On Religion and Fandom
A post in which I ponder religion and fanfiction and life. Before you click the link, yes, the answer is 42.
With my recent writing habits, I've started thinking about religion and fanfiction and life and all that jazz. As some who've been around my journal for a while know, I've a unique relationship with religion. At one point in my life, I walked out of my Confirmation ceremony (yes, that makes me Catholic) and then, years later, was Confirmed while at University.
The disparity between Catholicism growing up and Catholicism with an Order (in this case, the Dominicans) was huge. I fell in love with their devotion to education and the community. In point of fact, I fell so far in love with the Dominican faith that I started to study to be a nun. Once I realized that I couldn't subjugate "self" for God, I left the Convent and became a Lay Person in the church.
When I'm nervous or feeling sad or chipper or any sort of strong emotion, I've been known to burst out in liturgical songs. Christ has died, Christ has Risen, Christ will Rise again is one that I hum when I'm bored, as an example. I say the 'Hail Mary' before bed and when I'm in horrible traffic, it's easy to say the Apostle's Creed or the Our Father. I've rosaries hanging in my house though I'm not quite sure how to pray it anymore. It's been far too long since I've gone to Confession. I'm sure the conversation would go similar to - Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. It's been years since my last Confession and I write gay porn about fictional characters. Sometimes, I write incestuous gay porn about fictional characters.
Religion soothes me and I've my own unique relationship with God. I like to think that He understands why I curse and swear like a sailor and He understands why I write porn. I don't know if He approves but, as a Catholic, I've got Confession and if he doesn't approve, I feel that He'd tell me and I'd repent and that would be that.
Recently, I've started adding bibs and bobs of religion into stories that I write. I do it where it's believable, where an absence of religion would, realistically speaking, stick out. An example is whenever I write Seamus Finnigan. To me, it's virtually impossible for a character from a fairly religious country to not have some sort of connection to a religion. Because I know Catholicism best, I choose to make him Catholic.
When I read a story featuring Seamus as a main character, a lack of mention of religion sticks out like a sore thumb. It's almost like the author won't consider that religion might actually exist or, more to the point, peacefully co-exist with magic.
Using Seamus as an example, his da is a Muggle and his mam is a Witch. There had to be some sort of meeting of the minds there. One (or both) had to compromise on their belief system to blend the two together. Whether that compromise was in ignoring the other's beliefs or it was a true meshing of the realms, I've enjoyed exploring so far. Somehow, I find it harder to believe that Seamus wouldn't be using "Catholic" curse words (phrases) such as 'Jesus, Mary and Joseph' than the existence of magic itself.
When I've posted stories dealing with religion, I've received comments to the effect that I'm "brave" or "edgy" for posting something dealing with religion. Is religion that much of a hot-button-topic?
When I say about realistically bringing up religion, I don't mean every character. Mostly, I'm talking about the characters that grow up Muggle. They had to have, at the least, read about wars based on religion (anyone else remember hearing about the 100 Years War for a gadzillion years in school?) or heard about the Middle East and all the various struggles there. Some characters would have more a religious base than others, surely. Padma and Parvati, for example, would believably have more of a relationship with religion than, say, Crabbe or Goyle. Seamus would believably have more of a relationship with religion than, say, Draco Malfoy.
Even Harry would have to have some sort of relationship with religion. With Vernon and Petunia being ever so conscious of the thoughts of their neighbors and appearing like good, pious and normal people, is it so hard to believe that they'd go to church on a Sunday, if just to keep up appearances? Why, then, is it so "brave" or "edgy" to mention that Harry was locked in the cupboard while the Dursleys made their way to church?
Basically, I just don't get why people are afraid to explore, to read and write and absorb, stories that deal with religion in the Wizarding World. It's a way of melding the Muggle and the Wizarding World together, possibly showing a struggle of conscience and conscious between what they know (magic doesn't exist and witchcraft is bad) to what they realize (magic does exist and hey, you can levitate a feather with it! Cool!).
Moving beyond the realm of Harry Potter, I've recently joined the Boondock Saints fandom - where the characters are overtly religious in canon. They have a specific prayer and they believe they're on a mission from God (no, it's not the same one as the Blues Brothers). Yet, when I read stories in that fandom, the word 'Catholic' barely ever appears in any of the hundreds of stories I've read. Actually, the only religious thing the authors continuously mention are the rosaries and those are used more as jewelry for the characters than actual religious implements. Why, in the name of God (yes, bad joke here), would you ignore such overt religious symbolism and devotion? I'm not talking about PWP stories but about long plotty stories where the religious ramifications of incest and homosexuality should be dealt with. It's not like the Catholic Church is all happyhappyjoyjoy about gays, let alone gay incestuous brothers.
When the stories (and I've only found one) do attempt to deal with Catholicism, you can tell (as a Catholic) that the author isn't Catholic and barely did any research other than what's in the movie or available on the wiki. Is it that hard to do a bit of research to find out the difference between Masses or how to pray the Rosary (ok, I'll give them that one having actually done it at some time in the past and not really remembering it now)? Really, the Church's opinion on gays and sex outside of marriage and women and the laity and loads of other issues are all out there for someone to utilize.
The last rant bit has more to do with my thirst for canon compliance than religion but… it also goes to show that a reluctance to touch on religion in a story is not just a Harry Potter phenomena. It's in multiple fandoms out there. Hell, in the Andromeda fandom, it's hard to find a fic that touches on what it means to be a Nietzschean and relate to the non-Nietzscheans. In Dead Like Me, it's hard to find stories that touch on the Reapers relationship with God other than a "woe-is-me-why-me" sort of way.
Perhaps it's because I do have a fairly strong relationship with religion that I notice the lack. Then again, perhaps I just have a religion!kink to go along with my foreign language!kink or my plot!kink or bdsm!kink. I'm not sure.
The only thing I'm sure of is that I'd like to see more of it.
With my recent writing habits, I've started thinking about religion and fanfiction and life and all that jazz. As some who've been around my journal for a while know, I've a unique relationship with religion. At one point in my life, I walked out of my Confirmation ceremony (yes, that makes me Catholic) and then, years later, was Confirmed while at University.
The disparity between Catholicism growing up and Catholicism with an Order (in this case, the Dominicans) was huge. I fell in love with their devotion to education and the community. In point of fact, I fell so far in love with the Dominican faith that I started to study to be a nun. Once I realized that I couldn't subjugate "self" for God, I left the Convent and became a Lay Person in the church.
When I'm nervous or feeling sad or chipper or any sort of strong emotion, I've been known to burst out in liturgical songs. Christ has died, Christ has Risen, Christ will Rise again is one that I hum when I'm bored, as an example. I say the 'Hail Mary' before bed and when I'm in horrible traffic, it's easy to say the Apostle's Creed or the Our Father. I've rosaries hanging in my house though I'm not quite sure how to pray it anymore. It's been far too long since I've gone to Confession. I'm sure the conversation would go similar to - Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. It's been years since my last Confession and I write gay porn about fictional characters. Sometimes, I write incestuous gay porn about fictional characters.
Religion soothes me and I've my own unique relationship with God. I like to think that He understands why I curse and swear like a sailor and He understands why I write porn. I don't know if He approves but, as a Catholic, I've got Confession and if he doesn't approve, I feel that He'd tell me and I'd repent and that would be that.
Recently, I've started adding bibs and bobs of religion into stories that I write. I do it where it's believable, where an absence of religion would, realistically speaking, stick out. An example is whenever I write Seamus Finnigan. To me, it's virtually impossible for a character from a fairly religious country to not have some sort of connection to a religion. Because I know Catholicism best, I choose to make him Catholic.
When I read a story featuring Seamus as a main character, a lack of mention of religion sticks out like a sore thumb. It's almost like the author won't consider that religion might actually exist or, more to the point, peacefully co-exist with magic.
Using Seamus as an example, his da is a Muggle and his mam is a Witch. There had to be some sort of meeting of the minds there. One (or both) had to compromise on their belief system to blend the two together. Whether that compromise was in ignoring the other's beliefs or it was a true meshing of the realms, I've enjoyed exploring so far. Somehow, I find it harder to believe that Seamus wouldn't be using "Catholic" curse words (phrases) such as 'Jesus, Mary and Joseph' than the existence of magic itself.
When I've posted stories dealing with religion, I've received comments to the effect that I'm "brave" or "edgy" for posting something dealing with religion. Is religion that much of a hot-button-topic?
When I say about realistically bringing up religion, I don't mean every character. Mostly, I'm talking about the characters that grow up Muggle. They had to have, at the least, read about wars based on religion (anyone else remember hearing about the 100 Years War for a gadzillion years in school?) or heard about the Middle East and all the various struggles there. Some characters would have more a religious base than others, surely. Padma and Parvati, for example, would believably have more of a relationship with religion than, say, Crabbe or Goyle. Seamus would believably have more of a relationship with religion than, say, Draco Malfoy.
Even Harry would have to have some sort of relationship with religion. With Vernon and Petunia being ever so conscious of the thoughts of their neighbors and appearing like good, pious and normal people, is it so hard to believe that they'd go to church on a Sunday, if just to keep up appearances? Why, then, is it so "brave" or "edgy" to mention that Harry was locked in the cupboard while the Dursleys made their way to church?
Basically, I just don't get why people are afraid to explore, to read and write and absorb, stories that deal with religion in the Wizarding World. It's a way of melding the Muggle and the Wizarding World together, possibly showing a struggle of conscience and conscious between what they know (magic doesn't exist and witchcraft is bad) to what they realize (magic does exist and hey, you can levitate a feather with it! Cool!).
Moving beyond the realm of Harry Potter, I've recently joined the Boondock Saints fandom - where the characters are overtly religious in canon. They have a specific prayer and they believe they're on a mission from God (no, it's not the same one as the Blues Brothers). Yet, when I read stories in that fandom, the word 'Catholic' barely ever appears in any of the hundreds of stories I've read. Actually, the only religious thing the authors continuously mention are the rosaries and those are used more as jewelry for the characters than actual religious implements. Why, in the name of God (yes, bad joke here), would you ignore such overt religious symbolism and devotion? I'm not talking about PWP stories but about long plotty stories where the religious ramifications of incest and homosexuality should be dealt with. It's not like the Catholic Church is all happyhappyjoyjoy about gays, let alone gay incestuous brothers.
When the stories (and I've only found one) do attempt to deal with Catholicism, you can tell (as a Catholic) that the author isn't Catholic and barely did any research other than what's in the movie or available on the wiki. Is it that hard to do a bit of research to find out the difference between Masses or how to pray the Rosary (ok, I'll give them that one having actually done it at some time in the past and not really remembering it now)? Really, the Church's opinion on gays and sex outside of marriage and women and the laity and loads of other issues are all out there for someone to utilize.
The last rant bit has more to do with my thirst for canon compliance than religion but… it also goes to show that a reluctance to touch on religion in a story is not just a Harry Potter phenomena. It's in multiple fandoms out there. Hell, in the Andromeda fandom, it's hard to find a fic that touches on what it means to be a Nietzschean and relate to the non-Nietzscheans. In Dead Like Me, it's hard to find stories that touch on the Reapers relationship with God other than a "woe-is-me-why-me" sort of way.
Perhaps it's because I do have a fairly strong relationship with religion that I notice the lack. Then again, perhaps I just have a religion!kink to go along with my foreign language!kink or my plot!kink or bdsm!kink. I'm not sure.
The only thing I'm sure of is that I'd like to see more of it.