Story 76: "Negative Utopia" by prufrock's love

[wendelah1]

Since the last story just wasn't enough of a downer for me, I decided to bring bring out the big guns. For real angst, nothing beats a post-colonization story by prufrock's love. This is almost certainly her darkest post-col. "Negative Utopia" is a novel, it's MSR, everybody/other, and NC-17, so underage readers turn back now. This story is not for

Comments

[leucocrystal]

This is an argument I can actually see both sides of, though it's clear I don't see the same Mulder that you do (or the same Scully, for that matter). I'd argue that Paper Hearts illustrates his selfishness because of his actions, but also his will to do right. That line, "It is somebody, though," hinges everything, I feel. Yes, he uses his credentials to pursue the case to the end, and his most driving force behind that action is to find out whether the final victim was Samantha, but I don't believe that's the only driving force, or even the ultimate one. Whether or not it's Samantha, it is someone, and Mulder needs to know who. I suppose I just believe in (and see on-screen) the Mulder who's showcased in Oubliette; who's about both trying to break his own cycle of victimhood, and to save the victim who is a stranger (and whose motivations aren't always so simple as going back to his sister, and nothing else).

That said, Mulder IS a human character, which means he has a spirit that's capable of being broken, just as Scully has. I think TF/OS is an example of what would happen to Mulder if he were to truly believe that everything he'd done meant nothing, and that the future was hopeless. (bardsmaid's commentary on the episode articulates that point better than I could, though.) And I do think that, if we're talking about a Mulder whose spirit is broken, he'd grasp at the last (and possibly most) important thing to him, which is Scully's safety, as long as he's able to guarantee it.

All that said, I must admit that I have not read this fic, and it's not particularly high on my To Read list, either. I've only read one fic by prufrock's love, "Cycles," and I found it both laughable and insufferable. I'm not particularly interested in "Paracelsus" either, though it's recc'd all the time; historical AU just holds absolutely no intrigue for me. I might try this one sometime in the future though, we'll see.