~~ because it's all about the shiny.
Jun. 2nd, 2004 02:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reenkaIt's hard not to be flippant, especially while talking about charm & humor (which are both rather important to me). I mean, the very subject seems wanky, in some hard-to-define way.
The problem is, while I hate and despise seeming hypocritical, my rational self is always arguing with my responsive (dominant) emotive self. I sort of want it both ways, but often enough how I feel gets lost in the translation. I suppose most people have a preference for what kind of story they'd like to see, and my preferences are particularly contradictory. Let's see... I generally want to read a realistic, charming, funny, awkward, intense sort of fairy-tale. Yeah, that'd hit the spot. I want it to be believably dream-like and casually intense and perversely subtle. I want the characters to be both sympathetic and frightening, both mythic and real, funny and alive. I want to be surprised and I need to recognize old friends. I want to believe but I need to be invited to question: that sort of thing.
It's not so much about (characterization or plot) logic so much as believability-- vividness. The less I have to suspend my disbelief the better, right? I mean, if you're writing about a -boy- and he's not acting like one at all-- how can that be fun, really? That feeling of fakeness reminds me that this is a -story-, artificial and plodding somehow. Shouldn't a good story make me forget it's a story? In a way, this is how "realism" sustains (my) fantasy.
I realize that my most extreme & passionate love is ignited by things I consider to be "well-written" or "well-said"-- and that very art of conversation & sharp thought implies humor (and thus charm) to me. So I sort of automatically love characters/stories that are ironic or witty or amusing-- just sparkling somehow-- and automatically groan and wince when a character-- or writer-- takes themselves too seriously without any sort of irony whatsoever.
I just realized that when I think of the "dark" side of fanon, I'm thinking of a lack of charm. I'm thinking of a so-serious "I think I'm cool but I'm just the limp cock of Slytherin" Draco. You know, he's so unfunny, even -he- doesn't think he's funny. It's like, when a boy acts like a too-good-to-be-true absurdly mature grown-up, he cannot mock anything, because he himself becomes a mockery. I mean, I'm not even sure if one can be charming or funny (or some low-grade word like "engaging") if one is 100% mature.
Sometimes I believe I don't hate fanon!Draco per se-- it just depends how you define him. Even superstars have warts somewhere, don't they?
In the end, almost none of my discomfort has anything to do with "canonicity", necessarily, though a lot of times it coincides, which is when it gets understandably confusing. I mean, sure, I -appreciate- things being logically coherent in regards to source material, but this sort of logical rigor (i.e., "canonicity") isn't "the shiny" all by itself. What I mean is, I'm not invested in canon as an idea so much as a practice, at least when it comes to Draco. If someone creates an interesting, believable (and charming & funny) character that's not exactly Draco but has the same name-- why not? It would help a lot if that character utilized Draco's known traits and history, but adding things can easily be a Good Thing. Subtracting-- that's where one gets in trouble. If one's not careful, it's possible to subtract a character's "soul", and then what's left?
One of the major reasons I love teenage boys (and realistically wanky, lame boys at that) is because they're generally amused by the dorkiest things. I mean, they might not be actually -funny-, but it's so funny watching them, 'cause they usually don't have any sense of proportion yet. They just -out there-, loud as possible, most of the time. They're like walking disasters; every boy's biggest natural talent is really being a huge dork, I think. It's great! It's an endless source of my amusement, anyway.
Anyway, what I find -charming- about it is their utter obliviousness. They can be charming and lovable because they're -so- full of themselves that nothing can stop them. They don't know their stupid lines don't ever work yet, they don't know that they'll grow up to have boring lives like their fathers yet, they don't know -anything-. The popular boys' cockiness often extends from here to China, and Draco, at least, seems to think he's a popular boy.
Basically, what I'm saying is that I love charming!Draco, brilliantly-snarky!Draco, shiny-hair!Draco and so on, because these contradictions of charm & horrid, lame, painful dorkiness do coexist in teenage boys. Tom Felton is a great example, actually. If you look at him seriously and while not hormonally impaired, it would be hard to understand why teen girls would scream madly at him, y'know, but I can see it. He's a dork, true, but he's a teenage boy. They're all like that. Impossibly-charming-sex-god!Draco doesn't actually contradict dorky-lamebrain!Draco at all :D But he -does- contradict serious-and-mature!Draco in every conceivable way.
What I mean is... sanity and reasonableness and a mature handle on things may exist in some very very few teenagers, but they usually involve being dreadfully boring and antisocial. These are the -real- dorks in High School, y'know-- the little suits, so to speak. That's not actually (the most common) fanon!Draco either, 'cause no girl really swoons at the feet of a Serious Young Man-- I know I don't. They're simply-- not amusing. At all.
So... an understanding of human nature & source material can (should?) be the foundation upon which stories are built, not the be-all-and-end-all. In fact, depending on the writers' opinion of canon, too much rationalization & "fixing" of some parts of canon that seem to bother them has the capacity to utterly appall me and throw me out of the fic. I start arguing with the text, which can't be good. I -never- want to sit there and go, "but no! this contradicts line 58 on page 167 of book 3!" Hopefully, I'll be too busy feeling something for the character-- recognition, empathy, amusement, anger, understanding, exasperation-- anything! And this isn't to say I don't want to think while reading-- of course not. I just don't want to be forced to analyze by things that don't make sense. I want events and characters to just -work- together.
In the end, I don't actually have anything against characters that are cool, hot, the mac-daddy of all pimp-daddies or whatever (ergh, Reena so lame)-- as long as they have a flipside. As long as they're also vulnerable somehow even if they don't know it. See, if they think they're All That and they strut it to the squeaky sounds of fangirls dying from glee everywhere-- that's cute. Charming. I'm a sucker just like everyone else, according to my emotive self. I think coolness can be measured by smirks and aloof tilts of the head and dazzling teeth & sparkly come-backs just like the next person. Oh yes. Those things just aren't the ultimate measure of them, that's all.
I strongly suspect that the reason I adored Icarus' Fred/George fic so much was that it had them being believably witty, combined with fumbly boysex which is a bulletproof kink of mine). But the thing about her Fred and George was that as funny & dorky-sweet and believably cool as they were, they were also vulnerable. Kind of deluded. They had their serious little moment, too, though it was fleeting and quickly suppressed.
One can't be shiny without also being dull, right?
Something like that. Maybe. Or maybe not. I've been shinier, myself :>
The thing that really bothers me is that all this meta is unfunny & repetitive. Which is just... not sexy in the slightest, really. Kinda depressing. *sniff*
The problem is, while I hate and despise seeming hypocritical, my rational self is always arguing with my responsive (dominant) emotive self. I sort of want it both ways, but often enough how I feel gets lost in the translation. I suppose most people have a preference for what kind of story they'd like to see, and my preferences are particularly contradictory. Let's see... I generally want to read a realistic, charming, funny, awkward, intense sort of fairy-tale. Yeah, that'd hit the spot. I want it to be believably dream-like and casually intense and perversely subtle. I want the characters to be both sympathetic and frightening, both mythic and real, funny and alive. I want to be surprised and I need to recognize old friends. I want to believe but I need to be invited to question: that sort of thing.
It's not so much about (characterization or plot) logic so much as believability-- vividness. The less I have to suspend my disbelief the better, right? I mean, if you're writing about a -boy- and he's not acting like one at all-- how can that be fun, really? That feeling of fakeness reminds me that this is a -story-, artificial and plodding somehow. Shouldn't a good story make me forget it's a story? In a way, this is how "realism" sustains (my) fantasy.
I realize that my most extreme & passionate love is ignited by things I consider to be "well-written" or "well-said"-- and that very art of conversation & sharp thought implies humor (and thus charm) to me. So I sort of automatically love characters/stories that are ironic or witty or amusing-- just sparkling somehow-- and automatically groan and wince when a character-- or writer-- takes themselves too seriously without any sort of irony whatsoever.
I just realized that when I think of the "dark" side of fanon, I'm thinking of a lack of charm. I'm thinking of a so-serious "I think I'm cool but I'm just the limp cock of Slytherin" Draco. You know, he's so unfunny, even -he- doesn't think he's funny. It's like, when a boy acts like a too-good-to-be-true absurdly mature grown-up, he cannot mock anything, because he himself becomes a mockery. I mean, I'm not even sure if one can be charming or funny (or some low-grade word like "engaging") if one is 100% mature.
Sometimes I believe I don't hate fanon!Draco per se-- it just depends how you define him. Even superstars have warts somewhere, don't they?
In the end, almost none of my discomfort has anything to do with "canonicity", necessarily, though a lot of times it coincides, which is when it gets understandably confusing. I mean, sure, I -appreciate- things being logically coherent in regards to source material, but this sort of logical rigor (i.e., "canonicity") isn't "the shiny" all by itself. What I mean is, I'm not invested in canon as an idea so much as a practice, at least when it comes to Draco. If someone creates an interesting, believable (and charming & funny) character that's not exactly Draco but has the same name-- why not? It would help a lot if that character utilized Draco's known traits and history, but adding things can easily be a Good Thing. Subtracting-- that's where one gets in trouble. If one's not careful, it's possible to subtract a character's "soul", and then what's left?
One of the major reasons I love teenage boys (and realistically wanky, lame boys at that) is because they're generally amused by the dorkiest things. I mean, they might not be actually -funny-, but it's so funny watching them, 'cause they usually don't have any sense of proportion yet. They just -out there-, loud as possible, most of the time. They're like walking disasters; every boy's biggest natural talent is really being a huge dork, I think. It's great! It's an endless source of my amusement, anyway.
Anyway, what I find -charming- about it is their utter obliviousness. They can be charming and lovable because they're -so- full of themselves that nothing can stop them. They don't know their stupid lines don't ever work yet, they don't know that they'll grow up to have boring lives like their fathers yet, they don't know -anything-. The popular boys' cockiness often extends from here to China, and Draco, at least, seems to think he's a popular boy.
Basically, what I'm saying is that I love charming!Draco, brilliantly-snarky!Draco, shiny-hair!Draco and so on, because these contradictions of charm & horrid, lame, painful dorkiness do coexist in teenage boys. Tom Felton is a great example, actually. If you look at him seriously and while not hormonally impaired, it would be hard to understand why teen girls would scream madly at him, y'know, but I can see it. He's a dork, true, but he's a teenage boy. They're all like that. Impossibly-charming-sex-god!Draco doesn't actually contradict dorky-lamebrain!Draco at all :D But he -does- contradict serious-and-mature!Draco in every conceivable way.
What I mean is... sanity and reasonableness and a mature handle on things may exist in some very very few teenagers, but they usually involve being dreadfully boring and antisocial. These are the -real- dorks in High School, y'know-- the little suits, so to speak. That's not actually (the most common) fanon!Draco either, 'cause no girl really swoons at the feet of a Serious Young Man-- I know I don't. They're simply-- not amusing. At all.
So... an understanding of human nature & source material can (should?) be the foundation upon which stories are built, not the be-all-and-end-all. In fact, depending on the writers' opinion of canon, too much rationalization & "fixing" of some parts of canon that seem to bother them has the capacity to utterly appall me and throw me out of the fic. I start arguing with the text, which can't be good. I -never- want to sit there and go, "but no! this contradicts line 58 on page 167 of book 3!" Hopefully, I'll be too busy feeling something for the character-- recognition, empathy, amusement, anger, understanding, exasperation-- anything! And this isn't to say I don't want to think while reading-- of course not. I just don't want to be forced to analyze by things that don't make sense. I want events and characters to just -work- together.
In the end, I don't actually have anything against characters that are cool, hot, the mac-daddy of all pimp-daddies or whatever (ergh, Reena so lame)-- as long as they have a flipside. As long as they're also vulnerable somehow even if they don't know it. See, if they think they're All That and they strut it to the squeaky sounds of fangirls dying from glee everywhere-- that's cute. Charming. I'm a sucker just like everyone else, according to my emotive self. I think coolness can be measured by smirks and aloof tilts of the head and dazzling teeth & sparkly come-backs just like the next person. Oh yes. Those things just aren't the ultimate measure of them, that's all.
I strongly suspect that the reason I adored Icarus' Fred/George fic so much was that it had them being believably witty, combined with fumbly boysex which is a bulletproof kink of mine). But the thing about her Fred and George was that as funny & dorky-sweet and believably cool as they were, they were also vulnerable. Kind of deluded. They had their serious little moment, too, though it was fleeting and quickly suppressed.
One can't be shiny without also being dull, right?
Something like that. Maybe. Or maybe not. I've been shinier, myself :>
The thing that really bothers me is that all this meta is unfunny & repetitive. Which is just... not sexy in the slightest, really. Kinda depressing. *sniff*
