Benedict Cumberbatch's female fans credit him as a 'high cheekboned, blue eyed sexbomb' on their Twitter fanpage, and entitle themsleves as 'Cumberbtiches' or 'Cumberbunnies, but his sexual appeal is lost on just as many people as he has diehard fans. As a rising star with the leading role in the BBC crime-drama Sherlock adaptation and a film role in Star Trek, his unusual looks and couth, expressive style of acting have been doing the rounds as matters for up for discussion. Yesterday the RadioTimes posted an article about why many women find the uniquely named actor so intruiging and desirable, drawing on the experise of two body language specialists to explain his allure.
According to experts Jo Hemmings and Judi James, the appeal of the upper-crust actor is down to an amalgamation of looks, personality and physical attributes such as his voice. The odd plains of his face are in sharp contrast to the unattainable and unreal boys shown more regularly in the media as the optimum figure of manhood and sexuality. His low voice register is classically manly and he is constantly aligned with 'smart roles' as you could label them. Judi James states, 'he does play massively intellectual characters, which helps with the charisma. I mean god only know what he’s like in real life. I think we imagine that he’s hugely intellectual, which would add to his alpha credentials.'
What's more, despite his various roles and his leaning towards intelligent characters, the man himself is considered something of an enigma, according to both fans and body language experts Hemmings and James. He is both cold and yet expressive, which as the experts explain draws many women in with the hope of unlocking him to find out the real Cumberbatch. Speaking about these types of characters, James says 'it makes women walk towards them and try and seduce them. We tend to desire the unattainable.' Of course we do. Funny, approachable guy with the nice, smiley face? No thanks, but who's that guy in the corner with the low voice, wearing a trench coat and an expression that says 'I want to ward off all women'?
Perhaps the celebration of Cumberbatch and all his fine attributes is a move towards a different kind of sexy. Other atypically handsome men have come to the forefront as leading men on TV in recent years, such as Doctor Who actor Matt Smith, and why not? Original and quirky is in and predictable is out. The Cumberbatch fan legions are only growing.
