Sunday 12 December 2010

Thoughtful Revelations ...

Today is the day, the one day, where I close down one year and try to lay the fundament to positively start another one. You would perhaps compare the mood to Thanksgiving or New Year’s resolutions.
I do it on exactly this day every year and potential visitors will find me a bit moody and thoughtful.
I normally try to avoid crowds, which on such a day normally is not the easiest thing to achieve. But I always wish for snow, so that I can have a long and solitary walk through quiet and dreamy landscape.
We had lots of snow this year, but rather wet and rainy. So no walk this year.
I did so many things the past year, most of them didn't work out (or at least not till now). But one thing I really love to remember is finding the blog of Servetus with her respectful comments and the wonderful group of RA fans meeting there. They gave me the courage to post my own blog with comments and videos.
I do not know what the future will bring to my blog or me. At one time I will be ready to overcome my disgruntlement with "Spooks 9" and I will have to change my blog topics slightly. But right now the blog helps me to come to terms with some of the storylines of "Spooks 9" which still run wild in my head.
I think for "Spooks 9" and "Spooks" in general, it is a kind of quality sign, that it can affect me so much and can hold my attention for such a length of time to write such a number of blog posts.
Though I had not liked the story development, still I have to admit, that the story execution and the acting of all participants was just brilliant.

My introspect day also caused me to think about what my occupation with Richard Armitage means to me.
It certainly gives me a perspective, a kind of way of approach to myself.
I am normally quite effective in my approach to things. Either they are right or they are not - quite black and white without any shades of grey in between.
Richard Armitage clearly is in the white area for me, otherwise I would give up my 'obsession' with him immediately.

But today I wondered what it is that makes him white for me:

- Because I do not know him for real?
(How pompous of me to imply he would have grey scales, if I would know him better.)

- Because from the distance I can make him an ideal?
(But I do not or try not to make anything out of him, except what I learn in the news.)

- Because he is only a raw picture, where I can fill in the blanks?
(But I try not to make him anything. On the other side I even try to avoid any private information, perhaps not to make him too real for me?)

- Because he has not to cope with reality to impress me?
(The people around me I respect for how they cope with reality, the daily necessities, etc. I also respect Richard Armitage for how he acts towards reporters / colleagues / fans / fame / politics / ...)

But what I really do admire in him is:

- for fighting hard for his success and his believe in himself and his right way.

- for maintaining true to himself.

- for being down to earth.

- for working hard.

- for his presence of mind.

- for giving the impression of pure concentration and being in the situation he is playing with his full mind.

- for being able to impose a role and absolutely portray a special character.

- for giving the character he plays so much thought to make him loveable and believable. To give him so much depths only few other actors would have the power of mind to think about with such a lot of character details.

You will have recognized, that his beauty is not part of why I see my time as his fan worthily spent.
I do not find him beautiful in a classical sense. In some sequences he very much reminds me of my father (in his outlooks) and my grandfather (in his way of behaving). My father and my grandfather were very different in their appearances!
Richard Armitage is very changeable in his appearance. His transformation from role to role fascinates me. He just is the character.

He most of all impresses me in his interviews

- by showing his sense of humor,

- his easy way of talking to people and

- his way to make them feel welcome and comfortable in his presence.
This is the point where he very much reminds me of my grandfather.

Richard Armitage has a very fetching way of behaviour. I wish him all the best and that lots of producers will see and want to engage his talent.

4 comments:

  1. Very well said. Couldn't agree with you more! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. @Traxy
    Thank you very much for your nice feedback!
    I am glad you liked my musings. I was a bit hesitant if I should publish this post.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Why December 12, if you don't mind my asking? Oder ist es der 2. Advent?

    I really appreciated this clear-headed enumeration of the attraction points, along with the concession at the beginning that lack of knowledge about certain things may be blinding you to certain aspects of the question (this is something I worry about a lot).

    It sounds from your post like it's a sort of "lived virtue" that attracts you -- an attitude that then becomes part of his behavior. I find this part of his persona very convincing myself -- it's a kind of refusal to abandon convictions that extends not only into his artistic life and his insistence on delivering good work at all times to his behavior in public with the people who admire the first two. I find the energy that he has for this way of being really impressive and wish I had more of it myself.

    In a way I wonder if, given what you say, our gaps in our knowledge about him really matter all that much. He acts in a way consistent with what he's said about his principles, and we see all we are ever going to see of him anyway. So we don't really need to know more.

    (which begs the question of why I am still so curious)

    Great post!

    ReplyDelete
  4. @servetus
    Thank you very much for your comment. You always lead me to deeper insight into myself and hit the topic right at the center where I am vaguely stumbling around.

    For me the special day really is December the 12th. It's the time when I start a new year ;o)

    You are also right with your other point. I really want to put RA on a pedestal and I admire his 'lived virtue' as far as I see his life.
    I do not worry overmuch about what I do not know about him, because what I see I like. This does not mean that I do not want to learn more, but also I want to leave him the freedom to act as he likes. I do not want to press some kind of behaviour onto him because he thinks to have to do this for his fans or feels obliged to act in a certain way for them.

    I think part of my curiosity to learn new things about RA is, that he has so much potential and I want to see it being realised and brought to light.
    For one I would love him to produce something himself. He gives so much thought to every character aspect, that I think he would be brilliant doing such kind of work.
    But I also see that this is not a one man project and a lot of surrounding elements have to fit to make such a thing happen. Still I can hope ;o)

    ReplyDelete