Ever wonder just what it is about Todd, that appeals to so many people? Ever want to understand your own feelings about this very unique character?
The Keep's very own "tat", who has a phenomenal talent for writing, composed two different posts about our Todd, and about our feelings for him! I have put them here for all of you to enjoy, and to preserve them forever!
Love & Thanks to our "tat"!
The following are two beautiful Todd posts, by "tat":
Todd as fallen angel...too good to be
lost...too bad to be saved...
Todd as
bad boy (and why this good girl loves him) or
Love Seeketh Not to Change ...especially when
it's seduced by the wild.
Todd is about him walking into a room and commanding attention with a lift of an eyebrow or leaving a room and taking all the oxygen with him when he goes. It isn't just about "his lips, his eyes" ...it's about being a heartbeat away from the sheer intensity of his next action/reaction whether it is right or wrong.
Through Todd, I can vicariously AND SAFELY experience "The Call of the Wild", and the (well, I better not go there...VBG)
If you would like to respond to tat, about these wonderful posts....leave her a message at the Lair, Todd's Secret Keep Message Board. She is doing a tremendous job as the monitor of the board!
Thank
you, again, tat!
Todd's
Secret Keep
Since I've been lurking the boards I've come to realize that different people have very different ideas on what drives Todd. The poor guy has been through 3? 4? changes of producers/writers (sometimes to my delight, or despair, or disgust!) but I think there has been a continuing thread through all of it for me...I think it gets lost in the dizzying shuffles that Todd is both a GOOD and a very BAD person.
That's one of the reasons I love him...He is one of the most complex, diverse and potent male mythic archetypes that I have encountered in any medium, either visual or written. As protagonist, he is neither hero, anti-hero or villain: he is a fluid combination of all three. The only thing that has saved Todd from being a true textbook sociopath, besides his idealized love of his daughter, is his capacity for genuine remorse. He has occasionally tried to make sincere amends, and sometimes he has honestly yearned for the salvation he is always denied. Whenever this has happened he had NO hidden agenda, there was NO complicated subtext ...there was only his realization that he had again done something so unforgivable that he would be haunted by it for the rest of his life. THERE ARE NO SECOND CHANCES FOR TODD!!! That is both his tragedy and his punishment for bad behavior.One example of this that has always stuck in my mind is when Powell tied Todd up and made him beg for his life. At first Todd was outraged; then he became afraid and humiliated by his helplessness.Even though Todd eventually overpowered Powell and turned him in ...he had a desperate, lost look. Later, he begged Marty for her forgiveness ...because of Powell, he finally realized what he had put her through. By the time Todd started to cry, I was on my second or third Kleenex. Even then I suspected that there would never be a happy resolution of anything for Todd.
AND, that's the way it should be ...one of the reasons Todd captures my imagination is because he is THE PRIMAL STUFF of Greek Tragedy, Western morality plays and poems, and 19th Century Romanticism. (He also has a wicked, Wilde-like sense of humor and sensibility.) Todd's efforts to make things right with Marty eventually led to his death, resurrection and (because Todd is Todd) the dissolution of the one relationship and the REAL family that might have (maybe) made him happy. But! he still continued to fight his justly deserved destiny every step of the way! MY TODD does not turn belly up to Fate (or bad and strange sloppy writing). He never should have gone 'gentle into that good night...' most especially in Cockette's drag. (Todd a DID transvestite? I think not!) Todd, like it was said of Byron, to me has always been mad, bad and dangerous to know, And I love both his goodness and his badness and I do not want him to change. Why did they try to fix a myth that wasn't broke? See, I believe that if RH had stayed the first time and Malone had continued to write, that Todd would still have struggled with his Karma. Malone was a Joseph Campbell kind of guy ...he had a vision for Todd that transcended conventional soap opera plots.
A true mythic "hero" is NOT a "good" guy. Life is not about ACHIEVING salvation, but about TRYING TO ACHIEVE salvation. (my apologies to Buddhists) That struggle, that journey, that yearning is what propels us to escape our base natures and try (TRY!) to be better people. Todd epitomizes this ...caught between good and bad, trapped by choices (that are sometimes beyond his conscious control) , he is "modern everyman" and reflects all of our age-old conflicts. Todd is everyone who tries to be good, and fails, but keeps on trying anyway. My applause to RH, the finest character actor around, for always having made Todd so intensely real that he continually broke my heart. I LOVE YOU, RH!!!
Anyone who has read my "fallen angel" post and followups can see some the reasons why I'm intellectually fascinated with Todd as "mythic 'hero' ". But I also have a gutlevel attraction that defies everyday logic (and common sense). If Todd was a real person that I met in real life, I WOULD RUN THE OTHER WAY!
However, Todd is not a real person, he was a soap opera character ...and this gives me a certain license and rationale for my feelings about him. Todd once said he was a monster, and that's true, yet I can defend every miserable and loathsome thing he has ever done. Why? because I love him (even when he was badly written) and "love is not love which alters when it alteration finds, or bends with remover to remove. O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken..." Todd is MALE. Let me clarify how I'm using this word ...Todd is a primal, atavistic, recidivistic, predatory, fulltiltboogie, potent alpha MALE and women who want a wellspring of tenderness, sensitivity and PC behavior should join the Alan Alda Fan Club. It's not that Todd isn't capable of tenderness, and he has been sensitive on occasion ...BUT he is not a tender and sensitive guy. That's why it was SO THRILLING when the writing was good and the plot worked to see this side of Todd that he generally repressed.When he showed these traits it was not because his violent, but pilgrim spirit had been broken, or that he was backed against the wall that surronded his better emotions, it was because HIS SOUL HAD BEEN ENLARGED! I think that's why I found the TNT subtext so unpleasant.
That beautifulferalmaleanimal was written to show behavior that, quite frankly, made me squirm in pity for him, and ...even more frankly, did not turn me on. (And I'm talking about his masochism, not his escalating violence with Tea...I found that justified...Todd is, after all, someone who is struggling with salvation, but never attaining it.)
Todd is MALE. He not only creates his own sexual space ...he occupies every square inch of it. Like early Brando, Dean and pre-breakdown Clift, he is electrically charged even in repose. Sensuality is not about undressing. A fully dressed Todd is more sexually alluring than any halfnaked hunk flexing his pecs because Todd's particular sensuality is about attitude and the subtle and scary grace of supressed violence. Todd is about him knowing where his body is and being comfortable in it even when it was in uncomfortable positions.
(By the way, other men didn't respond to Todd negatively because of his crimes: their hackles rose because they felt
threatened on a very basic level...it was quite simply, about pack hierarchy. Male sexual jockeying.)
I can understand RH's hesitancy at certain times to portray an antisocial personality in a sexual light...some fans can not relate to this type of story or character in a psychologically healthy way. Eroticizing such a character is dark and dirty and dangerous stuff because of our modern sensibilties ...but that stuff is also hardwired into the hindpart of the neocortex, our "lizard brain." It is also what this kind of fantasy is about ...we don't necassarily want it to be in our real lives, but it IS a part of our primitive sex drive. Our female ancestors in the early cradle tribal societies mostly mated with ruthless alpha-level males. Nice guys didn't cut it. Nice guys didn't pass on their genes as frequently because they didn't "fit" into the ongoing battle for survival in a very brutal and dangerous world. Now, I'm not saying the modern world should play by these rules ...I think we are better (or should be) than our primal instincts ...I'm saying I recognize and appreciate that these instincts were and (still are) a part of basic human nature.
As always, even though RH might have disagreed with the romanticizing of a sociopath ...he always fully committed himself to the part and never gave an unbelievable or subpar performance. Applause RH! I love you!
