Fandom babble
Jan. 31st, 2004 05:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
foi_nefasteFandom-rant. Everyone else can (and quite probably should) ignore this.
I never thought I'd say this. Ever. But women who write slash need to learn to think like men.
Men, in general, aren't normally romantic, cute, and sappy. This applies even more to some specific characters. Buffy's Spike, for example, wouldn't do weddings with flowers and lace. Blood and knives, I'll accept. Sappy and teen-ish, forget about it. It's all in the character, people: think about it.
I've had the misfortune to be referred to a The Fast and the Furious fanfic (gods help me regain some semblance of sanity after that experience). Brian and Dom all sappy, vowing eternal love. Yeah, and piglets worldwide are sprouting wings. Those two characters? IF they'd ever get together (and you have to have a damn good imagination to see that happening) it wouldn't be with promises of eternal love. A quick fuck in the garage, at most. Think, dammit!
Same goes for Potter-fic. I'll never picture Lucius, Snape, or Draco as being the sappy, romantic heroes. Think about the characters, dammit! Their entire appeal (and this applies to characters from other fandoms, too) is that they're snide, sarcastic, and have razor-sharp tongues and the wits to match. Take that away, and all you've got is a cardboard-cutout 'character' whose physical description just happens to match that of a character you like. Have some pity.
Basically, the message is simple. Men aren't women. Deal with it. Characters have personalities. Deal with that, too.
And if you can't deal with either... well... you may as well go back to high school and re-read your mother's romance novels, because that's about all the depth of character you'll ever be able to achieve.
I never thought I'd say this. Ever. But women who write slash need to learn to think like men.
Men, in general, aren't normally romantic, cute, and sappy. This applies even more to some specific characters. Buffy's Spike, for example, wouldn't do weddings with flowers and lace. Blood and knives, I'll accept. Sappy and teen-ish, forget about it. It's all in the character, people: think about it.
I've had the misfortune to be referred to a The Fast and the Furious fanfic (gods help me regain some semblance of sanity after that experience). Brian and Dom all sappy, vowing eternal love. Yeah, and piglets worldwide are sprouting wings. Those two characters? IF they'd ever get together (and you have to have a damn good imagination to see that happening) it wouldn't be with promises of eternal love. A quick fuck in the garage, at most. Think, dammit!
Same goes for Potter-fic. I'll never picture Lucius, Snape, or Draco as being the sappy, romantic heroes. Think about the characters, dammit! Their entire appeal (and this applies to characters from other fandoms, too) is that they're snide, sarcastic, and have razor-sharp tongues and the wits to match. Take that away, and all you've got is a cardboard-cutout 'character' whose physical description just happens to match that of a character you like. Have some pity.
Basically, the message is simple. Men aren't women. Deal with it. Characters have personalities. Deal with that, too.
And if you can't deal with either... well... you may as well go back to high school and re-read your mother's romance novels, because that's about all the depth of character you'll ever be able to achieve.
