Firefly River vs. Serenity River : fanfic portrayal
POSTED BY: EmpireX
UPDATED: Thursday, March 8, 2007 02:01
VIEWED: 30380
PAGE 7 of 10
Quote:I'm beating a dead issue here, but it's River's mental age that's the issue, not her years-old age.
Originally posted by bugchicklv:
FYI Mercedes McNab is only one year older than Summer and yet he was shown half-nekkid in bed with her in Angel. Wife didn't kill him then. And Jewel is a year YOUNGER than Summer. But those people who draw the line on Rayne SIMPLY BECAUSE of the age thing (and yet go nuts over Raylee) seem to forget that.
Edit to add: the age of the actors is irrelevant. We're talking about the characters here!
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Plus, I happen to worship Adam while finding Nathan just ok.
*gasp* wipes eyes, looks again...
Just okay?
*minor cardiac arrest*
OK, I'm recovering... LOL!
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But I guess what I am saying here is who's to say what is Out Of Character?
Defining OOC five years down the road - sure, not possible. I don't think anyone's trying to do that! But OOC during the series and movie and within a short time after... that can certainly be argued. I mean, if Mal randomly started flitting around the ship in a tutu and pointe shoes right after the movie ends, that's OOC. It may be fun, and write it if you want, but it's certainly OOC.
The argument I have is with fics where - right after the movie - River attacks Jayne and they fall madly in love forever and ever and make lots of babies. Sure, fun porn and fantasy, go ahead and write it. But it's OOC. IMO.
Quote:LOL! Good lord. Bring in on you crazy person!
ARRRRGH! I am determined to write the cow/Jayne thing (but from the cows' perspective). Can't help it...I wrote about Binky reeeeeally liking the licky-thing, and Vera being jealous of Boo (sorta)--so this is 100% a natural evolution.
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I'm the president. I don't need to listen.
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Hey Mal, I know YOU are talking about the mental age thing, but the poster I was replying to mentioned Adam's wife having a cow (cow? ARRRGH! They're everywhere!!) and I just had to clear that up.
But I did say that I believe Jayne was emotionally stunted and I think he and River might be on a level playing field, though not when it comes to life experience. Both conditions I think could be cause for some interesting fic.
I tend to read fanfic on Livejournal and it's been a long while since I've seen a "Kill the reavers, fix the ship, OMG JAYNE IS HOT, lets have babies" fic.
Maybe that is different here and is what the hullabuloo is all about...
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"Do you know what the chain of command is here? It's the chain I go get and beat you with to show you who's in ruttin' command."
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Quote:
Originally posted by bugchicklv:
I tend to read fanfic on Livejournal and it's been a long while since I've seen a "Kill the reavers, fix the ship, OMG JAYNE IS HOT, lets have babies" fic.
Maybe that is different here and is what the hullabuloo is all about...
Speaking for myself only: I have particular tastes, and it seems like there isn't a lot besides romantic type fics here lately. Even adventure stuff tends to be couple oriented... you know, a heavy dose of the lover worrying over the loved one and lots of making up after. That can be nice, but I'm a little burnt out with it.
I don't know my way around LiveJournal - I've tried but it seems hard. I'll find a fic I like but I can't manage to get a list of other fics by that author. I guess I'm just LiveJournal challenged LOL!
I figure whinging about what I'd like to read might help my cause... either that or make people really hate me.
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I'm the president. I don't need to listen.
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If you like Gen/Action then you should try
http://community.livejournal.com/ff_fanfic/
or
http://community.livejournal.com/afterserenity/
But I find that keeping an eye out for the daily post at
http://community.livejournal.com/the_cortex/
is usually enough to find out what's being written. And the mods group things well, and always let us know when something is gen, het, slash etc.
I think there is also a community called the crack van that provides EXCELLENT referrals--you just have to wade through the 40thousand OTHER fandoms being recced every month.
http://community.livejournal.com/crack_van/
There's also a website/community for a virtual season 2 called "Freedom is What?"--with REALLY good episodes. Some of the writing is PHENOMENAL. And there usually ain't much by way of fluffy in them.
http://community.livejournal.com/freedom_is_what/
Just a few suggestions. These might not be what you're looking for, and if not just do an interest search or look for other communities.
There are soooooo many communities at LJ that are dedicated to Firefly so if you enter that in the search space, Good luck!!
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"Do you know what the chain of command is here? It's the chain I go get and beat you with to show you who's in ruttin' command."
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Don't forget the folks with Virtual Firefly, either! Their writing just keeps improving, and it's the only fanfic I've read that feels very cannon (which is really, really, really saying a lot... really).
http://www.stillflying.net
Rules: http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=22892
Voting: http://www.wunschliste.de/index.pl?vote&r=09
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Thanks for posting the other fic sites bugchicklv.
more often than less, I find nothing here but lack of plot, poor characterizations, unfit dialogue, unbelievable sexual pairing (I need a mind trojan for some) fantasy OCs that I care nothing about, off beat tone and theme for this verse...I think you get the picture....but once in a while I stumble upon a fic from a young writer that has depth and passion and it makes up for all the shallow watered ones I've had to wade through...for any new writer, to this verse, I would suggest short plot driven stories with canon pairings, otherwise you stand the chance of losing your audience or narrowing it down to the few readers that want Jayne/Cow
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Been out of this thread for a spell. Like to walk it a while.
I believe AgentRouka said it best: certain fanfic is written out-of-character for the sake of fulfilling a certain preferred scenario.
There's something else I read:
"Take one teenage girl. Put her in close proximity to a charming, funny, handsome, protective war hero." Etc.
When I read this, my heart sank into my shoes. Not because of any perceived perviness or anything, but because of a realization I just had. One that brought me back to the fabric of Firefly.
Let's say, for the limited scope of this thread, that there are only two loves: Love, and the stuff surrounding making love. The part where my heart sank to my feet, is where it dawned upon me that the very fabric of Firefly is uprooted on a much more fundamental level even than I initially realized. In a nutshell (and somewhat over-generalized, to make the point): Firefly is about Love, vs. the majority of fanfic being about making love.
Why does having this sink in dishearten me so? Because, well, I think the magic which is Firefly is seated in being the opposite of pretty much everything else in Hollywood: it's about Love, and not the making love. The former is about having deep, tender, ineffable feelings of affection for people, and letting those feelings be real enough to do right by your teenage crew member, even if you don't figure the percentage. Or even if it costs you. The latter is about, well, Imponderables and Water Coolers. :)
They say in Hollywood there's really only 1 story: "The delayed frak" (slightly censored) as they call it. So, who could blame our fanfic writers for going that route? Not me. Don't mean I don't cringe at this schism between what may well be the one-and-only true Love story ever told, Firefly, and the predominant emotion of sex and romance near exclusively exploited in fanfic.
So I'd say, Take one teenage girl. Put her in close proximity to a charming, funny, handsome, protective war hero. And then... make it about Love, not making love. Like our genius man Joss did. I'll look forward to reading that. Don't expect to find me near the water cooler, though.
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"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam
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Quote:
Originally posted by bugchicklv:Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Can somebody point me in the direction of the Jayne/cow stories?
Working on it.
No, really.
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"Do you know what the chain of command is here? It's the chain I go get and beat you with to show you who's in ruttin' command."
GREAT!
Hey with a name like BUGCHICKLUV maybe you can hook a brother up with some Jayne/Chicken stories too?
"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." http://www.myspace.com/6ixstringjack
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Quote:
Originally posted by asarian:
So I'd say, Take one teenage girl. Put her in close proximity to a charming, funny, handsome, protective war hero. And then... make it about Love, not making love. Like our genius man Joss did. I'll look forward to reading that. Don't expect to find me near the water cooler, though.
That is beautifully said.
A lovely post entirely, in fact!
While I love fluff and sex as much as the next girl (and I have written lots of fluff), the stories that really move me are the ones where that is secondary to the actual, unsexual nature of love and how that allows people to be more than before. To let go and forgive and provide space and lend safety.
Exploring River and Mal and NOT adding in the "hot, nubile, bendy, barely legal teenaged girl" factor that no red-blooded man can supposedly resist - now that's refreshing, brave and original writing I would love to see.
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Well, that's partly what I am trying to do I'm three stories into my arc, and so far, Mal has just registered River is more than a killing machine/fabulous pilot. He got all snotty and over-protective when she expressed interest in a boy, but he's still convinced it's because he's the captain and in charge, blah blah.
I think the Serenity River was a condensed version of what the character evolution would have been, had the series continued. The sweet little girl we see in the first R Tam session is absolutely heart-breaking, when you see the fragmented, scared and confused nutjob we get later. But once River embraces that part of herself ('my turn') and begins to control it, instead of it controlling her...
Firefly is about a family. And I don't think any fic has to be purely about bed-hopping, space-spawn and a line drawn under the 'happy-ever-after'. All these people are recovering from something, be it war, bereveament, sanctioned torture or abandonment, adjusting to a life together.
BTW, the bit about the wife referred to Jayne's wife, and was a blatant self-promotion for my fic.
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