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    1. Culture
    2. TV and Film

    Penn Badgley reveals why he thinks people find his You character attractive

    NO, JOE

    Jadie Troy-Pryde's avatar
    By Jadie Troy-Pryde
    Published 23 January 2019 In Features

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    NO, JOE

    If you haven't seen You yet, what have you been doing with your January?! It has become an instant hit thanks to its gripping storyline and our Gossip Girl fave, Penn Badgley's, convincing portrayal of creepy Joe Goldberg.

    However, things got a little weird over on Twitter recently. Despite the fact that Penn's character is a stalker/kidnapper/murderer, many fans of the show were professing their love for him. Some fans tweeted Penn asking him to kidnap them. Really.

    He even had to take to the social media platform to tell people to stop fawning over his character, calling the whole thing 'problematic'.

    Now, Penn has spoken about why he thinks that people are attracted to Joe during an interview on The Today Show. 

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    'The whole point is he's meant to garner a conflicted reaction,' Penn said.

    'I don't see him as a portrayal of a real person, I see him as a representation of the part of us that identifies with him. The part of us that is a troll; that part of us that is victim blaming; the part of us that is privileged and blind. We're meant to identify with him.'

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    'The whole point is that Joe is actually not a mastermind,' he continued.

    'He's actually, in some ways, extremely average... It's this really interesting thing where you're seeing the trajectory of a soul, of a man and he's just completely obsessive and compulsive and believing that he's operating by the logic of a true romantic.'

    The show has been a huge success, with rumours that they're not only planning a second season but are already considering a third.

    We're here for it.

    Jadie Troy-Pryde
    Jadie Troy-Pryde
    Social Links Navigation
    News Editor

    Jadie Troy-Pryde is News Editor, covering celebrity and entertainment, royal, lifestyle and viral news. Before joining the team in 2018 as the Lifestyle and Social Media Editor, she worked at a number of women’s fashion and lifestyle titles including Grazia, Women’s Health and Stylist, and now heads the Marie Claire UK news desk.

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