Where Canon and Fanfic Meet
Feb. 8th, 2014 03:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmith Here's a discussion about canonical fanfic and noncanonical fanfic. It matches my observations that privileged people often try to keep the limelight for themselves, while underrepresented folks use fanfic as a way to explore stories that interest them but annoy the mainstream. This is particularly interesting given the rise of mainstream-released material with major fanfic markers such as shifting time period (Sherlock), genderbending and racebending (double-tap in Elementary), and insertion of original characters (The Hobbit Part 2).
(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-08 09:22 pm (UTC)Yes...
Date: 2014-02-09 07:36 am (UTC)Another thing I like is that I can mine fanfic to identify what readers love so much they will make more of themselves. Then I load that into my canons and fire away. So for instance, I have lots of chromatic and queer characters, and they get laid if they want to, and they don't die first.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-09 02:47 pm (UTC)If only Deep Space Nine had let Ezra have been male. But considering why the prior actress left being Dax, that would have required Romulans beaming into the studio. Like the knee-jerk away from Bashir and Garak, TPTB wanted The Gay away from the core (to better jetison?) And wtf about using a young girl as a narrative beard? (I can't recall if she was of age; regardless she was young enough to be his daughter. That she was Dukat's, it's not incest, but possible pawn isn't clean.)
Fanfic does give readers more authorial voices, and thus more lenses. Fandom has assisted me in unpacking lots of cultural baggage, knowing is always the first step.
Yes...
Date: 2014-02-10 08:22 am (UTC)I agree.
>> If only Deep Space Nine had let Ezra have been male. <<
Ezri to Ezra ... I'd ship that, especially pairing him with Julian.
The thing most people forget, though, is that Dax-and-host always have a dual sex/gender going on. I suspect that Trill, both species, have a fair number of genderfluid members. You'd need that to be comfortable bonding with someone of the opposite sex/gender/orientation.
So Dax-and-Jadzia were male and female. Jadzia chose male love interests. There were indications of past dynamics with other hosts. Jadzia Dax was splendid at clocking across the spectrum; there are conversations where she codeswitches from feminine to masculine, and across different sexual interests, which pretty reliably throws the listener into a mental skid.
Ezri, now, she never wanted to bond. She was pressured into it, and it wasn't comfortable. Well, Dax survived worse, but jeez, poor Ezri! I always suspected that part of that was sex/gender/orientation shear. Most people just don't have that kind of flexiblity, and things can rupture, and that's a problem.
>> But considering why the prior actress left being Dax, that would have required Romulans beaming into the studio. <<
Alas.
>> Like the knee-jerk away from Bashir and Garak, TPTB wanted The Gay away from the core (to better jetison?) And wtf about using a young girl as a narrative beard? (I can't recall if she was of age; regardless she was young enough to be his daughter. That she was Dukat's, it's not incest, but possible pawn isn't clean.) <<
On the bright side, Star Trek as a franchise remains my all-time favorite plot farm. They pick a great idea, walk right up to the awesome part -- and then stop short. This leaves the awesome free for other people to use, either in ST fanfic or in original writing.
>> Fanfic does give readers more authorial voices, and thus more lenses. Fandom has assisted me in unpacking lots of cultural baggage, knowing is always the first step. <<
Agreed. I honestly think that Star Trek begat Kirk/Spock, which begat all kinds of more slash over the decades, which taught generations of young folk to think that queer lovers are cute instead of demonspawn. And now we're putting state stars on the gay flag, and I am happy about that.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-02-10 08:41 am (UTC)It is rather like a T-ball game.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-02-12 07:47 pm (UTC)I hope so.
>> Ezri was just picked to save Dax being the right age and health in an emergency situation. <<
I thought she was the only Trill available.
>> Worf could had Operatic Klingon pain. Sisko could have gotten to a new plateau of dealing with Old Man, new woman, Green Man... <<
That would have been so awesome. Worf would have torn himself apart trying to process emotions for Jadzia/Dax/Ezra.
*ponder* I suddenly wonder if such things underlie the Trill having That Rule about not continuing relationships across a host change. I had always thought of it as a dumb plot device, but when I think about actual sociodynamics, yeah, people would tend to hurt themselves trying to jump that gap.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-02-12 09:27 pm (UTC)My understanding was that the hosts would be trapped going through a rotating me-you if the symbiotes didn't have Rules. There has to be room for Jadzia, not just Dax, and likewise for all the Trills. Recall also that there are fewer symbiotes than prospective Hosts, and while some people really shouldn't be Hosts, they've got the bar stated higher to quell demand.
See, and they could have had that just by choosing differently. But again, they wanted to go the way more traveled.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-02-13 04:07 am (UTC)That makes sense.
>> See, and they could have had that just by choosing differently. But again, they wanted to go the way more traveled. <<
As I've said before, this is why Star Trek is my favorite source for ideas that can be taken one step cooler.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-02-13 04:42 am (UTC)Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-02-13 06:13 am (UTC)Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-02-13 06:17 am (UTC)