Literary Crushes: Part I
Lunch today consisted of 85% sugar, 15% actual nutrients. As a result, I am buzzing like a…well, I’ll say electric toothbrush, and hurtling towards a crash. I thought about blogging about actual publishing related things, like “literature vs. storytelling”, but you know what? I don’t care. My cracked out brain dictates that I write something short and silly.
So, what am I going to talk about? HOT BOYS. AND HOT GIRLS. IN FICTION. Because, yeah. I’m going to blog about a series of fictional crushes because it’s easy and fun. And I’ve written about this topic several times before (and I even won a cash prize award for an essay I wrote about my “imaginary boyfriends” when I was in high school) and it never gets less fun.
Robin Hood is a total fox. Literally.
Right, so Robin Hood was the first crush I ever had. When I was 4 years old, my parents gave me this movie on VHS and I watched it so many times it wore out. I was in love with Robin Hood and I was going to marry him and join his band of Merrie Men. We would win archery competitions, steal from the rich to feed the poor, and be all-around badasses. And it wasn’t just because Robin Hood was a (literal) fox. There was something about the idea of creating your own laws because the system is unjust that appealed to me, even if I didn’t have the words to articulate those feelings at the tender age of four. (I was always a rebel!)
The love of the rogue has lasted to this day. I credit Robin Hood with getting me interested in stories at all; it was shortly after this movie that I saw an illustrated Robin Hood book in the library and I begged my parents to read to me from it. My adoration of Robin Hood didn’t seem to be constrained to Disney’s version; I devoured anything related to Robin Hood, the Crusades, outlaws, et al.
I still love me a good honourable thief in fiction. George Cooper, Eugenides, Locke Lamora, even characters like Han Solo and Mal from Firefly etc. all have special places in my heart. The defining characteristic of said honourable thief is that they are, at heart, criminals. They commit crime because it’s a habit, because it’s instinctual, and sometimes, because it’s just plain fun. Yet, despite (or perhaps because of) their criminal tendencies, they adhere to a strict code of honour. They have a keen sense of injustice, which is why the honourable thief often seems to be a liberator of the oppressed and a champion of the underdog. The system has failed them, so they make their own laws.
Also, thieves seem to have a sense of joie de vivre. And I’ve mentioned before, a sense of humor is crucial in a character.
So there you have it, my very first literary crush ever. What are yours?
Daisy Duke. Does she count? I don’t think the Dukes have ever taken written form.
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If I had said “fictional”, maybe, but I specifically said “literary”. ;-)
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MMM SUGARRRRRRRRRRr
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“Robin Hood is a total fox. Literally.”
I LOL-ed.
Hmm, first literary crush… Does Winnie the Pooh count? :P Hmm, the first literary crush that comes to mind is Luke Callahan from Nora Roberts’s HONEST ILLUSIONS. He was a magician-slash-jewel thief, romantic and a touch arrogant, devastatingly handsome in a street-tough kind of way.
I might have loved one of the boys from Madeleine L’Engle’s RING OF ENDLESS LIGHT before that, but I don’t remember very well…
OH NO WAIT I TAKE IT ALL BACK! GILBERT BLYTHE! GILBERT BLYTHE!
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I was very tempted to put Gilbert Blythe down as my first literary crush (as he was the first book character I ever loved), but I realized that wasn’t being fair to my dear Robin. :)
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No fair! Your anthropomorphic-Disney-crush has a literary basis to back the crush up. Mine (Chip from Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers, and Kit Cloudkicker from Talespin) did not so I actually had to ponder this a while. And I still haven’t come up with a satisfactory answer. I had crushes from TV shows and movies and video games, but not books. I think the reason for this might be two-fold.
First, the lack of a visual. Not to say I’m attracted to chipmunks and bears, but visual media is better able to convey the subtle attraction of, say, the curve of a smirk. Second, my young’un self just wanted to be my favorite book heroes, rather than be with them. All my imagined adventures were sans-romance.
If I really wrack my brain, I miiiiight have had a crush on Bradley Chalkers from There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom, but my teenage experience of re-reading the book might have infiltrated my memory. And possibly Encyclopedia Brown, although I think I just wanted to be Sally Kimball (she was a girl, and she was his muscle; can’t tell you how much I loved that). They actually highlight attributes I loved from Kit and Chip, too: tough and cocky troublemaker with a damaged interior, and detective working outside the law to champion the underdog. And things haven’t changed all that much; Weevil and Leo were definitely my favorites on Veronica Mars.
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My young self definitely wanted to be ROBIN HOOD and not Maid Marian (who, in later tales was alternately badass and boring), so I get you there.
I loved Kit Cloudkicker, but I never had a crush on him. He is part of a general archetype of character I love though, which is the street-wise urchin. See: Hyacinthe from KUSHIEL’S DART, Gavroche from Les Miserables, the entire cast of Newsies, Aladdin, Jim Taylor from the Sally Lockhart books, Lyra Belaqua from HIS DARK MATERIALS, etc. Sometimes these street-wise urchins grow up to be honourable thieves, sometimes not. :) But I like them for similar reasons. Also, mischief. And sense of humor.
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Robin Hood was my first literary crush too and still is one of many now <3
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Oooooomg DISNEY’S ROBIN HOOD. I too had that on VHS and watched it like, 276 times. For a while I could recite that movie from beginning to end and I *loved* foxy Robin. ;) Especially that roguish British accent.
Hmm, fictional/literary crushes….
First fictional crush was probably Razor from SWAT Kats (the skinnier cat): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TdqpWiBliw I think it was the fighter jet and the fact that he could build ANYTHING with a screwdriver and wrench. I also liked Sonic the Hedgehog (specifically, from the old Saturday morning show), because he was a brat. And fast. And Sonic 2 was the first console video game I ever played. :)
First literary crush….hmm….the Scarlet Pimpernel is the earliest one I can remember. Goes with the whole rogue thing, I guess. :) Oh! And Silk from The Belgariad series. Thief, omnomnom. I love a good criminal too. <3
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I forgot one! The Monkey King!!! I remember the Journey to the West books/cartoons/live-action-shows from my 5-years-and-under days in China and always wished I was the Monkey King and could pull a badass jing-gu-bang out of my ear. :) He was also VERY bratty, arrogant, clever, and a troublemaker through and through.
Ah, the good ol’ days in communist China…. ;)
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