Nov. 5th, 2008 06:10 pm
Tall, dark, handsome candidate wins!
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unjapanologistMy own gut reaction upon reading that Obama had made it -"Thank god I won't have to look at the other guy anymore"- was another reminder to me about the influence of striking looks on a fictional character's popularity. I got up at an ungodly hour this morning to watch the US presidential election results come in, but pesky CNN managed to call the race exactly five minutes before I got behind the computer, making me miss the big moment. Oh well. I got to watch the concession and acceptance speeches in real time. Listening to Obama and his huge crowd of supporters was actually a pretty damn emotional experience -we may gripe and groan about the US now and then (okay, a lot) here in Belgium, but sometimes I wish we could display the kind of spirit that I saw in Grant Park. While my country is a very good place to live and I feel lucky to have been born here, there are a lot of whiny and very passive people.
Anyway. I was happy to see Obama win, mostly for political reasons (seriously), but also because I'd rather see his photo pop up every day in my newspaper than McCain's. With all due respect for the man and his achievements, McCain is not a physically attractive person. Obama is fairly young, charismatic, and quite easy on the eyes. I like looking at Obama. I was going to ask if anyone knew some RPS featuring Obama, but apparently that question has been answered already, with yes.
While the taller candidate doesn't always carry the election, he does so in the large majority of cases, often enough for the difference to be statistically significant. I'm not aware of any research that compares the relative attractiveness of presidential candidates, but I'd be surprised if there was no correlation at all between a candidate's looks and his chances at defeating his opponent. Visuals are so incredibly important. If good-looking applicants have a better chance of getting a job, surely the same must apply to presidents at least a little.
When I realized I needed to incorporate a visual as well as a textual comparison of Japanese and English-language fanwork in my research, because the Japanese dojinshi rely so heavily on visuals, my immediate reflex was to narrow the sample down to fanwork revolving around Severus Snape. He's by far my favourite character, which definitely influenced the decision, but he also has the most interesting looks of any character in 'Harry Potter'. Interesting in the books, fascinating outside of them, in the reams of fanfics and dojinshi being written and drawn about the man. When I mentioned I was considering limiting myself to Snape-centric fanwork, my Japanese advisor -a woman much wiser and more realistic than me- agreed at once that it was the choice most likely to yield interesting results in the course of the research. So here we are.
Would I have liked Snape as much if he were described as similar in appearance to that other morally questionable spy, Peter Pettigrew -small, rotund, balding, patently unremarkable? I doubt it. He's hardly a prince charming, as described in the books through Harry's eyes. But the combination of black clothing, piercing eyes, a tall, thin body, and Alan Rickman more than made up for poor Harry's obviously biased impression of his teacher's looks. Snape has enough going for him to be considered at least striking, with a bit of good will, and his legions of fans obviously have good will in spades. It's such fun to play around with Snape's defining physical characteristics, trying to construct him as acceptable enough to be thrown naked into a bed with another character. Greasy hair becomes glossy, or at least freshly washed. Sallow skin becomes pale and beautiful. His beak of a nose becomes aquiline. Japanese dojinshika (fan manga authors) carry it even further: their Snape is almost invariably drawn as beautiful. A bishonen (beautiful boy) as a teenager, and a handsome man as an adult. See Aestheticism article for a few examples.
Off to read RPS now, and hopefully get back on topic after that.
Anyway. I was happy to see Obama win, mostly for political reasons (seriously), but also because I'd rather see his photo pop up every day in my newspaper than McCain's. With all due respect for the man and his achievements, McCain is not a physically attractive person. Obama is fairly young, charismatic, and quite easy on the eyes. I like looking at Obama. I was going to ask if anyone knew some RPS featuring Obama, but apparently that question has been answered already, with yes.
While the taller candidate doesn't always carry the election, he does so in the large majority of cases, often enough for the difference to be statistically significant. I'm not aware of any research that compares the relative attractiveness of presidential candidates, but I'd be surprised if there was no correlation at all between a candidate's looks and his chances at defeating his opponent. Visuals are so incredibly important. If good-looking applicants have a better chance of getting a job, surely the same must apply to presidents at least a little.
When I realized I needed to incorporate a visual as well as a textual comparison of Japanese and English-language fanwork in my research, because the Japanese dojinshi rely so heavily on visuals, my immediate reflex was to narrow the sample down to fanwork revolving around Severus Snape. He's by far my favourite character, which definitely influenced the decision, but he also has the most interesting looks of any character in 'Harry Potter'. Interesting in the books, fascinating outside of them, in the reams of fanfics and dojinshi being written and drawn about the man. When I mentioned I was considering limiting myself to Snape-centric fanwork, my Japanese advisor -a woman much wiser and more realistic than me- agreed at once that it was the choice most likely to yield interesting results in the course of the research. So here we are.
Would I have liked Snape as much if he were described as similar in appearance to that other morally questionable spy, Peter Pettigrew -small, rotund, balding, patently unremarkable? I doubt it. He's hardly a prince charming, as described in the books through Harry's eyes. But the combination of black clothing, piercing eyes, a tall, thin body, and Alan Rickman more than made up for poor Harry's obviously biased impression of his teacher's looks. Snape has enough going for him to be considered at least striking, with a bit of good will, and his legions of fans obviously have good will in spades. It's such fun to play around with Snape's defining physical characteristics, trying to construct him as acceptable enough to be thrown naked into a bed with another character. Greasy hair becomes glossy, or at least freshly washed. Sallow skin becomes pale and beautiful. His beak of a nose becomes aquiline. Japanese dojinshika (fan manga authors) carry it even further: their Snape is almost invariably drawn as beautiful. A bishonen (beautiful boy) as a teenager, and a handsome man as an adult. See Aestheticism article for a few examples.
Off to read RPS now, and hopefully get back on topic after that.
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