Before you throw things at me, let me add that she is pretty cool. I *LIKE* her. One of my favorite dS threesome-fics is Fraser/RayK/Elaine. (guh)
But as with so many women characters in television, she is mostly filler. Which is a shame. The list you give up above are good reasons why she SHOULD be awesome. To be perfectly honest, I would have much rather had the main female components on the show be Elaine and Thatcher, not Frannie and Thatcher. (sorry, Frannie fans...she just rakes my nerves. Nothing personal!)
And, if there was one woman in Chicago who had a real chance at Fraser, it was Elaine -- in some ways I think of her as the mature, female version of Kowalski. I don't think I can back that up at ALL with canon (I'm still too new to the show), it is just how I think of her. She has that world-weary but big-hearted feel to her, with a bit of funky charm thrown in. And you KNOW she can dance. :)
Over in Life on Mars I wrote a "fix it" long!fic about the character Annie, about whom I have similar feelings. It was a threesome with the two male leads (happy threesome ending and all! *snicker*), and I wrote it as a challenge to myself to flesh Annie out into something bigger and deeper and more real. In that vein, I would LOVE to see a fic like that featuring Elaine, Fraser and either of the Rays. She deserves it.
My 2 cents. Don't mean to rock the boat or anything.
The point of this community is to celebrate the women of dS. Because the show and the fandom constantly overlooks them. Except for Frannie who I am not a huge fan of.
Victoria gets reduced to 'Oh she's evil' and 'Oh she's a bitch.' And people find reasons why Fraser didn't love her, why she never loved Fraser and so on. We miss the complexity behind her.
Thatcher was badly wirtten in canon too. There are a few F/T shippers out there but really they are nonexistant in the slash land that is LJ.
And so to Elaine who did all of the above in canon. She doesn't get as much time as Fraser, Ray (I'm thinking more seasons 1& 2 here as she didn't appear much in season 3), Welsh, Frannie or Thatcher but she probably gets as much time as Gardino, and sometimes Huey do in some episodes.
We learn things about through those small things. To me the best moments for Elaine are like in Witness. There she is, in the car, she's clearly just got out of the shower and Fraser is handing her hair products. Ray is smiling at her and shes whining about her day off. She's whining about her day off like Ray Vecchio does but there she is, in the car, willing to go to central records to help Ray out. She even goes to the courthouse to give the notebooks to Ray.
That is a prime exmaple of her being a filler but in an awesome way. We've got parallels with Ray Vecchio in the way she whines but does it anyway. We've seen the same sort of thing in Chicago Holiday.
We don't see much of her but that doesn't mean what we don't see isn't interesting. And worthwhile. That's why I made this post so we could look at the good things. The little things perhaps but still things that celebrate the secondary female characters like Elaine as the fandom pretty much ignores them. I can think of a only a handful of F/V fics that even feature Elaine in any capacity.
The whole show was never designed to be an ensemble piece and the first season it was basically the Ray and Fraser show with side characters. Season 2 introduced some more regulars but Thatcher doesn't appear that much, nor does Frannie really. In season 3 the other characters do get a bit more to do but that point Elaine was leaving to be a cop. And she'd be a damn good one. But really in the first two seasons Huey, Gardino and Welsh and Moffat etc. aren't that fleshed out either.
I wouldn't say she's a female version of Kowalski. I don't find her world weary. She seems to be self aware in a way Frannie isn't. She is mature, yes but world weary? Don't see it. I see her wanting to be something more than she is perhaps. After-all looking things up on the computer must be boring sometimes when the guys out doing fieldwork but she is biding her time, paying her dues. She even gets some development in that area as she ends up accompanying Huey in The Duel. I always remember that she isn;t that old. The actress was only 23 I think when she did dS so in terms of careerness Eliane is there at the bottom and works her way up.
I am one of only about 4 F/V/E shippers. It is my OT3. I've written a couple of fics with them and will be writing more. Thing is in that relationship she is the one in charge really. It's the boys trying to please her and in return she understanding them. I really love the dynamic we see in canon (albeit briefly) and enjoy trying to take it further. She is the only logical female choice for Fraser when you weigh it up and it's logical for Ray too. She does for Ray (and Fraser) what Ray does for Fraser.
And yeah she can dance. She's a great catch.
There was more I wanted to say but it has slipped my mind.
*thinky*
*thinky*
I have to admit, I don't think she is awesome.
Before you throw things at me, let me add that she is pretty cool. I *LIKE* her. One of my favorite dS threesome-fics is Fraser/RayK/Elaine. (guh)
But as with so many women characters in television, she is mostly filler. Which is a shame. The list you give up above are good reasons why she SHOULD be awesome. To be perfectly honest, I would have much rather had the main female components on the show be Elaine and Thatcher, not Frannie and Thatcher. (sorry, Frannie fans...she just rakes my nerves. Nothing personal!)
And, if there was one woman in Chicago who had a real chance at Fraser, it was Elaine -- in some ways I think of her as the mature, female version of Kowalski. I don't think I can back that up at ALL with canon (I'm still too new to the show), it is just how I think of her. She has that world-weary but big-hearted feel to her, with a bit of funky charm thrown in. And you KNOW she can dance. :)
Over in Life on Mars I wrote a "fix it" long!fic about the character Annie, about whom I have similar feelings. It was a threesome with the two male leads (happy threesome ending and all! *snicker*), and I wrote it as a challenge to myself to flesh Annie out into something bigger and deeper and more real. In that vein, I would LOVE to see a fic like that featuring Elaine, Fraser and either of the Rays. She deserves it.
My 2 cents. Don't mean to rock the boat or anything.
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Victoria gets reduced to 'Oh she's evil' and 'Oh she's a bitch.' And people find reasons why Fraser didn't love her, why she never loved Fraser and so on. We miss the complexity behind her.
Thatcher was badly wirtten in canon too. There are a few F/T shippers out there but really they are nonexistant in the slash land that is LJ.
And so to Elaine who did all of the above in canon. She doesn't get as much time as Fraser, Ray (I'm thinking more seasons 1& 2 here as she didn't appear much in season 3), Welsh, Frannie or Thatcher but she probably gets as much time as Gardino, and sometimes Huey do in some episodes.
We learn things about through those small things. To me the best moments for Elaine are like in Witness. There she is, in the car, she's clearly just got out of the shower and Fraser is handing her hair products. Ray is smiling at her and shes whining about her day off. She's whining about her day off like Ray Vecchio does but there she is, in the car, willing to go to central records to help Ray out. She even goes to the courthouse to give the notebooks to Ray.
That is a prime exmaple of her being a filler but in an awesome way. We've got parallels with Ray Vecchio in the way she whines but does it anyway. We've seen the same sort of thing in Chicago Holiday.
We don't see much of her but that doesn't mean what we don't see isn't interesting. And worthwhile. That's why I made this post so we could look at the good things. The little things perhaps but still things that celebrate the secondary female characters like Elaine as the fandom pretty much ignores them. I can think of a only a handful of F/V fics that even feature Elaine in any capacity.
The whole show was never designed to be an ensemble piece and the first season it was basically the Ray and Fraser show with side characters. Season 2 introduced some more regulars but Thatcher doesn't appear that much, nor does Frannie really. In season 3 the other characters do get a bit more to do but that point Elaine was leaving to be a cop. And she'd be a damn good one. But really in the first two seasons Huey, Gardino and Welsh and Moffat etc. aren't that fleshed out either.
I wouldn't say she's a female version of Kowalski. I don't find her world weary. She seems to be self aware in a way Frannie isn't. She is mature, yes but world weary? Don't see it. I see her wanting to be something more than she is perhaps. After-all looking things up on the computer must be boring sometimes when the guys out doing fieldwork but she is biding her time, paying her dues. She even gets some development in that area as she ends up accompanying Huey in The Duel. I always remember that she isn;t that old. The actress was only 23 I think when she did dS so in terms of careerness Eliane is there at the bottom and works her way up.
I am one of only about 4 F/V/E shippers. It is my OT3. I've written a couple of fics with them and will be writing more. Thing is in that relationship she is the one in charge really. It's the boys trying to please her and in return she understanding them. I really love the dynamic we see in canon (albeit briefly) and enjoy trying to take it further. She is the only logical female choice for Fraser when you weigh it up and it's logical for Ray too. She does for Ray (and Fraser) what Ray does for Fraser.
And yeah she can dance. She's a great catch.
There was more I wanted to say but it has slipped my mind.
Reply
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