When real people collide with the murky world of fandom

[birdsofshore]

I know it can be a bit icky when people show actors fanart and such of the characters they play. However I think I love Mark Ruffalo a little bit after reading this:

"MARK RUFFALO KNOWS WHAT SCIENCE BROS IS, SHIPS IT"

He seemed so genuinely delighted by the whole concept, I found it strangely heart-warming. I've seen actors confronted before on talk shows or at cons, and they usually take it in good part, but then they're trying to appear likeable and funny, so it's hard to know how they actually feel about the subject. I know Tom Felton always seems amused by the things fandom comes up with, and often makes jokes about Drarry or Drapple. However I can think of other actors for whom this must have been a cringy situation.

What do you think about people having fandom thrust upon them like this? It seems sort of disrespectful, but then the interview above shows it can be a thing of joy... And, incidentally, do you ship Science Bros? I don't follow the Avengers at all, but Mark Ruffalo (is it just me who always wants to say Mark Gruffalo? :D) and RDJ are both so cute, I could be easily persuaded...

Comments

[eidheann_writes]

I have heart-eyes for him now as well.

[birdsofshore]

He's so sweet! His reaction made me very happy. "Open source creativity"! I love his enthusiasm for everything.

[nerakrose]

he seems like the kind of person who doesn't expect to have fans so gets excited when he finds out he does. :D ♥

i ship pretty much everything in the avengers, even science bros.

[birdsofshore]

That's a lovely way to put it! People who are genuinely humble and modest just have a lovely vibe about them, don't they?

I have never seen or read any Avengers; I'm not an action fan, at all. Things like this make me tempted, though.

[nerakrose]

they do. and fluffalo definitely seems to belong to that group of people. if i ever meet him i just want to hug him. XD

if you're curious, i can rec you a lawyer AU fanfic (no action, just slow build up and UST). it's in two parts where the first part is clint/phil but there's lots of background tony/bruce UST and pining and the sequel (currently wip but updates every friday) focuses on tony/bruce.

[birdsofshore]

Fluffalo, LOL, I had not heard that one. I don't actually know the characters or anything, so a fic would probably confuse me. My brain is obviously intrigued by the whole idea, though, as I dreamt about them once, LOL, and the fandom looks like everyone is having a lot of fun.

[nerakrose]

fluffalo ♥ can't claim credit for it, somebody on tumblr probably does.
that's okay ^^ it was just a suggestion. it still stands if you ever change your mind. :)

[sisi-rambles.livejournal.com]

He's so cute with his enthusiasm!

I'm fine with gen stuff being thrown at people. There's lots of really awesome art that actors get shown and I think that's pretty cool. I'm leery of any kind of shippy stuff because I don't like embarrassing people or seeing people get awkward and that hits it pretty hard. If the actor mentions it I'm kinda ok, but I'm still a bit "uh no".

Science Bros FTW! I went into the Avengers not expecting anything but more Loki/Thor goodness and came out shipping Bruce/Tony so hard it's ridiculous. RDJ and Ruffalo's interactions are so cute in the movie. I could watch them SCIENCE! for hours.

[birdsofshore]

Oh, wow, you are convincing me! I don't know what I would think about all the, erm, fighting and explosions and stuff that I expect this sort of film to have, but cute men sciencing is something I can definitely get behind.

[sisi-rambles.livejournal.com]

er I may be giving the wrong impression. It is a "big explosions and buff men (and ScarJo) hitting each other" movie. The sciencing is probably about 5 minutes of cuteness where Tony pokes Bruce in the side, blabbers at him and stares into his eyes. Which, now that I think about it, isn't much. But yeah, there's just so much in that interaction that just makes me squee so hard at them.

[birdsofshore]

LOL, you nearly had me there. Maybe I will youtube "science cuteness, poking and blabbering". It sounds great. :D

[sisi-rambles.livejournal.com]

Yeah I thought I should clear things up asap. Nothing like having an over-enthusiastic fan with serious goggles promote something and then finding out that the reality isn't quite, ya know? I've had my share of confused "I see nothing here" moments so I try not to lead people down the wrong road lol

[birdsofshore]

Heh, I'm sorry to have brought you down from your fangirlcloud. Why let little things like the reality of canon interfere with our moments of shipping euphoria, heh.

[blossomdreams.livejournal.com]

I ship them so hard so hard with no regrets! I've always loved him from the indie films he's done and now I love him more! I love how he is and this just really cemented me in the ship. ^^

[birdsofshore]

He seems very sweet from the films I've seen him in! Just a likeable and charming person. I was so happy when I saw this interview.

[0idontknow0]

Having fandom thrust on them, a little weird and maybe frightening. If I was a celebrity and I had fandom thrown in my face I don't know how I'd react. Depending on the roles I might have known fans would read too much into things or it might have just come out of left field. I think it depends on how they get introduced to the fandom.

I watched the movie and I totally did ship Science Bros. They were adorable.

Also, I love the way Tom Felton handles the fandom questions. Especially that time someone asked him about a wedding with Daniel Radcliffe as a joke. That must have been terribly awkward having it turned into a RL situation instead of just HP.

[birdsofshore]

I think Tom Felton genuinely finds it funny, but then he's just a massive sweetie.

I am really liking the sound of adorable Science Bros!

[sapphoatsunset.livejournal.com]

I love Science Bros! Mainly because I love that it promotes science~ And then, of course, the adorable-ness of them together :D

Maybe I have a different perspective, but I'm used to my celebs knowing about all the ways fans love all over them. I come from fandoms (RPF/bandom) where the celebrities encourage the shippping :) It's marvelous.

I guess that's part of why stepping into the HP fandom was such a culture shock for me XD

Yay for Mark and Tom!!! ♥ They're both sweethearts~

edit to add: I love The Mary Sue!!

[birdsofshore]

The Mary Sue is brilliant! I love the feminism and the excellent fandom news.

I have read about fanservice and the Asian pop fandoms, and I don't even know how I feel about that. I think I like fandom as a secret place which only occasionally bleeds out into RL. But fandom is getting much more well known, and a lot of bands / series here in the West seem to be moving more towards the fanservice way of doing things, so I think I had better get used to it!

[sapphoatsunset.livejournal.com]

Asian pop, Asian rock... It's all fab. It's like Tom Felton sort of but, with most of celebs. Though, it's not like they actually read any of it. It's more a way of catering to what the fans want from them and selling a product. And then they all get married and crush our slash!shipping souls XD

Here, some youtube examples: [01] [02] :)

But really, imo, any positive energy from celebs for fandom is a good thing. Much better than negative energy, of which there is a lot. Though that negative energy keeps OTW in things which is good too. :)

Anyways, yes. "Just open-source creativity." <-- best celeb reaction ever. ♥

[lokifan]

I tend to find it cringey when people shove fandom stuff at actors, I feel sorry for them. But this was cute because he seemed, as you said, so genuinely delighted. Also "open-source creativity" gives me joy. I don't ship it at all, but yeah. Adorable.