His art is being ignored in favor of his good looks

Mar 31, 2015 09:42 GMT  ·  By
Kit Harington is more than just this pretty face and buff body, he says in new interview
   Kit Harington is more than just this pretty face and buff body, he says in new interview

Jon Snow from “Game of Thrones” may know nothing, but the actor playing him, Kit Harington, knows one thing for certain: he hates it when people call him a hunk, whether to his face in interviews or behind his back on various platforms.

So if you’re guilty of doing that, of saying that Kit was a “hunk,” you should know that you’re guilty of overlooking his art in favor of his good looks. And he doesn’t appreciate it.

Looks shouldn’t be brought into question at all

This is how Kit feels about all the buzz online about his good looks, including his curly black hair, soulful eyes and impressively ripped physique: appearances shouldn’t be brought into question at all, he should be judged solely based on his acting performances.

That people pay so much attention to the physical aspect and that they’re quick to point out that he’s a handsome man is “demeaning,” he explains in a new interview cited by Page Six.

He equates what’s happening to him to what women go through whenever men assume that if they’re beautiful they must be dumb or don’t deserve equal opportunities in the workfield as them. It’s “quite offensive” and it’s “inappropriate,” and women do it too, not just the men, he explains.

“I’m in a successful TV show in a kind of leading man way and it can sometimes feel like your art is being put to one side for your sex appeal,” the actor continues. “And I don’t like that. In this position you get asked a lot, ‘Do you like being a heart-throb? Do you like being a hunk?’ Well, my answer is, ‘That’s not what I got into it for.’”

The reality of it

Kit is right: it can be upsetting to see that people continue to focus on your looks when all you’re trying to do is prove that you’re a serious actor.

However, had he provided the world with better works of “art,” as he likes to call his movies, then perhaps no one would have chosen to focus on his curly hair and amazing six-pack.

The reality of it is that, outside of “Game of Thrones,” Kit has had very little box office / critical success: “Pompeii,” his first major outing, was one of the worst disaster movies of recent years, and “The Seventh Son” didn’t fare any better either.

That doesn’t mean that he’s a bad actor, but it does mean that he needs to make better choices in the future. This way, perhaps people will stop considering him a “hunk” and will finally see him as a serious actor.