~~ evil is funny.
May. 18th, 2003 02:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reenkai was going to rant a little about how unbelievable i found so many stories with characters going totally Dark (with a capital D!), just as unbelievable as making those same characters hopelessly Nice (with a capital N!).
and then... and then....
and then i read (finally! only what... 2+ months late?) chapter 2 of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
antenora's `control'. and goddamn. i've forgotten how i adore her writing, for one thing. but the other thing is-- she could sell me the brooklyn bridge, she really really could. i was actually considering writing her an email and begging her to write faster (but that's sort of dorky, isn't it). so i'll just beg her here: pleeeeaaaase, save me from all the badfic, please, please..! with a dark harry on top! *laughs*
as usual, my generalizations flounder when i realize that any stupid thing i encounter, is more likely a product of bad writing than some inherently "bad" concept. i swear to god. `control' has kind-of-evil!ron and dark!hermione and (not to mention dark!harry)... my gahd, it works beautifully. it really does.
maybe there's some sort of rule where the stories that work all work in unique ways, whereas the stories that don't, seem to follow a similar trajectory (like that axiom about happy families, heh). and i try to figure out why `dead before dawn'!harry doesn't work for me, and `to rule in hell'!harry does, since both are rather dark.
the thing withantenora's!harry (and draco) is that no matter what happens to them, they retain some essential gritty life. if someone's evil, that doesn't mean they're a melodramatic angsty teen. they could retain some humor, some sarcasm at least. i mean, okay fine, you've turned draco or harry evil or dark. why does that mean their melodrama level goes through the roof? why do they start being so dreadfully earnest all the time? any second i expect to start hearing the operatic accompaniment. it's wagner, in ficlet form.
evil is supposed to be interesting, mesmerizing, and yes, at least somewhat fun! people are still people, with personalities, even if they're not happy-shiny personalities. why is it that their dark angst or niceness always has to become their overwhelming defining characteristic, anyway? why is it that if you align yourself with a Cause, if you pick a Side, you suddenly become the most dull and serious person in existence?
i should write a guide: How To Have Fun Being A Homicidal Prick in 5 Easy Steps.
there would be a companion guide: How To Be A Nice Guy Hero Without Boring Yourself Silly in 30 Minutes.
look at the heroes (and villains) that stick with us: they've got flair, don't they. robin hood and batman and han solo and spike and spiderman and the joker and hannibal lecter and so on. if you're Evil (or Good) with a completely straight face, i, for one, will laugh at you.
there is a strange little phenomenon in that if you've got -enough- flair, most people won't care if you're Evil or on the way there (lionel luthor, st. john, krycek, etc). most notable about these "villains" is the fact that they have fun with what they do (or what they are).
and i'm not even saying thatantenora's fics have all these dark characters having the time of their lives or anything, vs. kenna hijja's characters where they're both suicidal and homicidal at once. that's not necessary. their basic humanity is, i think, enough. they still feel a range of emotions. they still inspire a sense of hope simply because they're -alive- and you just never know what will happen, with people who're still alive.
i'm pretty picky with darkfic, that much is obvious. if you just dangle a dark!carrot in front of me and expect me to bite, you're likely to be disappointed. i can't get into it unless i can believe the world can be like that-- it's that sense of emotional realism that i'm obsessed with. evil!draco wouldn't just pop out of thin air, and if he did, you better give him a personality that includes things other than torturing fuzzy forest creatures (and harry) for hobbies. i guess i don't really buy dark versions of characters most of the time, and a lot of people do, so i'm not the intended audience, probably. some people just like the idea and it doesn't matter if it really -fits- and -lives-, all that matters is that they like thinking in those terms. and that's fine.
i'll just be over here, in my little corner where even dark lords need to take a break and shoot the breeze sometimes.
~~
it occurs to me that while fluff and too much goodness and nasty characters being nice is widely reviled, it seems to be considered "okay" to introduce more and more darkness until the world and/or characters are completely drowned in it for no discernable or justifiable reason beyond, "well, he's a death eater like that" or, "well, it's a war."
as if it's a lot easier to become horribly unredeemable and a horrible, heartless human being than it is to transcend those things. maybe it's because people go overboard. instead of just giving a nasty character a softer side, they dunk him in treacle. instead of giving a character a harder edge, they sheathe him in razorblade armor.
it's as if darkness is inherently more believable or something. but if you're just some stupid malicious prat, it's just as far to true evil as it is to true goodness.
just as sudden inexplicable niceness is ooc and in bad taste, so is a sudden assumption of evil, really. why is no one protesting hardcore-death-eater!draco on the same grounds as sensitive-and-intellectual!draco (even several years in the future, ooh), anyway? making a step deep into evil is just as drastic as a step deep into flowers, bunnies and sunlight, it seems to me.
and then... and then....
and then i read (finally! only what... 2+ months late?) chapter 2 of
antenora's `control'. and goddamn. i've forgotten how i adore her writing, for one thing. but the other thing is-- she could sell me the brooklyn bridge, she really really could. i was actually considering writing her an email and begging her to write faster (but that's sort of dorky, isn't it). so i'll just beg her here: pleeeeaaaase, save me from all the badfic, please, please..! with a dark harry on top! *laughs*as usual, my generalizations flounder when i realize that any stupid thing i encounter, is more likely a product of bad writing than some inherently "bad" concept. i swear to god. `control' has kind-of-evil!ron and dark!hermione and (not to mention dark!harry)... my gahd, it works beautifully. it really does.
maybe there's some sort of rule where the stories that work all work in unique ways, whereas the stories that don't, seem to follow a similar trajectory (like that axiom about happy families, heh). and i try to figure out why `dead before dawn'!harry doesn't work for me, and `to rule in hell'!harry does, since both are rather dark.
the thing with
antenora's!harry (and draco) is that no matter what happens to them, they retain some essential gritty life. if someone's evil, that doesn't mean they're a melodramatic angsty teen. they could retain some humor, some sarcasm at least. i mean, okay fine, you've turned draco or harry evil or dark. why does that mean their melodrama level goes through the roof? why do they start being so dreadfully earnest all the time? any second i expect to start hearing the operatic accompaniment. it's wagner, in ficlet form.evil is supposed to be interesting, mesmerizing, and yes, at least somewhat fun! people are still people, with personalities, even if they're not happy-shiny personalities. why is it that their dark angst or niceness always has to become their overwhelming defining characteristic, anyway? why is it that if you align yourself with a Cause, if you pick a Side, you suddenly become the most dull and serious person in existence?
i should write a guide: How To Have Fun Being A Homicidal Prick in 5 Easy Steps.
there would be a companion guide: How To Be A Nice Guy Hero Without Boring Yourself Silly in 30 Minutes.
look at the heroes (and villains) that stick with us: they've got flair, don't they. robin hood and batman and han solo and spike and spiderman and the joker and hannibal lecter and so on. if you're Evil (or Good) with a completely straight face, i, for one, will laugh at you.
there is a strange little phenomenon in that if you've got -enough- flair, most people won't care if you're Evil or on the way there (lionel luthor, st. john, krycek, etc). most notable about these "villains" is the fact that they have fun with what they do (or what they are).
and i'm not even saying that
antenora's fics have all these dark characters having the time of their lives or anything, vs. kenna hijja's characters where they're both suicidal and homicidal at once. that's not necessary. their basic humanity is, i think, enough. they still feel a range of emotions. they still inspire a sense of hope simply because they're -alive- and you just never know what will happen, with people who're still alive.i'm pretty picky with darkfic, that much is obvious. if you just dangle a dark!carrot in front of me and expect me to bite, you're likely to be disappointed. i can't get into it unless i can believe the world can be like that-- it's that sense of emotional realism that i'm obsessed with. evil!draco wouldn't just pop out of thin air, and if he did, you better give him a personality that includes things other than torturing fuzzy forest creatures (and harry) for hobbies. i guess i don't really buy dark versions of characters most of the time, and a lot of people do, so i'm not the intended audience, probably. some people just like the idea and it doesn't matter if it really -fits- and -lives-, all that matters is that they like thinking in those terms. and that's fine.
i'll just be over here, in my little corner where even dark lords need to take a break and shoot the breeze sometimes.
~~
it occurs to me that while fluff and too much goodness and nasty characters being nice is widely reviled, it seems to be considered "okay" to introduce more and more darkness until the world and/or characters are completely drowned in it for no discernable or justifiable reason beyond, "well, he's a death eater like that" or, "well, it's a war."
as if it's a lot easier to become horribly unredeemable and a horrible, heartless human being than it is to transcend those things. maybe it's because people go overboard. instead of just giving a nasty character a softer side, they dunk him in treacle. instead of giving a character a harder edge, they sheathe him in razorblade armor.
it's as if darkness is inherently more believable or something. but if you're just some stupid malicious prat, it's just as far to true evil as it is to true goodness.
just as sudden inexplicable niceness is ooc and in bad taste, so is a sudden assumption of evil, really. why is no one protesting hardcore-death-eater!draco on the same grounds as sensitive-and-intellectual!draco (even several years in the future, ooh), anyway? making a step deep into evil is just as drastic as a step deep into flowers, bunnies and sunlight, it seems to me.
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Date: 2003-05-19 07:12 pm (UTC)that was before i knew you'd commented and penelope said to repost, so. i'm blaming it all on her.
was wibbling 'cause it can't possibly be good 'cause no one had said anything. plus if i put effort into something-- even a -little- bit of effort-- immediately, i start being v. paranoid about it, 'cause it's like, there's more at stake and if it seems to be ignored i get all, `well, obviously -that- means it was awful and they're afraid to tell me'. also, i'm not sure if it had a point, in the end, or if it fizzled out, or if it didn't have graphic enough porn (it didn't, i know it didn't)... and stuff.
but. hee. better now >:D