"De-Aging"

[ceedeeandco]

Another random fic-related comment: I think I see permanent de-aging -- character being turned into a child and having to grow up again -- as one step above death, especially if memory loss is involved. Because it's all very well to talk about second chances, but is it really a second chance for the same person if years and years of what makes

Comments

[claudiapriscus]

Oh, I am so right there with you. The fact that - at least where I've seen it- it's usually portrayed as such a happy thing just gives me the heebie-jeebies. There's really been only one story I've read where it's been permanent where I didn't want to run screaming from the room, and that's because it...well, it subverted most of the tropes associated with the cliche in that fandom.

[ceedeeandco]

I first really ran into it in SPN, where I generally wasn't fond of it but could just about handle it if it wasn't taken too lightly, because Sam and Dean's lives are such spectacular train wrecks I can understand why some people might feel it necessary to start over to find any kind of happy ending. Especially if it's like, we all thought the person would die but turns out they're alive and de-aged. But I've recently run into it in White Collar, with a character who, while having made some bad decisions and having his fair share of emotional baggage, is basically a happy and functioning human being. WHY?