wolkenfuehlen

Definitely impossible to resist! Thanks weena for bringing them over here!

I love his smile!

weena

Looks hawt indeed!

wolkenfuehlen

Weena, you're watching the current season of TVD, right? How is it so far? Do you have a favourite Ian moment so far?

wolkenfuehlen

Vote for Ian and TVD to be nominated at the People's Choice Awards this year! (and while you're at it, vote for Matt's The Good Wife, too? )

Favorite TV Drama Actor | Favorite TV Drama | Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show

You can vote once a day - let's get started!

(Thanks for JenniferH at the Ian board for compiling the links! )

s e r e n i t y

Thanks for the links off to vote

I got a few friends into TVD and now theyre watching S2 when Im stil stuck on S1 :oops

wolkenfuehlen

Keep voting!

I'm still stuck on s1, too! Bad us!

weena

I like his badassness in the last epi, but I miss seeing Damon's fangs

Bringing Ian pics

wolkenfuehlen

Damon being badass is always a good thing!

Oh dear Next time you gotta post a warning with pics like these so I can prepare myself for the hotness! The three of them are so so hot together. Seriously. Hottest cast right now.

...but why is Nina looking so grumpy in the last pic(s)? and hey, are they officially dating now? I've heard rumours they are, but I'm out of the loop

s e r e n i t y

Ooh they're dating? didnt know that, I thought Ian had a girlfriend

Gaaah hottest cast ever

wolkenfuehlen

Well, there's rumours they're dating, I think. IDK. and I think he broke up with his girlfriend a while ago I have no idea though! I'm so uninformed! I'm sure weena knows better than me!

Yes hottest cas ever! Now next time, can we have Jeremy in the picture, too?!

Finnegan

Fleming's plain meaning seems naively evident; by denying to Lena that he would take Pratt to the cotillion, he has forfeited his opportunity to do so. It is past and gone.

But is there a second level of meaning in that remark? Can we dissociate that remark from its proximate situational context, and take it literally in a broader context? Might "I'm history" describe not merely Fleming's predicament at the moment when he says it, but his character throughout YA?

Might this allude to Hamilton Fleming's role in YA as the character who re-enacts, in new ways, old tales of true love? As the character who seems essentially mythic and timeless? As the Janus perched above the door of Rawley, looking both forward and backward in time, as Krudski enters Rawley in hope of rejuvenation? As the character who in Finn's classes reads, although Krudski interprets, Browning's poem about love among ancient ruins and the Talmudic tale of death in Samarra? As the Dean's son who personifies Krudski's dream-Utopia of Rawley, an ideal youth that matures the young and rejuvenates the old?

The only other mention of "history" in YA is Krudski's response, in episode 1, to Finn's question about what one hears when listening to the lake: "History ... I've been coming here forever."

-- In this framework, the lake seems to represent a source of moral inspiration, to which YA's protagonists should "listen carefully," in which they are immersed in symbolic baptisms, and from which they are to derive an appreciation of the preciousness of time, of the opportunities of youth, and a resolve to "exceed expectations." History seems to be the medium through which moral inspiration speaks to us, both by remding us that our own time is limited, and by enabling us throughout our lives to draw inspiration from all time, to "come forever" to a timeless source of inspiration. History in general, and "classic stories" and "superstars of literature" in particular, can "edify" us, can reveal the sources of our moral inspiration, including our mortality and the possibility of rebirth through love, as the surface of the lake reveals the depths "beneath that."

-- Fleming, listening to the lake, hears only "pond scum," perceives only aspects of its surface that obscure rather than reveal its depths. But Fleming is ignorant of his role, of which Krudski-as-narrator alone is aware; he does not see what he reveals. Nor does he need to; the surface of the lake, already part of the lake, need not see itself to perceive the depths.

-- Fleming is the only character who is partly immersed in the lake, in this scene in episode 1, which includes a close-up shot of his foot dangling in the lake. Fleming is also the only protagonist who has already completed the first immersion in the lake, which, for Calhoun and Krudski, was aborted by hazing. That first immersion is carnal rather than spiritual in inspiration, a baptism of passion (eros) rather than compassion (agape), but for Fleming, whose passion is born of compassion, it serves no less well.

Language in YA often seems intended to be taken more literally than its situational context naively suggests. For example, Krudski's narrative comments about time and moments in the opening and closing narrative voice-overs of episode 2, when taken literally, illuminate YA's narrative perspective and so help explain not only YA's many disturbing anachronisms but also its Utopian idealism, the perfection and Providence of Rawley. Similarly, Krudski's mother's remark to Krudski, in episode 5, that he is "everything [his father] never felt as good as," seems literally to define Krudski's relationship with his father, and to explain the mortal animosity between them. Fleming's "I'm history" may be another instance of such ironic literalism.

s e r e n i t y

Thats a very interesting point you make there, it does seem to fit in with the whole mythical storylines that are in some way or another related to YA and the character that Hamilton is normally a symbol for in those myths, making him technically "history"

however, I gotta say, this is a question thats been on my mind for a while and I hope you dont take this te wrong way but have you tried analyzing other tv shows or movies like the way you do this one? Im just really curious because you stumble across some very interesting things but it does raise a question, whether these interesting things can be found in other movies and tvshows as well if we look hard enough or have all of these actually been carefully thought out and planned out by Antin? have you attempted to like watch and analyze a show like Skins?

Finnegan

A remarkable interview in several respects, including this one:

Antin wanted an Adonis to play Hamilton Fleming, and went to a lot of trouble to get one. Why? Whatever the answer may be, it must be inconsistent with Moennig's view, in her September 2000 interview with Christina Radish, that Antin intended YA's Jake-Hamilton storyline to be merely a comedic side-story rather than the emotional core of the drama.

weena

Awww, love this article!

wolkenfuehlen

What a sweet interview I wonder if he actually keeps in contact with Ian, too (rather than just following him on TVD)...