O, Maxie
On writing a/shipping a (female) character (natch) with whom You Have Issues Max Guevara. (Do you get the surname? Do you? because it's like really, really, really clever and stuff, and I don't think I picked up on it until after I obsessed over the spelling and then I went "huh." Sorry, writers and James Cameron for not appreciating that.)
Ahem. Yes, X5-452. THE Dark Angel. THE heroine. Missy miss. Max. I'm ambivalent about you. Ambivalent is kind, actually. In canon, I'm usually telling you to shut up, rolling my eyes at you or raising my hands in bewilderment. I do understand that you weren't put out there directly for me. Straight fangirl, although I think I squeeze into the demographic age-wise. But let's be honest, they might have lumped you with Buffy and Xena, but you never really had that much feminist cred.
I know, I went through a phase where I assumed I just didn't identify with the pretty main character and was proving my fannishness by being more interested in supporting characters (see Buffy, see Smallville. But no, because I love Sydney Bristow, I love Gil Grissom, I love John Crichton. The acting is a huge part of what makes a character - but I'll save my beef on that for the day after I see Honey which I don't intend to go and see with an unprejudiced mind. But at leas I'm going to see it!
But just in conception and marketing, Max irks me. In execution, she irks me. Not as much as (spit)Lana Lang, Kim Bauer, Dawn Summers and Liz Roswell did, true. More in a Buffy way only with less complexity.
Am I aware that all those characters listed there are female? Yes. And they all fulfill different roles to the Curvaceous Killer on their respective shows? Certainly. I was told off recently for bitching about the female characters on The Bill (a British cop soap/drama.) At the time I refuted that I was harsher on them than the men. But it's true, similar faults (stupidity, silly voices, self righteousness) in male characters didn't grate so much. I've seen thought-provoking rants and essays here on lj about why female fen react with more vitriol toward female characters and would agree with a lot of the points raised by others on the issue. We have different expectations, we want our female characters to be strong, flawed, interesting role models and anti-heroes. But often we get underwritten stereotypes that pander to a low common denominator that offends us. We get girls instead of women and we know they're there to varying degrees as sexual objects (true of Max to a degree.) And we don't like it, we won't let it pass as we do with male characters (although for the record I Have Issues With Logan off this show, had Issues/Hated Max from Roswell, often get bored with Clark on Smallville.) Because it matters in a different way, on a more visceral level perhaps to us, and isn't fandom about the personalised, emotional reaction?
So who would have thought, in Season 1 as I shipped Max with Logan tepidly enough, told her to "shut up" (I talk back to my telly. A lot.) that I'd be reading fanfic about her, the further adventures of a character I found very problematic the longer I knew her? And it's interesting to me to have a character to whom I react to in such a way. (Thank goodness Jensen Ackles never got to be Clark Kent in a way, because what. if. I'd. ended. up. shipping. CLana? My brain melts at the thought of me doing such a thing. And would it have involved appreciating Nickelback? Which some people do, I understan, I just can't fathom joining you.)
Because my first fanfic 'ship involved Rogue, who is a sympathetic, intriguing character with a fascinating emotional arc (X1), and potential mutation and comic-inspired development (I think she kicks ass in X2 and hope she'll do more in X3.) And other writers found her so. And I read and enjoy.
Max Guevara is a pricklier matter. Of course, it's not fair to compare a supporting role in five hours of film time to a leading role in 44 hours (sort of) of American network tv. The comparison is more of their existence in fanon. Because I've mainly read Max/Alec fics, and they are in the main, written by people who are fans of the character of Alec first and foremost. And the show. But many of them (from the snarky undertones) have a sneaking suspicion that Max isn't worthy of the (male) character we love. But he's heterosexual (there's very little slash on Nuns With Pens, other than the unrequited, canonical love Normal bears for him) and she's the most fully realised character and there was definite subtext between the characters. . .but she still doesn't deserve him. But. . .but. . .
All this tension often makes for good material for the stories. It's usually an antagonistic relationship (lead by canon.) There's the rewarding and subversive charge of dealing with the problems we had with Max (at their worst, such tendencies do lead to a horribly OOC submissive Max and a perfect Alec who was Manticore's champion which never sits right with me.) Personally, I love seeing her admit she was wrong about Alec, herself and what it means to be a transgenic supersoldier, especially in the context of readjusting her relationship with other transgenics. This is the whole rewriting Freak Nation on a larger scale.
And yet, there is something attractive about her. I love Max being a bitch (even at times when it's to Alec, because he can take it), I like it when she gets angry in certain situations, and gets violent(I should discuss that issue someother time). I like the connection she has to her friends. The possibility of growth inside her (I didn't like the ridiculous high moral ground they made her take in season 2 though.) She intrigues me.
And the truth of it is, in my fics I - despite the fact that I find Alec more entertaining and attractive as a character - usually write from Max's pov. I don't know if it's because it's easier to write from a female perspective for me? If the fact that other writers have done such admirable jobs on Alec (not that they haven't on Max), or that her fallablity (in my eyes) and the conundrums what I perceive as a lack of self-knowledge in her raise challenge me more - that I want to write about them. Of course the fact that I see the DAverse through a shipper's eyes and tend to think, given what happened at the end of season 2 and in the books that Max's future happiness means accepting her transgenic nature and giving up on the unhealthy and restrictive dreams of "normalcy" with Logan that I will "rewrite" her in that mould. Or invent more miserable outcomes for her where she can mope at a rainy window/on the Needle/in her precious Logan's bed. Because sometimes I feel very vindictive toward her. And sometimes I see her through the eyes of Alec in a fic or a kinder hearted writer's eyes, or she smiles in my head and I find myself write her a happy ending, where she really is tha strong woman I so wanted her to be.
Ahem. Yes, X5-452. THE Dark Angel. THE heroine. Missy miss. Max. I'm ambivalent about you. Ambivalent is kind, actually. In canon, I'm usually telling you to shut up, rolling my eyes at you or raising my hands in bewilderment. I do understand that you weren't put out there directly for me. Straight fangirl, although I think I squeeze into the demographic age-wise. But let's be honest, they might have lumped you with Buffy and Xena, but you never really had that much feminist cred.
I know, I went through a phase where I assumed I just didn't identify with the pretty main character and was proving my fannishness by being more interested in supporting characters (see Buffy, see Smallville. But no, because I love Sydney Bristow, I love Gil Grissom, I love John Crichton. The acting is a huge part of what makes a character - but I'll save my beef on that for the day after I see Honey which I don't intend to go and see with an unprejudiced mind. But at leas I'm going to see it!
But just in conception and marketing, Max irks me. In execution, she irks me. Not as much as (spit)Lana Lang, Kim Bauer, Dawn Summers and Liz Roswell did, true. More in a Buffy way only with less complexity.
Am I aware that all those characters listed there are female? Yes. And they all fulfill different roles to the Curvaceous Killer on their respective shows? Certainly. I was told off recently for bitching about the female characters on The Bill (a British cop soap/drama.) At the time I refuted that I was harsher on them than the men. But it's true, similar faults (stupidity, silly voices, self righteousness) in male characters didn't grate so much. I've seen thought-provoking rants and essays here on lj about why female fen react with more vitriol toward female characters and would agree with a lot of the points raised by others on the issue. We have different expectations, we want our female characters to be strong, flawed, interesting role models and anti-heroes. But often we get underwritten stereotypes that pander to a low common denominator that offends us. We get girls instead of women and we know they're there to varying degrees as sexual objects (true of Max to a degree.) And we don't like it, we won't let it pass as we do with male characters (although for the record I Have Issues With Logan off this show, had Issues/Hated Max from Roswell, often get bored with Clark on Smallville.) Because it matters in a different way, on a more visceral level perhaps to us, and isn't fandom about the personalised, emotional reaction?
So who would have thought, in Season 1 as I shipped Max with Logan tepidly enough, told her to "shut up" (I talk back to my telly. A lot.) that I'd be reading fanfic about her, the further adventures of a character I found very problematic the longer I knew her? And it's interesting to me to have a character to whom I react to in such a way. (Thank goodness Jensen Ackles never got to be Clark Kent in a way, because what. if. I'd. ended. up. shipping. CLana? My brain melts at the thought of me doing such a thing. And would it have involved appreciating Nickelback? Which some people do, I understan, I just can't fathom joining you.)
Because my first fanfic 'ship involved Rogue, who is a sympathetic, intriguing character with a fascinating emotional arc (X1), and potential mutation and comic-inspired development (I think she kicks ass in X2 and hope she'll do more in X3.) And other writers found her so. And I read and enjoy.
Max Guevara is a pricklier matter. Of course, it's not fair to compare a supporting role in five hours of film time to a leading role in 44 hours (sort of) of American network tv. The comparison is more of their existence in fanon. Because I've mainly read Max/Alec fics, and they are in the main, written by people who are fans of the character of Alec first and foremost. And the show. But many of them (from the snarky undertones) have a sneaking suspicion that Max isn't worthy of the (male) character we love. But he's heterosexual (there's very little slash on Nuns With Pens, other than the unrequited, canonical love Normal bears for him) and she's the most fully realised character and there was definite subtext between the characters. . .but she still doesn't deserve him. But. . .but. . .
All this tension often makes for good material for the stories. It's usually an antagonistic relationship (lead by canon.) There's the rewarding and subversive charge of dealing with the problems we had with Max (at their worst, such tendencies do lead to a horribly OOC submissive Max and a perfect Alec who was Manticore's champion which never sits right with me.) Personally, I love seeing her admit she was wrong about Alec, herself and what it means to be a transgenic supersoldier, especially in the context of readjusting her relationship with other transgenics. This is the whole rewriting Freak Nation on a larger scale.
And yet, there is something attractive about her. I love Max being a bitch (even at times when it's to Alec, because he can take it), I like it when she gets angry in certain situations, and gets violent(I should discuss that issue someother time). I like the connection she has to her friends. The possibility of growth inside her (I didn't like the ridiculous high moral ground they made her take in season 2 though.) She intrigues me.
And the truth of it is, in my fics I - despite the fact that I find Alec more entertaining and attractive as a character - usually write from Max's pov. I don't know if it's because it's easier to write from a female perspective for me? If the fact that other writers have done such admirable jobs on Alec (not that they haven't on Max), or that her fallablity (in my eyes) and the conundrums what I perceive as a lack of self-knowledge in her raise challenge me more - that I want to write about them. Of course the fact that I see the DAverse through a shipper's eyes and tend to think, given what happened at the end of season 2 and in the books that Max's future happiness means accepting her transgenic nature and giving up on the unhealthy and restrictive dreams of "normalcy" with Logan that I will "rewrite" her in that mould. Or invent more miserable outcomes for her where she can mope at a rainy window/on the Needle/in her precious Logan's bed. Because sometimes I feel very vindictive toward her. And sometimes I see her through the eyes of Alec in a fic or a kinder hearted writer's eyes, or she smiles in my head and I find myself write her a happy ending, where she really is tha strong woman I so wanted her to be.