~~ martyr!Remus, grr, argh.
Nov. 15th, 2004 01:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reenkaI've only been reading S/R fic intensely for less than a week, and I already have a #1 pet peeve, ahahah. It's not at the must-strangle-someone stage yet by far, but it's... present.
What weirds me out is that there's this trend where fics keep making it that Remus is with Sirius as some sort of favor, because really, Remus knows better and Sirius is such a bastard (...and someone has to mention that at least once-- often Sirius himself). It's like, I wonder why Remus is friends with Sirius, if he really judges him so harshly-- or it really such a huge jump to respect someone enough to be their lover rather than their friend...?
It's like, even when I love a fic, I realize that the Remus cannot realistically be that above it all. Sometimes it's even felt like the whole fic, Sirius basically spent his time apologizing to Remus for who he is (with Remus forgiving him out of his innate-- well, I don't know! hard to tell), and that seems even more dysfunctional than the assholish behavior does. There seems to be a game of 'spot the bastard' going on, and The Bastard is pretty much Sirius. And it's not like with Snapefics, where the assholish behavior is part of the appeal for his partner-- no, Remus doesn't actually enjoy it. At all.
No, Remus is actually kind of... Oppressed, you see. By Sirius' assholish not-really-charming-thank-you behavior. But he tolerates it because... because.....
See, here's where I get stuck. A lot of fics focus on Sirius boycrushing on Remus and finally realizing that, and it's all intense and everything-- and Remus wants him back, right. But it's not a question of Remus -falling- for Sirius-- or realizing he fancies him back. No, Remus holds back. Remus... basically, Remus doesn't trust Sirius with his heart.
Man. I know I've said the trust issues with this pairing interest me, but. It seems like the holding-back thing is some kind of moral judgment on Sirius, which really bugs me, for it reminds me of Harry's attitude towards Draco in fics, and dude, that's what I was trying to get away from. I mean, the main reason it bugs me so much is that there's no canon reason for it that I can see-- I mean, I can't really see evidence for Remus being the grudge-bearing type-- that's more Sirius' thing, dude.
Moreover, it seems like a nasty case of projection on the writers' part-- like, it's clear favoritism with Remus-- who apparently has little to no real offensive qualities, and is actually a long-suffering martyr. And I don't hate martyr!Harry as much 'cause well, at least that's canon. But. Remus doesn't have to be. So... wah. I thought the point of S/R was that Sirius could get Remus to loosen up-- let go of his reservations and feel. And if Remus spends the whole time basically making Sirius feel sorry about being himself (as far as Sirius is capable of)-- well-- that makes me feel like they're bad for each other. Which kind of... seems to be missing the point, no?
What weirds me out is that there's this trend where fics keep making it that Remus is with Sirius as some sort of favor, because really, Remus knows better and Sirius is such a bastard (...and someone has to mention that at least once-- often Sirius himself). It's like, I wonder why Remus is friends with Sirius, if he really judges him so harshly-- or it really such a huge jump to respect someone enough to be their lover rather than their friend...?
It's like, even when I love a fic, I realize that the Remus cannot realistically be that above it all. Sometimes it's even felt like the whole fic, Sirius basically spent his time apologizing to Remus for who he is (with Remus forgiving him out of his innate-- well, I don't know! hard to tell), and that seems even more dysfunctional than the assholish behavior does. There seems to be a game of 'spot the bastard' going on, and The Bastard is pretty much Sirius. And it's not like with Snapefics, where the assholish behavior is part of the appeal for his partner-- no, Remus doesn't actually enjoy it. At all.
No, Remus is actually kind of... Oppressed, you see. By Sirius' assholish not-really-charming-thank-you behavior. But he tolerates it because... because.....
See, here's where I get stuck. A lot of fics focus on Sirius boycrushing on Remus and finally realizing that, and it's all intense and everything-- and Remus wants him back, right. But it's not a question of Remus -falling- for Sirius-- or realizing he fancies him back. No, Remus holds back. Remus... basically, Remus doesn't trust Sirius with his heart.
Man. I know I've said the trust issues with this pairing interest me, but. It seems like the holding-back thing is some kind of moral judgment on Sirius, which really bugs me, for it reminds me of Harry's attitude towards Draco in fics, and dude, that's what I was trying to get away from. I mean, the main reason it bugs me so much is that there's no canon reason for it that I can see-- I mean, I can't really see evidence for Remus being the grudge-bearing type-- that's more Sirius' thing, dude.
Moreover, it seems like a nasty case of projection on the writers' part-- like, it's clear favoritism with Remus-- who apparently has little to no real offensive qualities, and is actually a long-suffering martyr. And I don't hate martyr!Harry as much 'cause well, at least that's canon. But. Remus doesn't have to be. So... wah. I thought the point of S/R was that Sirius could get Remus to loosen up-- let go of his reservations and feel. And if Remus spends the whole time basically making Sirius feel sorry about being himself (as far as Sirius is capable of)-- well-- that makes me feel like they're bad for each other. Which kind of... seems to be missing the point, no?
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Date: 2004-11-14 11:03 pm (UTC)I have to admit though, whilst I do think this is probably one of the the best interpretations of canon around, there can be others. Remus doesn't have to be totally angsty and self-doubting/reserved yet needy or whatever you want to call him.
I think someone once mentioned it in the Ship Manifesto thing- Remus is inherently good, and wants to be liked by people, but he wants to be liked by different kinds of people, which is where his conflict occurs. He wants to be one of the Marauders, but he will always be a werewolf as well, yet he wants to be a good student and be a good student under Dumbledore and everything, which causes his inner conflict.
Still, post-"accident" fics I think would have some serious issues, because, oh, that's right, Sirius almost blew everything Remus had worked so hard on for so long to hide & that could get him KILLED and everything, so I do consider the whole "moral judgement" thing you brought up valid in those kinds of situations. But the really "I'm so much nicer/better behaved/not as assholish-than-you" kind of general characterisation in Remus I don't like, because he was one of the boys, even if he was a slighty repressed and desiring of wider acceptance, moreso than James or Sirius at least. Well okay I do like it, but in a really guilty-pleasure-feeding-my-inner-angsty-Moony kind of way. I know it's not quite true IC though, like my love of leatherpants/sexgod!Draco.
I think there is a lot of favouritism towards Remus, which I think needs to be countered. We need some nasty!Remus fics, with him pulling the pranks and being one-of-the-boys as the other ones. I think it's just easier with Sirius because we get more nastiness from him than we do Remus in the books, which can be blamed on his time spent in prison, & then being forced to stay in Grimmauld Place I guess. If Remus was locked in the Shrieking Shack as a werewolf for 12 years, I think he'd be quite nasty as well.
ack repost -.- again -.-
Date: 2004-11-14 11:44 pm (UTC)Like... I'm not arguing that Remus isn't self-doubting and reserved. But this is something you have to move beyond in some way if you really want to pair Remus & Sirius, I figure. They blunt each other's edges-- they complement each other. Isn't that the idea? They make these things less... overwhelming.
So it's not that I have a problem with Issues-- Issues are Just Fine. Like, I'm not talking about Inner Conflict and Remus' Deep And Meaningful Pain (...I'm sure... right... except if people started talking about Sirius' Deep & Meaningful Pain Also, people might just laugh). Anyway. I don't see in canon where Remus actually was shown to think the Prank was a Huge Big Deal Omg How Could You Sirius Honestly I Trusted You. I mean, I'm sure there were repercussions... but in PoA, Remus was like, 'lay off Snape, that was ages ago, stop holding grudges'. So while I can handle it being an issue, it needn't be The Issue Of Utter Doom. All the time. Or even most of the time.
It's just. I can't ship S/R if Remus is just with Sirius as a favor. That is all.
Re: ack repost -.- again -.-
Date: 2004-11-15 06:15 pm (UTC)Hell yeah. Totally in 100% agreement with you there. Actually, I really like Moony/Padfoot fics where it's like "Teh wolf is less animal when Padfoot is there" n shit. They make me happy and giggly in that fangirl kind of way.
except if people started talking about Sirius' Deep & Meaningful Pain Also, people might just laugh
NO! Sirius has pain. He's totally twisted and bitter over his stupid family being... evil and stuff. In that spoilt-upperclass-rebel kinda way. If that counts.