Hugo Weaving: Weapon of Mass Destruction
Mar. 29th, 2006 01:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
phoenixastraeaSo...perhaps I've created another phat slogan (Phat?! Damn, I'm supposed to be an English Major and I just brought that word back from the dead!? It's 1:52am. I blame that. Anyway...), but I think this will accomplish two things:
1. I will get to show off the umm, phat new icon thatgrand_sealink just made of Hugo licking his predatory lips and
2. I will get a chance to rattle on to whomever has the good grace to listen about the potent attraction of V for fangirls and boys and whomever.
Maybe I'll come up with more later, but that works for now. =^)
1. I will get to show off the umm, phat new icon that
grand_sealink just made of Hugo licking his predatory lips and 2. I will get a chance to rattle on to whomever has the good grace to listen about the potent attraction of V for fangirls and boys and whomever.
How do I love thee, V? Shall I count the ways? So...as so many have started to discuss, what IS so wonderful about this masked vigilante who has a flair for the dramatic?
The graphic novel does not promote V as a sensual being, at least in the heterosexual sense. For all the audience knows, he may have been thrown into Larkhill for being homosexual. He tell's Evey he loves her on the staircase as he dies, but the audience has no other evidence that he means this in a romantic sense. He loves her inasmuch as she is the heir to his dreams for a new world order. He loves her as a friend or as a father but not as a lover, despite her attraction to him before he evicts her from the Shadow Gallery. The movie, however, is another story; we get to see V as a man who finds that he can love again even though such a love could not realistically be his. Like Edmund Dantes, his Idea will come before any and all romatic attachments. So...whats appeals to the romantic in us?
Vulnerability. In humanizing V, the W Bros have added an element of vulnerability and conflict in his single-minded drive towards an anarchic or reformed state. We get to see him cooking without his gloves, which Evey notices and comments on. The next few beats are incredibly complex: V's range of emotions goes from surprise, to embarrassment, to pain, and then recovery with grace and dignity. He puts the gloves on, but for a moment, we have witnessed a fraction of his pain. Perhaps the mother/comforter in all of us finds ourselves drawn in. Yet, we have also seen how V deals with his pain: he takes broken eggs and makes omlettes out of them (literally *and* metaphorically). Brilliant! We also get to see him upset to the point of tears at Evey's departure as well as his surprised joy at her return. He does love her and we can connect and sympathize with him because he's not the same V in the comics, whose sadistic detachment and deliberately abstruse behavior is enough to drive anyone insane. V, graphic novel-style, has very little humanity left; the idea remains at the cost of all that made him human, and thus vulnerable. As the GN progresses, I begin to lose my grasp on him as an individual. Gone is the man who read Evey to sleep. He seems to slip away like a spirit into the night, leaving only the mask behind, much in the fashion of the mannequin falling apart on Evey when she leaves the Shadow Gallery. We can't fully wrap our minds around that. What we can grasp are the struggles of a man attempting to balance life with Ideas.
Vocality. Hugo's voice is enough to make anyone crazy. Its intense yet soft, and can growl and purr at the same time. He has perfect enunciation and clarity of tone and a very dramatic pitch. And NO one can deliver an alliterative speech like he can. There must have been about 40 V's in that sentence and he delivered it with mellifluous grace. *purrs just thinking about it* There is a magnetism behind Hugo's performance, which inVisability only helps. For those of us who are also POTO fans, we know we can't resist a tortured soul with a voice of an angel behind a mask. The mystery of the unknown attracts us and the voice draws us in.
Vitality. He's intense. He recites Shakespeare while taking out rapists. He jumps over buildings. He audaciously walks into guarded buildings, gives everyone the finger, blows shit up, and leaves. He also loves to flip eggs, speak along with his favorite movies, and fence against suits of armour. That last part is especially pertinent to me as a fencer; trust me, there ain't NOTHIN' hotter than a man fencing. NOTHING. I've been to enough tournaments and can attest to this as a fact of nature. And don't get me started on the Shakespeare. That's another level of hot that I can't even begin to touch. Asjadeblood said, he has a great, dark sense of humor and that's always a plus. The fact that he is so alive and so cultured and damn likable is attractive.
Veracity. He has specific goals and stands by them, even at the cost of what could have been a very happy life with Evey in the countryside with a dog a cat and 3.5 kids or something. He fulfills what he sees to be his purpose in life without any detours. Its an admirable quality. And last, but not least:
Vindictiveness. You all may not agree with me on this, but superheros have a hotness about them in that they work to set things right once and for all. Like I said under "vitality", he takes vengeance on all the lowlifes that have ever had the potential to hurt us as individuals. Rapists, the government, the media, and finally, ourselves. I might catch flack from people by equating rapists with how we treat ourselves, but I think you all get my drift. We're constantly afraid, constantly in fear of internal and external forces beyond our control. We hate it and yet can't find a way out. Well, V finds the way out.
V is the way out. From all of it. And that's why we love him.
The graphic novel does not promote V as a sensual being, at least in the heterosexual sense. For all the audience knows, he may have been thrown into Larkhill for being homosexual. He tell's Evey he loves her on the staircase as he dies, but the audience has no other evidence that he means this in a romantic sense. He loves her inasmuch as she is the heir to his dreams for a new world order. He loves her as a friend or as a father but not as a lover, despite her attraction to him before he evicts her from the Shadow Gallery. The movie, however, is another story; we get to see V as a man who finds that he can love again even though such a love could not realistically be his. Like Edmund Dantes, his Idea will come before any and all romatic attachments. So...whats appeals to the romantic in us?
Vulnerability. In humanizing V, the W Bros have added an element of vulnerability and conflict in his single-minded drive towards an anarchic or reformed state. We get to see him cooking without his gloves, which Evey notices and comments on. The next few beats are incredibly complex: V's range of emotions goes from surprise, to embarrassment, to pain, and then recovery with grace and dignity. He puts the gloves on, but for a moment, we have witnessed a fraction of his pain. Perhaps the mother/comforter in all of us finds ourselves drawn in. Yet, we have also seen how V deals with his pain: he takes broken eggs and makes omlettes out of them (literally *and* metaphorically). Brilliant! We also get to see him upset to the point of tears at Evey's departure as well as his surprised joy at her return. He does love her and we can connect and sympathize with him because he's not the same V in the comics, whose sadistic detachment and deliberately abstruse behavior is enough to drive anyone insane. V, graphic novel-style, has very little humanity left; the idea remains at the cost of all that made him human, and thus vulnerable. As the GN progresses, I begin to lose my grasp on him as an individual. Gone is the man who read Evey to sleep. He seems to slip away like a spirit into the night, leaving only the mask behind, much in the fashion of the mannequin falling apart on Evey when she leaves the Shadow Gallery. We can't fully wrap our minds around that. What we can grasp are the struggles of a man attempting to balance life with Ideas.
Vocality. Hugo's voice is enough to make anyone crazy. Its intense yet soft, and can growl and purr at the same time. He has perfect enunciation and clarity of tone and a very dramatic pitch. And NO one can deliver an alliterative speech like he can. There must have been about 40 V's in that sentence and he delivered it with mellifluous grace. *purrs just thinking about it* There is a magnetism behind Hugo's performance, which inVisability only helps. For those of us who are also POTO fans, we know we can't resist a tortured soul with a voice of an angel behind a mask. The mystery of the unknown attracts us and the voice draws us in.
Vitality. He's intense. He recites Shakespeare while taking out rapists. He jumps over buildings. He audaciously walks into guarded buildings, gives everyone the finger, blows shit up, and leaves. He also loves to flip eggs, speak along with his favorite movies, and fence against suits of armour. That last part is especially pertinent to me as a fencer; trust me, there ain't NOTHIN' hotter than a man fencing. NOTHING. I've been to enough tournaments and can attest to this as a fact of nature. And don't get me started on the Shakespeare. That's another level of hot that I can't even begin to touch. As
jadeblood said, he has a great, dark sense of humor and that's always a plus. The fact that he is so alive and so cultured and damn likable is attractive. Veracity. He has specific goals and stands by them, even at the cost of what could have been a very happy life with Evey in the countryside with a dog a cat and 3.5 kids or something. He fulfills what he sees to be his purpose in life without any detours. Its an admirable quality. And last, but not least:
Vindictiveness. You all may not agree with me on this, but superheros have a hotness about them in that they work to set things right once and for all. Like I said under "vitality", he takes vengeance on all the lowlifes that have ever had the potential to hurt us as individuals. Rapists, the government, the media, and finally, ourselves. I might catch flack from people by equating rapists with how we treat ourselves, but I think you all get my drift. We're constantly afraid, constantly in fear of internal and external forces beyond our control. We hate it and yet can't find a way out. Well, V finds the way out.
V is the way out. From all of it. And that's why we love him.
Maybe I'll come up with more later, but that works for now. =^)
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no subject
Date: 2006-04-07 08:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-02 10:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-02 11:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-07 09:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-02 10:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-08 04:40 am (UTC)The moment I saw that line, I was like, 'OH oh OH OH!! OMG! I recognise that line! Whatwhatwhat? She's an English Major?! I KNEW IT!'
Random question, which I am very interested to know your opinion: How do you interpret Elizabeth B. Browning's poem? Do you see it as being a positive assertion of how much the persona loves the other person, or as how much the persona is indifferent towards the persona's partner?
I love your analysis, and you've pointed out so many important things in both the movie and the GN.
I totally agree on the Vulnerability factor. It makes us girls want to cuddle him more. ;)
As for the rest, yes, it's all true!
You know, I love this post so much, I'm gonna add it to memories...
no subject
Date: 2006-10-02 11:00 pm (UTC)Hmm...I've got to reread her poem first. Then maybe I'll post about that too! Do we have a fellow English major in the house? =^)
no subject
Date: 2006-04-09 03:21 am (UTC)there ain't NOTHIN' hotter than a man fencing.
So very true. I am on a HUGE Scarmouche kick. Mel Ferrer as Noel De Maynes is...GUH. Drool worthly like whoa.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/starlightpooka/Mel5.jpg
Fencer-butt action!
no subject
Date: 2006-10-02 10:58 pm (UTC)Agreed on the voices. I have this .wav file of Hugo saying "oohh it get's me every time" from V...Its a permanent staple on my mp3 player...
no subject
Date: 2006-10-02 11:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-09 06:05 am (UTC)Per your comment about voice: oh yeah. A guy's voice is key. Key.
Totally random, faintly related story: in my grad school in England, there was a guy who had an amazing voice (and he was American, proving not all great voices are British - I can say that, I'm American myself). (It also didn't hurt that this guy was cute in the academic geek boy kind of way -- shaggy blond hair, little round glasses).
One morning at breakfast, one of of the women (possibly still drunk from the night before -- there was quite a bit of drinking that went on there) stared at him across the table like a cat stalking a mouse and said, "Oh. My. God. I could eat your voice with a spoon."
The guy looked a bit startled and glanced at the rest of us women around the table. And we all chimed in that, oh yes indeed, we could pour his voice on our waffles. Yum yum.
He was terribly abashed yet delighted at the same time. Too cute.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-02 10:57 pm (UTC)Totally cute. I'm envious of the time you spent in grad school in England! Where did you go? And if you're still there, could you ship me back a sexy English grad school dork? ;^)