Didn't see Alias but I'm probably being a bit thick because I'm thinking of Smith particularly being a sniveling coward. It does seem there are characters who aren't trustworthy or have ulterior motives.
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Smith might have been coded gay, and the actor, so gay, but the character, I remember him complying and obeying (secretly evil) beautiful women aliens just because they were beautiful women, and he wanted to tap that.
True. Dr. Smith was always pursuing women, even a green woman like Kirk!
Anyone have trouble not thinking of that line from Blade Trinity when it comes to Parker Posey?
Refresh my memory.
I was trying to be discreet lol.
True. Dr. Smith was always pursuing women, even a green woman like Kirk!
Funny, I don't recall him having that much interest in the opposite sex. But then, I rarely watch anything after season 1. Often characters who've initially been coded or played as gay would have heterosexual romances written for them later to gloss over the implication -- e.g. when Deep Space Nine's Garak was paired off with Tora Ziyal, even though Andrew Robinson had been playing him as flamboyantly gay from the get-go.
Yes.
That is Dr. Smith in the spacesuit with the green woman in a season three episode:
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For the record, the actor Jonathan Harris who played Dr. Smith was married (to his childhood sweetheart) for over 60 years and had a son.
Camp does not necessarily equal gay.
Of course not, but people have been reading Smith as gay for generations; apparently the gay community has considered Smith a "gay icon" for a long time. Harris himself objected, at least publicly, when people assumed Smith was gay, making the same point you just did. But the perception was still widespread. Here's a mildly annoying video where June Lockhart talks about it:
I mean, this never would've occurred to me; I'm generally pretty dense about gay subtext in film and TV until it's pointed out to me. And besides, I was watching LIS as a kid long before I even understood what homosexuality was. So to me, Smith's behavior was just Smith's behavior; I didn't equate it with anything else. But apparently plenty of viewers did, especially gay viewers desperately looking for some kind of representation in the media. And the case has been made that that perception among the audience can be considered legitimate even if it wasn't the creators' intent.
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It might be a cultural thing -- the UK had a strong tradition of camp theatrical performers even when male homosexuality was illegal. For example, camp humour often used Polari words, which found their way into the English language. However, some US performers from the post-WW2 era could seem effete if not completely camp, for example, Jack Benny. In the UK, I think we tended to view Dr Smith as a pretentious person attempting to adopt upper-class English mannerisms, in much the same manner as Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances. No-one really cared what actors got up to in private as long as they entertained and weren't caught trolling (in the Polari sense) on Hampstead Heath.
^Yeah, that article I linked to about not-gay characters perceived as gay listed Jack Benny as his first example. I don't think he was playing gay so much as effeminate, though. His humor was based on mocking himself, playing a version of himself who was far less worthy or capable than he believed himself to be -- e.g. being a terrible violinist who imagined himself a virtuoso. So part of that was that he imagined himself an irresistible ladies' man but was actually decidedly unmanly.
As for Jonathan Harris's affected "Britishness," I think it's an offshoot of the old Hollywood conceit of the "mid-Atlantic accent," the artificial, pseudo-English manner of speaking affected by actors like Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Here's a fascinating article (well, at least to me) about how that custom came about under the influence of an elitist "elocutionist" named Edith Skinner.
As for Jonathan Harris's affected "Britishness," I think it's an offshoot of the old Hollywood conceit of the "mid-Atlantic accent," the artificial, pseudo-English manner of speaking affected by actors like Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Here's a fascinating article (well, at least to me) about how that custom came about under the influence of an elitist "elocutionist" named Edith Skinner.
Cary Grant didn't have to try too hard as he was born in England. He went to the same school as Paul Dirac, who was two years his senior -- Bishop Road Primary School in Bristol.
June thought otherwise.
Then there was a Simpsons clip that suggested that Smith and the Robot were boyfriends.
I'm allowed to feel tricked.
Then there was a Simpsons clip that suggested that Smith and the Robot were boyfriends.
I'm allowed to feel tricked.
He probably did have to try, because the "Mid-Atlantic" accent is no more English than it is American (as the article I linked to explains). It was just designed to sound kind of English to American ears. Hence "Mid-Atlantic," as in, somewhere in the soggy middle between the US and the UK.
The early "movie accent" probably explains Neil Hamilton -- Commissioner Gordon on Batman '66 -- as well. I always assumed he was English, but he was actually from Massachusetts. But he was a product of the early days of Hollywood sound pictures (he co-starred in the first two Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan movies), so I guess he learned the Edith Skinner "Good Speech" along with his peers.
I find that Vincent Price is sometimes assumed to be British, even though he was from Missouri!
That's odd, because his accent was rhotic (i.e. he pronounced his Rs).
Odd that he was from Missouri or odd that he's sometimes perceived as British?
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