Society customs in fanfic

[zodiac_sign]

I've lately noticed that society customs and norms sometimes seep into fanfic. This is especially noticeable in smut i.e. 'His hand reaches down and feels the light dust of trimmed (pubic) hair', or 'His hand moves slowly over her flat belly

Comments

[red_satin_doll]

Can we even have a own preference? Is not everything moulded to society's standards?I think this has always been true? I enjoy watching "period" tv and movies of any age and seeing how the supposedly period costumes reflect the fashions of when the program was made; this is always especially true for the female characters. (think of Gwenyth Paltrow's glowing locks in Shakespeare in Love, in contrast to the hoods and headdress of every other woman in the movie, which are closer to a "period" look. Or Barbra Streisand's 1960's hairstyles in Funny Girl, set pre-WW2.) There's a belief that actually going full period would look weird to the modern eye and that's true in some instances, but it happens too many times when there's no reason except that they want the female actors to retain some modern sense of prettiness for the viewer, period be damned

[zodiac_sign]

Forgive me, but your opinion isn't very clear to me. Are you against that sort of thing or the opposite?

[red_satin_doll]

Oh definitely against it! in so far as it's possible to be aware of those things. I think the best writers are conscious of tropes or make an effort to try to catch themselves.

And I don't know why a description of pubic hair or genitals or blah blah is necessary 99.75% of the time despite the protests of the authors that it's NECESSARY for plot and characterization. I think not.

[zodiac_sign]

Maybe to be lyrical? Because you can only use 'he/she looks in her/his beautiful eyes' so many times. Or to heat up the moment, although pubic hair and/or genitals individually doesn't really get me started. :P

[velvetwhip]

I think, for better or for worse, writers write for the largest possible audience and in order to attract them one must conform to social norms.

Gabrielle

[zodiac_sign]

But don't you think that puts a kind of pressure on the person reading it that doesn't have a flat belly or neatly trimmed pubic. The might feel left out and think that that scenario won't happen to them because they don't have that.

Shouldn't we break that mould?

[ragdoll]

I think it depends on the characters involved. If you want to describe a character with different characteristics, then you do. I use descriptors for characters the way I see them in my head or how they're described/seen in canon if it's fanfic. It has nothing to do with societal norms, and everything to do with what they look like. If a character is athletic in canon, s/he will have a flat belly. If they're chunky or older, then no. Public hair depends on how I feel, it it's mentioned at all.

One of the the things I liked about fests such as hp_beholder is that the focus was on the least perfect characters, so there was a lot of love for so-called flaws.

[zodiac_sign]

I've never thought about it that way. Good input!

But sometimes the character isn't particularly athletic in canon but the author still writes he/she with an flat belly. Does the author do it because she/he sees him/her that way or because of societal norms?

[red_satin_doll]

Does the author do it because she/he sees him/her that way or because of societal norms?

I think it's a bit of both, and I don't think it's any different to all the stories in which Character X, Y or Z in any fandom has all their flaws wiped away by fanfiction authors and turned into something they weren't in canon. It's what we want to see - and what we want to BE. We all want to be gorgeous, stunning, sexy etc and that''s what we write. (I'm guilty of it mostly through my icons - no way in hell I'm using a photo of myself as an icon here.) And what we read - that's certainly standard for original published fics especially the romance genre but also sci-fi fantasy

The problem is, as you've identified, an inability to escape those norms, or not even being conscious that they need to be questioned, that we are all beautiful and sexy and valuable and loveable despite the fact that we don't fit the media mold.

[zodiac_sign]

I wish I had an awesome picture that said TRUTH!

[velvetwhip]

[zodiac_sign]

Thank you very much! I hope so too :D