Lo-Fi, language and Merlin

[b_hallward]

I've been thinking lately about Americanisms/American spelling in Merlin fics. Modern!AUs set in Britain clearly need to avoid them, but for Merlin itself? Should we all really be pulling out armour and colour?

I'm curious because I've never written any show that registered as deeply and peculiarly British to me, refraining by active and willful

Comments

[stealingpennies]

FWIW, this particular reader (Brit) skates right over spelling differences but language usage can jar - as you point out. I suspect that (a lot of the time) where people pick up on spelling it's because the overall story hasn't worked and it's a convenient tag to hang the problem on.

For Merlin you can pretty much do as you like. After all, that's what the show does. :)

[b_hallward]

I can relate to the jarring quality of American usages; back when I read SPN there be stories that, while carefully Americanized, would have a contraction or some such tiny detail that was just off, particularly when used in dialogue. Yet I never found that it prevented me from enjoying an otherwise good story.

After all, that's what the show does.

True that. *g* Oh silly show, why do I love you?

[p_zeitgeist]

Merlin is so clearly set in the great funhouse-mirror parallel universe of Madeitupistan that I think we are really free to do as we like with it. If the show's creators meant anything, they have to have meant the romantic Middle Ages of the collective childhood subconscious, built out of layer after layer of Popular Culture Getting It Wrong in the most elaborate and decorative ways possible. Brilliant colors and universal literacy; improbable safety railings; references to "science" (complete with the occasional moment when Gaius and Uther appear to be channeling Mulder and Scully); exquisite castles without anything resembling the economy or government necessary to support them.

I say, forget the Britishisms. British English is as clearly optional as anything else in this universe. And hell: if for some reason one were to try for the sort of fidelity to place and assumed time that the show does not, there would be even more of an argument for ignoring British spelling. After all, when does standardized spelling even appear in

[b_hallward]

funhouse-mirror parallel universe of Madeitupistan

I laugh, because it's true.

exquisite castles without anything resembling the economy or government necessary to support them

But it's like a graven invitation to fandom: we'll provide the pretty boys with sparkling chemistry and leave you plenty of (utterly) blank canvas. Go nuts. Canon compliance? Pfft. As long as it's somewhere in the vast Matter of Britain, you're golden.

It's said that Chaucer had at least some influence in establishing the London dialect as a literary language, and perhaps even a very faint standardizing effect, but spell-as-you-feel lasts up until the 18th century. Though you know you're a hopeless dork when, upon sneaking a line of Latin into a fic, you actually get sucked back into the what-century-is-this debate based on the degree of shift from classical to medieval Latin. *despairs* Dear Self: it's Madeitupistan.

[p_zeitgeist]

based on the degree of shift from classical to medieval Latin.

I think it's hard-wired. If I were a sufficiently accomplished Latinist I'd be doing it too. As it is, I do the same sort of flailing around questions of legal language: is there anything Latinate in the history of this corner of Madeitupistan? What about law French? And where the hell is the Chancellor, anyway, and can I make an argument that the archivist dude whose name I've never caught is in fact Uther's Chancellor?

All this from the throwaway at the beginning of episode 9, where it turns out that Arthur's investiture includes his oath to uphold the laws and statutes of Camelot. And my brain, as is its wont, dumped everything else that might have been happening in that scene to seize upon the one bit it recognized as a Useful Fact: Yessss! It's a common law jurisdiction!!

Because I flagged this for later.

[b_hallward]

[NB: I was about to post this when I heard how your week's been. So I'm not sure I really expect you to read this. Like a said below: nattering.]

can I make an argument that the archivist dude

That guy is the show trying to be cute: Geoffrey the librarian/chronicler. As in, you know...

And I must admit I missed the reference to statutes entirely. Because I was distracted by the pretty. Because I am shallow.

is there anything Latinate in the history of this corner of Madeitupistan? What about law French?I do get the feeling the show must be set in the post-Roman era. And one thing that interests me is that if you do accept the 6th-century dating, then it's nearly contemporaneous with Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis (not that it could have had any influence but it does say something about the state of Roman law at the time). Official Roman control would have been absence for--what?--one or two hundred years? So you'd be dealing with "Anglo-Saxon" law, which interestingly tended to be written in the vernacular--and not Latin--but

[merelyn]

Interesting post, and I agree with most of it. I haven’t written in a British fandom (or much at all, really) since my Harry Potter days- and I don’t think my 18 year old self would have thought much about language rhythms. (I probably just sprinkled a lot of “bloody”s and “shite”s in there and thought I got away with it- ha.). As a general rule I don’t think American writers need to adopt British spelling in fics- and the same goes from British writers in American fandoms. My brain tends to skip over things like that pretty easily. However, word choice and language patterns are things that are both so instinctive and nuanced that even with a good Brit-picker I’d still feel self conscious about writing in a British fandom myself.

In terms of how British Merlin is, I will say that actually the AUs where everone is American bother me slightly. Merlin the show may not have much cultural coherence, but Merlin and Arthur and Gwen and Morgana come from such a very British source that there’s a part of me that feels weird when I see them

[b_hallward]

even with a good Brit-picker I’d still feel self conscious about writing in a British fandom myself.

Yes, that's exactly how I feel. I don't think I could write it credibly.

The one American AU I like is franticsga's Be Resigned. I've never thought about it much, but it's interesting to have the Matter of Britain being culturally co-opted, wildly and even violently, though I suppose really that's nothing new. Even if our latest versions have a lot more sex. Even than the French.

[merelyn]

Be Resigned is actually exactly the fic I was thinking of when I commented! I love it, but it's hard for me to fully immerse myself in the story when I can't quite hear the characters talking in American accents. (Also, in terms of cultural appropriation, it's possible that the fact that it's a American military AU bizarrely makes it feel more political to me than it otherwise would? I don't know.)

[b_hallward]

The political aspects of that story are awkward. But I so love Arthur as a workaholic who is just dorkily into what he does--a horrible weakness of mine in modern!AUs--that I like the story anyway. (Though it probably also helps that I have no ear for accents, which I suppose is part of the original panic at attempting to write across the pond.)