case: (Default)
Case ([personal profile] case) wrote in [community profile] fandomsecrets2014-02-08 03:39 pm

[ SECRET POST #2594 ]


⌈ Secret Post #2594 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 094 secrets from Secret Submission Post #371.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 1 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

(Anonymous) 2014-02-08 09:33 pm (UTC)(link)
I ... hadn't realised they were? So far I'd thought the intimidation factor was spread fairly evenly between the three musketeers (and even d'Artagnan when he was on his vengeance kick, and when he was stalking Vadim). The one time they've done deliberate scare tactics as part of an interrogation, it was Aramis doing the terrifying, with Porthos as back-up.

Episode three was slightly different, of course, but then again in episode three Porthos had an extremely personal reason for hating Bonnaire's guts and spending considerable time looking like he wanted to kill him.

If you just mean the more 'physically big and scary' thing, Porthos was always the biggest and most physically intimidating of them, Aramis is usually the ice-cold and erudite type of scary, and Athos is the one you think might randomly slaughter people in a drunken stupor in the throes of guilt/madness/grief.

(Anonymous) 2014-02-08 11:38 pm (UTC)(link)
For one thing, I don't feel they are making him any more intimidating than the others. For another, it's Porthos. He's always portrayed as big, burly and ready for a fight. They just happened to make him a black character. And it's people like you who'd be the first to bitch if there was no black character so yeah, I do think you're just looking for SOMETHING to complain about.

(Anonymous) 2014-02-08 11:44 pm (UTC)(link)
AYRT

Er. Was this directed at me?

(Anonymous) 2014-02-09 08:26 am (UTC)(link)
Haven't seen the show yet (looks good), and given your description of Porthos on the regular (I'm guessing in the book/ movies of the book), that's just the way he is. So I get where you're coming from on one part...

...But what I think the OP was trying to say is just that OF COURSE they're putting the black guy as "X" trope. Actors of color are often pigeonholed into certain roles. It's great to see someone of color on screen, it's just annoying that we have to be a [fill in stereotype] character (that often lacks depth and does not get fleshed out).

That said, if that's just the character, I'm assuming the casting directors felt this particular actor does it best, not because "Oh he's black, let's have him do this character."

(Anonymous) 2014-02-09 01:58 pm (UTC)(link)
NAYRT

But what I think the OP was trying to say is just that OF COURSE they're putting the black guy as "X" trope. Actors of color are often pigeonholed into certain roles. It's great to see someone of color on screen, it's just annoying that we have to be a [fill in stereotype] character (that often lacks depth and does not get fleshed out).

Yeah, I can see that. I'm not sure how much it holds up in this case, though. Admittedly, Porthos is often considered the simplest/least interesting of the Musketeers, because he lacks Athos' tragic backstory or Aramis' scheming. However, he is one of the four main characters and one of the title characters, which makes a nice change, and in this adaptation, though we're only three episodes in, he's been getting backstory and some fascinating interactions with the others (particularly Aramis).

That said, if that's just the character, I'm assuming the casting directors felt this particular actor does it best, not because "Oh he's black, let's have him do this character."

Hmm. There may have been a degree of consideration in that, of the originals, Porthos and possibly Aramis are the easiest to justify historically. Athos is difficult because he's the Comte de la Fere, landed gentry, which would be difficult to justify (though perhaps not impossible - my 17th century French history isn't the best). d'Artagnan is a pure blooded Gascon, rather famously. Again, I'm not completely sure how easy or difficult that makes things, but given Aramis and Porthos' relative lack of fixed backgrounds, they'd just be easier to manage.

Interestingly, in this adaptation, Porthos is played by the black actor (Howard Charles), and Aramis is played by Santiago Cabrera, who was Venezulan born to Chilean parents. So there may have been a deliberate attempt to insert some diversity where they could best historically justify it.

Or they could just have been picking the best actors, because so far Aramis and Porthos are probably the most interesting to watch. Of course, I may be slightly biased in that they're my favourites (always have been, because Athos is too much brooding manpain and d'Artagnan is a young hothead), and are currently having the most chemistry of anyone on screen. So there is that.