Louise wrote:
Shane wrote:
What "love" can there be in drawing someone you dislike? But then, if you are drawing someone you dislike in a situation you know "that certain someone" would find
grossly
distasteful, well, "love" is one thing we are certainly not talking
about..
What if you then go on to distribute these images? What do we have
then?
If
it's not for money, and it's not for love, what does that leave?
Malicious
glee perhaps, hatred even, revenge, possibly.
I think you're being a little harsh here. People are perfectly capable of separating an actor from the characters played by that actor. I can watch The Great Escape and like the Steve McQueen character despite the fact
that
I probably wouldn't have liked Steve McQueen at all, had I met him,
because
of his tendency towards domestic violence. I have no problem
understanding
how someone could love a character and dislike the actor who created that character.
But if you wrote a slash story featuring Steve McQueen's character from The Great Escape being raped and tortured by Nazi guards, and then drew some lurid artwork to accompany it, you would have to be using Steve McQueen's likeness, because he, after all, played the character (whatever his name was -- Hilt, Hicks, something). If Steve McQueen then found out about the artwork, and he then expressed to you that he found the pictures of what is in effect identifiably him in such a situation grossly offensive, then it would be rather unkind of you to ignore his pleas and instead continue to produce and distribute said offensive artwork.
This is made even more acute in a small fandom like B7's where the actors are so largely involved with fans. Actors still do interviews, convention appearances, even fan audiotapes; this is certainly something Star Trek actors can't involve themselves in. The actors have been very supportive and very kind. Is it too much to ask that we show a little bit of kindness back?
I don't think you can really separate actor and the characters they play (Usually for many actors, just a variation on the same theme) anyway, because, having never met Steve McQueen, we have no idea what he was really like; therefore all we have to go by is what we see of his screen work. It's interesting that neither you or I could recall the name of the character he played in "The Great Escape," and that we refer to him as "Steve McQueen's character" rather than by name or as "the blond American one with the nice muscles." Many people have stated in the past that on meeting a particular actor they were surprised by the fact that they were nothing at all like the character they played on screen. The fact is people will see the two as the same until more direct information (meeting the actor, say) comes about, and even after that, the two images will coexist in the minds of many people.
Some actors in B7 are very strongly associated with the parts they played. If you do a drawing of Actor X shagging Actor Y, then inevitably the connection is going to be made. If you do enough drawings, over a long enough period, and distribute widely enough, then eventually you are going to change people's perceptions of how the character, and eventually the actor, is seen. Hence the person I was telling you about who now believes that the Professionals was about a homosexual couple played by two real-life gays.
If the admirable Julia Jones can see this, and has a no-explicit-artwork policy for her slashzines, why doesn't Ashton Press do the same? Answer: They don't give a toss what the actor feels. They have no respect at all for these people. Unless I see evidence to the contrary, I am going to take this as read.
If anyone would like to post to me, offlist, details of this mysterious "schism" that took place all those years ago, I would be very grateful, and then perhaps we can get to the root of what's is going on here.
Shane
"Neat Job" -- Avon
Who needs Cupid? Matchmaker.com is the place to meet somebody. FREE Two-week Trial Membership at http://www.matchmaker.com/home?rs=200015
-
Shane Little