Bingo! Tonight: All about the Hurt/Comfort and Pining
We are about to enter day ten of our BINGO challenge as I post. Have you picked a card yet? A topic?
One of our card sets this year is all about Hurt/Comfort and Pining! Separate but equally engaging fandom genres with rich histories.
Fanlore defines Hurt/Comfort as "a fanwork genre that involves the physical pain or emotional distress of one character, who is cared for by another character. The injury, sickness or other kind of hurt allows an exploration of the characters and their relationship." (https://fanlore.org/wiki/Hurt/Comfort)
I don't think they could have said it any better or more succinctly.
I'm a fan of the second half of that thought- what a hurt/comfort situation reveals about one of the characters, especially the traditionally tougher or stronger of the two. It's far less fun for me to put the more emotive/in touch half of a duo into a pickle. But lay the strong one out flat and show me how they deal with their predicament and I'm all in.
Still...there is something about the stronger character making a batch of soup and serving it up bedside that works for me just fine, too. Lol.
As for pining - I don't generally think of it as a genre I'm drawn to. But... my Star Trek: Strange New Worlds recently had an episode with La'an pining for a multiverse version of James T. Kirk that was more delicious than any five star meal. It was absolutely fan fiction levels of fine, fine pining- and I think I may watch it about ten more times before it could possibly stop hurting so good.
Do you have characters you particularly like to put in peril? Or explore them through the people they long for?
Has a particular show, novel or play surprised you with its hurt/comfort or pining goodness?
Here are the Rules and Cards for Bingo!
Hope they'll inspire, and I will be back with thoughts on our categories as we go!