the ryan gosling effect

i have always had an affinity towards the underdog. there is something that feels morally right & ultimately rewarding about rooting for something or someone that is overlooked and not naturally designed to win.  david vs. goliath. the weak vs. the strong.  i think this type of mentality also accounts for the part of me that likes to like things that no one cares or even knows about. my own niche group of likes & interests. this obscure indie band is an underdog. this unknown author whose book i picked up randomly - he's an underdog too.  most artists are underdogs until they get "discovered."

on the flip side, i also find myself hating stuff that is too "popular" (i.e. the lakers, john mayer, dragon tattoo books)... i know, how noncomformist/hipster of me!  i think a small part of me seeks "fairness" and feels that love should be equally distributed, while another part of me genuinely thinks that these "popular" things are just overly-hyped when it comes down to it. i think even harry potter is overrated (i know some of my friends would want to kill me right now).

that is why i tried so hard to not like ryan gosling. he's like that heartthrob at your school that everyone likes, and you keep telling yourself he is lame & so undeserving of the attention, but then when he smiles at you while walking past each other down the hall - you find yourself feeling faint. the reason why i even bring this all up is that i was once again reminded of his perfection today while watching "the gangster squad." what would've otherwise been a mediocre, overly violent movie was single-handedly redeemed by ryan himself.

everyone watched "the notebook" at one point in their lives (at least in the female population), and every single woman fell in love with ryan gosling.  i actually didn't like "the notebook" much at all (i found the old lady version of Rachel McAdams supercreepy - didn't help that i saw her in "The Skeleton Key" first), but even then i couldn't deny Noah's charm (oh, Noah is Gosling's character in the movie just in case you didn't know).   but my dislike for the movie was still there, so his charm didn't have its full-blown effect on me.  then i saw him  one of my favorite movies to date, "Blue Valentine":

and that's when i fell in love. the young version of ryan gosling's character dean is very reminiscent of the young noah. both scrappy, dreamy young guys who can charm your pants off.  they have their oh-so-idealistic "love-can-conquer-all" badge on their tattered sleeves the same way leo once did on the titanic (it seems as though only poor guys can pull this off? rich guys are the villains, apparently). but the thing that tugs the hearts of all womankind is their resolute, one-track devotion to their girlfriends who later become their wives.  there's nothing that says "i love you" (*spoiler alert*) like punching another guy in the face, pretending to jump off a ferris wheel, building a house for you, and fathering a child that is so obviously not his.  of course both movies (especially "Blue Valentine") end in not-so-happy endings, but don't need to get into that right now.

and i think maybe the loophole is that he always (on the surface) plays the underdog (with the exception of "crazy, stupid, love" where he played the regular male peacock): he's always the misunderstood street rat character with the heart of gold. anywho - there's just something about ryan and his easy smile & boyish charm that makes us all a little weak inside. and if it doesn't... i question if you're a human or an android.

that is why i'm not ashamed to say that i work for a company that "hearts" gosling even more than i do. time & time & time again.