Billution and Billsorbency
There's a serious problem with Billution and Billsorbency going on in this Eric-centric SVM fan community.
Bill is creeping into everything - even into Eric - and not in a slash kinda way. It's ruining Eric for those of us that well...love Eric.
Think you love Eric? Well, some people do too - but they can't seem to tell the difference. So I've ( Read more... )
I followed your link here from fanfiction.net. I like your whole "About Me" section there, regarding canon, and your view on common fanfic devices, like being able to smell a woman's virginity (which is of course, absurd. Though in Buffy, vampires would mention they preferred the taste, but I always assumed it was in the same way that people swear they can taste the difference in bottled water).
I read what is probably considered too much fanfiction and was beginning to think that I was one of the few people who actually *read* the books as well. Eric smashing furniture? Eric ripping off panties? Eric making a fuss about clothes at all, let alone Sookie's? That's all Bill. And hey speaking of clothes, another common fanfic error: Eric being a stylish dresser? Really? Does nobody remember the tasseled belt with the pleated pants?
I also find it funny that the people who tend to write the fics like this also tend to be the ones who write the *worst* Bills. He's stupid, weak, and *really* in touch with his humanity. Really? Bill in touch with his humanity? The guy who hung out with psychopathic vampires, took room service while his girlfriend was still in the room, and yet would refused to watch *her* eat is the guy in touch with his humanity? Yet at the same time, is so out of touch with the modern world? Mr. Computer Nerd/Movie!Aliens sympathizer doesn't get todays modern world?
I was never a Bill fan. I thought he was a horrible boyfriend. He was controlling, and cold. It's one thing to tell a woman you love her constantly, it's another to show it. Though after reading Definitely Dead I understand his actions a lot more. Not that it makes him any more likable.
I am, however, a huge Sookie fan. I have a tendency to hate women characters, because it seems that so many of them lack basic common sense, or any sense of self-preservation. I was unfortunate enough to read the Twilight series, and having an entire book about a teenage girl wanting to commit suicide because her boyfriend left her, but only *not* committing suicide because she knew he wouldn't want her to... it was just not relatable to me.
Sookie is difference. She has a clear idea of what she feels is right and wrong, and sticks to it. But she's not so stubborn that she'll stick to her guns in spite of insurmountable evidence. She also doesn't consistently run into dangerous situations without thinking. And, *so* unlike TB!Sookie, the real Sookie knows when to keep her mouth shut. She's a very fleshed out character, and it's enjoying reading the series from her very unique point of view.
I think so many of the readers out there would rather have a Bella. The type of amorphous character that the reader can project her own personality onto, that just sort of follows the story instead of creating it. That seems to be a lot of what I read in fanfiction. You know, once you get past all the victim blaming. Because despite the fact that Eric runs to *Sookie's* house during the Nevada takeover, his own is impenetrable, and if she had only stayed with him when he offered, and did everything he said, she never would have been tortured. But that's a completely different complaint.
I am a huge fan of Eric. I think he's funny and I like the scenes he's in (who doesn't like a rakish flirt?). I like the interactions between him and Sookie. Despite the fact that she finds him (and that he is) very intimidating, they have a very sweet chemistry together. It's always strange to me that so many others have such a different view of him. He doesn't strike me as the poetry and candlelit dinner kind of guy, but that seems like such a large portion of what I come across. :-/
Sorry for my bit of ranting back at you. It's just refreshing to realize I'm not crazy (for this reason), and not the only one that sees so much of Bill in Fanficion!Eric (and not in sexy way).
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The thing that always makes me laugh is that they seem to have effectively gotten sucked into Bill's bullcrap. Bill is only "more human" at his convenience. He talks a good game, but he doesn't actually do any of those things with any consistency. Rather than doubt Bill, they doubt Eric, who has never delved into these concepts and given himself excuses in the way that Bill has.
I totally and completely agree with you about readers wanting a Bella - so many fanfics have Sookie taking far more of a backseat and being told what to do by Eric/BillEric than the far more empowered Sookie in the books. It's one of the reasons I like her - she's not an observer - she's the active initiator. Instead, in the majority of fanfics, Sookie waits on Eric/BillEric to do for her, and when it's a fic where she is empowered, readers suggest that she wait on Eric/BillEric to do so.
I hate the idea too that Sookie could have avoided her torture by being protected. Yeah, cause Lochlan and Neave would never overpower Eric, and the magic used to capture Sookie doesn't affect Eric....wait...
I think he's funny and so intelligent - I love Eric a lot. He's always in motion, and he's such a troublemaker he makes me laugh. But I don't ship him so badly with Sookie I need to turn him into Bill.
And rant away. :D It's the rant of relief. :D
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