Not sure what exactly brought this thought on, but I wanted to put it out there anyway.
I was thinking about how people make fun of Austin for āacting like Elvisā and āacting like James Deanā every time his voice goes a little deeper or he stares a little harder.
And that got me thinking even further about pop culture, and how peopleās impression on both Elvis AND James Dean donāt really line up with what the men are actually like, or what truly made them influential.
Of course, yes - theyāre both undeniably cool. And theyāre rightfully considered to be cool icons. But the aspects of them that have been idolized are very two-dimensional when you compare them to everything they have to offer, and it strips away a lot of their depth.
Take Elvis. True, he was a cool, rebel rockstar (and thatās awesome), but when you only focus on that, you get the pop culture trickle-down effect, where ādefinitiveā things associated with him, such as this moment in Grease
indirectly paints a portrait of him that has nothing to do with the man himself (like, come on - you canāt tell me Elvis was afraid of hugs).
And same with James Dean (Now, truth be told - I donāt know much about the actual man, but Iāve seen him in a couple of his film roles, and I think thatās probably where a lot of his ācool guyā appeal comes from anyway). In his case, sure - thereās a lot of ācool guyā brooding, slouching, posing, and aloofness. But along with that - thereās also some (if not a larger fraction of) real, raw emotion.
For every scene where heās cool, calm, and collected, thereās a bigger, more character-defining scene where heāsā¦ not any of those things. His characters go through a lot of emotional turmoil and pain, almost to the point of being pathetic. And yet, what heās most known for is essentially the Rebel Without a Cause poster.
Itās just very fascinating to me to watch people cherrypick the most shallow bits, define these men by them, and proceed to mock others with them - when really, thereās a whole spectrum of humanity there, which even includes some wholesome masculinity.
So yeah - in that sense, I think Austin IS like Elvis and James Dean, and thatās a genuinely marvelous thing. Heās charismatic, sympathetic, deep, and he contains multitudes.
Thank you, and goodnight.
