(no subject)
I don't understand why people feel motivated to write fic that redeems or humanizes abusive parents. I've been reading House fic again lately, and one of the things that makes me back-button immediately (or wish it were a crappier story so I could back-button) is the portrayal of John as someone who's really a nice loving guy, just clueless. According to the less intolerable of these stories, their dysfunctional relationship was due partly to John being intractable and not communicating well and partly due to House just being a bad kid, but there are plenty of them that don't even admit that much, that say it was all House's fault for being a difficult child.
Clue-stick, guys? Children are never, NEVER responsible for their parents' actions. No matter how clever or bratty they might be. Their PARENTS are responsible for their parents' actions.
The story I just finished actually wasn't that bad; it was from John's POV, and it was clear the author hirself wasn't excusing John's actions, just exploring his mindset. But most of the stories like that are all too quick to excuse his actions, if they even admit he was abusive at all and don't just whitewash the canon verbal abuse we saw in early season 2 and claim House was lying or exaggerating in later episodes. There are plenty of stories that portray John as far more abusive than we have canon evidence of too, but at least with those I understand the "torture our characters" drive. And given that the canon "Birthmarks" was, in my opinion at least, a slap in the face to abuse survivors everywhere, I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that some of the fans also prefer to deny the existence of child abuse or blame it on the kids. But it always does surprise me, and at a really basic level I just don't understand why anyone would want to write a story that does that.
Clue-stick, guys? Children are never, NEVER responsible for their parents' actions. No matter how clever or bratty they might be. Their PARENTS are responsible for their parents' actions.
The story I just finished actually wasn't that bad; it was from John's POV, and it was clear the author hirself wasn't excusing John's actions, just exploring his mindset. But most of the stories like that are all too quick to excuse his actions, if they even admit he was abusive at all and don't just whitewash the canon verbal abuse we saw in early season 2 and claim House was lying or exaggerating in later episodes. There are plenty of stories that portray John as far more abusive than we have canon evidence of too, but at least with those I understand the "torture our characters" drive. And given that the canon "Birthmarks" was, in my opinion at least, a slap in the face to abuse survivors everywhere, I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that some of the fans also prefer to deny the existence of child abuse or blame it on the kids. But it always does surprise me, and at a really basic level I just don't understand why anyone would want to write a story that does that.