Hiding from the Clue Bats
Jul. 6th, 2008 10:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thefroggIs there a middle ground between 'hide it or die (or be fired, or whatever)' and 'so accepted we must act like infatuated teenagers'?
I don't know, maybe it's a limitation of the fandoms I indulge in. Most seem to have rules against either homosexual relations or fraternization or both, or at least strong prejudice against them: military (SG-1, SGA, Transformers 2007) or law enforcement (Criminal Minds, CSI:X, etc.). Theoretically, part of the attraction of pairings in these situations is the fact that they're taboo, against regs, rebellious, etc. Whether or not such relationships would actually have dire consequences doesn't seem to have much of an impact on these.
The lack of such rules and/or prejudice largely seems to push the relationship in the other direction.
Star Wars, Star Trek (mostly ToS), some RPS (mainly J2 and LotRiPS), HP, Babylon 5...many of these are set in societies where homosexuality and/or fraternization is (or should be) accepted. And, from what I've read, writers interpret that kind of freedom as giving them carte blanche to write the characters as, well, infatuated teenagers. From openly affectionate looks and physical contact beyond what friendship can excuse, to holding hands and kissing, to making out and sitting in each other's laps...that kind of general warm and fuzzy gets on my nerves.
Sometimes, writers in the military/law enforcement fandoms decide to mirror the mores and cultural values of the far future and alternate reality fandoms. In these cases, the characters' team/group/circle of friends finds out and is all "OMG YAY! so happy that the partners are In Luuuurve.::swoons::" This often involves their friends defending the couple against outside threats.
::gag::
My problem with this is not that I'm reading bad!fic. Or crack!fic. Or that what I'm reading is written by fifteen-year-olds. A lot of it's done tastefully. It's not gratuitous, it's not jarring, or extreme, but a lot of the characters that succumb to these PDAs...are not people I can see indulging in them. These are typical men in traditionally masculine roles who start not acting like it, but in ways that don't make them seem out of character until the reader takes a step back and thinks. Even pet names only used in private may become an issue, if use becomes habit and either or both partners routinely get into dangerous situations.
The only reason for this happening I can think of is that the author is deliberately or subconsciously trying to push on-screen or canon chemistry firmly into the realm of romantic/sexual attraction -- by having the partners advertise it to other characters or the reader. And it's really not necessary, because that chemistry was what had us think of them as in lust/in love/attracted/married/whatever in the first place.
Is there a middle ground between these two? Is there fic out there where the couple in question doesn't have to hide their relationship on pain of separation, in one way or another, but also doesn't feel the need to advertise it? Where the couple just get on with their lives and treat their relationship as a given, but have no need to relentlessly beat everyone around them with a huge bat of clue? When did it become not enough for the partners to be secure in their love/relationship to not have to do this?
I know there is some fic out there not at either end of the spectrum. The one that I keep having to come back to is James Walkswithwind's Bruce Wayne/Dick Grayson fic Wherever You Stand a Hundred Shall Fall, which makes a point of it in the actual narrative. I don't think I've ever written either 'have to hide' or 'infatuated teenagers' fic, but since fic which avoids either end of the spectrum is one of my major kinks, that kind of goes without saying.
I have no idea where I'm going with this, other than that writing these essays helps me to understand why things bother me.
So what do you guys think?
I don't know, maybe it's a limitation of the fandoms I indulge in. Most seem to have rules against either homosexual relations or fraternization or both, or at least strong prejudice against them: military (SG-1, SGA, Transformers 2007) or law enforcement (Criminal Minds, CSI:X, etc.). Theoretically, part of the attraction of pairings in these situations is the fact that they're taboo, against regs, rebellious, etc. Whether or not such relationships would actually have dire consequences doesn't seem to have much of an impact on these.
The lack of such rules and/or prejudice largely seems to push the relationship in the other direction.
Star Wars, Star Trek (mostly ToS), some RPS (mainly J2 and LotRiPS), HP, Babylon 5...many of these are set in societies where homosexuality and/or fraternization is (or should be) accepted. And, from what I've read, writers interpret that kind of freedom as giving them carte blanche to write the characters as, well, infatuated teenagers. From openly affectionate looks and physical contact beyond what friendship can excuse, to holding hands and kissing, to making out and sitting in each other's laps...that kind of general warm and fuzzy gets on my nerves.
Sometimes, writers in the military/law enforcement fandoms decide to mirror the mores and cultural values of the far future and alternate reality fandoms. In these cases, the characters' team/group/circle of friends finds out and is all "OMG YAY! so happy that the partners are In Luuuurve.::swoons::" This often involves their friends defending the couple against outside threats.
::gag::
My problem with this is not that I'm reading bad!fic. Or crack!fic. Or that what I'm reading is written by fifteen-year-olds. A lot of it's done tastefully. It's not gratuitous, it's not jarring, or extreme, but a lot of the characters that succumb to these PDAs...are not people I can see indulging in them. These are typical men in traditionally masculine roles who start not acting like it, but in ways that don't make them seem out of character until the reader takes a step back and thinks. Even pet names only used in private may become an issue, if use becomes habit and either or both partners routinely get into dangerous situations.
The only reason for this happening I can think of is that the author is deliberately or subconsciously trying to push on-screen or canon chemistry firmly into the realm of romantic/sexual attraction -- by having the partners advertise it to other characters or the reader. And it's really not necessary, because that chemistry was what had us think of them as in lust/in love/attracted/married/whatever in the first place.
Is there a middle ground between these two? Is there fic out there where the couple in question doesn't have to hide their relationship on pain of separation, in one way or another, but also doesn't feel the need to advertise it? Where the couple just get on with their lives and treat their relationship as a given, but have no need to relentlessly beat everyone around them with a huge bat of clue? When did it become not enough for the partners to be secure in their love/relationship to not have to do this?
I know there is some fic out there not at either end of the spectrum. The one that I keep having to come back to is James Walkswithwind's Bruce Wayne/Dick Grayson fic Wherever You Stand a Hundred Shall Fall, which makes a point of it in the actual narrative. I don't think I've ever written either 'have to hide' or 'infatuated teenagers' fic, but since fic which avoids either end of the spectrum is one of my major kinks, that kind of goes without saying.
I have no idea where I'm going with this, other than that writing these essays helps me to understand why things bother me.
So what do you guys think?
