Woodward, Bernstein, and Deep Throat. Does Watergate fic exist? If not, why not?
[ETA: It does exist!
freakishgeek not only provided a lovely pimp of "All The President's Men" (complete with screencaps) but also wrote a story! "(Not the) Pink Shell Motel" is
Investigative journalists, doing awesome groundbreaking persistent investigatory stuff! Making history! Putting the Watergate scandal on the national consciousness! (And, also, in this version, they done sex!) Yay!]
- Not only would slash come ready made with it's own porny fic titles; and
- not only does one potential pairing come with a ready made name (already in use by non-slashy people: Woodstein); and
- not only do accounts of their relationships abound with drama, danger, intrigue, and loyalty into which slashers can easily (mis)read romance; and
- not only did the movie, All The President's Men star Robert Redford (a good enough reason for fic in itself) and Dustin Hoffman,
(Also take a look at: http://images.art.com/images/products/large/10101000/10101671.jpg)
which allows the non-RPSers to play in the movie rather than the history; but also
- the guys did really good work and were pretty damn cute: http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/research/fa/images/woodstein_photograph.jpg (they're watching TV intently. Together. They're being fannish! News-fans, but still!)
Some quotes from
the Washington Post article after Deep Throat's true identity was revealed in 2005:
"Mark Felt at that time was a dashing gray-haired figure," Woodward recalled, and his experience as an anti-Nazi spy hunter early in his career at the FBI had endowed him with a whole bag of counterintelligence tricks.
...
a relationship he [Woodward] describes as intense and sometimes troubling
...
the "accident of history" that connected a young reporter fresh from the suburbs to a man whom many FBI agents considered the best choice to succeed the legendary J. Edgar Hoover as director of the bureau. Woodward and Felt met by chance, he said, but their friendship quickly became
...
For decades, Woodward, Bernstein and Benjamin C. Bradlee... maintained that they would not disclose [Deepthroat's] identity until after his death. "We've kept that secret because we keep our word," Woodward said.
Sigh. So many stories, so little time.
[ETA: Hi,
freakishgeek. I had no idea you had me friended. Waves. Anyway, thank you again for the story!]