From a certain point of view
Mar. 15th, 2012 08:28 amThe Ides of March are upon us again: I already posted my thoughts on this in past years. . :) Meanwhile, the remix assignments are out, and luckily, I share three of the qualified fandoms with my remixee this time, and several others besides. So there should be something suitable for me to remix. Mind you, the first two stories I instantly thought had potential were already remixed by others in the past. Incidentally, must make a note to ask whether it's still possible to remix a story of a non-listed fandom, which it was in the past.
On a note of "we all watch different shows and read different books": here I am, surfing through friends and friends of friends, and first I read an entry calling Neil Gaiman's writing unemotional and technical (Neil Gaiman! What? thought I, remembering my first Sandman experience and how Brief Lives even upon the nth reread leaves me shaken every time) and then I read an entry complaining Merlin didn't have a game changer episode since season 1's The Beginning of the End (What? thought I, remembering instantly Fires of Idrisholas in s2 which altered Morgana's state and things between Morgana and Merlin forever, and The Wicked Day from season 4, which ( did such a huge and spoilery thing that I can't describe it without a cut ), and The Sword in the Stone II, which ( also did a huge and spoilery thing ). There are also more ongoing long term developments re: attitudes of various cast members to each other, Arthur's attitude to magic (with Herald of a New Age being elementary in making Arthur ( do something spoilery ), Morgana battling her Emrys-shaped future. But in this case, I suspect that the only thing seen as a game changer for Merlin by the poster would be the big magic reveal. And I'm back again to being baffled and beating my deceased equine on how I never saw "Merlin-revealed-as-sorceror-to-Arthur" as the point of the show, let alone the ony thing I wanted from it, or the only game changer. Honestly, I found all this other stuff going on far more important, not to mention more interesting. But: we're all watching different shows.
Speaking of: I wasn't surprised when![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
queenofthorns told me Jesse Pinkman is treated as the fandom woobie of Breaking Bad at TWOP, or to find this confirmed when I started to look for fanfic on lj and the AO3 that doesn't spoil me for s4. He would be. (He's young, good looking, and goes through a lot of canonical hurt/comfort scenarios with big emphasis on the hurt.) But what I think is important is that the show itself doesn't do this. Oh, the show gives you plenty of reasons to feel sorry for Jesse, but it also points out Jesse's lot in life is very much of his own making (just as Walt's is). He became a small time meth dealer all on his lonesome, not because of Walt. Yes, his parents have written him off by now, but in the episodes they show up, starting with their introduction in mid season 1, it's made clear they tried to help him again and again before this, staged intervention after intervention, and at some point simply decided that there needed to be consequences. Jesse's fondness for children is an endearing trait, but he's still hypocritical when asking Andrea in s3 "what kind of a mother are you?" (and the show immediately lets Andrea point this out), because really, Jesse never bothers to find out whether or not the people he's selling what he himself describes as poison to are parents or not unless drastically confronted with the result as in the case of the s2 Peekaboo kid. For all that Walt is increasingly great at ruthless manipulation, the show gave us scenes showing Jesse being ruthlessly manipulative as well. Arguably the most chilling Jesse scene in three seasons is the one where he persuades the Native American girl at the gas station to try meth. And it's staged that way, as is his later attempt to persuade Andrea to fall from the wagon. But again, I'm not surprised to find this trait utterly lacking in what few fanfic presentations of Jesse I've read so far. It's the difference between fandom perception and on screen presentation striking again. And the way w're all watching, a lot of the time, what we want to see.
On a note of "we all watch different shows and read different books": here I am, surfing through friends and friends of friends, and first I read an entry calling Neil Gaiman's writing unemotional and technical (Neil Gaiman! What? thought I, remembering my first Sandman experience and how Brief Lives even upon the nth reread leaves me shaken every time) and then I read an entry complaining Merlin didn't have a game changer episode since season 1's The Beginning of the End (What? thought I, remembering instantly Fires of Idrisholas in s2 which altered Morgana's state and things between Morgana and Merlin forever, and The Wicked Day from season 4, which ( did such a huge and spoilery thing that I can't describe it without a cut ), and The Sword in the Stone II, which ( also did a huge and spoilery thing ). There are also more ongoing long term developments re: attitudes of various cast members to each other, Arthur's attitude to magic (with Herald of a New Age being elementary in making Arthur ( do something spoilery ), Morgana battling her Emrys-shaped future. But in this case, I suspect that the only thing seen as a game changer for Merlin by the poster would be the big magic reveal. And I'm back again to being baffled and beating my deceased equine on how I never saw "Merlin-revealed-as-sorceror-to-Arthur" as the point of the show, let alone the ony thing I wanted from it, or the only game changer. Honestly, I found all this other stuff going on far more important, not to mention more interesting. But: we're all watching different shows.
Speaking of: I wasn't surprised when
queenofthorns told me Jesse Pinkman is treated as the fandom woobie of Breaking Bad at TWOP, or to find this confirmed when I started to look for fanfic on lj and the AO3 that doesn't spoil me for s4. He would be. (He's young, good looking, and goes through a lot of canonical hurt/comfort scenarios with big emphasis on the hurt.) But what I think is important is that the show itself doesn't do this. Oh, the show gives you plenty of reasons to feel sorry for Jesse, but it also points out Jesse's lot in life is very much of his own making (just as Walt's is). He became a small time meth dealer all on his lonesome, not because of Walt. Yes, his parents have written him off by now, but in the episodes they show up, starting with their introduction in mid season 1, it's made clear they tried to help him again and again before this, staged intervention after intervention, and at some point simply decided that there needed to be consequences. Jesse's fondness for children is an endearing trait, but he's still hypocritical when asking Andrea in s3 "what kind of a mother are you?" (and the show immediately lets Andrea point this out), because really, Jesse never bothers to find out whether or not the people he's selling what he himself describes as poison to are parents or not unless drastically confronted with the result as in the case of the s2 Peekaboo kid. For all that Walt is increasingly great at ruthless manipulation, the show gave us scenes showing Jesse being ruthlessly manipulative as well. Arguably the most chilling Jesse scene in three seasons is the one where he persuades the Native American girl at the gas station to try meth. And it's staged that way, as is his later attempt to persuade Andrea to fall from the wagon. But again, I'm not surprised to find this trait utterly lacking in what few fanfic presentations of Jesse I've read so far. It's the difference between fandom perception and on screen presentation striking again. And the way w're all watching, a lot of the time, what we want to see.
