Progress Live Squee Pic Spam

[przed]

Friday, after a mere seven day wait, the Take That Progress Live Blu-Ray landed on my desk. It was going to be a busy weekend, and I should have crashed early, but I couldn't wait to see this:



I have got to love a fandom where this is our canon. *g*

Needless to say, it's a brilliant concert, and I enjoyed it immensely. And I couldn't resist putting together a massive pic spam of some of my favourite pics from the tour.


First, some solo pics of all the boys, starting with Captain Barlow.


Robbie!


Howard in the ticker tape storm.


Jason gets two pics, to make up for the dearth of him in the Making of doc.


Smiley!Jason.


I may have gone a bit nuts with the pics of Mark. I make no apologies.

First, Adorable!Mark.


Serious!Mark during Kidz, which is without a doubt the best set piece they have ever staged.


Bass-playing!Mark during Underground Machine, my second favourite number of the concert. (Mark, Jason and Howard do Tai Chi!)


Posing!Mark in his wacky Shine outfit.


Caterpillar-riding!Mark. Because all pop stars need a giant pink caterpillar to ride.


There were no pairing preference that went unsatisfied during the show. And I've got photographic proof of most of them.

Robbie and the Captain. Awwww.


Howard and Mark.


Robbie carrying Jason. (Alas, on DVD night there was no carrying, but there was lifting.)


Barlowen!


Howard and Jason in troubadour mode during Shine.


Willowen!


More Willowen, because who can resist that smile?


But in the end, it's about all of the boys being together.


Group hug!

Comments

[halotolerant.livejournal.com]

Have the most whumped picture of Mark EVER to compensate *g* (seriously, there's a whole essay on the male gaze, objectification and something else to be written on this picture, but let's just say that that indefinable quality Markie brings is well demonstrated here...)

[przed.livejournal.com]

I think Mark Owen could be singularly responsible for overturning 20 years of feminist thought on the male gaze and objectification. Because just look at the man.

As for that pic, it's pretty whumped. But I rather think this one might be the most whumped pic of him, EVAH.


I mean, seriously, what was he thinking? What was the photographer thinking? 'Cause what I'm thinking is this calls for some serious kidnap fic.

[halotolerant.livejournal.com]

I know, the level of *vulnerability* and the unsettling way that it is clearly intended to be appealing is astonishing for a male popstar. The juxtaposition of these kind of signals with the 'I am alpha provider solver of problems' that is Gary Barlow is I think a large part of what makes the Barlowen pairing so popular. And yet there's also something hypnotic about him and Robbie, in the classic 'beautiful vulnerable person falls for Bad Idea Boyfriend' mold. There's something about winning Robbie's attention that seems to make Mark look happy and relaxed and *satisfied* like nothing else...

[przed.livejournal.com]

Both in his '90s incarnation and at present, Mark does show a remarkable level of vulnerability. And quite often it is unsettling in the extreme. When you posted the whumped pic, I knew I wanted to respond with the nearly-naked-Markie-stuffed-in-a-sewer-pipe pic, but I had to go searching for it--oh, the horror--because I'd never downloaded it precisely because it is so very unsettling. It's poking around in the dark areas of the psyche, which is so very interesting in someone who is probably viewed as an uncomplicated, cheery popstar sort by some circles.

But the flip side of whumpedandvulnerable!Mark is what I actually find most interesting, and that's whumpedandscrappy!Mark. And the best moment for that is the I'd Wait for Life video:


This vid is where Mark won me over utterly and completely, the sense that he may be someone who gets knocked down, but he always comes up fighting. And that clearly extends to his personal life as well.

The two vastly different pairings are interesting as well. Of the two, I clearly am most fond of the Mark/Robbie variation, but not primarily for the 'beautiful vulnerable person falls for Bad Idea Boyfriend' aspect. I actually see Robbie as at least a vulnerable as Mark, though obviously in different ways, and that leads to you getting to play with different aspects of their strengths and weaknesses through the fic, and to have one in trouble when the other can be strong. And then when the two of them are happy and strong together, there's nothing that can beat it. ::sigh::

[halotolerant.livejournal.com]

When the news broke about his personal problems, and everyone was using language like 'squeaky clean' and 'sweet' and so on, I was struck with another instance of people seeing the narrative they thought ought to be there rather than what really was. Mark was quite open in interviews in the Wilderness Years about drinking maybe more wine than he ought to and his self-esteem issues and so forth are incredibly obvious to anyone who's ever listened to his music. Between him and Jason there is a willingness to - as you say - go into dark areas of the mind and confront and *explore* things that don't sit easily with the mainstream idea of... well many things. Manliness, attractiveness, fame, wealth - it's the sense of this in the Progress album that made me love it so much (I mean sure, I love 'Patience' and many Gary-ish songs, but the political awareness without agenda of SOS, Kidz and others is so much deeper)

If Mark was a girl, we'd find some of this imagery really unpalatable, that's one way of looking at it. Because he's male, it's somehow slightly closer to comfortable whilst at the same time being more unexpected and transgressive, and there's an underlying sense perhaps that just because he's male, being exploited is not OK, even if it was his idea (think of Britney Spears in her school uniform, for example).

And the way I seem to end up reading it in my head when I see Mark/Robbie interactions, is Robbie protecting him somehow. I certainly agree Robbie is at least as vulnerable, and what fascinates me so much about them is this sense that at one point they were simply good for each other, caring for each other, and then Youthful Foolishness, Life, Events, Other People, Bad Decisions etc intervened and they both wound up unable to prevent each other hitting the lows that they did. And then they REUNITED *sighs happily with you* That narrative arc just gets me every time *g*

And I think (and enjoy thinking) that that's a huge aspect of scrappy!Mark - his fight to stay friends with Robbie, to forgive him, to make the others connect with him and forgive him, to keep Robbie in the reunion after his brief departure after Children in Need, never to blame Robbie for anything or put their relationship under public scrutiny (one aspect of all the 'Gary and Robbie - enemies or friends?' narrative that obsessed the papers in Reunion time was that the issue of how Mark and Robbie related was never in the spotlight, although it was a far more personal story). I think of 'For the Record' where Mark says of Robbie's departure that he wasn't feeling anything and it didn't impact on him. *Gary* talks about how Robbie hurt Mark, but the two of them never bring it up.

Long comment is SO long - but I have time on my hands to think and it's so nice to discuss ♥ (Plus anything I can do to further the vid inspiration is time well spent! *g*) *excited*

[przed.livejournal.com]

I think the perception of Mark as "squeaky clean" probably derives a lot from the fact that he does seem to be a genuinely sweet and compassionate person. But those traits obviously don't preclude the problems with alcohol and self-esteem issues that he made no attempt to hide, not to mention the infidelity. (Coming at this all with hindsight, I find it acutely uncomfortable how much Mark's drinking comes up in interviews, often as a joke, and how often his lyrics bring up staying sober as a trope. And I have to say that as much as I mostly enjoy the song, the middle eight bars of Up All Night with that "Why don't you come up to my flat" line is the one thing that honestly makes me want to slap him.)

Mark and Jason's willingness to explore ideas and points of view outside of the mainstream is just so refreshing. And especially amazing since it's coming from "one of the dancers" and "the cute, smiley one." Every member of the band ultimately is not what you'd imagine, but those two in particular seem to break down the boundaries of the sort of discourse you'd expect from members of a former boyband. Heck, even as teens and young men they were articulate and didn't conform at all to the sorts of attitudes you'd expect from young working class blokes from the North. (I adore that interview they did on the top of a bus where they get into a discussion about attitudes towards homosexuality, and Jason in particular is totally progressive about it all. And then Mark is propositioned by a gay fan and takes it with total grace, as he always does. I also adore that the gay fan says to Mark "I want you to have my babies," the gender implications of which are simply delicious.)

I am exactly with you on why I love Progress so much and find it so compelling. "Political awareness without agenda" is a perfect way of putting it. Kidz was the song that drew me in, and it was precisely the political astuteness in it that caught me, as well as Mark's voice, of course. (I can appreciate Gary on a number of levels, but my love of Patience notwithstanding, he's never going to be my favourite member of the band, and his songs are never going to do for me what Kidz or When the Work is Done, or on the level of the personal, Shine do.)

I do agree that Robbie definitely seems protective of Mark. You see that a bit in For the Record with Robbie's message to them all, where he obviously wants to big Mark up, and in bits of Feel, like where he hears Mark's won Celebrity Big Brother and talks about being happy that it'll give him a second chance. But he's also enough of a mess that the amount of protection he could offer isn't going to be huge. But the fact that they did reunite and are clearly ecstatic about it is utterly adorable, and the fact that they both have come through all the insanity reasonably intact is heartening in the extreme.

I hadn't entirely considered it, but I love the thought of an aspect of scrappy!Mark being his fight to get and keep Robbie in the fold. I cannot tell you how many times I've watched the bit in LBDS where Mark describes how he talked Robbie off the ledge when he tried to leave after Children in Need. And of course there's things like Mark being the one to ask Robbie to do the Could It Be Magic hologram for the Ultimate Tour. And given all the crap with the tabloid press you see Robbie going through in Feel, the fact that they have never, ever thrown each other under the bus with personal revelations in interviews is admittedly frustrating from the point of view of someone who would love to know the details of how their friendship works, but extremely telling and rather sweet.

Okay, that was long too. But it is so much fun to discuss this stuff. And I'm definitely getting pumped to do that vid. (Two, actually. I have to do a Mark/Robbie one, obviously, but am also determined to do a Pros vid to Pieces of Heaven.)

[halotolerant.livejournal.com]

Kidz was the song that drew me in, and it was precisely the political astuteness in it that caught me
It was, in retrospect, rather astonishingly predictive of what would dominate the global scene in 2011 - people coming out and making a noise about the state the world was in. I remember seeing youtube comments from people thinking it had been recently composed to be *about* the Arab Spring.

One of the 'hidden' things in the Mark/Robbie relationship, which I would love to know, is any discussion there might have been about how Robbie hurt/left Mark in particular, which is an angle that as I've said I've seen Gary push a number of times, in 'My Take' and the commentary in 'Take One' and elsewhere - that whilst Robbie argued with the rest of them, he in a more personal sense 'left' Mark, which Mark and Robbie, immediately after the break-up and after, seemed to prefer to ignore in favour of still being on speaking terms, albeit clearly with difficult, unexpressed issues underneath. When they first reunited, a lot of fans kind of went 'OK, if it'll make Mark happy' but a lot also kind of took the attitude 'DON'T YOU BREAK HIS HEART AGAIN, WILLIAMS'

VID! \o/ \o/ \o/ TWO VIDS? EVEN BETTER! \o/ \o/ \o/ I have no idea how often I watched your vid discs when I was writing my Pros Big Bang but it was at least once a night for about three weeks, and then some, and I still love 'em to pieces *g*

[przed.livejournal.com]

It is extremely interesting that it always seems to be Gary who brings up how much Rob's leaving hurt Mark, but Mark and Rob are remarkably silent on the matter. But there's obviously a lot going on that never gets talked about. And it's interesting to speculate about whether they ever talk about it in private, or if they've pushed it all into a box labelled Do Not Open. (Given Robbie's lack of brain/mouth filter, some stuff has to have come out. And also given that subtle but very distinct lip curl you pointed out Mark does when Rob's message is played at the end of For the Record, even holdnogrudges!MarkOwen clearly has some issues over the way Robbie left.)

I have to say, I very swiftly fell into the DON'T YOU BREAK HIS HEART AGAIN, WILLIAMS camp.

I'm so happy that the vids accompanied you writing your BB story. But it's been so long since I've finished a vid, I feel like my vidding mojo is broken. So once my Christmas exchange and the Wait for Life stories are done, I'm putting the writing on hold and just devoting some creative time to the vidding side, just to get back in the groove. (Apparently the Sweetie's friends and co-workers are even asking when I'm going to vid again--he outed me to them all--so clearly I need to get cracking.)

[przed.livejournal.com]

I have to admit that I re-read that bit constantly.

::hugs both the vulnerable!boys and you::

[halotolerant.livejournal.com]

THAT SCENE - I know... It breaks my heart, the two of them reminiscing and trying to reconnect and not really managing it despite both clearly loving each other *hugs little emotionally inarticulate boys*

I always think it's really telling that they talk about when Kurt Cobain died. I mean partly it's obviously just one of those things you remember where you were that day etc but I just have this weird feeling Mark's thinking how easily something like that could have happened/ might happen to Robbie....

[halotolerant.livejournal.com]

even holdnogrudges!MarkOwen clearly has some issues over the way Robbie left
This is the thing, referring back to my comment about fighting for him, Mark seems happy to let whatever he feels and his need for apology/justice slide in favour of harmony, reconciliation and a good relationship (obviously this may not in fact be true, but so it presents itself) - and that is a role that is traditionally very female-coded indeed

I think I said to you way back when you were getting into this fandom, that's so much how I feel about Robbie, like he's the new partner of a dear friend - I'm happy if they're all happy, delighted if he brings that, but if there was a break-up I'd stay with my friend and there's that tiny underlying feeling of 'hurt x and I'll hunt you down, boy' *g*

Having you writing is fabulous ♥ But having one of your splendid vids would be so very awesome as well (lucky us, we get both!) - if there's anything I can do to help (not very familiar with vidding process, but I've got a fairly encyclopaedic knowledge of TT footage *g*) do let me know, because as things stand at the moment it looks like I'm going to be at a loose end for quite a while *g*

[przed.livejournal.com]

First off, I do hope things are going well for you. And that you can let yourself take however long you need to heal. (I retroactively felt bad for asking you that last big round of research questions, since I know that after the last big operation I had, which did not go smoothly, it took me close to two months before I felt that my brain was working properly again, and much longer than that to get over the worst of the physical effects.)

That said, I'm very certain I'll need to depend on your encyclopaedic knowledge of TT footage once I'm vidding. And I was going to drop you a line about helping out with some logistics of footage acquisition. But always feel free to let me know when you just can't manage. I'll totally understand.

Going back to TT and Mark letting things slide in favour of harmony, what always gets to me about the scene in For the Record when they find out that Rob's not coming is that Mark doesn't say much at first, and he only says he's gutted after Jason say's he's gutted. It's like he can't give himself permission to acknowledge his own hurt, but only manages it when someone else has done it first. ::hugs self-sacrificing!Markie::

if there was a break-up I'd stay with my friend

Yes! Exactly! Which is funny in my case, since I started this whole journey as a Robbie fan. :-/

Re: SORRY FOR BUTTING IN BUT

[halotolerant.livejournal.com]

Absolutely - in the boyband genre, which is usually filled with muscular beefcake types (although the popularity of Justin Bieber and One Direction are an interesting move away from this, they're still very much pictured with girls all around, essentially banners saying 'hi we're straight guys'), Mark Owen stands out a mile. Even in the world of Indie Rock, he'd stand out. In a lot of his photos (indeed in the one you've pictured, which is gorgeous) if you were told it was a girl, you'd believe it. He's so often vulnerable or cowed-looking, or looking simultaneously scared and alluring or rather child-like... Which also says a lot about how the media views women, but there you go.

One reason I really don't like the 'Relight my Fire' sequence in 'The Circus Live' is that he looks so *wrong* in a ringmaster outfit with all the other guys - everything about the way he codes himself otherwise is screaming that he should be a catgirl...

Re: SORRY FOR BUTTING IN BUT

[przed.livejournal.com]

That padded cell pic! OMG!

I couldn't help joining in with some more feminine!Markie pics:

Re: SORRY FOR BUTTING IN BUT

[halotolerant.livejournal.com]

Wow *g*

That one with the red curtain? He has 'the Rachel' haircut for crying out loud - you would so so easily believe that was a girl! Astonishing cheekbones.

Re: SORRY FOR BUTTING IN BUT

[przed.livejournal.com]

One reason I really don't like the 'Relight my Fire' sequence in 'The Circus Live' is that he looks so *wrong* in a ringmaster outfit with all the other guys - everything about the way he codes himself otherwise is screaming that he should be a catgirl...

That number has always seemed a bit off to me--Mark in that damn cape just seemed so very wrong somehow--and now I know why! Mark should totally have been a catgirl! Preferably led around by Howard and Jason. mmmmm......What was I saying? *g*

Re: SORRY FOR BUTTING IN BUT

[przed.livejournal.com]

First of all, THAT PICTURE! I've seen pics from that shoot before, but I don't know if I've ever seen that one. It's amazing!

Second, yes! His persona was very feminine in the 90s, going into the wilderness years. He's perhaps not projecting quite such a feminine image these days, but he's certainly not often doing something that could be called a strong guy pose either. And even when he's striking a more masculine pose, there's always something about him that subverts it.

Re: SORRY FOR BUTTING IN BUT

[przed.livejournal.com]

Oh. My. God.

Forget how he fits in her lap. Look at her hand! The one stroking his thigh. And the other one, cradling his chest. And the way his eyes are narrowed. And his head is right next to Gary's knee.

I just...I just can't stop watching this. ::fans self::

Re: SORRY FOR BUTTING IN BUT

[przed.livejournal.com]

Sex on a stick. (Which is when my guy always asks "whose stick is he sex on a?" *g*)