Am I done with HL fandom?
There was an interesting discussion on a list today about the history of HL fandom and how the fandom has changed over time, and I expressed my opinion that I felt very much removed from it (the fandom) because no one seemed interested in the things I was interested in, that the stories that were being written were, in large measure, not tales that I found compelling.
That got me started thinking, and I wanted to put down those thoughts to see if writing them down would help me sort them out. I was originally drawn to HL fandom because of the primary character - Duncan. I was intrigued before Methos ever came on the scene and in retrospect I believe it was because Duncan, again and again, was faced with difficult choices - choices that would have ramifications not just for himself, but for others, as well. And he made them, frequently suffering terrible consequences. Sometimes the choices were good, sometimes not, but he always survived to ruminate about them, to learn from them, and over time he changed considerably as a result. It was THAT struggle and THAT journey that held me captive. It was important to me because, at the time, I was being forced to make choices that affected enormous numbers of people, on a scale difficult to imagine. And the people that derided Duncan for being judgmental, for acting when he could just have easily done nothing or walked way, drove me crazy - as though doing nothing or walking away is generally the right thing to do. This became especially true when Methos came on the scene because Methos sincerely believed that, as a rule, the best decision is the decision to do nothing. He had been around long enough to believe that nothing you did made any long term difference anyway, so why bother? Why put yourself at risk? Why go through the angst contemplating Big Issues that, in the very long run, were irrelevant?
I did not find that philosophy admirable then, nor do I find it so now. When people in a position to make a difference refuse to chose, refuse to act on that choice and walk away, refuse to risk failure, how can the human condition ever change, ever improve? He was an enormously compelling and important character, and forced Duncan to contemplate his choices even more carefully in the light of that long view - but it was still Duncan who ended up being the one cornered into making choices, for good or ill, while Methos, for the most part, provided critical commentary.
What does this have to do with HL fandom, you ask?
For the past several years, almost all fanfic stories have been about Methos, and very, very few even involve Duncan. Even fewer involve real, important dilemmas. Most are domestic dramas involving Methos and OCs, or just OCs entirely, or crossovers with Methos as the primary (or only) HL character. So, for me, there's nothing holding me, nothing that really interests me, nothing that grabs me and makes me think it deals with ideas or concepts that go beyond the four corners of the page.
And I miss that. A lot.
That got me started thinking, and I wanted to put down those thoughts to see if writing them down would help me sort them out. I was originally drawn to HL fandom because of the primary character - Duncan. I was intrigued before Methos ever came on the scene and in retrospect I believe it was because Duncan, again and again, was faced with difficult choices - choices that would have ramifications not just for himself, but for others, as well. And he made them, frequently suffering terrible consequences. Sometimes the choices were good, sometimes not, but he always survived to ruminate about them, to learn from them, and over time he changed considerably as a result. It was THAT struggle and THAT journey that held me captive. It was important to me because, at the time, I was being forced to make choices that affected enormous numbers of people, on a scale difficult to imagine. And the people that derided Duncan for being judgmental, for acting when he could just have easily done nothing or walked way, drove me crazy - as though doing nothing or walking away is generally the right thing to do. This became especially true when Methos came on the scene because Methos sincerely believed that, as a rule, the best decision is the decision to do nothing. He had been around long enough to believe that nothing you did made any long term difference anyway, so why bother? Why put yourself at risk? Why go through the angst contemplating Big Issues that, in the very long run, were irrelevant?
I did not find that philosophy admirable then, nor do I find it so now. When people in a position to make a difference refuse to chose, refuse to act on that choice and walk away, refuse to risk failure, how can the human condition ever change, ever improve? He was an enormously compelling and important character, and forced Duncan to contemplate his choices even more carefully in the light of that long view - but it was still Duncan who ended up being the one cornered into making choices, for good or ill, while Methos, for the most part, provided critical commentary.
What does this have to do with HL fandom, you ask?
For the past several years, almost all fanfic stories have been about Methos, and very, very few even involve Duncan. Even fewer involve real, important dilemmas. Most are domestic dramas involving Methos and OCs, or just OCs entirely, or crossovers with Methos as the primary (or only) HL character. So, for me, there's nothing holding me, nothing that really interests me, nothing that grabs me and makes me think it deals with ideas or concepts that go beyond the four corners of the page.
And I miss that. A lot.