hit the fan.

But apparently JB has been too busy at conventions trying to sell CJ with a new boyfriend, that I think he's lost site of the importance that gay characters take on to the gay (and larger) community. To paraphrase one poster on After Elton, "Oh good, now we're confirming for the general public that gays really can't sustain relationships and are only interested in the next one to come along."

And at least here in the US where state after state is specifically prohibiting gays from marrying, claiming the bodies of their deceased partners because they are NOT married, being denied the right to adopt or be foster parents, being prohibited from visiting a partner in the hospital, then yes, the manner in which gay men are portrayed on television matters.

(frozen)

[phaetonschariot.livejournal.com]

Personally I find the idea that showing homophobia on tv is inherently homophobic offensive. It wasn't as though they treated it as though it was a completely normal and okay thing to say - it played out exactly the same as in Cyberwoman when Dr Tanizaki was fondling Lisa. Ianto was clearly uncomfortable, and this was one of the core reasons people were upset that part of the line got cut in America - the US release simply has Johnny saying "Hey gay boy!" so that it looks as though Ianto is upset about being called gay, rather than the specific assumption that he takes it up the arse.

Whether killing Ianto or not is homophobic is an entirely different debate and one I don't really have a solid opinion on, but many people saw the scene with Johnny as an acknowledgment that homophobia exists and it's not okay, including gay people (for reference, I'm politically queer and asexual in practice - if I had an interest in sex, it would be with women). I honestly would have been upset if they'd had no real reaction from outsiders to Ianto and Jack's relationship, so I really liked Johnny and Andy's reactions. There is almost nothing that's universally offensive to all people of a minority.

Also, it would be incredibly stupid of JB's handlers to let him say publically "I wanted this line out but Russell left it in, but I don't like it." He has to tow the party line, no matter how famous he is. That's part of being an actor.

(frozen)

[forgiveninasong.livejournal.com]

I personally love how Barrowman was deemed "not gay enough" by the producers of 'Will And Grace', yet they hired a heterosexual actor, in the end, to play Will.

OH BARROWMAN, YOU WILL NEVER WIN THIS FIGHT OF GAY! :(

(frozen)

[eandh99.livejournal.com]

You seriously believe that "not gay enough" excuse? Just stop and think a moment about the idea that somehow JB was insufficiently gay. That's like imagining a more obnoxious Simon Cowell or a campier Graham Norton. It's not like Eric McCormack played the role especially gay - Will was very straight-acting especially at the beginning. They wanted and got a nice, unthreatening straight man with a wife and kid to play Will so it wouldn't frighten the US audience.

And on the homophobia in CoE - why did it need to be there when it wasn't there in 26 regular episodes? Why is Andy suddenly uncool with Ianto's gayness, why hasn't he made a remark like that before? It was a deliberate decision on the part of RTD et al to make TW in a world where sexuality was fluid and not an issue, they said so in first series. So why throw that out the window for gratuitous and crude homophobic remarks and then put those remarks into the mouths of characters we were supposed to like (Johnny) or who we had never seen be homophobic before (Andy)?

(frozen)

[rowanswhimsy.livejournal.com]

There are whole communities devoted to teh sexeh Colin Morgan. Surely we can't all be wrong?? :-) Really most of the time it's like watching a sweet woodland creature then suddenly he'll be shot from a particular angle and it's like nnngggghh. I think perhaps he's one of the fugly dudes whose personality makes them ded sexeh. I'm more entranced by the behind the scenes stuff extras with him and Bradley James than the actual show (which sort of sucks, to be honest).

LotR is awesome -- what can be cooler than hot elves?? -- I just pretend the hobbits don't exist. But I have no interest in the blue people. Blue is for smurfs. Plus I think all that 3D is a major headache trigger.

Russell Tovey leaves me cold although there is more than a passing resemblance there to GDL. I do however like Being Human a lot, I just think the vampire is more suitable as eye candy.

I think I shall go vote for NPH -- thanks for the tip!

(frozen)

[qthewetsprocket.livejournal.com]

Personally, I rather like Colin whatsisname and his bookshelf cheekbones...I class him in with guys like Matt Smith as 'non-traditionally attractive'. Which I am fully in support of.

The only thing that bugs me about it is that I wish it worked both ways, ie, that we'd see more non-traditionally attractive female actors getting the lead role in their own series. Seems like if you're a girl actor, you have to be twenty years old and a fucking supermodel to even be considered for a part (and no, Ugly Betty does NOT count; her actress is very traditionally attractive underneath all the fugly makeup).