David Duchovny, why don’t you love me?
Or, if you’re like me and have never seen the X-Files, you could just get it on with Ray Bradbury. [NSFW]
As funny as these videos are, they’re also wonderful examples of magical thinking about authorship and creativity. To love the work is to love the man behind the work. (And of course the reverse happens too. See under: Olivia Munn.)
I think this would be an interesting concept to look at historically, as ideas of public and private life have changed. I just read How to Be Alone* which has a wonderful essay on the disappearance of the public sphere, and at the same time new technologies let us perform as if in public all the time. I’m sure authors and actors have always gotten plenty of mash notes (what a wonderful phrase!), but to me these performances feel different, and I don’t think it’s just because they’re meant to be funny. I think the funny lies in the exposure of this conflation of author and work, public and private, and the attempt to touch one by rather literally touching the other.
* If this indicates to you that I am way behind with my book logging, you would be absolutely correct.