While yet again exploring the
interwebs (instead of working on my long-neglected novel) I found an artist
that has painted a few romantic pieces about Joey Garza from Larry McMurtry’s
Streets of Laredo. Garza is a remorseless
teenage killer and rifleman, not someone that you think would be overly
romanticized. Heck, who am I kidding,
this is the same genre that romanticizes Billy the Kid. So what do you think, McMurtry fans- is Joey
Garza a heartless killer or a romantic hero?
For more from the same artist, check out her Deviant Art site: http://fuchsiart.deviantart.com
Just part of the current fashion for junky-vampire chic. Doesn't signify.
ReplyDeleteJim Cornelius
www.frontierpartisans.com
I don't know, Jim, I played a lot of Vampire and Werewolf role playing games in college, and the girls always dug the gothy misanthrope monsters. That was, dear lord, 15 years ago. When did I get so old?
ReplyDeleteOh I know. Guess it goes back to the Romantics (at least). Tortured, misunderstood souls and all that rot. Silly girls... Sometimes a sociopath is just a sociopath.
ReplyDeleteJim
This is actually owned by myself, my friend kindly did a commission for me. Do I see Joey as a romantic hero? Good lord, certainly not! He is a sociopath and a spoilt brat to boot. If you were so curious why did you not contact me directly and ask instead of forming your own and frankly far from the truth opinion?
ReplyDeleteSilly girl? Wow, I'm pretty surprised by just how narrow minded you are all being! I'm a 30 year old woman, not a teenager into sparkly vampires, thank you very much and I do not hold crushes for any characters and have not done since I was a young teenager. Think before you judge and blurt out closed minded judgements! Just because a romantic image is on the web does NOT instantly mean that EVERYONE or even ANYONE finds the character being depicted as desireable.
I found Joey Garza to be a very intriguing character in both film and books and if you follow the link you will find I actually comissioned a first artwork as well in which he is stood in front of a stained glass window (a scene taken from the book itself.) that is in no way romantic, it's just a take on a certain part of the book. After talking with fellow fans of the Lonesome Dove saga the subject got onto what would happen if Joey had a woman in his life and I was 'dared', if you will, to write a fanfiction about him, hence this image was created alongside that.
While I will certainly not deny that some ladies out there may find the whole bad boy thing hot (nothing wrong if they do and keep it to fantasy, especially when someone like Joey Garza is concerned), I personally do not, if I came within 200 feet of someone like Joey Garza I would run in the other direction. But surely that should not limit imagination and finding a certain character intriguing should it? I don't HAVE to want to jump Joey Garza's bones to think of him in a romantic situation do I? Good god I hope not, half the novels and movie in the world would not have been made if that were the case!
Just because you cannot understand someone liking a charcter and perhaps even writing about them in a romantic setting WITHOUT having sexual feelings for said character does not make it the truth. I am honestly surprised by what a big deal you made this out to be and the frankly insulting comments. It is nothing new to like a 'bad boy' that is shown in books or films. I think some growing up may be needed here.
Thanks for stopping by the blog.
ReplyDeleteFirst, sorry that you were offended. You may note that I didn't say anything negative about it, I was just asking for an opinion. Jim was pretty opinionated, though, but he can speak for himself if he likes (but please don't start a flame war, folks).
Second, I really like the Joey Garza character. Being a married guy I also would probably avoid sleeping with him, but he is a fantastic darkly romantic character, much like Lestat in the eary Anne Rice days. A rare place where Jim and I disagree.
Finally, I think it's great that you are writing and are happy and confident enough with your work that you wanted some accompanying graphics. Is it something that you would share with our readers?
Oh, one last thing. I write a blog about gay cowboys, gunslingers, and girls in bikinis. I'm not sure growing up is going to happen.
Hope you come back!
No flame wars will be started, that I assure you. But you cannot blame me for being annoyed, you made a snap judgement about the person behind the art work as did other comments and quite narrow minded ones at that. You say you didn't say anything negative, that is true, you were not outright negative, but you strongly hinted that you did not approve.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you too find Joey interesting, I don't really think I see him as a romantic character as such, but an interesting one for sure. I think it's plain human nature to be curious about something or characters we don't understand, it's just morbid curiousity and something humans have had for a very long time.
Seeing dark charaters as romantic figures is not a new thing, Lestat is a good example, as are all the anti-heroes that have been created, and you can trace dark romantic figures all the way back to Anicent Greece, so it certainly is not new.
I only write fanfiction, I'm certainly not a professional, and I never claimed I was any good, plus with the subject matter being discussed I would not want that to impact reviews etc so I'll keep it to myself. It can be found on the web if needed.
Well, you can still be an adult and enjoy all those things. Perhaps I should have said broaden your horizons instead :)
Viewing the character of Joey Garza in the round, in the totality of the novel, I don't see him as either a figure of Romance or of Nightmare-- because one has to bear in mind that he is defeated by Pea Eye, who is hardly a dragon slayer. I don't have a copy of the text in front of me, and it's been years since I read it, but my recollection is that Pea Eye is rather disgusted to find that the great Joey Garza could do no better in a man to man confrontation than "shoot my durn toe off!" ...and Famous Shoes dismisses Joey casually, consigning him to his fate with the words "Pea Eye shot him pretty good" (again, quoting from memory). So I think that at the end, we're left with Joey neither as a Byronic hero or a Satanic Lestat, but just as a troubled adolescent who was a good killer at a distance with a good rifle, but who wilted under his first real challenge.
ReplyDeleteRobert, I think that's actually right on the nose. He was in a way defeated by Pea, but the final insult for Joey was that he was actually finished off by the local butcher after trying to take his final revenge against his family, which in some ways he did do, but he was denied his wish (from the book) which was to pit himself against a worthy foe, which to him was Call, I can't remember what his thoughts on Pea Eye were. But Joey (in the book) knew he'd end up dead one day and didn't really seem to care about it, as long as it was in his eyes a 'noble' death. He didn't get it.
ReplyDeleteJoey's built up this myth around himself i.e He can shoot more than a mile, the treasure cave etc and it's that myth that is the nightmare, not the lad himself. Joey was not the kind of person that could deal wuth any situation he was not in control of, hence why Pea was able to surprise him and take advantage of his weakness with a handgun and also the weakness that was his ego.
I think the main thing that intrigues many about Joey Garza is so much of his story is untold and his very tribulant realtions with his family. After all, many said Joey was just a normal kid once.
I was thirteen when the tv adaptation came out. I fell in love with the character. There was a mystique to him from the perspective of a girl. It doesn't change that he was a psychopath and would never care for anyone back. I attempted to write a love story after reading and watching the miniseries. It was total 13 year old smut.
ReplyDeleteJoey Garza is not a romantic hero at all, in my opinion. He loves to make human beings suffer, more than he loves killing them... And he killed and robbed over 30, mind you. It is well known that he does not need the riches, as he has plenty of them and buries them in snake holes. He also told his poor mother that her other children (a mentally-challenged boy and a blind girl) are 'damaged' because of her whoring, and had tried to kill them when they were little. If Joey is a romantic hero, I don't know who ISN'T a romantic hero, as long as they ride a horse across the wilderness.
ReplyDeleteActor playing him looked like a gay twink with that long blond pageboy haircut. I don’t think any cowboy would fear him in the slightest.
ReplyDeleteI think the issues Joey had all stemmed from the fact that he was gay and could not be himself in Olde Mexico. He really wanted John Westley Hardin to bend him over the bar and take him from behind. ‘Behind’ being the operative word.
ReplyDelete