~~ 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: 2004-11-17 06:48 am (UTC)Like...all pairings seem to bring with them a certain appeal, some good and some bad. Because for most pairings they do develop a certain character, you know? You couldn't just take an S/R story and change the name and it's H/S or H/D or Seamus/Dean--hopefully. Obviously there are some really badly written fics that are so generic they're equally OOC for everyone. But for some reason maybe S/R just offers an easy way to do the martyr-thing so if that's what an author likes maybe s/he might naturally drift to S/R rather than something else. Not that I don't think you find traces of this in every pairing...it's maybe just that S/R gives people maybe more freedom to do it while pretending they're being canonical.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-17 12:25 pm (UTC)It just seems so silly since the possibilities for play without the martyr thing-- just the dynamic between Remus & Sirius-- is so interesting and complementary and romantic. WAH. SILLY HUMANS.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-17 06:59 pm (UTC)I think Fanon!Draco of the snarky variety is probably a lot about the fantasy of being so cool that the coolest guy in the universe (Harry, in this case) gets all bumbly around you. Abused!Draco, which I can sometimes have a taste for too, to my shame, is probably about feeling sorry for yourself. Like, all the ugly things about you are just a cover for the real you inside and it's the world's fault your inner child is crying. *retch*
You can get both from Draco in canon--even though the result is pretty damn OT!
no subject
Date: 2004-11-17 07:25 pm (UTC)I think I kind of like cool!Draco (sort of like Sirius except smooth & without that nasty temper!! ahahahahah). I mean, I don't like badly-written cool!Draco who has no flaws (that's just boring), but I like a really snarky smirky hot-to-trot Draco (especially before OoTP). Yeah, it helped not having read canon. *reminisces* eheheheh. Man, I just realize sometimes that I love me some cool-ass-ponce!Draco and some hot-tempered-naif!Harry eheheheh. Is that the most common OOC trope, y'think? 'Cause then it'd explain my fascination, since I'm all about the fire/ice thing in all its myriad dopey incarnations.
And you should totally post that question on hd_discussion! :D :D I'm curious!! >:D