Ink-Stained Wench

meanwhile vm:

there is more palpable longing and sexual tension in this 2 second gif than in hubbell/donohue’s entire career

the way she goes to lean her chin on his shoulder looking for comfort

and then at the last microsecond for whatever reason……..DECIDES AGAINST IT

and he notices her leaning in at the last moment

….and SUBSEQUENTLY NOTICES HER LEANING AWAY

and his mouth quirks in VISIBLE DISAPPOINTMENT

“why didn’t you do it? I AM HERE 4 U SASHA 😞😞😞”

Since I seemed to have piqued a few people’s attention about how a PR relationship works vs RL, let me try and explain how you can spot them. For the purpose of my musings I will not mention any names, but those who have come to me privately ( I thank you I have enjoyed the throwing ideas around 😙) but of course you will know who I am talking about. Like @cb4tb and others who have been in fandoms before, where the object of fascination have been the leads and how those who hold the power ie money, sponsorship, investment, promotion and of course merchandising the product (product being the leads and movie or TV show tie in) play a very important part aka TPTB

Now naivety is something these ‘suits’ rely heavily on. They expect anyone who follows their product to be docile housewives (yes we women are the key marketing factor) as a male lead attracts our attention and therefore holds our interest in following the online trail of clickbait and become more involved in creating ‘fandoms/blogs etc’ which creates marketing, promotion, media interest etc. But unfortunately we are also very keen minded and not stupid, unless they are looking at the young adult market, where teens do get snapped into the category of ‘they will believe anything we tell them’ They have bots that follow certain feeds online. Bots that click onto a higher surge of chatter (mainly about the male lead) and gathers information about what is being said. Now, Agents and Publicists rely heavily on online traffic, especially when their ‘client’ has a pretty decent fan following. They want to ensure a good section of the media gets positive news about their client, especially one who has a social media relationship with the outside world.

Studios want good feedback, they want the show or movie they have invested in seen in a good light, a positive light, a money making light. When chatter centres around their leads ‘off screen’ relationship vs their characters ‘on screen’ relationship…investors get twitchy. Studios start panicking, agents and managers get called and their clients get hauled in for a…pep talk/dressing down. It’s not as far fetched as some people think, actors are commodity and when the investment looks unsteady or losing interest, that commodity gets looked at to see what can be done to change its fall of interest. Male leads, unless married or in a stable (non worrying relationship prior to the project) are to be seen as ‘attainable’ as in a free agent. Healthy, single, good looking, picture perfect ideal man’s man of the world. They have to look like every female fantasy dream. Of course, if you are playing the most unattainable male in a movie or show (dream Ken) it creates more of an interest. Bad boy characters are more appealing, but romantic hunks with a slight dangerous side hold just as much interest.

Agents and Publicists have the most exhausting jobs of holding a particular image of their clients to sell to directors or studios, looking for a certain actor with a certain appeal. And most importantly, an actor with very little baggage. Online presence, good clean boyish image and of course appealing to both sexes as that creates a wider audience approval rate. Females still to this day struggle to find the equal balance in an all male world; attractive yes, very sexually appealing of course, but unfortunately they can sometimes come with or create baggage 'female falls for male lead’ never the other way around.

Which is why an off screen romance is always seen as the females fault. Which is also why studios put an absolute nada on it ever happening, to the best of their abilities. Creating PR romances are as old as Hollywood. Create an image, a believable relationship 'away’ from the promotion of the movie or TV show or simply…create an image that appeals to the right audience of fans. Old Hollywood hid so many real life relationships through PR promotions, you’d be surprised how many PR romances were used to cover up the truth or indeed in some circumstances scandals. Today is no different than yesterday (past tense) with the exception and headache that Social Media hides nothing. Too many are quick to turn on their computer and search. Too many can post up sightings or indeed snap photos and put them online, that can sometimes cause a studio more indigestion than a bad hamburger from the kraft cart.

The truth…PR relationships are easily spotted, because they are pushed too much onto the unsuspecting or naive fan, who unwittingly believe without question. Print articles will write up a story, without even interviewing the actor or check facts. I always say; don’t 'assume’ or 'speculate’. Don’t believe in 'sources close’ to or an 'eyewitness suggests’ These are word salad, gossip journalists will use when they don’t have a credible source as in went to the actors or his/her agency publicist for clarification. They write up their own narrative and, what is often the case, they read online blogs (hello🤗) and gleam information to add to their story. I chuckled when reading over the weekend a slip of the tongue - a Freudian a certain person made, over reading about themselves on Tumblr. Agency Publicists are those who do the data collection, they are the very people who tell the client what is being said about them the (online chatter) if the actor doesn’t go digging themselves that is.