Richard...Richard...Richard...what can I say about Richard? Well, he's talented, sweet, bashful, silly, thoughtful, intelligent and principled. These are all words that I can associate with the Richard Armitage that everyone knows. But the one I actually admire the most, and perhaps points to all of the others is:
Enigma
The fact that there is so much about him that his fans don't know and what is more delicious than what's off limits to us? It makes us crave more of him. Now this is conjecture here, but I suspect that there isn't much guile behind his choice to remain private in that way. But I do suspect that there is sound logic behind it as the focus will more consistantly remain on his professional achievements as that is our biggest gateway to knowing him.
If we're completely honest with ourselves, plenty of professional people we encounter don't share their private lives with us. And in that, I'm subconciously more confident about their ability to do their job well as a result. I don't know how many women, or men for that matter, my banker has kissed. I don't know the names of my accountant's siblings. I do know that my Doctor has kids. But I don't know the status of her relationship with her husband. And I don't know how drunk my child's teacher got at Uncle Phil's wedding. And at the end of the day, whatever struggles they have in their personal lives, they are not forced to suffer them in the public eye.
People say Richard is a private person...very protective...as if this was a new concept. I say that there are many of us who are the kings and queens of overshare. I'm certainly guilty of this (Hey you're lucky enough to read my overshare.). Richard is fairly normal at face value. He's a real person, a guy who dared to take a chance in an industry that has been known to eat people alive. But I suspect that the only way he'll remain himself is by not allowing the general public all access to his every single thought or mood.
Of course I'm curious about what flavor ice cream he likes. I love that he is not afraid to wear bacon on his face. And I'm delighted and a little surprised he has good-naturedly put up with our constant facial hair discussion/debate. And while there are many of us who would love to simply give him a little pat on the back when he's feeling particularly blue, or give him a resounding 'huzzah' for something that made him happy, not everyone is kind. And leaving himself too exposed to the ugliness would likely take the Richard we do know away from us. And what a terrible loss that would be.
P.S. Beard or no beard? I don't acutally have a preference. He had me the moment Bilbo's door opened for Thorin.
I've never thought he was unusually private -- he always said plenty about various aspects of himself in interviews, if you read through the whole history of them. He made comments about his family, about things they did at Christmas time, about falling in love, about his hobbies. He maybe didn't say much about things (or one particular thing!) that some people wanted to know particularly. Then again, he also said things that if I were him, I wouldn't ever have said (like what part of London he lived in, and his nephew's first name). Also, I'm guessing he's already been exposed to more than fair amount of ugliness (via his fan mail and if he's ever read what's said about him gossipwise in the shadier parts of the Internet), and if he didn't want to be exposed to more of it, Twitter was *not* the place to enter the social mediasphere. There have been repeated fears from fans over the years that if they don't behave a certain way, he'll withdraw, but it's never actually happened. He's way tougher than a lot of people think.
ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly. And come to think of it….I REALLY don’t want to know all the extremely personal details of my co-workers, aquaintances and accountants, etc…so, come to think about it….I guess I really don’t want to know it about RA either. I like getting lost in the characters he creates and I love the always interesting and sometimes humourous interviews he gives just the way they are. And I think like Servetus does in that he is tougher than we think....he is in a tough business and is doing very well...and I don't think he has a whole lot of time to be reading everythin on the internet about himself...I sure don't and I certainly don't have as busy a schedule as he must have.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you entirely. He has a right to his privacy. I respect that, and I also like him more for it. Doesn't it make the public moments and little revelations and his sense of humor, and what feelings and opinions he does share with us, more special? I think it does.
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