holy cow
Okay, so I know I've been remiss in posting for a while, unless it was fic/50 related. But I must tell you that my heart? Has been completely captured. By a gen Narnia fic How did this happen?
I don't know how most of you here on my flist feel about the Narnia fandom. Most of us have read the books when we were kids (wow, it's been over twenty years since I first read Wardrobe) and seen the movies. But I can't rightly remember if any of you (other than my coflailer blue_ant) were into the slashier side of things.
Of course, if you're into the Narnia fandom there isn't really much potential for slash unless it's incest. There are a few other instances where you could draw up other pairings, when you take Caspian into account. And we will always have the creepy Digory/Peter mentor/student relationship to hold dear to our hearts. But the main thing I'm talking about here is the Peter/Ed, Ed/Eustace, Lucy/Susan dynamics. They are the other, non slashy pairings, but still they mostly involve brothers, sisters and first cousins, all of whom share blood.
I know not too many are into such a thing, since it forces the main characters you are writing about to overcome something that's a rather big taboo. And, lest we forget, during the time period the books take place in homosexuality was illegal.
So when I start feeling like a dirty old woman reading/writing about two brothers whose affection for each other runs a little less fraternally and a little more oh yeah, bow chicka wow wow I remind myself what zarah5 had mentioned to me before: there is an entire fandom devoted to the love that dare not speak its name on Supernatural. The Winchesters really broke the mold when it came to incestuous relationships. So much so I don't think many people really blink an eye at it anymore in fic.
Not to mention the simmering, raw potential for Chin/Kono on Hawaii Five-O. I really hope I'm not alone in seeing that.
I'm not saying that it's right or wrong, mind you. I have no say in telling anyone what to do, think or feel. But there's something to be said about how quickly we can accept certain things and begin to stop thinking about what, exactly, it is we are reading.
These people are the same ones who grew up shoving each other in the backseats of cars, bruising and kicking and biting each other, doing disgusting things like farting and spitting on each other. I've never met a set of brothers who didn't share the "loogie drip" moment.
Actually, scratch that. Not just brothers. My sister and I have had our share of "if that loogie/booger lands on my face I AM GOING TO KILL YOU/CRY AND THEN KILL YOU/TELL MOM, WAH" moments. There is photographic evidence of me, age nine, being pinned down in a hotel room in Florida with my sister towering over me, great big wad of spit threatening to land on my face and make me cry. Which it did. Land on my face. The crying came afterwards when I hit my head on the coffee table and she got yelled at. Sweet, sweet vindication.
A shining example of sibling behavior, right there.
For these characters to be able to overcome such things and somehow fall in love... we, as writers and readers, are taking on a big challenge when it comes to those issues.
Now that that's out of the way. I've recently began to reread those old books, and in the process of dusting them off (metaphorically speaking, of course: my old books perished in a basement flood a good twelve years ago =( and since I've been forced to purchase a bound copy of all seven in one go, and I'll get into that some other time *grumbles*) I fell back in love with Edmund Pevensie.
I suppose it's only fitting. He is the character with the most growth in the entire series, and I'm all about the redemption of the dark knight. You also have Eustace, of course, who had his own Narnian baptism in Voyage and in turn became a better person for his experience, but it's Edmund who really shines in all of the instances we've seen him. Even in the movies, Peter (or Caspian, if we're taking Voyage into account) is cast as the "hero" and somehow it's Edmund who quietly saves the day.
One of my favorite things about Edmund, that I very rarely see in or out of fic, is how when he first lays eyes on Bacchus he says "There's a chap who might do anything - absolutely anything." It leads me to think of him with a slightly scandelous twinkle in his eyes beneath his just and fair persona. Edmund is still very much an adult trapped in a boy's body, and maybe it was just the battle and the Narnian air getting to him, but I'd like to know what sorts of scenarios were going on inside of Edmund's head when he glimpsed sight of this youth, who is described in the book as being "almost too pretty for a boy."
Well, there's that and the fact that he willingly ate dirt. The very idea that our once noble king sees a bunch of trees feasting on soil and thinks "hey, that looks like chocolate!" and tries a piece warms my heart. Yes, Edmund is a king in a child's body, but he still has enough innocence in him to let us believe that, at the age of either eleven or twenty-six, he's still young at heart.
Anyhow, enough about my love. I'm mainly here to rec a set of connected stories.
After Caspian, Peter enlists in the army. Not much longer afterwards, so does Edmund. They become known as slightly demented lunatics. To an extent where people talk of them. And no father wants to hear his son being refered to as a savage bastard killer.
They are all gen, which after all of that hullabaloo over incest and taboo and whatnot might seem strange. But trust me. If you are into this fandom at all, or just read the books as a passing fancy when you were a kid, I'd still give these fics a go. Wonderfully delightful, gritty and evocative.
Original Suspicious Bastard
"Bloody secret service," Obtulowicz mutters, as Jones takes the papers to Captain Pevensie, who's been bringing up the rear. "We're sodding special ops, what do we need their sort for?" He pauses, taking a sip of water from his canteen. "Wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him."
Pevensie draws level with them and says cheerfully "Wise decision. I certainly wouldn't."
They give him a long mistrustful look. Considering this is Pevensie talking, the original suspicious bastard... Ramsey sighs. "All right, Pevensie, how d'you know him?"
"My younger brother," Pevensie says, and grins, nodding at the spook, who's currently doing his best nonchalant act. "Doing the family name proud."
A Thin Veneer of Civility
"I'm, um, I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but fencing doesn't actually resemble a brawl with swords." Thomson pipes up.
"Good thing we weren't attempting fencing, then." Edmund says, brushing himself off. "Fencing's useless anyway. I don't know how you're supposed to kill people with a bit of whippy metal."
The audience sobers up on hearing that one, as they're reminded that these are Pevensies. They don't understand the concept of sportsmanship and only ever think of how fast you can end a fight in your favour.
Putting the Natives at Ease
He's never quite sure how his children trained each other to fear the others' actions if they don't come fast enough when called. They don't react that way to anyone else, certainly not their parents or teachers at school, or their bosses and commanding officers. The Pevensie children are well-known for being singularly unimpressed by authority. Not in an impolite way, but something about their demeanour tells you that they're doing you a favour by complying.
Man. I could read things like this all day. If any of you have any recs for me, I'd love em.
♥
I don't know how most of you here on my flist feel about the Narnia fandom. Most of us have read the books when we were kids (wow, it's been over twenty years since I first read Wardrobe) and seen the movies. But I can't rightly remember if any of you (other than my coflailer blue_ant) were into the slashier side of things.
Of course, if you're into the Narnia fandom there isn't really much potential for slash unless it's incest. There are a few other instances where you could draw up other pairings, when you take Caspian into account. And we will always have the creepy Digory/Peter mentor/student relationship to hold dear to our hearts. But the main thing I'm talking about here is the Peter/Ed, Ed/Eustace, Lucy/Susan dynamics. They are the other, non slashy pairings, but still they mostly involve brothers, sisters and first cousins, all of whom share blood.
I know not too many are into such a thing, since it forces the main characters you are writing about to overcome something that's a rather big taboo. And, lest we forget, during the time period the books take place in homosexuality was illegal.
So when I start feeling like a dirty old woman reading/writing about two brothers whose affection for each other runs a little less fraternally and a little more oh yeah, bow chicka wow wow I remind myself what zarah5 had mentioned to me before: there is an entire fandom devoted to the love that dare not speak its name on Supernatural. The Winchesters really broke the mold when it came to incestuous relationships. So much so I don't think many people really blink an eye at it anymore in fic.
Not to mention the simmering, raw potential for Chin/Kono on Hawaii Five-O. I really hope I'm not alone in seeing that.
I'm not saying that it's right or wrong, mind you. I have no say in telling anyone what to do, think or feel. But there's something to be said about how quickly we can accept certain things and begin to stop thinking about what, exactly, it is we are reading.
These people are the same ones who grew up shoving each other in the backseats of cars, bruising and kicking and biting each other, doing disgusting things like farting and spitting on each other. I've never met a set of brothers who didn't share the "loogie drip" moment.
Actually, scratch that. Not just brothers. My sister and I have had our share of "if that loogie/booger lands on my face I AM GOING TO KILL YOU/CRY AND THEN KILL YOU/TELL MOM, WAH" moments. There is photographic evidence of me, age nine, being pinned down in a hotel room in Florida with my sister towering over me, great big wad of spit threatening to land on my face and make me cry. Which it did. Land on my face. The crying came afterwards when I hit my head on the coffee table and she got yelled at. Sweet, sweet vindication.
A shining example of sibling behavior, right there.
For these characters to be able to overcome such things and somehow fall in love... we, as writers and readers, are taking on a big challenge when it comes to those issues.
Now that that's out of the way. I've recently began to reread those old books, and in the process of dusting them off (metaphorically speaking, of course: my old books perished in a basement flood a good twelve years ago =( and since I've been forced to purchase a bound copy of all seven in one go, and I'll get into that some other time *grumbles*) I fell back in love with Edmund Pevensie.
I suppose it's only fitting. He is the character with the most growth in the entire series, and I'm all about the redemption of the dark knight. You also have Eustace, of course, who had his own Narnian baptism in Voyage and in turn became a better person for his experience, but it's Edmund who really shines in all of the instances we've seen him. Even in the movies, Peter (or Caspian, if we're taking Voyage into account) is cast as the "hero" and somehow it's Edmund who quietly saves the day.
One of my favorite things about Edmund, that I very rarely see in or out of fic, is how when he first lays eyes on Bacchus he says "There's a chap who might do anything - absolutely anything." It leads me to think of him with a slightly scandelous twinkle in his eyes beneath his just and fair persona. Edmund is still very much an adult trapped in a boy's body, and maybe it was just the battle and the Narnian air getting to him, but I'd like to know what sorts of scenarios were going on inside of Edmund's head when he glimpsed sight of this youth, who is described in the book as being "almost too pretty for a boy."
Well, there's that and the fact that he willingly ate dirt. The very idea that our once noble king sees a bunch of trees feasting on soil and thinks "hey, that looks like chocolate!" and tries a piece warms my heart. Yes, Edmund is a king in a child's body, but he still has enough innocence in him to let us believe that, at the age of either eleven or twenty-six, he's still young at heart.
Anyhow, enough about my love. I'm mainly here to rec a set of connected stories.
After Caspian, Peter enlists in the army. Not much longer afterwards, so does Edmund. They become known as slightly demented lunatics. To an extent where people talk of them. And no father wants to hear his son being refered to as a savage bastard killer.
They are all gen, which after all of that hullabaloo over incest and taboo and whatnot might seem strange. But trust me. If you are into this fandom at all, or just read the books as a passing fancy when you were a kid, I'd still give these fics a go. Wonderfully delightful, gritty and evocative.
Original Suspicious Bastard
"Bloody secret service," Obtulowicz mutters, as Jones takes the papers to Captain Pevensie, who's been bringing up the rear. "We're sodding special ops, what do we need their sort for?" He pauses, taking a sip of water from his canteen. "Wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him."
Pevensie draws level with them and says cheerfully "Wise decision. I certainly wouldn't."
They give him a long mistrustful look. Considering this is Pevensie talking, the original suspicious bastard... Ramsey sighs. "All right, Pevensie, how d'you know him?"
"My younger brother," Pevensie says, and grins, nodding at the spook, who's currently doing his best nonchalant act. "Doing the family name proud."
A Thin Veneer of Civility
"I'm, um, I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but fencing doesn't actually resemble a brawl with swords." Thomson pipes up.
"Good thing we weren't attempting fencing, then." Edmund says, brushing himself off. "Fencing's useless anyway. I don't know how you're supposed to kill people with a bit of whippy metal."
The audience sobers up on hearing that one, as they're reminded that these are Pevensies. They don't understand the concept of sportsmanship and only ever think of how fast you can end a fight in your favour.
Putting the Natives at Ease
He's never quite sure how his children trained each other to fear the others' actions if they don't come fast enough when called. They don't react that way to anyone else, certainly not their parents or teachers at school, or their bosses and commanding officers. The Pevensie children are well-known for being singularly unimpressed by authority. Not in an impolite way, but something about their demeanour tells you that they're doing you a favour by complying.
Man. I could read things like this all day. If any of you have any recs for me, I'd love em.
♥