![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reenkaHonestly, I feel so uninteractive-- whereas once I may have commented on a stranger's journal, now I just wanna make my own post and not wade in. Eh. I'm thinking about ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
regan_v's recent post on adultery & different kinds of shippers-- ones who're in it for the happy ending & ones who're in it for characterization (and those tend to be the ones who incorporate recent canon rather than writing AUs):
But what punches my buttons isn’t a happy ending: it’s full-throated, note-perfect, three-dimensional characterization. And the interaction between two such well-realized characters.
Yeah, and see, I'm thinking about this 'cause even though I should be doing schoolwork I can't stop nibbling at my novella, which... sometimes it feels like the happy ending on it is tacked on, and I wonder if I should be more hardcore and leave them alone. But really, it depends on what you consider 'happy' or an 'ending', 'cause most of the time I'm both more bittersweet & more open-ended. The only thing I consider mood-killer-type 'unhappy' is when the characters don't get to pass that major threshold of requited desire (given that I don't even -read- 'tragedies' where people die or cheat 'cause that's way too much melodrama for me most of the time). Betrayal of trust is interesting, but only when it's not a gimmick; only when it fits.
I was thinking about this reading Kat Allison's Highlander fic, The Parting Glass, which is a fascinating-- and deeply frustrating!-- example of a fic that's almost-but-not-really-shippy & unhappy but not in a melodramatic way. I mean, it's not really 'just pre-slash' because there's a very high emotion level between the guys, but they never crack.
Methos refuses to be vulnerable, to 'give in' even a little without it being unrequited, and that-- that's what makes me grit my teeth and whine. It -is- all about character exploration, and generally I love that-- but at the same time, it's not enough to explore without dramatic movement. It's just-- it's not enough to move only a tiny bit while portraying the intensity of desire for more.
Maybe what I really hate is fics where there's a death of hope-- like, the character simply runs into a dead end and stays there like it's nice and cozy, waiting to die. That passivity of 'oh, okay, I guess I'm DOOMED, then'-- that really pisses me off in a hero-type like Harry or Duncan, especially.
See, what I really want is a sort of 'redemption' in every love-story, and to fuck with 'happy endings'-- that's the reason I used to say I was a redemptionista so easily. I think everyone needs redemption when you define it as 'transcendence of previous self-defeating mechanisms through love'.
...Okay, what this is really about is that I'm currently pissed at Methos. GAH. WHY DO I ALWAYS LOVE THE STUBBORN ONES :( Y'know, it's so IC for him to shoot himself in the nose to spite his face & be all 'but this is about survival of my face'. OH METHOS. YOU MORON. I can't let it go, really-- it's so evil, 'cause I totally fall for it even though I say I read for 'redemption'. Oh, I -wish-. The stories I really obsess over are the ones that are just right and then not enough; not tragedies but idiocies. I think it should be a new genre :P It could have lots of boys in it (obviously), lots of self-defeating, too-smart-for-their-own-good, beautiful needy stupid boys. Ahhh, and 5,000 years later, you just KNOW the idiocy only gets worse.
See, I think that's totally true. Emotional idiots are interesting (and frustrating, annoying and also EVIL) much more than happy people or sad people or angry people. Emotional idiots can have happy ending, but not for a long while, until you feel like your heart will bleed itself to death before they wake up and smellthe burning potroast their own bullshit. Ahhh. Obviously, Snape is also an emotional idiot, and this sort of thing does lend itself to adultery, but I think -if- he ever got into a human relationship (miracle of miracles!) trust would be too important and difficult to give for him to betray it or stand it to be betrayed by his lover. Y'know. It takes an idiot to cheat, yes, but also an idiot who hadn't been alone most of his life, man.
~~
Also: it's amazing-- yet unsurprising-- how reading these H/D author interviews, I realize I totally live in some sort of H/D twilight zone or something. For real.
(I was actually wanting to do a post about why it's not that misogynistic/crazy to think personality does impact sexual dynamics simply 'cause personality impacts ALL behavior-- and seriously, people, whether or not he's a top, Draco tops Harry when PIGS FLY and/or they trust each other, but isn't that the same thing??-- but at this point it's the Harry myths that bother me way more than the Draco myths, 'cause really, Draco doesn't need -me- to proclaim what a bottom boy he is, he does that quite well on his own. And no, not because it's a Slytherin form of control, unless you're going to start calling all cats Slytherin... which seems unfair. Plus, I'm -really- bloody tired of fics where he even comes close to controlling Harry in any way-- 'cause, y'know, newsflash, he'd need to control himself for this to happen.
So yes, Draco wants-- needs?-- to be petted, which has got to be like a Declaration of Bottomosity if ever there was one. However, if I discuss this one more time I'm going to puke.)
Aaand just when I was like 'H/D = GNNNNHH :(',lillithium drew the cutest little comic~! Wheeeeee. Doesn't it just make you wanna tweak Draco's nose??
...or maybe that's just me ^^;;;
regan_v's recent post on adultery & different kinds of shippers-- ones who're in it for the happy ending & ones who're in it for characterization (and those tend to be the ones who incorporate recent canon rather than writing AUs):But what punches my buttons isn’t a happy ending: it’s full-throated, note-perfect, three-dimensional characterization. And the interaction between two such well-realized characters.
Yeah, and see, I'm thinking about this 'cause even though I should be doing schoolwork I can't stop nibbling at my novella, which... sometimes it feels like the happy ending on it is tacked on, and I wonder if I should be more hardcore and leave them alone. But really, it depends on what you consider 'happy' or an 'ending', 'cause most of the time I'm both more bittersweet & more open-ended. The only thing I consider mood-killer-type 'unhappy' is when the characters don't get to pass that major threshold of requited desire (given that I don't even -read- 'tragedies' where people die or cheat 'cause that's way too much melodrama for me most of the time). Betrayal of trust is interesting, but only when it's not a gimmick; only when it fits.
I was thinking about this reading Kat Allison's Highlander fic, The Parting Glass, which is a fascinating-- and deeply frustrating!-- example of a fic that's almost-but-not-really-shippy & unhappy but not in a melodramatic way. I mean, it's not really 'just pre-slash' because there's a very high emotion level between the guys, but they never crack.
Methos refuses to be vulnerable, to 'give in' even a little without it being unrequited, and that-- that's what makes me grit my teeth and whine. It -is- all about character exploration, and generally I love that-- but at the same time, it's not enough to explore without dramatic movement. It's just-- it's not enough to move only a tiny bit while portraying the intensity of desire for more.
Maybe what I really hate is fics where there's a death of hope-- like, the character simply runs into a dead end and stays there like it's nice and cozy, waiting to die. That passivity of 'oh, okay, I guess I'm DOOMED, then'-- that really pisses me off in a hero-type like Harry or Duncan, especially.
See, what I really want is a sort of 'redemption' in every love-story, and to fuck with 'happy endings'-- that's the reason I used to say I was a redemptionista so easily. I think everyone needs redemption when you define it as 'transcendence of previous self-defeating mechanisms through love'.
...Okay, what this is really about is that I'm currently pissed at Methos. GAH. WHY DO I ALWAYS LOVE THE STUBBORN ONES :( Y'know, it's so IC for him to shoot himself in the nose to spite his face & be all 'but this is about survival of my face'. OH METHOS. YOU MORON. I can't let it go, really-- it's so evil, 'cause I totally fall for it even though I say I read for 'redemption'. Oh, I -wish-. The stories I really obsess over are the ones that are just right and then not enough; not tragedies but idiocies. I think it should be a new genre :P It could have lots of boys in it (obviously), lots of self-defeating, too-smart-for-their-own-good, beautiful needy stupid boys. Ahhh, and 5,000 years later, you just KNOW the idiocy only gets worse.
See, I think that's totally true. Emotional idiots are interesting (and frustrating, annoying and also EVIL) much more than happy people or sad people or angry people. Emotional idiots can have happy ending, but not for a long while, until you feel like your heart will bleed itself to death before they wake up and smell
~~
Also: it's amazing-- yet unsurprising-- how reading these H/D author interviews, I realize I totally live in some sort of H/D twilight zone or something. For real.
(I was actually wanting to do a post about why it's not that misogynistic/crazy to think personality does impact sexual dynamics simply 'cause personality impacts ALL behavior-- and seriously, people, whether or not he's a top, Draco tops Harry when PIGS FLY and/or they trust each other, but isn't that the same thing??-- but at this point it's the Harry myths that bother me way more than the Draco myths, 'cause really, Draco doesn't need -me- to proclaim what a bottom boy he is, he does that quite well on his own. And no, not because it's a Slytherin form of control, unless you're going to start calling all cats Slytherin... which seems unfair. Plus, I'm -really- bloody tired of fics where he even comes close to controlling Harry in any way-- 'cause, y'know, newsflash, he'd need to control himself for this to happen.
So yes, Draco wants-- needs?-- to be petted, which has got to be like a Declaration of Bottomosity if ever there was one. However, if I discuss this one more time I'm going to puke.)
Aaand just when I was like 'H/D = GNNNNHH :(',
lillithium drew the cutest little comic~! Wheeeeee. Doesn't it just make you wanna tweak Draco's nose?? ...or maybe that's just me ^^;;;
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-07-17 08:37 pm (UTC)(Because that is the example I had growing up, so I approach this from the increasingly smaller viewpoint of one with a family chock full of sickeningly-sweet courtships, ridiculously long-lived marriages, and death-do-us-part endings. I might be biased. ;p)
no subject
Date: 2006-07-17 09:31 pm (UTC)But yes... I'm just like this for no good reason, 'cause I seriously don't know -one- happy long-term couple even if my grandparents never divorced & my mom wouldn't have either if not for my dad dying. People in my family stay married but... eh. However, in my head marriage has next to -nothing- to do with romance... though I don't go so far as to think it's where romance goes to die. More like... it's where people who want children and tax-returns and Proof Of Commitment (sign here! free and easy!) go to get all stamped & processed. I like weddings, though :D And people who stay together a long time, they're sort of cute. As long as they still have lots of sex :>
no subject
Date: 2006-07-17 10:17 pm (UTC)Goodness me, in my head marriage is all about with romance! Everyone in my family (and I mean everyone!) has had a shmoopy love story. It's rather annoying, actually, because I feel like I have to live up to a standard. XD
For example, haha, my parents got together because my mom's friend was a dunce. She took my mom out to meet her boyfriend and his friend (my dad). My dad was immediately smitten and kept trying to chat my mom up, but she thought he was goofy and nerdy. (He is.) Then my mom's friend left with her boyfriend and my mom was stranded with "some weirdo." (My dad.) So he took her home and promised to call her. My mom was less than impressed. When he did call her the next day, she had completely forgotten his name.
Now, twenty-four years later, they go on a weekly dates, ride motorcycles together, and much to my ever-shuddering horror, have sex often enough that my dad went for a vasectomy to insure no more little Smiths and "a whole lot more fun." Eeew.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-17 11:07 pm (UTC)...Um, I think I just meant you could have the same thing & not be married (that is, you could have romance in marriage but marriage doesn't mean it has to have romance... uh, or something), except maybe married!romance has its own flavor. I think it's like, affection can last for a really long time & some people are really suited for each other, but that intense can't-concentrate-on-anything-but-them feeling doesn't last that long. Or people would get like, nothing done. Not that I'd mind, personally.....