tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824896765631412903.post7516105525643070754..comments2023-09-05T12:51:25.656-05:00Comments on edittorrent: Poor Salvatore, Or, The Right Kind of Inconsistent CharacterEdittorrenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14295505709568570553noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824896765631412903.post-43352297297483095512008-07-21T21:48:00.000-05:002008-07-21T21:48:00.000-05:00Also, it's 1960, and even in Manhattan, most heter...Also, it's 1960, and even in Manhattan, most heterosexual men probably didn't have much contact with men they knew to be gay.<BR/><BR/>And Sal laughing and saying that he is Italian could work. John Amaechi, a gay man who played in the NBA, said that his teammates mostly didn't realize he was gay (and this was in the 90s, when you think they'd be more savvy). He's English, and he just said they assumed any idiosyncracy was because he was a Brit!<BR/><BR/>He also said the NBA locker room was the gayest place he'd ever been-- the guys would primp and put on their jewelry and admire each other... and they were mostly straight. :)<BR/><BR/>AliciaEdittorrenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14295505709568570553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824896765631412903.post-17173981653038394712008-07-21T11:17:00.000-05:002008-07-21T11:17:00.000-05:00Yes, but Sal's demeanor is contradicted by his wor...Yes, but Sal's demeanor is contradicted by his words. Remember the trinity -- we show character by what they say, what they do, and how others react to them.<BR/><BR/>Sal SAYS heterosexual things.<BR/>Sal ACTS in a way that we read as homosexual.<BR/>Characters REACT in two different ways depending on whether they belong to the environment where his deception is perceived as truth. Only outsiders react to his inner truth, first this woman in the strip club, and later in the series, the Belle Jolie lipstick guy.<BR/><BR/>And that's how you pull off an inconsistent or duplicitous character.<BR/><BR/>TheresaEdittorrenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14295505709568570553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824896765631412903.post-25894034379633779472008-07-21T10:05:00.000-05:002008-07-21T10:05:00.000-05:00First, thanks for turning me onto this show. I ha...First, thanks for turning me onto this show. I hadn't heard of it before. The online episode hooked me, and I immediately put season one at the top of our Netflix queue.<BR/><BR/>The show is very well written (and acted and directed). The only parts I thought were weak were the Salvatore bits. He was too far over the top. These mad men are bigoted chauvinists, but they're not stupid. How could none of them figured out Salvatore's secret? I found this very jarring. His first scene spoiled my suspension of disbelief. (The second was more plausible. "I'm Italian," was an excellent deflection, and you could believe the other men were too distracted to notice his slip.)<BR/><BR/>I think it should have been played much subtler, at least in Salvatore's first scene. Some viewers might have gotten an inkling of what was going on. Later, there could have been a reveal, and those attentive viewers would get the thrill of having guessed correctly.<BR/><BR/>Rendering Salvatore's sexuality obvious enough for us to catch on in three seconds and also expecting us to believe that his coworkers have never noticed is absurd.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824896765631412903.post-25938704577979251392008-07-20T23:42:00.000-05:002008-07-20T23:42:00.000-05:00Don as antihero... hmm. He is the protagonist, so...Don as antihero... hmm. He is the protagonist, so that helps. Also he is morally ambiguous-- has a mistress, is hiding his past, and also really regards his wife as an ornament. So.. he's definitely not yet a hero, if he ever becomes one. <BR/>aliciaEdittorrenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14295505709568570553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824896765631412903.post-48433742135516132112008-07-20T05:19:00.000-05:002008-07-20T05:19:00.000-05:00I picked him as being gay in his very first scene....I picked him as being gay in his very first scene. It was the drawing of a male model rather than a female AND the placement of the red dot of the cig pack. Did you catch that?<BR/><BR/>Then when he says 'the man from research', I thought that was him suggesting the woman was masculine, as a highly educated woman in a highly sexist environment, as well as her dress and manner, more gender-neutral than floozy like the submissive 'girls' in the service roles. So I don't think this was a comment on Sal's sexuality as much as his claiming membership in the 'boys club' because he is after all male, not female.<BR/><BR/>I'm not sure I get that Don is an anti-hero. Protagonist, yes. Haven't seen enough of the show [and won't, since they only make available the full pilot and not the series episodes]. <BR/><BR/>You deserve a medal for the long missive on this topic. You <B>are</B> a writer!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824896765631412903.post-7288862342568324392008-07-19T13:36:00.000-05:002008-07-19T13:36:00.000-05:00That's great, Theresa! I think some writers are d...That's great, Theresa! I think some writers are dinged for "inconsistent characterization" and don't know what to do, and this will help a lot.<BR/><BR/>What comes through in how you see Sal isn't that "consistency" means that he always has to act the same way... rather that we see him acting the way that person would act in this situation. Yes, he mostly does his heavy-handed I'm so into women thing, but once in a while, when he's relaxed especially, he lets something slip... but it's always deniable. He never says it so that the listener can absolutely know exactly what he means. He always says and does this in a way that if he gets caught, he can say, "No, I meant..." and that will be accepted.<BR/><BR/>All the more reason to pay very, very close attention to how you word dialogue. Sal sure does. Even when he slips and speaks the truth, he's got enough of a guard on him to say it in a deniable way.<BR/>AliciaEdittorrenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14295505709568570553noreply@blogger.com