Saturday, September 15, 2007

Character Crushes

Have you been over to Naughty 'n Spice lately? The ladies over there are having an excellent discussion about celebrity crushes--and there are posts where you can discuss your tingly feelings for both male and female Hollywood hotties.

Of course I posted. In a world that gave us Gerard Butler and Salma Hayek, how could I not? And yet... to be perfectly frank, I don't often lust after movie stars. There was, of course, the Summer of Crowe. But that's another story and definitely needs its own post.

The truth is, though, that my lust isn't usually aimed at Hollywood stars. It's aimed at characters. Movie, book, TV... doesn't really matter. If they're fictitious and slightly twisted, chances are I like them.

Just consider Spike, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Every time he tilted his head and gave one of his trademark smirks, I felt myself getting a little melty. Then he'd cause mayhem, with leather coat billowing, and I'd think, "Hot. Goth." He was complicated and powerful, capable of both great evil and great loyalty. The best part? He was also insanely witty.

Frankly, he'd be a great romance novel hero.

So. I had a thing for Spike. I didn't quite want to have his evil, soulless babies... but I thought he'd make an absolutely fabulous mistake.

And this is what I'm wondering now: does anyone else in Blogland possess this little quirk? And if so, who is/was your character crush? (As always, feel free to link back to this post.)

17 comments:

Anneliese Kelly said...

Oh, one of my favorite topics!

I have far too many crushes in Romancelandia to count. For starters:

Anthony and Colin Bridgerton
Christian Jervaux and Samuel Gerard and Ardern Winter (Laura Kinsale)
Stuart Aysgarth (Judith Ivory)

Then you have the L.M. Montgomery heroes, Gilbert Blythe and Barney Snaith (Redfern!).

Not to discount the newer YA crushes, Stephanie Meyers' Edward Cullen and Libba Bray's Kartek.

And then tv and movies: Veronica Mars' Logan Echolls (sob!), Dev from Notorious (hmm, maybe just Cary Grant), and (Cary again), George-Peter-David-Alexander- whoever your name is from Charade.

And of course the classic crushes, Captain Fredrick Wentworth, George Emerson, John Rokesmith.

Whew, you'd never think I was a happily married woman, would you?

Anneliese Kelly said...

should read "Arden Winter"

Kate Diamond said...

I love Gilbert Blythe. When we went to Prince Edward Island on Spring Break, we saw the words "Where Are You, Gilbert?" carved into a tree.

Amen, sistah. Amen.

Anonymous said...

I realized this distinction when I told people that I liked the elf in the Lord of the Rings movie. It has nothing to do with the actor, whose personality I don't know anything about, but the character- rock star- that showed up on the screen. Also, real people come with complications that are sort of different from what's attractive about a crush, no?

Anonymous said...

Ah, the character crush. Guilty of that since I was 9 and couldn't figure out why Murdock from the A-Team made me feel funny.

I think my biggest one was John Doggett (still ongoing, 7 years and counting) but I also have soft spots for Dr. Julian Bashir, Spike, Raistlin, The Tenth Doctor (and Ninth and Fifth), the Master, Gregory House, Wolf, Al Swearingen and Lieutenant Bush.

I look over that list, and realize that most of my fantasy character crushes are assholes and/or evil. Troubling. Which reminds me, add Professor Snape to that list.

Of course, while I thought myself long outgrown the Summer of Crowe, just a warm memory, that was before the first preview for 3:10 to Yuma. Much less the actual viewing. I cannot recommend it highly enough, even if you have not fallen under Crowe's spell.

Maren

Kate Diamond said...

Oh, Maren. I just rewatched "The Quick and the Dead" with The Fiance. He wasn't as fun to watch it with--no dual squealing when Crowe tucks his hands in his gun belt, or he says "We changed the rules" with that fabulous emphasis/accent shift on "rules."

That was a good summer... even if we did make everyone else miserable.

Ladytink_534 said...

Oh I loved Spike! He's super yummy. I only kind of have that quirk. I do enjoy a sexy man (Johnny Depp anyone?) but sometimes I don't care to adore their character counterparts, like Greys Anatomy's McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey) for example. The man is hot, hot, HOT! But I would have dropped him a long time ago if I was Meredith (and vice-versa!).

Great blog, I will be back!

Devon said...

Oh man, you guys got many of mine. Spike, Logan Echolls, Gilbert Blythe...(remember when he was watching them from behind a tree?)

Some other TV character crushes (in Chronological order:
Fonzie, Jesse from Life Goes On, Jordan Catalano, Fox Mulder.

Anonymous said...

Lord, I love the Quick and the Dead. Everything about it, even Leo("I said I liked ya!"). In my heart, I think that is the reason I found Crowe so yummy in Yuma, just the constant flashback factor.

Fun, hot movie: see also Shoot'Em Up. Shoot outs jumping out of a plane, while delivering a baby, while having sex, etc. All with Paul Giamatti and Clive Owen. Best seen after midnight with alcohol.

How about anti-crushes? While we talk Buffy, has there ever been a supposedly romantic lead in any show as thoroughly dull as repulsive as Riley Finn?

Kate Diamond said...

Oh, sweet God yes. The anti-crush. I sense another blog topic coming up.

Anonymous said...

Doesn't Crowe make a yummy dirty cowboy? *le sigh* I still have an old GQ with him on the cover. God, his hands...

David in Rachel Caine's Weather Warden series turns me into slobbering drool monkey.

Other than that, at the moment, most of my salivating is occurring over video game and anime characters, for some odd reason. Redheads, for some even odder reason. (Axel from KHII and Renji from Bleach, to be specific.)

Anonymous said...

Dude, do I have any other kind of crush? Giles, Capt. Picard, Mulder, Marcus from Babylon 5...I see a pattern of brilliant, mostly celibate loners, often British. And old. What does that say about me?

moonrat said...

like, besides Harry Potter? and Hermione?

and, umm, Mr. Darcy?

i sound very cliche here. but i think these are FAIR cliches for some sentiments are truly universally appealing. (colin firth in the bath tub? ok, i know that wasn't in the book. but.)

yeah, but i have to agree with Gilbert Blythe. he was my first true love and i still love him deeply. very, very deeply.

Unknown said...

I get the strangest crushes on characters. My first crush was Han Solo. I still have that crush.

robin hood said...

My big crush? Patricia Driscoll.

Will Belegon said...

Kaylee from Firefly. Definitely. Mara Jade in the Timothy Zahn Star Wars books. Eowyn. Luthien. Kit in the Dragonlance books.

Kate Diamond said...

Squee! Will is a Firefly fan. This makes my little Joss Whedon heart go pitter-pat.