[why Maenads are hot. but not if they need therapy.]

Through some twist of randy fate & boredom, I've recently come across several (H/D) hatesex fics which hit & missed in different ways until I found 'the One' (at least for this week). It seems there's actually much more subtlety than I'd thought to what 'works' for me as far as anger, hatred & violence in fic (which I profess to enjoy most of the time). This seems to transfer onto the sort of (violent) movies & comics I like, too. Like, in Under Grand Hotel, the prison-based manga, the main character gave up on his relationship as soon as he wasn't really fighting mad anymore, just tired-- which makes total sense in retrospect. Unless one keeps things delicately balanced, hatred & anger are likely to tire one out emotionally right quick, and then the despair sets in (which sucks). And people who stay angry as a personality trait don't count, 'cause they're dysfunctional in their own special way; plus, the necessity of therapy puts a damper on things soon enough.

First of all, it seems important that the anger isn't chronic & festering-- like 'anger against the system', for instance; if such anger exists, my satisfaction as the reader depends on whether the angry one is aggressive about it and fights the source of that rage actively and without self-pity. If self-pity, deep-seated dissatisfaction with life in general & depression enter into the picture too blatantly, it becomes a dystopia instead of a tension-filled adventure, basically. It also becomes the sort of situation most likely to make me stop shipping that instance of the pairing because it's too dysfunctional (this happened most notably with H/D in some of hackthis' fics & ishuca's `Plague of Legends', where I feel Harry accepted his abuse at one point and that was it for me).

I've just realized that what I really want is just that-- action & adventure, which can sometimes translate (when sexually charged) into hatesex. At their purest, I feel angry sex fics wouldn't be dystopia-producing at all; the effect is positive-- energizing, exciting, raw, vital. Like bungee-jumping, even if it's over the abyss. As soon as the jumper looks into the abyss too long, I think the bungee cord disappears and then it's not sexy at all.

Also, it's delicate balance between anger turning to violence turning to sex & just pure violence and hate, which tends to have its originating undercurrents completely swept under its sheer tsunami force. Dark & negative emotions can add spice & vitality, yes, but unless they're v. carefully handled, they get completely out of control & become entirely destructive, which isn't actually 'the point'. The point is, well-- a sort of healthy destructiveness, like the forest-fire before new growth.

( Those kind of metaphors signal I'm about to officially Think Too Much about this. -.- )

...And to think I basically wrote all this just to pimp J. Marie's hatesex fic, 'cause omg YES LIEK WHOAH!!1 Jackpot at last! Er. -.- What can I say, er... porn inspires me to meta? *coughs* ...Yeah. My only point-- my only greater desire for H/D is to use this sort of thing as a base and see where it could lead and maybe slowly throw in 'Issues' while avoiding having them think for as long as possible. Because, y'know... thinking can be poisonous like that, especially to relationships based on lust & resentment & er... 'Issues'. I'm bloody well tired of thinking about these things, anyway, and hey, I think my inner Harry's with me there.