(not Luna??!)
Jun. 23rd, 2004 05:57 pmYou know what's really kind of silly? (I make this mistake a lot, btw.) Over-identifying with people I like (or, characters, but I won't even get into that). I mean, at heart, it's just a faulty assumption-type thing. Over-generalizing is often at the root of most evil along with the usual drive for power and fear of death (but I won't get into that, heh).
I mean, I'm not Luna. Rinse & repeat three times, as necessary: I'm not Luna. I'm not Luna. I'm not Luna. Woo, what a relief. (Btw, if anyone wants a Luna-centric fic, I just found `Butterbeer Caps', which seems good.)
I keep trying to root it out of me (well, half-heartedly), but it won't go.
So if I see someone who seems to "get" the beauty of Buffy/Spike -aaaand- the beauty of Kyou/Tohru, all of a sudden I'm like, OMG WE R SOULM8ES!!1 (well... sort of), and then I'm crashing down to earth 'cause they also like Heero/Relena (OMG TEH EVAL, OMG) and Harry/Luna (which... isn't -bad-, precisely, just really not... romantic at all). But that's because I a) shouldn't extrapolate someone's view on romance just from a couple of things they believe (and I don't even know if they believe the same things I do about said relationships); b) shouldn't project myself so blatantly onto Luna (or whatever character) that I feel a bit silly shipping her with -anyone-. (I mean, I should know-- Luna "just isn't ready"). On the other hand, if you made Luna darker-- or better yet, mad (OMG PLOT BUNNY)-- you could do a Hamlet/Ophelia thing. Woo, I can see Ophelia!Luna. But then she'd have to die :D
It seems either people heavily identify with each other, thus kind of stealing another person's individual identity in a way, or they project their vision of the Other (that is to say, their ideals of what's perfectly Attractive-- or horrid-- in someone else), thus idealizing them past the point of possessing any real humanity. Bleh.
I don't even know if many people define themselves or rather, see a trend of similar rationales for the "way they ship" like I do. That is to say, every ship I believe in fits into a trend in my mind, of the way I generally perceive "romance" in the first place. Because, as should be obvious, pretty much -everything- is premade 'meta' a.k.a. 'on Plato's crack' in my head. :>
Basically, all the couples I like have something about their "spirit" in common, so I assume if someone likes more than one example of romance as I do, we must both be seeing this "spirit" (which makes me think we're ourselves compatible for friendship).
So that's why it boggles my mind that people can possibly like Buffy/Spike (a passionate, fighting-opposites-attract tragicomic sort of insane romance) and Heero/Relena (a lukewarm, idealize-your-anima/animus, the-hero-gets-the-girl cliche). It's like, duuude, Heero/Duo is much more like B/S (in my head)-- 'cause like, they're opposites-yet-equals in the whole complementary cliche sort of way.
Then it occurs to me to rethink Heero/Relena, and possibly you can see how Buffy/Spike can also be about the idealizing-the-anima cliche from Spike's pov (though that's not what I like about the pairing at all), and suddenly it all makes sense. You can definitely see how Heero/Relena is like Kyou/Tohru, which I adore (ACK ACK ACK STOP ABORT PANIC). In fact, I tend to blatantly ignore the unhealthyness of a boy idealizing his female love interest and focus on their disagreements and the romantic friction-- bleh, thus leading myself into a quagmire (I used a big word!) of sloppy thinking & projection-onto-perfectly-innocent-characters.
Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
But it all makes sense in my head, I SWEAR!!1
I mean, I'm not Luna. Rinse & repeat three times, as necessary: I'm not Luna. I'm not Luna. I'm not Luna. Woo, what a relief. (Btw, if anyone wants a Luna-centric fic, I just found `Butterbeer Caps', which seems good.)
I keep trying to root it out of me (well, half-heartedly), but it won't go.
So if I see someone who seems to "get" the beauty of Buffy/Spike -aaaand- the beauty of Kyou/Tohru, all of a sudden I'm like, OMG WE R SOULM8ES!!1 (well... sort of), and then I'm crashing down to earth 'cause they also like Heero/Relena (OMG TEH EVAL, OMG) and Harry/Luna (which... isn't -bad-, precisely, just really not... romantic at all). But that's because I a) shouldn't extrapolate someone's view on romance just from a couple of things they believe (and I don't even know if they believe the same things I do about said relationships); b) shouldn't project myself so blatantly onto Luna (or whatever character) that I feel a bit silly shipping her with -anyone-. (I mean, I should know-- Luna "just isn't ready"). On the other hand, if you made Luna darker-- or better yet, mad (OMG PLOT BUNNY)-- you could do a Hamlet/Ophelia thing. Woo, I can see Ophelia!Luna. But then she'd have to die :D
It seems either people heavily identify with each other, thus kind of stealing another person's individual identity in a way, or they project their vision of the Other (that is to say, their ideals of what's perfectly Attractive-- or horrid-- in someone else), thus idealizing them past the point of possessing any real humanity. Bleh.
I don't even know if many people define themselves or rather, see a trend of similar rationales for the "way they ship" like I do. That is to say, every ship I believe in fits into a trend in my mind, of the way I generally perceive "romance" in the first place. Because, as should be obvious, pretty much -everything- is premade 'meta' a.k.a. 'on Plato's crack' in my head. :>
Basically, all the couples I like have something about their "spirit" in common, so I assume if someone likes more than one example of romance as I do, we must both be seeing this "spirit" (which makes me think we're ourselves compatible for friendship).
So that's why it boggles my mind that people can possibly like Buffy/Spike (a passionate, fighting-opposites-attract tragicomic sort of insane romance) and Heero/Relena (a lukewarm, idealize-your-anima/animus, the-hero-gets-the-girl cliche). It's like, duuude, Heero/Duo is much more like B/S (in my head)-- 'cause like, they're opposites-yet-equals in the whole complementary cliche sort of way.
Then it occurs to me to rethink Heero/Relena, and possibly you can see how Buffy/Spike can also be about the idealizing-the-anima cliche from Spike's pov (though that's not what I like about the pairing at all), and suddenly it all makes sense. You can definitely see how Heero/Relena is like Kyou/Tohru, which I adore (ACK ACK ACK STOP ABORT PANIC). In fact, I tend to blatantly ignore the unhealthyness of a boy idealizing his female love interest and focus on their disagreements and the romantic friction-- bleh, thus leading myself into a quagmire (I used a big word!) of sloppy thinking & projection-onto-perfectly-innocent-characters.
Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
But it all makes sense in my head, I SWEAR!!1
no subject
Date: 2004-06-27 03:01 pm (UTC)& also MY SHIP CAN BEAT UP YOUR SHIP :P eheheh