Fandoms I Have Loved 1: Lord of the Rings

[thefourthvine]

Note: This is the start of an ongoing series that will take a look at the fandoms I read - what I think of them, what I want from them, and how you can read FF in them even if you don't know the canon. I've had this series waiting for a while; I've been hesitating to post any of the essays, because I know that's not why people come here. Ardent (

Comments

Re: Pretty Pretty Pony men

[thefourthvine]

Those're some excellent posts, Genibee. And I think you've identified the ultimate pretty-pony-boy: Donatello's bronze David. From now on, I will be picturing the pony boys of every fandom in that pose. And, you know, giggling. A lot.

And, really, I think you're right about the whole nonthreatening young male thing, and your sister is right, too - they're the safety choice for girls who are starting to explore the whole sex thing but aren't ready for actual men.

One thing I hadn't thought about before I read your post is that Frodo is another pony boy in the LotR movies. In fact, with his small stature, his relatively passive role in the movie, and his huge, huge eyes, he's even more the archetypal pony boy than Legolas is. What a pity they didn't give him long golden hair to, as ardent_muses would say, french braid in fan fiction.

I also found your comparison between the historical audience for David and the modern audience for Wood et al interesting. I think you're saying that in those days, David had appeal mostly for the elite - the wealthy, the educated, and, by extension, adults. Whereas the modern PB has appeal mostly for the young and relatively uneducated (not saying they always will be, just saying they are during the PB phase). What do you think has caused the change in audience? Is it just that these days everyone has equal access to the PB? Or is it that people outgrow the PB phase a lot, lot faster? Or am I, you know, missing your point altogether?

(It could easily happen, especially right now. The contractors are here doing work on our house. Apparently with a jackhammer and a miraculous noise amplifier, from what I can tell by listening. I can hardly think, and I'm inside; I doubt any of the people outside will finish this job with their hearing intact. And god knows *I* won't live out this day with my brain intact.)

Re: Pretty Pretty Pony men

[thefourthvine]

I think my point (if I had one, truly) is more or less what you say, except I think it was more about worldy experience and less about education, per say. Donatello's David would have a second, sensual meaning primarily to the educated, but it was a very specific type of education in a very specific, small group of wealthy males interested in NeoPlatonic philosophy, history, and poetry. They were adult, homosexual, (or homosocial) men writing about a pure love that they believed existed only between two men. See http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv3-64 and http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/ficino_m,2.html for more in-depth info.) The sensuality of the David stands for sex, but it also stands for a bunch of other things, all bundled into it. The audience for the PB these days seems to be primarily young women, looking for a way to negotiate that weird gap between figuring out that men are interesting but still being young enough to be intimidated by very overtly masculine men. So I don’t know if you can classify it as a change in audience, because the older one was so specialized and small, and while in certain timeperiods like the late 1400s, it did influence popular culture, I don’t think that our modern popular culture is one of those timeperiods. With a society more exposed to sexuality, young women probably use PB’s (and certain types of fanfic) as a safe way to figure out all these new feelings about men and sex. Crushing on these safe men (and having them in relationships with each other) puts the power in their hands, so they can experiment without risk. Things like hurt/comfort fic seem to hold up this theory pretty well. If/when they are ready to move on, they simply outgrow the phase and move onto, say, um…Aragorn? Or Boromir?

Of course, there is a strong chance I’m talking out of my ass.