Took me long enough to get to this...

[rj_anderson]

My (possibly) unpopular fannish opinions, in no particular order:

1. If the long-simmering resentment between your non-romantically-involved protagonists erupts in a screaming match, and then all of a sudden one throws the other up against the wall and kisses them savagely, that person is an abusive, self-centred, domineering jerk. And if the other person likes being treated that way -- which is unlikely -- they are in need of professional help. In any case, this kind of behaviour is no foundation for a romance.

2. All canonical evidence appears to indicate that Sirius and James were the inseparable pair at Hogwarts, and that the friendship between Remus and Sirius was not nearly as strong. (If it were, Sirius wouldn't have been nearly so miserable in OotP, nor would he and Remus feel such an obvious need to relive their past and resurrect James in their imaginations.) As a corollary, HP fandom needs more fics in which Remus and Sirius have an ordinary, platonic male friendship -- by which I mean that they do not feel the need to be together all the time, and there is a general lack of mucking about in each other's personal lives or talking about their feelings. If I never read another fic which depicts Remus and Sirius behaving like an old married couple, it will be too soon.

3. 3,000 pages of senseless misunderstandings, petty jealousies, yelling matches and shocking revelations does not constitute a viable plot. This is even more true when two-thirds of those pages are devoted to having your characters mope about and do stupid, destructive things because they're upset over the latest misunderstanding, fight, or shocking revelation. Many would-be epics would be greatly improved if introduced to a ruthlessly pragmatic and unsentimental editor armed with 14" pruning shears.

4. Syd/Vaughn is soppy and boring (sez the woman who wrote two S/V fics at the end of Season 1, back when the pairing was still interesting and Vaughn was a dynamic character instead of a forehead-furrowing millstone around Sydney's neck). Syd/Sark, while somewhat more interesting, veers dangerously close to the cliche I discussed in Opinion #1. If Syd had a functioning brain cell when it comes to romance, she would steel herself to get over Vaughn, resist any attraction she might feel to Sark, and start hanging out with Weiss more often. Even if nothing came of it, at least she'd have spent some quality time with a solid, caring friend who would help her shoulder her emotional burdens instead of dumping more angst on her.

5. Anime-style fan art has been done to death, especially in HP fandom. Can we please have more male character sketches with genuinely masculine features, a normal haircut, and/or visible body hair?

I seem to have run out of rants for the moment. I'll have to do the other five when I think of more...

Comments

[meril.livejournal.com]

1. Concurrence!!!!!! Which is why I don't read much romance out of the stuff that actually is romantic SF...get a new plot, y0.

3. I can get that out of a Harlequin romance, except it's 200 pages or less, and I only have to pay $0.69 at the charity shop for them--unlike the mounds of paper and printer ink that I find almost necessary to do to read long fic.

5. I like my pretty boys. I find that CLAMP and that Korean lady who draws Under a Glass Moon serve my needs on that end pretty well, and I don't have to look at HP characters to get it either.

Actually I used to like the anime-style HP fanart until around last year when I was looking at some Snape site--where he was actually wearing robes--and I commented to startredder "Is that Snape? It could possibly be mid-series Honor Harrington in a particularly bad green dress." I had to wash my mind out after that, and I didn't go looking for HP fanart again.

[drmm.livejournal.com]

*eyes #5*

But I like anime-style fan art. Of course, I like anime, which probably makes a big difference. I've never heard you talk about anime, so I'm assuiming you don't really care for anime. Thus, your tastes would be a bit different from mine. Of course, I'm honestly not a big fan of fan art in general ... Like movies, it tends to take away from how I see a character when I'm reading.

I kind of agree with number 1 and really agree with number 2 though. :)

[flourish.livejournal.com]

#3 - You said it, sister!

[dr-jekyl.livejournal.com]

Amen to numbers 1,2,3 & 5 (especially five!), and I have a feeling that the only reason I'm not saying 'amen' to number four as well is that I don't follow that fandom. #5 especially bugs me, if only because it tends to make the characters so... pretty.

[kerravonsen]

#1. Indeed. Not the foundation for a romance. At the very best, the foundation for a one-night-stand. But far more likely to be met with a slap in the face by any reasonable woman. And if the kisser was a woman, then that's really wierd. I'd suspect drugs. Or alien mind-control. Or any other reason which results in someone not being in their right mind.

#3. 3,000 pages of senseless misunderstandings, petty jealousies, yelling matches and shocking revelations does not constitute a viable plot.

Indeed, indeed. But it seems to be the staple of soap operas. Which is why I can't stand them. Nor Roswell, nor Beauty and the Beast -- though what really irritated me about Beauty and the Beast (I mean the TV series) was that Catherine was a self-pitying wishy-washy wimp. If she really loved Vincent, she should either have gone with him, or brought him out with her, and stared down anyone who dared to whisper about him. Humph!
(hmmm, got a bit carried away there...)
Buffy at its worst is also soap-opera-ish.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

I loved Beauty and the Beast when it first aired, and I was devastated when it ended in such an abrupt and stupid way. But a few years back I rented a video of two B&tB episodes and found myself squirming uncomfortably at the soppiness of it all. All those breathy conversations and long tortured glances did get pretty darn old after a while...

Vincent was purty, though, and Ron Perlman had a lovely voice.

[sff-corgi.livejournal.com]

[half-snarky] Y'know, for a minute, I thought she was referring to the Dementor-in-Hardcover. [/h-s]

[kerravonsen]

Huh?

[sff-corgi.livejournal.com]

...senseless misunderstandings, petty jealousies, yelling matches and shocking revelations...

Let's see -- Dumbledore not understanding Harry's need to know/Harry not opening Sirius's package and why/Snape; Cho's reaction to the name 'Hermione'; Harry and just about everybody; the scenes in the Dept. of Mysteries and in Dumbledore's office....

Sounds like Order of the Phoenix a lot, no? Gawd, I want to sit down half the characters and slap them for being idiots, I swear.

[nostalgia-lj.livejournal.com]

3. 3,000 pages of senseless misunderstandings, petty jealousies, yelling matches and shocking revelations does not constitute a viable plot. This is even more true when two-thirds of those pages are devoted to having your characters mope about and do stupid, destructive things because they're upset over the latest misunderstanding, fight, or shocking revelation. Many would-be epics would be greatly improved if introduced to a ruthlessly pragmatic and unsentimental editor armed with 14" pruning shears.

Burn the heretic!

[siriologist.livejournal.com]

#2 Yes, yes, yes, and yes! Jeez. I am so with you on this one. Yes, I understand that Sirius and Remus are bonded over their grief, but for at least 12 years they suspected the other was the one who betrayed James. How close could they have been if they truly believed that. And very true on the OoP observations. I adore Sirius, but absolutely see his and Remus' relationship as a typical male - male platonic friendship.

#5 Yes on this too. I am too old, I think, to appreciate anime. I was first introduced to anime through Pokemon and my kids so I see that and find very little intellectually redeeming about anime, granted I know its out there, but... so I just can't look at HP anime and take it seriously. I recommend Lisa Rourke and Kristin (chamber of keys) for non-anime HP artwork.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

*looks wistfully at your icon* I am so bummed out that Jason Carter didn't get to play Sirius. I'm sure Gary Oldman will do a fine job, but if anyone could make me like Sirius again, it would be Jason. Back when I was watching B5, Marcus/Ivanova was so my OTP. Sigh.

[siriologist.livejournal.com]

Isn't he marvelous, and he just matches my metal image of Sirius. I need to look for B5 reruns as I never saw it when it was running. I also need to rent some of Gary Oldman's work. I hear he's a great actor, but...sigh...

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

*gasps* You mean... you haven't actually seen Jason as Marcus yet?

Oh man, are you in for a treat.

"Did I mention that my nose is on fire? And that I have wild ferrets living in my trousers?"

*snickers*

[sff-corgi.livejournal.com]

[surpressed squeeage]

You lot know that Season 3 is out on Region 1 DVD, right? Expensive, but there's got to be a B5 geek close enough....

(siriologist, aren't we within a few hours of each other??)

[ambyr.livejournal.com]

4. To my eyes, Vaughn has been wrong for Syd since season one, when he taped private statements she gave him in confidence for use as evidence against her will. Sorry, that's not something you do to even a casual friend, much less someone you "love." Especially not given that that particular piece of "evidence" was essentially worthless, and the sum total of evidence they'd gathered built a case was more shaky than a two-legged chair. . . .

So, yes. Syd/Weiss. . .or Syd/SOMEONE who shows her some respect.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Ooh, good point. I had forgotten about that.

My biggest problem with Vaughn as a match for Sydney is that he just drags her down, down, down all the time. He doesn't do one thing to alleviate her angst, all he does is dump his angst all over her as well. I think the moment when I actively stopped liking him was when he delivered that line to Syd in S2 about how "I don't like it when people question my loyalty. It makes me insane," and then he acted like a pouty three-year-old about the key he'd been planning to give her. Sheesh, GROW UP already...

#5

[sff-corgi.livejournal.com]

Look! Male body hair! *snicker*

http://www.sugarquill.net/viewa.php?artid=347
http://www.sugarquill.net/viewa.php?artid=315

Re: #5

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

EWWWWW!!!

*sporks eyeballs*

[chresimos.livejournal.com]

2. Ah, yes. This bothers me a lot. I suppose it could work in post-PoA type stories, because of the 'we are the only ones left, woe' factor, but I find it really hard to accept Marauder-level Sirius and Remus. Sirius and James were always the closest. I don't think it's common for teenagers to have group friendships with equal four-way affection, anyway, and in OotP Remus and Peter looked a lot like tagalongs.

5. This used to annoy me, too, because so much fanart seems to be anime-based, and so often doesn't give you any idea of the character because the style seems sort of...formulaic? I think I'm used to it, now, though, I think it just depends on the quality of the piece in question. *shrug* Have read your later post, too.

hair

[ravensnape.livejournal.com]

I gave him hair...Dobby messed it up!!!

Ancient Prophecy chapter 12:
"No, Dobby. No need," he sighed with frustration. Harry had almost forgotten the one good thing about being unconscious in the Hospital Wing. No Dobby to take care of him. If that's what you could call it--killing him with kindness sounded more like it. Madam Pomfrey had banned Dobby from the Hospital Ward Harry's sixth year after an unfortunate accident involving a shaving spell Dobby had used on him while there. Harry still didn't have any hair on his chest thanks to that one.