What makes us Brits so good at being bad?

Due to various reasons I am currently a fixture upon the family sofa catching up on some missed film viewing. So far I have overdosed on marvel, star trek reboot and a few other worthy causes. But what has become blantantly obvious, is if you want a good guy, there are plenty of eye candy candidates, who seem to be recycled in multiple films. But if you want  a decent bad guy, get a brit.


This is an age old tradition in big Hollywood blockbusters, notable mentions must go to the late greats, Christopher Lee and now Alan Rickman. Both were capable of playing both side of the coin, but they will always been memorised for roles where they stole the s re en being bad. Now a days this custom seems to have past the baton to Benedict Cumberbatch in Star Trek and Tom Hiddlestone in the MCU who totally steals it as Loki. It's not as if America is short of its own  capable actors with this duplicity, Tommy Lee Jones, Williem Defoe and James Franco jump to mind as me than adequate, yet the studios seem to love to box us Brits into these roles. Why? Is it due to our ability to bring a shakespearin quality to a comic figure, or just our accents, we will never know.

Don't get me wrong I am not begrudging the quality of our actors or resenting them work, just the predictable pattern of Hollywood casting. I always remember the film critic Barry Norman summarising the remake of the fugitive, and how it would have been 10 times more dramatic had Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones swapped roles, thus making the audience actually doubt the leads motive. The same question would be made if they swapped the casting of say Loki and Iron Man in the MCU or god for bid, cast the likes of Chris Pine, the entire Hemsworth family or Chris Evans in a complete different role. These are all good actors who are being limited by the studios need for eye candy as a good guy.

Sure films are meant to be escapism, and in this day and age we need the fantasy as much as ever, but come on folks, we have a brain. We don't need to be treated like audiences of old, where John Wayne was always the cowboy with a heart, and Cary Grant would sweep us of our feet. Where all the women need rescuing by an godlike like creature, by putting the Brit back in his gaol. We are far more refined in our tastes, we need a puzzle to be caught up in, stereo type to be challenged, and maybe cheer when the good guy turns bad and the bad guy wins the girl.

Yes a lot of the problem comes from the business that the studios need to make money from what can be hugely expensive investments, but it also comes from the sidelines, the media hype of magazines and Internet feeding the audience glossy images of perfect men with their tops off and women who look like they never have a bad hair day. This always adds to the monetary value of turnover. But it devalues the skill of the jobs of acting and directing, by assuming that the audience wouldn't buy into the fact that these people could still charm and entertain if the roles were reversed. I mean think back to the first ever star wars film, the most charming character was Han solo, who right to the end of the film could have gone either way. The role made Harrison Ford's career, and thrust him into heartthrob status, yet he was far from the textbook hero, more rogue. The same quality that has totally revived Robert Downing Junior's career playing Tony Stark /Iron Man.

So maybe the studio system needs to embrace this, and mix up the casting a bit, give us less Hollywood hero vs British bad guy and just give us more dubious rogues.

Deep breath and pause

I suspect I may not be the only person in the world who really hasn't seen their bed or sleep for the last 48 hours. The only difference between them and myself is in most other cases they  have no choice, where as I do. To be truthful I had to take myself away from all media for 4 hours earlier and enjoy the beauty of the countryside to reset my brain.

I for one, can not believe the actions of others resulting in violence in both Turkey and France in the last two days. The reality than some people put such little value on human life for some extreme belief. I don't know what others think but I am currently torn between constant tears and unbridled rage. 

We are living in a world that is in a perpetual cycle of rage, extreme views and pure venom, but in reality we are destroying ourselves at an alarming rate. Crying out saying it is in the name of some faith or another is nothing more than an infected lie. No faith calls for such actions. And yes I do know the difference between the faiths of Christianity and Islam, because I actually bothered to go out and ask my local mosque to assist me understand, and in return they shared their time and beliefs freely, giving me copy of their holy book in both Arabic and English, so I could make my own educated conclusion. Due to their actions, and what I learnt, I plan to study the Hebrew text in the same way. Why? You may ask, well I believe tolerance is achieved by understanding and to understand you have to learn to see the other point of view.

All that has happened recently, well in the last 18 months especially, has been bed from intolerance, and I for one refuse to add my fuel to any fire with out being as educated and understanding as possible. What, however I have learnt so far, is none of the actions of any of the parties involved seem to match any religion I have read about. This unrest is political extremism, cloaked under a banner of lies to give it justification.

I am actually seething at it even being labeled terrorism now, because even terrorists usually have a fundamental belief that fuels their actions. But what I am seeing is random and ruthless killing, not caring who they kill to get media attention. Because in Nice last night and Paris, and Brussels, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, gay, straight, bi and trans alike were killed the same. No one was given a chance to state their faith or sexuality. This means it is not religious terrorism but mass random murder.

So regardless of faith, belief, sexuality and nationality, we the public to make stand and start sending a clear and blunt message to these violent  bullies and our governments alike, that this is not the world we want to live in, we want a world of equality and justice for all. If we don't starting to join together for this simple common goal we are all in danger of living in this turmoil of violence until some one hits that button that will wipe most if not all of us off the planet.

It's time to take a deep breath, pause and think. We are close to if not already in, the 3rd world war in less than 150 years. A war that if it's allowed to continue will destroy or least permanently damage this world. Is it worth it, based on the fact most of us are allowing it to happen due to our own ignorance and intolerance. I know that's not the legacy I want to leave behind.