James Spader

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
but he only got bald, that's it?
also fat, don't forget

but it's about the decline of perfection

the poignancy runners of runners whom the race outrun crossed with sic transit gloria mundi

tho we may not share the same perfection, we share the inevitability of our own decline
 
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luka

Well-known member
But I agree there's something horrifying aBout his physical decline because he's lost all trace of star quality. He looks like he just got busted in a police raid of some provincial 'massage and spa'. A small town solicitor with a guilty secret.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
there's a kind of interesting resolution of the Johnson-Spader dialectic of 80s white yuppie male virility

that being Willem Dafoe and William Petersen in To Live and Die in L.A.

which is general kind of a darker, more adult (i.e. not 80s network TV) take on Miami Vice

William Petersen is basically doing a darker, more adult version of Don Johnson shoulder pads etc rugged masculinity

and Defoe has that evil preppie thing going on, but because he's Dafoe and not Spader, the vibe is full-on weirdo rather than sensuous or louche

and tho they're both coded as hetero - especially Petersen - there's definitely a sexual undercurrent to their cop chasing master criminal relationship

i.e.
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I'd like to see that film again, there is really something quite dark and strange about it - although on the face of it it's a straight up glammy cops and robbers thing. It's weird - I'm sure you're right - but that undercurrent was so strong that I have it in my head that Dafoe's character was actually gay.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
He's not especially pretty actually. He's pudgy and dopey looking. But you relate to him cos of his nice hair which reminds you of your own. And his costumes
I actually agree that there is a sense in which he's not that classically good looking. Or it's almost the opposite, he is classically good looking but that's different from the paradigm that has been the dominant one in Hollywood for decades. But seemingly enough vestiges of it remain for it to be instantly recognisable to some and to have a powerful effect on those who see it.
 

craner

Beast of Burden
I'd like to see that film again, there is really something quite dark and strange about it - although on the face of it it's a straight up glammy cops and robbers thing. It's weird - I'm sure you're right - but that undercurrent was so strong that I have it in my head that Dafoe's character was actually gay.

There was a lesbian subplot involving that Yorkshire woman who was in Fraiser.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Since I commented on this thread last night Craner has come on and said all the stuff I said but in a much better way.
There's something about the physical decline of Spader that goes to the heart of our existence. It says something profound and poignant about time. It's existential.
But it's this. Not just the loss of his looks but the loss of his youth. Which sounds stupid cos everyone (who doesn't die young) loses their youth, but something about him was so youthful. He was the essence of youth which makes it so powerful to see it destroyed - especially cos, with me, I lost track of him for some time and so for me he went straight from the one to the other.
 

craner

Beast of Burden
Well, I was only following your lead, because you said he was there in Secretary and then disappeared from view, only to come back horrifically transformed. I had the same reaction. It was a physical and psychological shock to be confronted with Old Spader. That's why I did my little bit of desktop research this morning to piece together that decline: it mostly seems to have happened during his mid-40s, the Boston Legal years, a show we obviously never watched, so we did not see it happening.

But this could be the story of our next decade, Rich. Or maybe we will be lucky and retain our gorgeous good looks, our lithe figures and our luxurious hair.
 

luka

Well-known member
There's certainly a catastrophic collapse that occurs with a kind of male menopause though when that kicks in varies person to person and the way it happens varies. Being thin is not a defence cos you can get frail and wizened. It happens around mid 40s-50 as a rule. You can't tell yourself you're remotely desirable from that point on. You've been broken by life.
 

luka

Well-known member
We look just about presentable, the three of us, but the clock is ticking. There's very little time left.
 

craner

Beast of Burden
It's frightening, being on the precipice. Yet you cling to this inability to believe that it will actually happen. It's like being unable to actually imagine your own death.
 

luka

Well-known member
You get previews of what's to come. Moments when you look in the mirror and recoil, screaming
 

luka

Well-known member
Perhaps you haven't been looking after yourself correctly for a while. Eating badly. Drinking too much. Had trouble sleeping. And it's there. Already marked on your face.
 

luka

Well-known member
At this stage you can still reverse time. Repair the damage. But soon you won't be able to. You'll be stuck like that. The hands of time will only go clockwise, towards ruin.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Well, I was only following your lead, because you said he was there in Secretary and then disappeared from view, only to come back horrifically transformed. I had the same reaction. It was a physical and psychological shock to be confronted with Old Spader. That's why I did my little bit of desktop research this morning to piece together that decline: it mostly seems to have happened during his mid-40s, the Boston Legal years, a show we obviously never watched, so we did not see it happening.
But this could be the story of our next decade, Rich. Or maybe we will be lucky and retain our gorgeous good looks, our lithe figures and our luxurious hair.
It wasn't a criticism, it's always good to see something you were trying to get at grasped and neatly packaged for you by someone else.
But yes that latter is very true. It could be the make or break decade in terms of looks - do we retain that boyish beauty but tempered with a steely manliness that only comes with experience, or do we sink into a ruined wrinkly and flabby mess beneath a shiny bald pate in which only at certain times when the light catches our features in just the right way does a cruel hint of previous pulchritude arise? Nothing more than another grim reminder of the uncaring vandalism that time can wreak on even the most perfect of objects?
 
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