(no subject)

[nny]

No offense meant to whoever made it, but the video in which fans insist David Hewlett say 'I love you too, John Sheppard'? I cringe. Seriously. I mean yeah, it's not on a par with the whole Michael Rosenbaum sextoys incident, but still.

Comments

[naye]

Ouch. Yes. I cringed just reading that. Will now attempt to scrub the knowledge that such a thing occurred from my brain. Ick.

[villainny.livejournal.com]

It's just - the Joe thing, that was awesome and unexpected and a total freebie to the fans, and that's what makes fannish life wonderful. The little things we can extrapolate and read into and occasionally get handed on a silver platter. But wandering into the realms of crossing the line between fiction and reality, with the distinct possibility of making the actors involved uncomfortable? That's just icky.

[muji]

I think I missed something.

(What I know I missed is last week's ep, so if this has to do with that...)

[naye]

BTW - is this on the mcshep community, with a title like "Must See Vid"? Because in that case you saved me a soul-shuddering experience, since I didn't click when that link showed up in the newsletter. Thank you~! ♥

[lavvyan.livejournal.com]

... sex toys incident? Do I even want to know?

[villainny.livejournal.com]

Apparently fans presented Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor from Smallville) with a box of sex toys at a con.

Not on.

[lavvyan.livejournal.com]

Why, that's... a very thoughtful gift? :/

[hyunbin.livejournal.com]

ughhhh that sort of thing is SO creepy D:

[villainny.livejournal.com]

It's just embarrassing more than anything.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

And this is why most of fandom should NOT be allowed near the objects of their obsession EVER.

[villainny.livejournal.com]

*giggles*

Mandatory fact/fiction test before ticket buying?

[jumperkid.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU. YES. I've been feeling the contact embarrassment. I want to go up to DHew and be like, "No, really. I promise we're not all creepy and insane."

[villainny.livejournal.com]

I think he's probably the safest person to do it to, weird as that sounds, because he is a hopeless fanboy, he knows that some of us are vaguely normal. It's just... I so don't want to make him uncomfortable because he's one of the most generous celebrities I've ever come across, with his time and his life, and I would hate to see that spoiled.

[thisissirius.livejournal.com]

WHAT?!

omg that just.... crosses a line what even happend? OMG :(

[villainny.livejournal.com]

It's up on mckay_sheppard.

[bookwench31.livejournal.com]

I was just the other day talking about this very thing and yes it just makes me cringe. The thing Joe did, that's an actor thing, it's a joking around on the set, spur of the moment thing. But this? Is kinda creepy.

After Shore Leave, I may have mentioned that I want to make a shirt that says something along the lines of "Dance for me David Hewlett for I am entitled!" Seriously people in line for the pictures groaned when he took 15 minutes to eat something. God bless that man, for he was gracious and put up with a lot.

[villainny.livejournal.com]

That poor guy, seriously, after he's so completely generous in so many ways.

The thing Joe did, that's an actor thing, it's a joking around on the set, spur of the moment thing. Yes! Exactly. And that's what makes fandom so delightful, like I've said above somewhere - the extrapolation, the interpreting, the occasional silver platter moment. (Thanks, Joe). Asking for it makes it seem like it's something we feel we're entitled to, which runs the risk of removing it entirely.

If that makes any sense. XD

[tacittype.livejournal.com]

BLEURGH.

I just opened up the video in question, made it through the first half a second, and squirmed so hard I had to cross the tab off. I do not want to see what happens next.

[villainny.livejournal.com]

I found it embarrassing to watch.

[lamardeuse.livejournal.com]

At first I was kind of mortified at the thought(and I don't know if I can watch it right this moment), but then I thought: DH has doubtless seen a lot of batshit fen by now, and he's also doubtless seen McKay/Sheppard slash. If he felt uncomfortable or put out by the request, I'm sure he would have found a polite way to refuse it - e.g. "Now that I know Joe's on YouTube, I really don't want him to get any funny ideas" - or whatever.

[villainny.livejournal.com]

I totally don't doubt that he's seen worse - I mentioned above that he's probably one of the safest for this to have happened to because he is and has been a fanboy himself and he understands where we're coming from a little. But he does look uncomfortable doing it, and I just... don't see the need to mesh the fandom with the actors. It's fantastic when we get something like Joe's comment handed to us on a silver platter, because it's a tale of the actors screwing around on set and that's fantastic amounts of fun, and it allows us a moment of squee. More than a moment. Ridiculous amounts, actually, and that's awesome, but it's not... it's not something that we're entitled to because we're fans and because we invest in the fandom.

I've been way more articulate in other comments to this post, I'm sorry - my sister Gabriel's watching Big Brother and it's totally distracting me. :D

[darsynia.livejournal.com]

kimberlyfdr pretty much what I wanted to say but I couldn't think of a way to say it without sounding defensive. The person at Shore Leave whom I watched hand Kate Hewlett a package of fanart 'so you can see what the fans do online?' THAT squicked me out. This video was the sort of thing I doubt would have ever been attempted had it not been for David's behavior throughout the rest of the con (it was on the last day, afaik). There were a few occasions at Shore Leave where you could tell that he wasn't comfortable and he blew them off with grace and dignity such that the people doing those things probably had no idea (the 'I'm praying for you' leaps to mind--that was a hell of a deflect, and he turned it into HUMOR; the man is a pro).

When I saw him in the autograph line (both times), I really got the sense from him that he wouldn't play along with things if he didn't want to. The uncomfortable look in his eyes in that video? I have NO DOUBT that he did that on purpose, deliberately, knowing what was asked (he says 'I love you too, John Sheppard;' before the video starts, I believe it was explained to him why he was being asked to say it) and what the purpose was behind it. The best way to keep his fans happy and to thwart their efforts to turn it into something it wasn't was to say it, but in a way that couldn't be construed as anything other than a stilted, unemotional response.

I am pretty sure that, no matter what the phrase itself might mean to the McShep side of the fandom, asking David to say that could just as easily have been construed as one of those 'Joe vs. David' things that he jokes about on his blog sometimes, ala. the impersonating Joe's voice thing. Because really, having Joe sound sincere and David sound forced? Totally puts the ball in Joe's court in terms of embarrassment factor, looked at in a non-shippy, jokes around the set kind of light.

If you're at all worried about the person who asked him making him feel uncomfortable in a 'this is the only interaction I've had with a crazy fan' sort of way, let me reassure you--I spent a good deal of the weekend with her, and the two of us went through the autograph line the day before the video was taken. David joked around with both of us (my part is on tape, thanks to the same person) and even wrote a more-personalized-than-usual comment on her photo op picture in reference to said joking around. I can't speak for him, of course, but I suspect that had that not happened, he would have demurred/deflected completely; by proving she wasn't a 'crazy,' he may have decided he could trust her enough to joke around with the phrase. After all, he did get in the dig of 'it's not SUPPOSED to be authentic, I don't love him!' in response to heckling from the crowd behind her.

Editing for clarity...

[villainny.livejournal.com]

I totally respect all of what you said, and I appreciate you taking the time to give me the context, thanks. It's just, this is not an isolated incident of a seeming fannish sense of entitlement. This could certainly be totally innocent, but that's not necessarily how it'll be interpreted by anyone who sees it. Without the context it does seem odd.

This was over my own personal line of acceptable fannish interaction, and as I said that's my opinion. But then you get incidents like Michael Rosenbaum and the sex toys, and the fan jumping on Jensen Ackles, and people vary on how far is too far, y'know? I just personally feel that fandom and actors should remain separate and that trying to combine the two can't end particularly well.

[tropes.livejournal.com]

GOD. IDIOTS. GOD. AFKJGAWLKBEKGBAEJKR.ABWKEJBFBFD

[villainny.livejournal.com]

*giggles*

You give good reaction, baybee.

XD