There's No Such Thing As A Summer Glau Curse
Seriously, there's no such thing as a "Summer Glau Curse"
"It's certainly true that she's tended to get cast as, for lack of a better term, non-neurotypical women — robot women, mentally damagedbasket case women, slightly aspy nerd women. But she's been able to play other types of characters on occasion."
"And
some of her performances have really stuck with me. Especially the final
episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, with the famous
"cutting Cameron open" scene. There's a reason why a lot of Firefly/Serenity's most quotable lines come from River Tam. Anyway, I've always liked her acting, and felt as though she came by her "cult icon" status honestly — by giving performances that excited people. There's no good explanation for why television science fiction has such a tough time. Why has a show like Fringe struggled to find its audience since early in season two, and been banished to the Friday night "death slot"? Why do shows like Bionic Woman or FlashForward, which weren't good but were no worse than the average CSI or NCIS show, sink like a stone after a few episodes? It's doubtless true that science fictionshows which do not star Summer Glau do just as badly as ones which do." |
| "But still the talk about a
"Summer Glau Curse." Why is this? Because she's become a science fiction icon, and thus ripe for takedown. She's one of the few actors of the past decade to have a string of really memorable science fiction roles — even if she'd only played Cameron in T:SCC she'd have a huge cult following. And thus she's ripe for a backlash. Because nerds love to hate anybody that nerds love. In any case, let's hope that Glau keeps getting awesome roles, and maybe has a chance to play a wider range of characters. We only get so many science fiction MVPs in any given generation of actors, and she's clearly one of ours. So rather than talking about a "Curse," we should be hoping she finally gets a vehicle for her talent that stays afloat for longer than a year or two." Full article on io9.com |
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The author's interesting logic.
1. Thanks to the author for optimism and a detailed (but, IMHO, not enough depth) analysis 
2. "Curse of the Summer Glau" (oh well, term) - is a myth, actually it has all the features of myth. It is strange that the author seriously reflects on the phenomenon, which can be compared with superstition.
Found on Twitter :
Humor is a good way to answer.
Eric Balfour tweetted about this :
"ERIC BALFOUR
On Friday 11th March 2011, @ERICBALFOUR said:
This article really pisses me off!!! Yes lots of people have said the same thing about me and the fact is no matter how hard you try to ignore the attacks of negative and suppressive people, it really hurts. Also it is unfair. I've met @summer_glau and she is a talented and wonderfully down to earth actress. The truth is most television shows don't stay on the air. That's a statistical fact that has nothing to do with the actors in that program. The only reason people peg someone like Summer a show killer is because she is recognizable and there are lots of negative assholes in the world. You should see what people write on twitter about me everyday. Instead of acknowledging the fact that Summer is an actress who has the talent and perseverance to continue to get herself on television shows, these douche bags focus on the part that the actor has no control of. SO many things factor into the success or failure of a show that are completely out of the actors hands. I'm not close with Summer and have only met her briefly but I think it sucks that the writer who wrote this article can't think of a better angle to work off of..."
Oh my god I love it!!!!
I love the lady's shirt
"Also she can kill you with her brain"
