INCOMING TEXT WALL! ...This might seem trollish, but I swear there is a point to my rambling, just come on my journey with me...
He doesn't have to be perfect, that's true. But look at Tommy onstage: He's the warm, fuzzy little Swedish Care Bear we all know and love - He's the dude who sings March of Me-freakin'-phisto with a cheerful smile on his face.
Onstage he's just Tommy, and he makes no effort to be anything else. And that's great, I love him for that. BUT. In a video, he can't just be Tommy. Whether he's just standing there singing like he has thus far, or playing an actual part in a video like Rule the World, he can't just be Tommy. Basically, what I'm saying is that Tommy is too genuine for his own good.
You're right, he's a singer, not an actor, but the videos are part of his job also. And it isn't just about whether or not he's believable enough to make a video work. The issue goes beyond that; As I said above, he is replacing someone who could act. Someone who was very comfortable slipping into a dark, enigmatic persona, and then back out as soon as the music stopped playing. The thing is, Roy was
always acting when the fans saw him performing. Catch him offstage and he was a sweetie - Roy was a sweetie. Khan - his stage persona - the one the fans most often saw and associate with him, was dark and enigmatic. But it's not like that with Tommy - he is as gentle and warm onstage as he is if you catch him on the street. The rift in Roy's persona occurred offstage where few people saw. But with Tommy, that's not the case. With Tommy, the break occurs very visibly, when he's forced to act dark for the videos. So when Tommy goes from onstage Tommy - looking so vibrant and cheerful - to video Tommy who is told to look dark, you can see a stark contrast, whereas Roy seemed to be genuine, because both matched. If Tommy could make that transition smoothly, the break wouldn't feel like a break, because it would look natural. It would look like just another side of Tommy, rather than a forced facade.
Right now in the videos Tommy is wearing a mask and telling us he's not. But that isn't enough. He needs to wear that mask, tell us he isn't, and make us
believe he isn't even though we can see it plain as day. We all know he's a sweetie, but we all knew Roy was too - we all
saw his mask, we all
knew it wasn't his real face, but he made us
believe it was. Because he knew how to act, and he did it well. Right now, all I see is Tommy in a mask.
This is important, because they used the SAME DIRECTOR for these videos. So the same dude who told Roy "hey, move like this." Is now telling Tommy the same thing. So now, you have Tommy making the same movements as Roy, and trying to look dark and menacing. ...But failing because he just isn't a very dark, much less menacing guy, and doesn't have the acting ability to make us believe he is.
That is how it
is... But not how it looks... What it looks like is the usually happy-smiley Tommy forcing himself to be like Roy for the videos. That's not how it
actually is, but that doesn't matter - that's how it looks. And from the outside, not knowing it was the same director pushing his style on both of them, it looks like Tommy is trying - and failing - to mimic Roy. The whole "dark enigma" thing is nearly every Metal vocalist's thing. But it's not
Tommy's thing. And it looks forced when he does it - because it
is forced. That's just not Tommy, and he's too damned honest(? I guess is the best word?) to betray his inner Tommy-ish-ness that makes him who he is for long enough to pull of a character.
That's the bottom line right there. That is acting. In real life, Roy was as menacing as a box of kittens, (which is still a skosh more menacing than Tommy.
Poor thing, he's just too damned adorable for this crap.) but onstage - onstage he made us believe he was the evil Mephisto, and no one ever blinked. He
was dark and menacing, not because he actually was, because he made us
believe he was. Onstage, Tommy is just Tommy. And in the videos, he is still just Tommy - clearly trying to be something he's not for the sake of the video, but still insisting on holding onto himself. And that, is why he can't act. Roy couldn't be himself and Khan simultaneously, he was one, then the other. Tommy is either Tommy, or he's someone else. You can't hold onto yourself when playing a character, you are them, or you are you. (This is, for anyone who follows what I say anywhere in regards to him, the reason I always call Roy by his first name, rather than his stage name. Khan is a phantom created by Roy, not Roy himself.) But Tommy refuses to let go, so he can never fall into character properly.
The result is that he looks like a cheap knockoff. And that, is not right. It's not fair to Tommy - He is no fucking knockoff.
He deserves to get out from under that shadow. He has pushed it away with his singing, but the videos just bring it back.
I want him to shine in the videos the way he does onstage. And I won't be happy until he does. If that means I have to play the bad guy and ride his ass the whole way to glory, then so be it. I have a lot of rage anyway. :Smokedev:
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