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cosmic_llinI read a really disturbing article earlier on Veritaserum about how Katie Leung, who is playing Cho Chang in GoF, has been getting hate mail, and there are several hate websites about her. I also happen to know that this is true for some of the other actors in the series. I have stumbled across one or two Emma Watson hate sites without looking for them, so there must be more about.
I can't understand what would make people do this.
OK, sure, it's fair enough to hate a character, because their feelings can't be hurt. But when someone is saying something like 'Katie Leung should die because she got to kiss Daniel Radcliffe', there is something really wrong. Have the people who manage these websites ever met Katie Leung, Emma Watson or any of the other people towards whom they direct their hatred? It's doubtful. And what makes these people think they have such a claim to Daniel Radcliffe anyway?
Not to mention the fact that these actors are children. Emma Watson is, what, fifteen? From what little I've seen of her in interviews etc, she seems pretty mature, but she is still in many ways a little girl. It would be horrible for anyone to have people who haven't even met them running websites about how horrible they are, but it's especially awful when the person is at an age when it's so important to be liked. These sites don't just say general nasty things about Emma Watson, either. They pick apart her outfits, her hair, her acting, her every move that is caught on camera. What gives anyone the right?
I will freely admit that I'm a Harry Potter fan, but I hate the thought that I might be considered as in the same category as these people.
I can't understand what would make people do this.
OK, sure, it's fair enough to hate a character, because their feelings can't be hurt. But when someone is saying something like 'Katie Leung should die because she got to kiss Daniel Radcliffe', there is something really wrong. Have the people who manage these websites ever met Katie Leung, Emma Watson or any of the other people towards whom they direct their hatred? It's doubtful. And what makes these people think they have such a claim to Daniel Radcliffe anyway?
Not to mention the fact that these actors are children. Emma Watson is, what, fifteen? From what little I've seen of her in interviews etc, she seems pretty mature, but she is still in many ways a little girl. It would be horrible for anyone to have people who haven't even met them running websites about how horrible they are, but it's especially awful when the person is at an age when it's so important to be liked. These sites don't just say general nasty things about Emma Watson, either. They pick apart her outfits, her hair, her acting, her every move that is caught on camera. What gives anyone the right?
I will freely admit that I'm a Harry Potter fan, but I hate the thought that I might be considered as in the same category as these people.
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Date: 2005-04-11 06:47 pm (UTC)I can't understand how someone can get so caught up in something that it becomes reality for them. There are people who see actors from Coronation Street and call them by their character names. Sally Lindsay, who plays Shelly the barmaid, says that she constantly gets people coming up to her telling her how evil Charlie the builder is. It's madness.
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Date: 2005-04-11 07:40 pm (UTC)nasty little creepschildren grow up without ever learning even the simplest of manners and consideration. One could run a lot of doctoral theses on the solipsistic/sociopathic nature of the Western Me Me Me generations. Grrr arrgh. Does any of this make sense to you?Nasty sniping at actors, community leaders, etc. has always been publicly accepted; it's just that it used to be the province of the gossip columns, and those had to be careful about what they printed for legal reasons! - but now that Teh Interweb is open to every toxic little dweeb with a net connection, the gloves are off. And it sucks.
As you know, I've never understood the mentality that confuses artists with their work. I can't ever imagine thinking of Viggo Mortensen in RL as being anything like Aragorn, f'rinstance. I don't have the slightest interest in wondering whether or not Amber Benson shags women when she's not doing Tara. I had a major soft spot for Chekhov on the old Enterprise, and I utterly detested Bester on B5, but I've never related either character to Walter Koenig, the actor who played them...and I can't get my brain around the concept of anyone else not realising that there...is...a...difference, dammit!
There's a lot more that can be said, but not now. BTW I'm not immune to the occasional fantasy, you know: "Put the claws on again, Hugh, and come over here..." :P