Talking Meme: Day Seven

[gamma_x_orionis]

(Day three.  January seven.  It's too late for words apparently >.<)

Asked by philstar22: What are your least favorite fandom cliches and why

Comments

[gamma_x_orionis]

I know, right? That's why it seems so incredibly weird to me that, out of all the pairings I read, it's Rodolphus/Rabastan that is roughest on the canon spouse. Especially since it often seems like the nasty character traits foisted on Bellatrix in such stories are usually things like being overbearing and shrewish, rather than her canonical nasty character traits of being unfaithful and, you know, sadistic. It's so strange to me.

It's not even necessarily the fact that the characters are OOC that bothers me (that bothers me somewhat, but it's not my main issue) - it's when the OOC version of the character becomes more popular in the fandom than an accurately characterized version. GAH.

*Nods* I (OBVIOUSLY) see him indulging sexual urges with Bellatrix, but it's strange when he lets himself be overcome with them. I imagine him to be more the type to lie back and try not to show how much he's enjoying it, rather than pinning Bellatrix against any available surface and fucking her raw etc etc etc.

Clearly, the Marauders and Lily must have really LIKED Peter, or else they wouldn't have let him be the secret keeper! Like, do people really think that they would have entrusted James and Lily's lives to him if they thought for a moment that he was going to betray them?

[philstar22]

Honestly, there is a lot of bashing of female characters in certain parts of slash fandoms. Even female characters that have no canon relationships with the males being shipped together. So it may be a bit from sexism.

Oh, don't get me started on fanon!Draco. Ugh. Or fanon!Snape.

I really need a Bellatrix icon.

::goes hunting::

[gamma_x_orionis]

I would probably agree, if I didn't know that the worst victim of this kind of bashing is Ron, who just... Jesus Christ. Really hardcore anti-Ron people are scary. At least with the Rod/Rab people, they just dwell on how bad a wife Bellatrix is - I think the anti-Ron people actually want Ron to be murdered horribly or something. So I don't know, maybe it's sexism in some cases, but I'm more inclined to think that people are just stupid.

*Shudders dramatically* I try not to think about fanon!Snape if at all possible.

Good luck on your quest for Bellatrix icons!

[philstar22]

Oh, Ron gets it a lot. But he more gets it from het shippers than slashers. Ugh. I hate Ron bashing. And I see far too much of it since I happen to ship Harry/Hermione. I don't get it. I see it in a lot of non-canon ships. Why do you have to bash a character, there are plenty of ways to end relationships. Just because I don't want Ron with Hermione doesn't mean I think he's evil or a rapist or whatever. Although I think Ginny actually gets it worse than Ron. And so much of the Ginny bashing is filled with really gross comments that make me sick.

[gamma_x_orionis]

Well, yeah, he would get shit from het shippers, since he's married to Hermione.

GOD FORBID A CHARACTER GET AWAY WITH TEMPORARILY KEEPING ONE'S PERFECT OTP APART. GOD FORBID. THEY CAN NEVER BE HAPPY IF ONCE THEY GOT IN BETWEEN THE TIMELESS LOVE OF TWO OTHER CHARACTERS, AM I RIGHT?

I don't see as much outright Ginny bashing (I don't doubt it exists in large amounts, though - on the contrary), but I see a lot of Ginny misrepresentation, where people call her bland/a Mary Sue/"the girl who waited"??? (seems to pop up on tumblr graphics)/etc. Which ties back in to what I said about incorrect characterizations overpowering the characterizations in the books... in the books, Ginny was definitely not bland or complacent (one could probably argue that she was a Mary Sue, but one could argue that about most characters if one was really dedicated). But the movies butchered her, and the fandom ran with that characterization, and... yeah.

[philstar22]

Ginny gets called a slut for daring to date multiple boys and for being attractive. She gets called bland sometimes, but she also gets called bratty and selfish for the moments where she actually acts like a young girl or a teenager. She gets blamed for giving in to Tom when she was 11. She gets blamed for daring to dump Dean when she didn't like something he did. She gets insulted for being feminine and also sporty. Its really gross.

[gamma_x_orionis]

Yeah, that sounds pretty gross. I think Ginny-bashing might be going out of vogue, though (at least in the circles I find myself in) - out of all those, I think the only one I've seen someone actually espouse is that she's bratty/selfish.