Countdown to Small Gifts 5/6: Wish lists for R/S fandom

[smallgiftsmods]

Hi, folks! If you're just joining us, we're on DAY FIVE of six days of discussion before Small Gifts begins posting. Start off by introducing yourself (and meeting fellow participants and watchers) over here!

Our question for today: what would you like to see more of in R/S fandom? Fandoms change over time, and many of us keep up with more than

Comments

[museinabsentia]

I agree with everyone here about more good fic, although, that's an incredibly subjective idea. I almost never read in this fandom except for fests anymore because it's simply too daunting to dig through, even if this is still my favorite pairing ever.

That aside, though, things I wish we would see more of... a break from what has become the assumed. I mean, we really only get to see one actual scene with the marauders as teens and yet there are so many standards. For example, we have no idea that James was chasing Lily. Snape's memory could have been the very first time he ever asked her out, just bad timing, but it has become so universal that he has been after her forever. Or that Remus is covered in scars. And I get that that one has been sort of propagated by the movies, but honestly, you would think that if werewolves were frequently covered in scars it would be much much easier to figure out who they were. Or even that they all run around in muggle clothes at school. Again, this was helped along by the movies, but if that were the case more adult witches and wizards would know how to dress as muggles. Now, there is nothing wrong with any of these things. I do all of them myself. I just wish we could see a little more variety sometimes (and that I hadn't come to fandom late enough to miss how these all became the standard in the first place, I'm incredibly curious!)

[luminousgloom]

Yes! Totally agree. The scar thing does make sense to me, but I've wondered about the muggle clothing thing myself, in fact I was surprised by all the muggle clothing in the films!

I'm very happy though that the former Marauder trope of Remus being all shy and timid (and even tearful) has by and large been knocked on the head - I know I go on about that a lot, but that weird idea used to be so persistent and used to really do my head in!

[museinabsentia]

I want to throw out there that I don't actually have any complaint with any of the things I mentioned. They were mostly examples. I actually love to put them in muggle clothes because you can tell so much from them... time period, personality quirks, how much they care about fitting in or standing out. I could go on forever about it (along with my thoughts on using muggle clothes for the movies... but then, costume design major in another life... I tend to get stuck on clothing choices a lot) but I'll be good. It's more the idea that as a unit fandom has settled on these ideas that don't actually come from canon. And they can be wonderful ideas, but I'm incredibly curious as to how the fandom as a whole got here. I'm rather late to the party and I missed that part.

Oh my god, yes!!! I loath shy wilting Remus. I mean, he was a marauder for fuck sake. My personal favorite is sneaky, devious hiding behind being respectable Remus. I'm thrilled that there has been far less wet noodle Remus lately. It made my head completely spin.

[sostrata]

I was in a TV fandom where this happened. It was the first fandom I was in, new to fic, and was confused about all these things appearing in every fic that I didn't remember from the show. It turned out that they had all been started by one fic writer, who was very influential because she had started the gen fic site for that fandom (Stargate SG1). Yes, I'd be interested to find out how it all started in this fandom!

Another one is the famous Gryffinwhore Sirius. Really, where did that come from? Just because he's handsome? I can see, though, why everyone uses the same things for our guys. As you said, there is just that one scene showing them as kids. So when showing that era fandom sort of has to create it's own 'verse for them. It's kind of fun. But Gryffinwhore Sirius is the one I would do without, just because there's really no basis at all for that in book or movie canon. (Can you tell I was just reading a fic with that? Sprung it on me all of a sudden, the dastard!)

[museinabsentia]

I so very much agree with you on the Gryffinwhore Sirius thing. That's one that I try and avoid completely. In an AU where he actually has time and freedom I can accept a varied dating history (up to a point). I'm not always of the staunch opinion that he and Remus were in love forever, sometimes it's a nice thing to see them get there later in life. But in more canon stories I simply don't see it.