Why is Hook such a divisive character within the fandom?

[Cinders]

I’ve loved Hook from the beginning. But not because of any love story interest. I thought he was a wonderful actor who portrayed the typical opportunist pirate. I liked him because he could carry a scene regardless of who he was acting with. He carried his scenes with the crocodile, and with Cora.

But then, I began to dislike him, or rather, I was neutral toward him. His scenes became secondary, and that’s how I viewed him. A secondary, minor character, supporting actor who was there in the background following our main characters. I never felt much from his dialogs. He never made me feel his love for Emma. I just watched him follow her and everyone else around.

Until Sunday. Last Sunday I began to love the actor, and the character again. In his scenes with Rumple, he stood toe to toe with the tremendous actor, Robert Carlyle and he didn’t give the scene to Robert. They were equal in their believability and passion. His acting skills weren’t secondary. They were equal. . I felt his wrath, I felt his pain, and I felt his humiliation. He portrayed the pirate, the victim, the lover and the villain, and he made me believe him.

It’s not so much the story of his relationship with Emma that holds my attention. I care more about Emma’s relationship with her past, as a kid, as a young adult. It’s Hook’s relationship with Rumple, and with the Fairy tale story, that I’ll have fun following now. And, his scenes with Elsa are really good too, in my opinion.
I don’t care where the characters’ stories lead. I go where the story takes us without preference for which love stories prevail. All I care about is that the actor makes me feel their agony, their joy, their triumphs and their defeat.

What I dislike about Hook’s story is that he’s not the captain of his own ship anymore, so to speak. Others are captains, and he’s the follower, the deck hand. He follows Emma as she captains her story. Now he will follow Mr. Gold as Gold captains the story of the hat. He’s similar to Belle. They’re the other half to the better halves in their relationships. Except Hook actually gets screen time.

[Josephine]

I found it RG! 😉

Source

Keeper of Rumplestiltskin's and Neal's spears and war paint and crystal ball.

[RumplesGirl]

Thaaaaanks Jo. Okay, just to reiterate. Numbers can be just numbers and storytelling is NOT time on screen. But for people who want more of character “X” (whoever that is) this is when it becomes a problem because when you look at the numbers there is a trend of being slightly…skewed. And that’s where a lot of the anger comes from.

"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"

[surayya]

surayya wrote:

I’d wager regular watchers dont have many if any problems with enjoying Hook, Rumple, Regina or whomever each week.

I think this is a broad generalization that we might need to avoid because it suggests that regular viewers are just sponges who will take anything and our numbers don’t lie: viewers are leaving meaning they aren’t okay with everything.

What I meant by that comment RG & you’ll notice I said I’d “wager” not that it was actually the case out right :/ – was NOT that GA are sponges at all, thats taking a very negativity view of a broad observation that was made within the context of the previous statement it was attached too… would it be considered more appropriate if I’d put a negative spin on it & said “I dont think they have many if any problems with hating Rumple, Regina or Hook” 🙁 – My point was, they arent “invested” in the fandom itself, so whether they ‘love or hate’ ANY of the characters means little to the rift in general :/ The rift is purely fandom based, if you took a poll of GA, sure there would be some whom hate Hook (or whoever), some who love Hook (or whoever), but “most” (again not ALL) would “LIKELY” fall in the middle because they are watching for entertainment purposes- sometime they like, sometimes they dislike, or they are neutral.
As for viewership- from what I’ve seen & heard, thats been up on S2 & S3 for the most part & it’s been the most watched scripted show on sundays, so the viewership seems to be doing fine these days lol.
I can see this thread going the way of most the threads here these days go, so I’ll leave you lot to it, Enjoy.

[RumplesGirl]

What I meant by that comment RG & you’ll notice I said I’d “wager” not that it was actually the case out right :/ – was NOT that GA are sponges at all, thats taking a very negativity view of a broad observation that was made within the context of the previous statement it was attached too… would it be considered more appropriate if I’d put a negative spin on it & said “I dont think they have many if any problems with hating Rumple, Regina or Hook” 🙁 – My point was, they arent “invested” in the fandom itself, so whether they ‘love or hate’ ANY of the characters means little to the rift in general :/ The rift is purely fandom based, if you took a poll of GA, sure there would be some whom hate Hook (or whoever), some who love Hook (or whoever), but “most” (again not ALL) would “LIKELY” fall in the middle because they are watching for entertainment purposes- sometime they like, sometimes they dislike, or they are neutral.

I apologize for misunderstanding you.

As for viewership- from what I’ve seen & heard, thats been up on S2 & S3 for the most part & it’s been the most watched scripted show on sundays, so the viewership seems to be doing fine these days lol.

Yes it’s up but that’s Frozen. Very much Frozen. And, actually we’re back into S3 ratings—the start of S3 to be specific. And yes most scripted show on broadcast on Sunday.TWD kicks everyone’s butt.

"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"

[callmeLola]

Just for the record, did anyone else verify those stats? Like a respectable non-shipping source?  Not trying to cause trouble (sorry RG) but since the graph was posted here, I just want to clarify that the blogger who posted those results is “very anti-Captain Swan” and the graph was followed by an anti-Hook rant.

 

[RumplesGirl]

Just for the record, did anyone else verify those stats? Like a respectable non-shipping source? Not trying to cause trouble (sorry RG) but since the graph was posted here, I just want to clarify that the blogger who posted those results is “very anti-Captain Swan” and the graph was followed by an anti-Hook rant.

I do not know if she herself made the graph or got it from elsewhere, sorry. I do think that it’s roughly right—at least as far who is seen more than others. So, Belle is for sure getting the least screentime, next to Will who just came on. Whether or not Hook is #1 I can’t verify. And again, I know that numbers are  not just storytelling, but I’d say that Hook is somewhere near the top, if not THE top, in terms of numbers

"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"

[ellemo78]

I would say it’s the season two theory. That’s he’s come into an already established show, been quite popular and has taken screen time or at least pushed aside some of the season 1 regulars, and I know people have issue with interlopers – which is what he can be seen as.

With the above graphic, we’re only 4 episodes into the new season and I think you’ll see Hook’s screen time go down. He’s been needed to establish his relationship with Emma – and you see Emma has had a similar amount of screentime. You can’t have those Rumple and Hook living in the same town without there being some sort of antagonism. Now that’s all sorted into a place that can be background, we’ll definitely see the others’ screentime pick up. It’s hard to write for a ensemble cast to give them all equal screentime, it all comes down to storyline.

The other issue with Hook and the ‘extra’ screentime he has, is that in his back stories – apart from his run in with Rumple – he doesn’t have associations with the other characters, so Hook centric episodes are VERY Hook-centric. He’s prominent in both past and present stories, re “Good Form” and “the Jolly Roger” which I guess just adds fuel to the ‘Hook is getting too much screentime’ fire.

If one is to engage with the primordial forces of darkness, one must expect a little social awkwardness

[RumplesGirl]

With the above graphic, we’re only 4 episodes into the new season and I think you’ll see Hook’s screen time go down

I also think it’s worth mentioning that the Frozen cast is not on there and they are taking up quite a bit of time as well, especially Elsa. And then you have Robin Hood as well.

 

"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"

[Jenna_B]

So, I think this question is for someone who doesn’t ‘ship…IS Hook such a divisive character?  I mean, I see it, but I’m also a huge Hook fan.  So I’m going to notice the negative commentary from the viewership almost as much as I’m going to see the positive.  But though I like Regina, I’m not nearly as invested with her, so while I know there are viewers that love her, I don’t really know if those fans experience as much backlash as those that like Hook feel they experience.  I would assume they do, or feel they do, simply because that’s ‘their’ character, so they focus more on what’s said about Regina.

No offense to the chart, but I’ve seen them before, and I think stuff like that fuels the animosity toward characters.  I happen to not particularly dislike any character, though, so I really don’t care who’s on the screen as long as the story is fun to watch.  Breaking things like screentime down and comparing them to the others only makes those that dislike a character getting more screentime something to justify their dislike, which in turn gives those that like the character a bad taste in their mouth, not toward the character in question, but toward the chart and people using it to denounce ‘their’ character.

[Author]

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