A (Very Small) Collection of Hockey Things

[rsadelle]

Patrick Kane

I love some varieties of fictional Patrick Kane. The real thing, not so much. I agree with pretty much everything in meiface's post on the subject (and her conversation with diora1 in the comments). Here's my problem: I have a number of in progress stories about him that I want to finish because I like them. But I don't want anyone to think I'm

Comments

[dexwebster]

I love some varieties of fictional Patrick Kane. The real thing, not so much.

My opinion has pretty much always been that he (like a lot of hockey players, honestly) is a jackass with endearing/redeeming qualities, so I was. . .disappointed but not surprised, I guess, and even more bothered by--kind of like they were talking about in the post you linked--the whole culture that promotes this kind of behavior (or anything close to it--I'm unconvinced that everything on Deadspin happened, and there's been some digging about how overblown it may have been, but even half of it being true is way too much).

One of the things I like about reading (good) fic is that it can sort of shine a spotlight on the endearing bits without necessarily ignoring the jackass parts, and as a work of fiction, in fact, that's what makes for a good, complex character. And on a self-indulgent level, writing it allows the fix-it opportunity for things like girl!Tazer, where the hockey culture by necessity treats women differently (speaking of, I was going to email you about it again, but if Kaner's, well, existence is making you uncomfortable, that is totally cool and I won't).

[rsadelle]

Part of the issue is definitely that it's hard to separate individuals from cultures - Patrick Kane is both part of the problem and a symptom of the problem (or problems - I've seen speculation that it's a combination of entitled athlete culture and taking teenagers away from their parents for hockey that leads to this sort of thing). I think I'm probably guilty of being one of the fangirls people complain about who were new to hockey when he was on good behavior, so I don't know that I really had a sense of what variety of jackass he was. Getting so drunk you pass out in a bar: okay (well, I'll worry about your liver and mental health, but whatever). Misogyny/sexism/not respecting women as people: not okay. (Also, I spend so much time in progressive spaces in my personal life that I kind of forget that the rest of the world is not like that.)

I love the idea of fix-it opportunities! I know I've already read some of them, but I suppose I'll look forward to more things where his sisters/mother take him to task for his treatment of women. (And in the meantime I'll just rant at him in my head. Most of my Mary Sue fantasies really involve me explaining feminist things to celebrities.) (You should totally email me more about that story! I had one of the articles about him open in a tab to read this morning, and then I started reading Kane/Toews fic instead, so obviously I can still read fic about him. And I adore your story.)