Talking Meme: Day Seven

[gamma_x_orionis]

(Day three.  January seven.  It's too late for words apparently >.<)

Asked by philstar22: What are your least favorite fandom cliches and why

Comments

[philstar22]

Why do you need to vilify Bellatrix anyway? Just have her with Voldemort Problem solved. I'm pretty sure its canon that she loves him and not Rudolphus if people actually care about such things.

I really hate that too, even when its characters I don't actually love (Ron for example). Seriously, just ignore him or have the canon pairing break up. It isn't that hard.

I hate OOC characterization. Hate it. I love the characters because of who they actually are. I don't want to see them being someone else. Now, there are different interpretations of characters, but so many fics have no relation to canon characterization whatsoever.

Violently sexual Voldemort just seems odd. He totally sees it as a human weakness (even if he does indulge his body's needs with Bellatrix if only in my mind).

And so agreed on the Marauder one. Peter only became a traiter later. He was completely their friend. And that goes doubly for fics where the other three and/or Lily don't like Peter or somehow know he's going to be a traitor.

[gamma_x_orionis]

I know, right? That's why it seems so incredibly weird to me that, out of all the pairings I read, it's Rodolphus/Rabastan that is roughest on the canon spouse. Especially since it often seems like the nasty character traits foisted on Bellatrix in such stories are usually things like being overbearing and shrewish, rather than her canonical nasty character traits of being unfaithful and, you know, sadistic. It's so strange to me.

It's not even necessarily the fact that the characters are OOC that bothers me (that bothers me somewhat, but it's not my main issue) - it's when the OOC version of the character becomes more popular in the fandom than an accurately characterized version. GAH

[philstar22]

Honestly, there is a lot of bashing of female characters in certain parts of slash fandoms. Even female characters that have no canon relationships with the males being shipped together. So it may be a bit from sexism.

Oh, don't get me started on fanon!Draco. Ugh. Or fanon!Snape.

I really need a Bellatrix icon.

::goes hunting::

[gamma_x_orionis]

I would probably agree, if I didn't know that the worst victim of this kind of bashing is Ron, who just... Jesus Christ. Really hardcore anti-Ron people are scary. At least with the Rod/Rab people, they just dwell on how bad a wife Bellatrix is - I think the anti-Ron people actually want Ron to be murdered horribly or something. So I don't know, maybe it's sexism in some cases, but I'm more inclined to think that people are just stupid.

*Shudders dramatically* I try not to think about fanon!Snape if at all possible.

Good luck on your quest for Bellatrix icons!

[evening12]

Marauder-centric fics that write Peter out. WUT. Just... don't do that.

I agree if a story in Marauder-centric than Peter should be present but I do know that for some people he is harder to write so they just have him be sick or whatever lol I can accept that because his character has been addressed in some fashion.

Luckily, I don't have to worry when I write in the Marauder era because I only write Remus gen or Remus/Sirius, and the character's view is so tight and focused that it's like nothing outside of what I am writing matters.

[gamma_x_orionis]

Better to have him be sick and absent than to just ignore him altogether... what bothers me is when stories act like he wasn't best friends with Remus and Sirius and James, like the three of them went off and had fun and adventures and Peter didn't exist.

[nightfalltwen]

Marauder-centric fics that write Peter out. WUT. Just... don't do that.

I see that with fanartists a lot. Especially MWPP/L era fanart. It's like all people do is draw James, Sirius and Remus being all awesome and super hawt together... its like Peter never existed.

(Don't get me started on the "hawtness" of the maurauders when I know for a fact that this is what people looked like in the 70s: http://nightfalltwen.tumblr.com/post/66325768775/this-was-the-height-of-wedding-fashion-in-the-70s )

[gamma_x_orionis]

THOSE PICTURES. Yup. They're all heartthrobs, aren't they? *Swoons* (I'm totally headcanoning that picture now. Clearly, that's James with the snazzy moustache. Yes.)

[nightfalltwen]

Whenever people go on and on about how hot the Marauders were, I like to show them my parents' wedding photos. That's my Dad. That was the most expensive suit he'd ever bought. Mom's the one seated in yellow.

[writcraft]

The Marauder Era fic w/out Peter is something I was discussing at length with someone just the other day. I think with Marauder Era pairings/Marauder centric-fic the timing is critical.

We know Sirius doubted Remus - even thought he had been acting under Imperius. The one person he trusted other than James, was Peter. So it makes no sense to me to have Peter acting shifty around Sirius, or to have him not being part of the group. He was as much part of the Sirius, Remus, James friendship as Ron and Hermione were of Harrys.

I am guilty however of not doing Peter justice at all in my own fics which are set during Marauder Era. Largely because they are mostly PWPs...

It's something I plan to address this year for sure and I completely understand the annoyance with this.

[evening12]

I agree with you that timing is everything. I am fine with having no Peter if the stories are set after Hogwarts because of the war, shifting alliances, under cover jobs and such. To me, I am perfectly fine with a shifty acting Peter during the war...because if it's written well it shows that he his conflicted about what he is doing (which I do believe he was).

Whereas in Hogwarts, sure maybe Sirius and James thought that Peter was a bit of a pushover but they were friends with him...so to leave him out completely out of those stories is just odd.

[awakenyourfaith]

Dude, like fifty percent of the reason I'm reading fanfiction instead of watching porn is that I think it's boring when everyone looks the same. - I know, right? It's especially distracting if the description doesn't even match the character's proper bloody physical traits.

Basically any "fanon" characterization that deviates sharply from canon. - YES.