PT Is Hayden's Anakin iconic?

I agree, often the director can be much more responsible for the performances than the actors themselves. There are many actors that have done great jobs in some movies and are terrible in others. But usually really good directors always get really good performances, and bad directors can get crappy performances out of even great actors. For example, one of my least favorite actors is Nicolas Cage, but he does pretty good when he's under a top-notch director such as Spike Jonze (Adaptation) or Werner Herzog (Bad Lieutenant).

 

If people have an issue when Anakin bear-grylls some bug, what about those Jedi who prefer to eat live animals?

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In AOTC, what did Anakin do to make himself stand out? Anakin joked with nappy bearded Kenobi in an elevator, Luke picked up his father's lightsaber in grandpa Kenobi's house. What actions of his exceeded that which we've come to expect from normal, average, not~chosen~one, Jedi? Jumping from a sitting speeder, latching onto Zam's? Kenobi grabbed a floating toilet seat after smashing through a window, so there's that. What about cow~surfing? Luke rode a Taun Taun and killed a Rancor with a chicken bone from KFC. Anakin lost his lightsaber. Luke lost his X-Wing. And Artoo. Anakin twirled two sabers for a few seconds and lost his arm. Darth Maul twirled a doubleblade, killed a Jedi Master, lost his lower half, died... and was found alive. In ROTS, young Anakin landed half a ship... Luke blew up the Death Star while old Anakin was trying to kill him. Nope, not feeling iconic.

 

I always use M. Night as an example for this. Mark Wahlberg in The Happening was just awful, but Mark Wahlberg in The Departed (Scorsese) was pretty good.

SithStarSlayer Did you read Karen Traviss' TCW novel? Well, in the novel, Ahsoka, she, uh...

 

I'd say the character of Anakin is fairly recognizable by the general public but it has likely more to do with all the other portrayals available in different media rather than just Hayden's. I suspect that kids are most familiar with TCW Anakin. That said, Vader/Anakin in the OT was played by no less than three actors and does general public even know all thee names? So there's nothing for Hayden to be ashamed of.

 

I am KT free, GGrievous. So no, and never will.

 

So you don't want to hear the tale of Ahsoka eating live rodents, SithStarSlayer?

 

It's not subjective to say any of the things from my post. Anakin is not copied in other works. Anakin's casting is not copied in other works. He did not set any bar that others look to. He is not having books written about his importance to popular culture.

Connery did. The Star Wars characters I listed did. That's iconic.

Hayden as Anakin not being iconic has nothing to do with Hayden's ability as an actor or the job he did as Anakin. It's just a fact that the character portrayed by Hayden is not iconic like some other characters in the series.

 

THIS.

 

I'd have to say that the entirety of Vader transcends any single actor's contribution. Sure, on many fronts James Earl Jones is probably the most crucial contributor (and thus more "iconic" than Christensen for those keeping score), but even then, take the voice away from the greater context of epic struggles and vast chasms and you're just as easily left with a pop culture punchline.

 

No one outside of the fans know who Sebastian Shaw is/was.... Because of it being SW, Hayden is forever attached and the negative nimrods will always have think they are smarter than everyone else by pointing out his "bad performance." Eddie Furlong from T2 is far worse.... so awful and annoying... just like the movie.... zing!
I don't think its so iconic that no one can see someone else in the role, SW fans are use to many actors playing one character so Hayden although iconic himself being in SW, Anakin is more iconic than the actor because he's been played by others, some better, for some long like the great Matt Launter. The character Anakin is ICONIC, the actor Hayden, just famous.

As for the kids' acting. I never had a problem with it which always bothered me why others did. The ones who think its bad can not accept the fact there is no consensus to back up their claims of him being bad, just as many, probably more, don't have a problem.
Films are a collective work, film critique is too and in order fro films to acheieve iconic status there has to a consensus on whats great and what stinks. As much as the weepy nerds want it to be true, the PT and Hayden et all, are in the happy medium, resting mostly on the positive... being alive during the originals, it was the same in their day too... the casual and non- fans just need to shut their gobs and stay home, no one cares what they have to say...

Love this series!

 

I'm not sure how famous Hayden is... I just asked someone if they knew who Hayden Christenssen was, and they replied yes, "she's the blonde one in Heroes".

Not a 100% accurate scientific test, but still.

 

LOL!

That's hilarious! Having her as Anakin Skywalker's Force Spirit would have been quite the twist, eh?

 

....No I didn't want to see B-Lanter's Luke/Han hybrid Dave dared to call Anakin, thank you. Lucas performance is gold ...the bugs scene posted proves it!

Now, is Hayden Anakin's iconic? To me he is...But then, I never had a problem with the character.

 

Well Hayden is very good and let's be honest compare hayden to Chris pines kirk and well let's just say Lucas made the best choice

 

I never suggested otherwise.. In fact I specifically stated such if you read my posts. A personal qualitative judgment of Hayden's portrayal is irrelevant for this question. But to a certain extent that's what you seem to be doing - If not for Anakin, for anything that isn't specifically nostalgic for you.

Ya I agree with this. There are some kids who recognize pictures of Hayden as some kind of 'realistic' representation of the Anakin they know, but don't don't really know what he's about as they haven't seen the movies

EDIT: thanks admin(?) for combining. im still pretty clumsy with the quoting system for some reason

 

Welcome to the boards, Darth Odin!

 

It's not my judgement on Hayden's acting as my quote shows. It's not some nostalgia trip for me either. It's based on the pure and simple FACT that Anakin hasn't entered into pop culture on the iconic level. His character or casting didn't change any paradigm in the industry. If no one outside of Star Wars fans is talking about it, much less copying it, it isn't iconic. Plain and simple.

 

I think Anakin is iconic in general.

 

To me, yes. To others, I don't really think so.

 

Icon is a much overused word these days, but I'd say that Hayden's Anakin is probably more of a fall guy than an icon in the wider community. As has been stated, that's in no way a comment on the quality of his performance.

 

Greatest answer to SW trivia question, ever.

 

You should ask that person what they think about Ian McDiarmid. Bet you get a blank stare. I know plenty of people that have seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy multiple times and couldn't point out Christopher Lee if they had to.

 

Anakin is iconic. How much Hayden has to do with that is debatable, however I am one of the inbred morons who actually likes his performances. Matt Lanter has spent waaaaay more time playing him than Hayden has. In general, I think the Jedi/Pilot/Mechanic/etc. named Anakin Skywalker is more iconic than the actors who bring him to life.

 

An icon at base definition is just a symbol of something, which Hayden clearly is of Anakin. As far as an IMPORTANT symbol of Anakin, I think that will come more and more with time. I think history will look kindly on him and the PT in general as SW becomes more of a larger universe- not like it is in the EU, in the mainstream world where Disney is going to build it (in future days when we are telling our grandchildren of times when there were decades or years between SW movies coming out).

Remember, ESB was poorly received in a lot of ways (especially by critics) when it first came out. The passing of time can reveal different perspectives about some movies, history can be kinder than the present.