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reenka...I'm procrastinating. (Big surprise.) And I'm traumatizing myself looking up people's lj calendars and seeing just how -many- entries are filtered. Besides my beta-filter, I've only considered using a filter once, to avoid hurt feelings, and I didn't. I mean, I -knew- I wasn't really close friends with these people so they have no reason to trust me (and who -does- have a reason to trust me? it's not like trust uses reasons), but. Heh. Well, now I know, I guess. Anyway.
I'm also enjoying Ri's `Foe Transfiguration', which is a (gasp!) Draco/Hermione fan-comic. She has a fanart site which I'd found awhile ago, and her art-style is just so cute I can't begrudge her anything she wants to draw. And she draws what's probably my favorite Luna-- a great plus, lemme tell you. (Heeeee! Hermione/Luna!!) The comic itself is really great, adorable, it's everything yummy and squeeful that I look for in romantic comedies (one of my most favorite genres).
The funny thing is-- I realized that type preconceptions seem to play large roles in my opinion of any possible fic with a certain pairing. Like... supposedly, Harry/Draco is Passionate Love-Hate, for instance, and Draco/Hermione is A Meeting Of Minds (which has only ever attracted me in X-Files, and that was more their bickering, rapport and chemistry). People are supposedly drawn to (or repelled from) the "vibe" behind a pairing, as far as whether they seek it out actively or not, badfic be damned.
Reading the Draco/Hermione comic with such relish, I realized that this vibe (which I'm so attracted to) isn't really limited to a -pairing- at all. Generally, I like snarky fumbly bickering in-spite-of-yourself romance. If you see the characters a certain way, you can do that with almost -any- two people (within reason), and you can certainly do it with any two people who don't really get along at the beginning (which describes a -lot- of couples).
It's so obvious, really. Everyone has a different take on H/D in their fic, and I've never really seen the overwhelming "fanon" playing that much of a role in even somewhat well-written stories. Any remotely decent fic has its own take on the canon characters, so you're basically getting a new dynamic to some extent, every time. Personally, it's only my own general mental image of these characters that ties it all together for me and lets me read about "Harry" and "Draco" every time. I don't really see a "Harry/Draco fic" mold except in a meta sense, which is obviously a step removed from actuality.
This isn't related to someone saying they'd enjoy any pairing if it's well-written. I still don't want to read `Lust Over Pendle', because I -know- it's not a "romance" among other reasons. It's just that I realized that this often referred-to pairing "vibe" is apparently flexible. You -can- write a bouncy snarky Draco/Hermione that mimics the appeal of many a bouncy snarky Harry/Draco fic while remaining different. You -can- write passion between a supposedly "tame and fluffy" couple-- you can basically choose which aspect of a character to emphasize. You don't -have- to base everything on Hermione's brains or Harry's "hero thing" or Ron's jealousy and loyalty or whatever. People are multifaceted and there are many different ways for them to connect, hopefully.
I'm sure there are things you can't do with two particular people, but there's still a range, and romance in general will include certain common elements if you allow it to. That's why movies & books about entirely different characters, times and places which feature two people in love have so much in common, right? This concept that a certain pairing only explores this clearly defined set of issues seems rather silly to me now. I always thought that H/D was great partly because it could explore so many facets of both their characters. What I didn't realize was that in the right hands, any romance will explore all those facets, depending on the emotional leanings, range and insight of the author.
That's probably why I always feel a bit differently about a squicky or `alien' pairing after I write it myself. I inject my own emotional range into it, I feel out the characters and allow them to be seen through my sort of filter. I think one can always find something about any two people that will speak to you, that you will enjoy exploring, simply because of a universality of the basic themes of love & trust & self-discovery and so on.
It was always a bit funny to me that some people can't stand Harry/Draco, because the way -I- saw it, it was so universal, it encompasses everything I feel is vital about love. I think I've made posts about this sort of thing before, but enjoying a D/Hr comic just brought it home to me, I guess. I really never liked D/Hr (though I've never hated it like I've hated D/G), and the thing is-- I dislike most other people's vision of D/Hr, that's all, and this applies to every other ship/character I can't stand.
It's not that I hate Lucius-- I hate their Lucius. I hate their particular ideals behind such-and-such a pairing. I actually love Amalin's Lucius, but no one else writes him like that and he's not particularly canon, but hey, who cares, I like him. I'm interested in my own Draco/Snape, even if (and especially if) no one else sees it like that. In the end, it's about a certain leaning of vision rather than the original source, when it comes to relationships and characters not really filled out in canon. That's why I don't actually adore Sirius-and-Remus-- I adore Ailei and Khirsah's Sirius-and-Remus-- and for a long while, that's really confused me. Shouldn't that S&R have more in common with other people's? But they don't, and that's that.
I think it's merely good look when you find you really like a popular characterization of a pairing, and it's sad when people then decide they can't stand the couple on principle. Like there's something wrong with those two people ever being in love in any universe. How can love be wrong, though?
I know I'm way too obsessed with my little vision of universality, but I really feel it. I really respond in a similar way to a certain dynamic no matter where it manifests, and it does manifest between more than one pairing, especially if you have a decent sample size.
I've seen a number of people keep comparing Harry/Draco and Hermione/Draco. I never saw any evidence of that similarity, because I'd never seen any hint that people really see Hermione and Harry at all similarly, or even Draco when he's with them. And in this comic, for the first time, I saw Draco acting in a way he'd act if he was falling for Harry, too. And it was such a light-bulb moment, it really was. The vibe, man! The -vibe-!! The all-important vibe was there (in Draco, at least, since it's Draco pov so far-- and I realize that Hermione thinks pretty differently from Harry and Draco is the constant in these two pairings, so maybe it's not that shocking, but hey).
Am pleased, for some reason.
...Though on second thought, I realize that there are plenty of other reasons people seek out/avoid particular pairings other than vibe. I mean, some people just lust after certain characters and not others. Some people actively hate certain characters and won't read anything with them. Then there's `eeewww het'. And so on. I'm just... as usual, believe it or not, talking about mememememe, eheheheh.
I'm also enjoying Ri's `Foe Transfiguration', which is a (gasp!) Draco/Hermione fan-comic. She has a fanart site which I'd found awhile ago, and her art-style is just so cute I can't begrudge her anything she wants to draw. And she draws what's probably my favorite Luna-- a great plus, lemme tell you. (Heeeee! Hermione/Luna!!) The comic itself is really great, adorable, it's everything yummy and squeeful that I look for in romantic comedies (one of my most favorite genres).
The funny thing is-- I realized that type preconceptions seem to play large roles in my opinion of any possible fic with a certain pairing. Like... supposedly, Harry/Draco is Passionate Love-Hate, for instance, and Draco/Hermione is A Meeting Of Minds (which has only ever attracted me in X-Files, and that was more their bickering, rapport and chemistry). People are supposedly drawn to (or repelled from) the "vibe" behind a pairing, as far as whether they seek it out actively or not, badfic be damned.
Reading the Draco/Hermione comic with such relish, I realized that this vibe (which I'm so attracted to) isn't really limited to a -pairing- at all. Generally, I like snarky fumbly bickering in-spite-of-yourself romance. If you see the characters a certain way, you can do that with almost -any- two people (within reason), and you can certainly do it with any two people who don't really get along at the beginning (which describes a -lot- of couples).
It's so obvious, really. Everyone has a different take on H/D in their fic, and I've never really seen the overwhelming "fanon" playing that much of a role in even somewhat well-written stories. Any remotely decent fic has its own take on the canon characters, so you're basically getting a new dynamic to some extent, every time. Personally, it's only my own general mental image of these characters that ties it all together for me and lets me read about "Harry" and "Draco" every time. I don't really see a "Harry/Draco fic" mold except in a meta sense, which is obviously a step removed from actuality.
This isn't related to someone saying they'd enjoy any pairing if it's well-written. I still don't want to read `Lust Over Pendle', because I -know- it's not a "romance" among other reasons. It's just that I realized that this often referred-to pairing "vibe" is apparently flexible. You -can- write a bouncy snarky Draco/Hermione that mimics the appeal of many a bouncy snarky Harry/Draco fic while remaining different. You -can- write passion between a supposedly "tame and fluffy" couple-- you can basically choose which aspect of a character to emphasize. You don't -have- to base everything on Hermione's brains or Harry's "hero thing" or Ron's jealousy and loyalty or whatever. People are multifaceted and there are many different ways for them to connect, hopefully.
I'm sure there are things you can't do with two particular people, but there's still a range, and romance in general will include certain common elements if you allow it to. That's why movies & books about entirely different characters, times and places which feature two people in love have so much in common, right? This concept that a certain pairing only explores this clearly defined set of issues seems rather silly to me now. I always thought that H/D was great partly because it could explore so many facets of both their characters. What I didn't realize was that in the right hands, any romance will explore all those facets, depending on the emotional leanings, range and insight of the author.
That's probably why I always feel a bit differently about a squicky or `alien' pairing after I write it myself. I inject my own emotional range into it, I feel out the characters and allow them to be seen through my sort of filter. I think one can always find something about any two people that will speak to you, that you will enjoy exploring, simply because of a universality of the basic themes of love & trust & self-discovery and so on.
It was always a bit funny to me that some people can't stand Harry/Draco, because the way -I- saw it, it was so universal, it encompasses everything I feel is vital about love. I think I've made posts about this sort of thing before, but enjoying a D/Hr comic just brought it home to me, I guess. I really never liked D/Hr (though I've never hated it like I've hated D/G), and the thing is-- I dislike most other people's vision of D/Hr, that's all, and this applies to every other ship/character I can't stand.
It's not that I hate Lucius-- I hate their Lucius. I hate their particular ideals behind such-and-such a pairing. I actually love Amalin's Lucius, but no one else writes him like that and he's not particularly canon, but hey, who cares, I like him. I'm interested in my own Draco/Snape, even if (and especially if) no one else sees it like that. In the end, it's about a certain leaning of vision rather than the original source, when it comes to relationships and characters not really filled out in canon. That's why I don't actually adore Sirius-and-Remus-- I adore Ailei and Khirsah's Sirius-and-Remus-- and for a long while, that's really confused me. Shouldn't that S&R have more in common with other people's? But they don't, and that's that.
I think it's merely good look when you find you really like a popular characterization of a pairing, and it's sad when people then decide they can't stand the couple on principle. Like there's something wrong with those two people ever being in love in any universe. How can love be wrong, though?
I know I'm way too obsessed with my little vision of universality, but I really feel it. I really respond in a similar way to a certain dynamic no matter where it manifests, and it does manifest between more than one pairing, especially if you have a decent sample size.
I've seen a number of people keep comparing Harry/Draco and Hermione/Draco. I never saw any evidence of that similarity, because I'd never seen any hint that people really see Hermione and Harry at all similarly, or even Draco when he's with them. And in this comic, for the first time, I saw Draco acting in a way he'd act if he was falling for Harry, too. And it was such a light-bulb moment, it really was. The vibe, man! The -vibe-!! The all-important vibe was there (in Draco, at least, since it's Draco pov so far-- and I realize that Hermione thinks pretty differently from Harry and Draco is the constant in these two pairings, so maybe it's not that shocking, but hey).
Am pleased, for some reason.
...Though on second thought, I realize that there are plenty of other reasons people seek out/avoid particular pairings other than vibe. I mean, some people just lust after certain characters and not others. Some people actively hate certain characters and won't read anything with them. Then there's `eeewww het'. And so on. I'm just... as usual, believe it or not, talking about mememememe, eheheheh.
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Re: :-?
Date: 2003-11-07 09:13 pm (UTC)peculiarly, the people i myself would trust, i wouldn't feel paranoid about not seeing the entries of :>
if i'm a bit uncertain as to why they even have me friend, then i'd look at it and go OMG THEY DON'T REALLY WANT ME THERE AT ALL. um.
i was more wibbly than offended, and mostly surprised. i'd really never have guessed about some people, but i was just being naive, i think. *giggles*
Re: :-?
Date: 2003-11-08 12:31 am (UTC)Re: :-?
Date: 2003-11-08 11:12 am (UTC)I mean, if I think of it as a personal journal, it's fine. But on lj, there are these dreaded -degrees- of "personal", where some people are trusted with some pieces of information but not other. And it's not so much that I need to be "in the know" at all as it kinda brings me up short to realize I'm outside this circle of trust. I mean, one may never expect it, but it's a different thing to know one isn't. Trusted, that is. Then it inevitably looks like an inherent judgement of some sort, I guess, like, "you're one of them" vs "you're one of -us-". Heh. Oh yeah, overthink much? Oh yeah.
That said, this is all just basically going to prove that ignorance is indeed bliss :>