To Live Will Be An Awfully Big Adventure

This quote btw seems to be a dig at Connor's PR strategy. And yeah, it does seem like what Connor's team is doing: trying to make him seem more serious and classy, more palatable to the average American taste (which is let's be honest pretty conservative), less queer, less quirky etc. They are flattening him to the white leading man mould.

Maybe this strategy is born out of necessity. I do believe that Connor genuinely is very sensitive to negativity and criticism and for him it's a question of mental health / survival to distance himself from the fandom noise. And I guess his PR team has leaned into this. They are obviously desperate to get him an Emmy this year (the big SNL push) and to give this kind of external validation instead of the grassroots appeal which he had when he still interacted with fans / showed up authentically in media appearances.

I also think this strategy is perfectly viable. He's beautiful and talented enough to open the right doors in Hollywood and it's just a question of being signed to the right things before he becomes a Hollywood jaggernaut.

I don't think this PR strategy was ever an option for Hudson though. Most Asians present themselves as well-spoken, media trained, neutral - exactly like Shane is. So for Hudson, it was essential to take risks, present himself as authentic, chaotic, surprising to stand out. This strategy is only viable because he has much thicker skin than Connor, much more ability to let hate and negativity to roll off his back, maybe also thanks to the vast network of friends he seems to have and the easy way he seems to connect with people.

And like the Medium article points out, Hudson has a different kind of appeal, one that sits so seamlessly between Western and Asian ideals of attractiveness and cultural coding. Which could really make him a leading man for projects that try to expand to other, very lucrative markets.

HudMail