In order to boost my page hits and thus (I hope) internet popularity, I have decided to take off the gloves and begin relentlessly posting the whereabouts and personal endeavors of Tom Hiddleston and Benedict Cumberbatch.
No, not really. But I have noticed that women seem to flock to these two men in inordinate numbers and with all-consuming passion. Must be nice (I guess) for those guys. But they’ve certainly created a mini cottage industry on the pop-culture front.
Mind you, I have nothing against either one of these gentlemen. And women certainly have the right to gush over whomever they choose. I find it funny, though, as an aside, how men are habitually taken to task for objectifying attractive females, while packs of howling females are encouraged with Oprah-esque fist bumps and “you go, girls.” What do I know. Maybe in the end that helps restore balance in the cosmic order.
I already sense what’s coming…I’m going to hear all about how talented these two thespians happen to be…and how female fans have been won over not by physical assets but by profound inward qualities, a reserved thoughtfulness, a je ne sais quoi.
Be that as it may. I’m not here to argue or to criticize. Nor am I actually going to start inserting hunk-of-the-days randomly into blog posts. I just happened to stumble upon what looks to be an utterly fantastic BBC series called “The Hollow Crown,” adaptations of Richard II, Henry IV Parts I & II and Henry V.
Yeah, you could say this is fortuitous timing. Now I just have to find a way to get ahold of them in a hurry. 🙂
So call it coincidence, then, that one of the series’ big stars happens to be, ahem, Mr. Hiddleston. Go ahead, ladies, I won’t mind if you swoon. Heck, if he brings (or brought, the series already ran) a bunch of new eyeballs to Shakespeare’s lesser-adapted history plays, sobeit.
Turnabout is, after all, fair play. I’ll adjust, I suppse, to such Amazon reviews as “I’m only watching it for the beautiful men.” Yes, I get the point.
It’s a brave new world, with age-old gender barriers and stereotypes crashing all around us. Though I wonder sometimes how much really changes beneath the surface – I believe we are to a great extent biologically driven and intellectually/spiritually modified – nobody paying a modicum of attention to what’s happening around us can deny that women are redefining norms faster than we understand what they’re being replaced by. Western culture is definitely in transition.
Oh, by the way…Sam Mendes (of American Beauty and Skyfall fame) executive-produced the Hollow Crown series. Just in case, you know, you might feel the need to still justify that next Hiddleston indulgence.
Just sayin’.
A Year of Shakespeare 