Fanfic links, and fannish debates
Jan. 23rd, 2004 02:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakFinished the first season of Six Feet Under. Truly a well-written, well-acted show. Are there any lj fans?
While waiting till someone else downloads Soul Purpose, I found two great new stories about last year's boy, Connor, and, inevitably, his parents. True Faces is about Connor and Holtz, and Connor and Angel; Connor trying to come to terms with what the loved of his two fathers did to him in early season 4. This story, otoh, is about fifth season Connor of the lost memories, and his unknown mother. I am a sucker for any story which brings Connor and Darla together, and this one, well-written like everything Viola does, keeps just the right balance of bittersweet.
Meanwhile, over at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
theatrical_muse, we have some great new arrivals - a Sikozu (yay for more Farscape characters!), and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mr_morden. Naturally, londo_mollari is already sparring with him, when he isn't talking about patriotism and guilt with legate_damar, of DS9 fame. (You know, before it never struck me Damar had that much in common with Londo.)
searose had some fascinating thoughts about genderswap in Farscape for a fanfic story - i.e. Farscape with every male as a female, and every female character as a male, and why it just doesn't work, here. It's interesting to speculate about other shows/movies/books in this regard. (And let's ignore the respective creators for a moment, since every creator has his or her reasons for writing these boys and girls as just that.) For example, you could genderswap the Harry Potter characters without losing the crucial dynamics of the story. But you couldn't do it with the BTVS characters, or the AtS characters, which makes for a strange counterpoint to the fact gender roles are far more fluid in the Jossverse than they ever could be in the HPverse. Star Wars? Hm. Might make for an interesting and subversive fanfic or two. Young prince Leius and experienced smuggler Hanna Solo would go against the social conditioning of the audience; otoh, a female Anakin separated from her father and forbidden to love Senator Amidalus would sound dreadfully like a gender stereotype. On the other other hand, a female Palpatine sounds deliciously like Servalan, and the dynamic between her and a female Anakin suddenly looks a bit like Mayor Wilkins and Faith, if Wilkins had been female.
And I'm really trying not to recast Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan with Lucy Lawless and Renée O'Connor...
While waiting till someone else downloads Soul Purpose, I found two great new stories about last year's boy, Connor, and, inevitably, his parents. True Faces is about Connor and Holtz, and Connor and Angel; Connor trying to come to terms with what the loved of his two fathers did to him in early season 4. This story, otoh, is about fifth season Connor of the lost memories, and his unknown mother. I am a sucker for any story which brings Connor and Darla together, and this one, well-written like everything Viola does, keeps just the right balance of bittersweet.
Meanwhile, over at
theatrical_muse, we have some great new arrivals - a Sikozu (yay for more Farscape characters!), and mr_morden. Naturally, londo_mollari is already sparring with him, when he isn't talking about patriotism and guilt with legate_damar, of DS9 fame. (You know, before it never struck me Damar had that much in common with Londo.) searose had some fascinating thoughts about genderswap in Farscape for a fanfic story - i.e. Farscape with every male as a female, and every female character as a male, and why it just doesn't work, here. It's interesting to speculate about other shows/movies/books in this regard. (And let's ignore the respective creators for a moment, since every creator has his or her reasons for writing these boys and girls as just that.) For example, you could genderswap the Harry Potter characters without losing the crucial dynamics of the story. But you couldn't do it with the BTVS characters, or the AtS characters, which makes for a strange counterpoint to the fact gender roles are far more fluid in the Jossverse than they ever could be in the HPverse. Star Wars? Hm. Might make for an interesting and subversive fanfic or two. Young prince Leius and experienced smuggler Hanna Solo would go against the social conditioning of the audience; otoh, a female Anakin separated from her father and forbidden to love Senator Amidalus would sound dreadfully like a gender stereotype. On the other other hand, a female Palpatine sounds deliciously like Servalan, and the dynamic between her and a female Anakin suddenly looks a bit like Mayor Wilkins and Faith, if Wilkins had been female. And I'm really trying not to recast Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan with Lucy Lawless and Renée O'Connor...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-01-23 05:44 am (UTC)I'd love to read...
Date: 2004-01-23 06:08 am (UTC)Re: I'd love to read...
Date: 2004-01-23 06:17 am (UTC)Re: I'd love to read...
Date: 2004-01-23 09:12 am (UTC)Re: I'd love to read...
Date: 2004-01-23 01:29 pm (UTC)Why is it...
Date: 2004-01-23 06:02 am (UTC)P.S. I just saw that my download of Angel 5x10 "Soul Purpose" is almost finished. Just let me know if you need a copy.
Judi Dench...
Date: 2004-01-23 06:10 am (UTC)And oh yes, I need a copy.
soul purpose
Date: 2004-01-23 10:13 am (UTC)The episode was there his morning and, well,...
it is quite good :-))
F.
Re: soul purpose
Date: 2004-01-23 12:22 pm (UTC)soul purpose
Date: 2004-01-24 12:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-23 06:20 am (UTC)First, these are characters in a parallel dimension: very much influenced by the real world (history, boarding school/houses system, British-isms) but nevertheless a *magical* world where the balance of powers (arcane powers in addition to the mundane ones) is automatically shifted, making it easy to equalise the genders in a credible way if only the whole background is set accordingly. (This also results in new conflicts substituted for our all-too-real ones, of course. "Mudblood!", anyone?) Now, Star Wars with the Jedi and other telepaths/telekinetics *could* have been created like that, I suppose, but whether due to George Lucas's ideas about gender and storytelling or the stronger adherence to our world (as envisioned in the future), this road wasn't taken.
Second, the characters are either very young or very much part of a strict, neutral, and semi-official structure that seems to afford quite a bit of gender equality. As for the young protagonists...all subtext aside, it was only the last book that gave us examples of typically teenage behaviour, mostly on Harry's part and mostly not regarding male/female dynamics-- the Cho Chang thing was interesting enough but ultimately devoid of meaning for the story. To me, the Harry Potter characters have always seemed old enough mentally but not really that far advanced when it came to sexuality, which is also why all the HP smutfic puzzles me a bit. While I've led a fairly sheltered, normal life compared to some folk I've met, oh, boy, I and 95% of my classmates weren't half as blithely unconcerned with boys, girls, and how to act around each other. The twin's treatment of Ginny could be brought forth, I suppose, but the emphasis of "baby sister" may be more on the "baby" and less on the "sister" part. As for the teachers and adults in the wizarding world, they don't seem to be terribly concerned with gender roles-- tradition is determined by the laws of magic more than the laws of man, in a way.
And oops, it's a quarter past three, and I have heaps of crime law to do. Well, just my two Euro cents. & :-)
no subject
Date: 2004-01-23 06:24 am (UTC)The second season...I didn't like so much. But watch it when it comes out and then post--I don't want to spoil it for you.
Thanks for not spoiling!
Date: 2004-01-23 09:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-23 07:00 am (UTC)You could even keep Anakin's fireplace dialogue the same! Hmm, and possibly play up the "Senator Amidal- wants to seduce the Padawan but is shocked by the Pawadan loving him/her" vibe that *I* got from the scene and most people seem to headscratch at. The relationship would probably attain a whole new level of skanky.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-23 09:18 am (UTC)You could even keep Anakin's fireplace dialogue the same! Hmm, and possibly play up the "Senator Amidal- wants to seduce the Padawan but is shocked by the Pawadan loving him/her" vibe that *I* got from the scene and most people seem to headscratch at. The relationship would probably attain a whole new level of skanky.
Now I'm suddenly making comparisons to the morning after scene from Innocence....*g*
But seriously, yes, nobody would question Anika emoting all over the place about her first love, or Amidalus reacting in a "ooookay, this is more than I was going for, and I can't really do this if it means this much to her until I feel the same" manner.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-23 01:31 pm (UTC)Thank you! I thought I was the only one who thought Amidala's behavior was skanky!
no subject
Date: 2004-01-23 07:52 am (UTC)Well, there's me. It's a show I try not to be spoilt for so I don't seek out things written about it. As you say it's excellently written and acted and the characters just feel completely real. We've got to the end of the third series now, so I don't know when we'll see the next series.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-23 09:19 am (UTC)Well, thanks to me--
Date: 2004-01-23 08:13 am (UTC)BTW, I got your mail. I've just been unable to write for the past two days. I'll rectify the situation tonight, promise.
so we do, so we do...
Date: 2004-01-23 12:11 pm (UTC)Heh..I happen to be the webmaster of the only SFU site on the 'net!
Date: 2004-01-23 08:20 am (UTC)I may be the most obsessed fan of the show you have ever met. It's my second passion, after Joss.
The second season, btw, is coming out in April or May on DVD, and the fourth season starts airing in June.
Re: Heh..I happen to be the webmaster of the only SFU site on the 'net!
Date: 2004-01-23 09:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-23 11:04 am (UTC)And, I'd just love to see Londo as a woman. It would change a heck of a lot - we'd either have to alter Centauri society or Londo's role in it. And, her alliance with the shadows would immediately set up an Eve/Serpent resonance that could go in all kinds of directions.
I don't think I'd like G'kar to be female, unless Londo was as well. Otherwise it could too easily look like 'female victim learns to love male abuser.' And if Londo was female and G'kar male, it could drift into a repeat of the Sheridan/Delenn romance. Although, their personalities are so different. Still, it might be better to have them both female.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-23 11:56 am (UTC)Anakin/Darth Vader as female sets up a *fascinating* Oedipal dynamic in 'Empire Strikes Back.' And in a way it's more interesting - as well as more disturbing - if we leave Luke as male.
This AU aside, if we have a female Anakin/Vader throughout but keep the gender of everyone else, the competition going on between Luke and Palpatine for Anika's soul would of course reinforce the oedipal vibe. Say, Palpatine as Claudius and the late Obi-Wan as Hamlet Senior? With a much more active Gertrude.
Londo as a woman would indeed necessitate a restructuring of Centauri society, and the need for G'Kar to be a woman as well. Morden as the serpent is of course the perfect choice for the role; if we keep Morden male, this would add a certain vibe to the dynamic between him and Londo. If otoh Morden is female then we might cast her as Lilith, which wouldn't be bad, either.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-23 02:07 pm (UTC)Now THAT would've made for some FUN!