Misaimed fandom. We've become weaponized.

[merricatk]

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. (Oscar Wilde

Comments

[rheasilvia]

Interesting concept - I've never heard of misaimed fandom, either, and find the concept that liking the wrong characters is a *major problem* quite mindboggling

[rheasilvia]

Also, I agree with you entirely on the appeal of the villain as such - well-written villains can be very engaging and powerful characters, and *should* be. Enjoying them for what they are is not a bad thing; liking them as characters is not the same as agreeing with their actions and/or their goals. Most authors do seem to understand that, fortunately...

[merricatk]

It's as though because some people get their inspirations to do horrible things from books and movies, we're all suspect. Because I like Sonny, I might garrote a business rival. Because I like Merricat, I might poison my family.

It's assuming that we're all mentally unbalanced in one particular way, and as though people who are violent really need someone to show them how to kill people.

[merricatk]

There are so many reasons for readers to prefer the villain to the hero, the idea that it's some kind of pathology seems ridiculous to me. People who go to franchise slasher movies like Halloween are going to prefer Michael Myers to the victims if for no other reason than he's the constant, and they know only one of the victims will survive. And they're going to see the bloodshed, so of course they'd prefer the one causing it.

And you're right about skinheads liking the racist villain--it's because that character mirrors their opinions.

I agree with you about Sonny. I've always been fascinated by the dichotomy of Frank and Sonny. Frank was the good guy, but in the beginning he was cold and sarcastic and did nothing to make Vinnie feel cared about. Sonny was the bad guy, but he was so warm and caring, Vinnie couldn't resist him (whether in a romantic way or not). And with Vinnie's own family cutting him off, that left only the badguy to be his friend. I love Frank, but he played that whole situation all wrong.

[natashasolten]

I have never heard of misaimed fandom. There is so much out there in fanfic that addresses everything under the sun, including major taboos, that I kinda thought that was what fandom and slash was for...addressing things not normally addressed in "pretty little fictions." Now much of fanfic is not well-written, but that's another subject. If the author cannot pull off her insane idea, then, well, it may not be the idea that is the problem but the writing itself

[merricatk]

Sonny was supposed to get the whole first season, but the writers were afraid he'd take the show away from them, so they had to kill him off. From what I've heard, Ray did have input in the mafia stuff--he was friends with John Gotti. And of course he knew how to make a villain sympathetic--that's why Stephen Cannell hired him. *g* The writers definitely used things from Ray's past, and his earlier movies--"A Deal's a Deal" was something of an homage to "The Idolmaker

[natashasolten]

I sort of ignore "culture" in my stories, which is maybe wrong of me, but I guess I concentrate more on just who they are underneath the labels. It's probably totally idealistic and unrealistic of me, but oh well. I do see homophobia in slash characters of course, because it's usually a first time for many of them, and they do not normally (or have ever) identified themselves as "gay." That's why I liked your Roadhouse stories so much. It was great when Sonny kept thinnking "is Vinnie a fag?" and you knew it was Sonny projecting his own insecurities about homosexuality because, really, Sonny was the one all over Vinnie every night and Vinnie, in his deep depression, often just tolerated it (although of course he liked it, too, maybe a little more denial there, too?) It makes for some great drama, and the characters really are forced to take a deeper, harder look at themselves to finally, in the end, just accept themselves for better or worse. That is good writing! I have Sonny finding it easy to love Vinnie but difficult to

[merricatk]

Thank you! Having been brought up Catholic, their culture is one of the thing that resonates with me, so I enjoy writing it. It's not something I've ever focused on in any of the other fandoms I wrote it. I do love the forbidden love aspect being heightened, though. *g*

I think you're right about Sonny treating anyone who pissed him off pretty much the same. But mulignanes is a racial epitet; it means eggplant. I think if Vinnie told him to stop using the word, he'd do it.

In some ways, Sonny was all wrong for the business he was in. He was way too trusting--not just of Vinnie, but of anyone he cared about. The writers wrote a complex character, and Ray was able to embody that. Of course we're going to be fascinated!