"Allthough that doesn't happen often lately, I like to read exciting thrillers and those kinky magazines"
About this Quote
There is a very 90s kind of whiplash baked into this line: the soft confession of not reading much anymore, immediately undercut by a punchy list that swerves from respectable to eyebrow-raising. Brandis frames himself as a lapsed reader first ("doesn't happen often lately"), which quietly signals a life crowded by work, travel, and the attention economy before we had a name for it. Then he offers thrillers as a safe cultural alibi: genre fiction that reads fast, feels adult, and fits the image of a busy actor grabbing stimulation wherever he can.
The kicker is "those kinky magazines" - a phrase doing two jobs at once. It's a flirt with taboo that stays safely vague, less about explicit detail than about a wink at the interviewer and the audience. He doesn't name a title, doesn't claim sophistication; he claims curiosity. That vagueness is the point. It lets him project edginess without taking a reputational hit, a classic move in teen-idol publicity where the brand must mature without breaking.
Subtextually, it's also a bid for control. Child and teen actors are often treated like products; humor and mild provocation become ways to sound self-directed, worldly, in on the joke. The line reads like someone trying to be seen as more than wholesome or scripted: a little bored, a little horny, a little performative, and honest enough to admit the reading habit is slipping. The intent isn't literary; it's persona management with a grin.
The kicker is "those kinky magazines" - a phrase doing two jobs at once. It's a flirt with taboo that stays safely vague, less about explicit detail than about a wink at the interviewer and the audience. He doesn't name a title, doesn't claim sophistication; he claims curiosity. That vagueness is the point. It lets him project edginess without taking a reputational hit, a classic move in teen-idol publicity where the brand must mature without breaking.
Subtextually, it's also a bid for control. Child and teen actors are often treated like products; humor and mild provocation become ways to sound self-directed, worldly, in on the joke. The line reads like someone trying to be seen as more than wholesome or scripted: a little bored, a little horny, a little performative, and honest enough to admit the reading habit is slipping. The intent isn't literary; it's persona management with a grin.
Quote Details
| Topic | Book |
|---|
More Quotes by Jonathan
Add to List
