This morning I read an old post I wrote about Jason Stackhouse. It's about how despite loving Australian accents, I prefer Ryan Kwanten's pretend American accent over his Australian one.
Reading it was timely, because it has happened to me again.
Actually, this is the third time it's happened.
A few months ago, I watched House. I love Hugh Laurie's American accent. Then I tried to watch him in The Night Manager, and his accent really annoyed me. Though I'm not convinced that's his real British accent. I've heard Hugh Laurie talk in interviews before, and I've never disliked his voice. Maybe it's not just about the voice? Maybe it was also about the character? I have no idea, really. It couldn't be just that he played a villain. I've liked plenty of villains before.
Anyway....
The most recent accent-issue I've had is with Hugh Dancy on Hannibal. He plays Will Graham, who has an overly adorable American accent. I developed a bit of a crush on Will Graham. I tend to feel unsettled about having a crush on a fictional character. I have this compulsion to transfer it to the actor. But when I heard Dancy use a British accent, it just didn't work for me.
BUT then later I was watching a gag reel for Hannibal, and there are times when Dancy keeps the American accent. He's probably just doing that to stay in character. He probably uses the accent all the time when on set. But still...it was enough to give me a short moment of irrational fantasies. I leave Tim. He leaves Claire Danes. We get together. Then the fantasy shattered. I pictured him using the British accent and me saying something like...Uh, Honey. Can you please stop that?
Then let's say he does follow along with my demented, controlling behavior. It probably wouldn't be enough for me. I'd probably also insist that he actually act like Will Graham. I'd probably even want to call him Will.
It would be VERY Anne Wilkes...which actually might turn Hugh Dancy into a Will Graham type person.
If I was evil enough, I could take my fantasies into those directions. But I'm not. And besides, my crush ended. I'm not sure if that's the result of my doing some self-psychotherapy and figuring out why I was crushing on Will Graham. Or it might be because I'm liking season three of the show much less than I did season one and season two.
The other thing is I'm trying to tell myself that I don't need to transfer my crushes on fictional characters to the actors that portray them. I think I did this in the past, because the characters, I had crushes on, might have been slightly inappropriate.
For example...speaking of Hannibal. In the 1990's, I might have been a bit attracted to Hannibal Lector. Since crushing on a serial killer, cannibal wasn't exactly kosher, I pushed myself to transfer the feelings to Anthony Hopkins.
But one of the ideas/themes in Hannibal is that Hannibal Lector has a way of getting people to become attracted to him. He's charming, lovely, and addictive. Even when the decent characters figure out that he's a serial killer, they can't stop their attraction to him.
If I can be understanding towards fictional people having affection for a cannibal, I figure I can also be forgiving and understanding to myself, for all my crazy crushes, both long ago and recent.
Reading it was timely, because it has happened to me again.
Actually, this is the third time it's happened.
A few months ago, I watched House. I love Hugh Laurie's American accent. Then I tried to watch him in The Night Manager, and his accent really annoyed me. Though I'm not convinced that's his real British accent. I've heard Hugh Laurie talk in interviews before, and I've never disliked his voice. Maybe it's not just about the voice? Maybe it was also about the character? I have no idea, really. It couldn't be just that he played a villain. I've liked plenty of villains before.
Anyway....
The most recent accent-issue I've had is with Hugh Dancy on Hannibal. He plays Will Graham, who has an overly adorable American accent. I developed a bit of a crush on Will Graham. I tend to feel unsettled about having a crush on a fictional character. I have this compulsion to transfer it to the actor. But when I heard Dancy use a British accent, it just didn't work for me.
BUT then later I was watching a gag reel for Hannibal, and there are times when Dancy keeps the American accent. He's probably just doing that to stay in character. He probably uses the accent all the time when on set. But still...it was enough to give me a short moment of irrational fantasies. I leave Tim. He leaves Claire Danes. We get together. Then the fantasy shattered. I pictured him using the British accent and me saying something like...Uh, Honey. Can you please stop that?
Then let's say he does follow along with my demented, controlling behavior. It probably wouldn't be enough for me. I'd probably also insist that he actually act like Will Graham. I'd probably even want to call him Will.
It would be VERY Anne Wilkes...which actually might turn Hugh Dancy into a Will Graham type person.
If I was evil enough, I could take my fantasies into those directions. But I'm not. And besides, my crush ended. I'm not sure if that's the result of my doing some self-psychotherapy and figuring out why I was crushing on Will Graham. Or it might be because I'm liking season three of the show much less than I did season one and season two.
The other thing is I'm trying to tell myself that I don't need to transfer my crushes on fictional characters to the actors that portray them. I think I did this in the past, because the characters, I had crushes on, might have been slightly inappropriate.
For example...speaking of Hannibal. In the 1990's, I might have been a bit attracted to Hannibal Lector. Since crushing on a serial killer, cannibal wasn't exactly kosher, I pushed myself to transfer the feelings to Anthony Hopkins.
But one of the ideas/themes in Hannibal is that Hannibal Lector has a way of getting people to become attracted to him. He's charming, lovely, and addictive. Even when the decent characters figure out that he's a serial killer, they can't stop their attraction to him.
If I can be understanding towards fictional people having affection for a cannibal, I figure I can also be forgiving and understanding to myself, for all my crazy crushes, both long ago and recent.
