Comments | no_takebacks: DPP: Tragic Love Stories

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DPP: Tragic Love Stories

Aug 12, 2011 18:53

Today's question is as follows - would we love pilots as much as we do if they'd been a couple who hadn't got themselves royally screwed over by cosmic bad luck (a.k.a. the perversity of Ronald D. Moore)? To make a little more sense of the above question, I guess I should rephrase it: would we still care as much as we do about pilots, or be as ( Read more... )

dpp, fandom, daily pilots post

Comments 24

scifishipper August 12 2011, 13:32:56 UTC

Impossible to say of course, but I remember watching Farscape and feeling initially excited to pursue fanfic, but in the end, when they got their happy ending, I didn't feel compelled. There was nothing to fix. I didn't even bother to read any fanfic, although I had been excited about it.

Does that mean I wouldn't have gone nutso over pilots, not necessarily, but it is an interesting parallel. Almost two years later, I've stopped trying to fix canon and am now satisfied taking our beloved characters and putting them into non-canon places. That is so fun and satisfying. I love the BSG world and do stay inside it, but soon, I imagine I'll branch off from that and go even more AU. Then back around again? We'll see...

kag523 August 12 2011, 22:54:35 UTC

I am so excited by this: soon, I imagine I'll branch off from that and go even more AU... This is totally leaving me grinning. You are SUCH a talented writer. I cannot WAIT to read more from you! *pulls you to dance* K :>D

shah_of_blah August 12 2011, 13:40:05 UTC

Well, I was active in fandom well before the end, and I definitely thought they were going to end up together. Didn't deter me in the slightest from ficcing it up.

Would fandom today be different? Probably, yes. Maybe some people never would have joined. But there were other people who left fandom because of the crappy ending. So I don't think I can really say anything other than 'it would be different' and leave it at that. I'd still be here, anyway.

callmeonetrack August 12 2011, 14:16:44 UTC

What she said. ;)

It's hard to conjecture. I think their story actually completely required a happy ending because of the way it was introduced and built, and it will always really gall me that they dropped the ball on that. But...I rewatched some episodes yesterday (Colonial Day, Home 1 & 2, Captain's Hand) and... it occurred to me that although the ship looms so large for me, subsuming pretty much everything else about the show, it was really just a small faction of the show itself. Even in very pilots-heavy episodes like those! They are larger than life for me because of FANDOM not Canon. So...I don't know. I think I would still want to read and write stories about them, but if fandom was even less active than it is now because of a happy ending? That'd be hard to keep doing. Other people's excitement fuels MY excitement often.

daybreak777 August 12 2011, 23:20:46 UTC

They are larger than life for me because of FANDOM not Canon.
I totally agree. It was reading all of the fic that really pushed it over the edge for me. I don't think we can chicken or egg it. We can't unsee the fannish goodness. :-)

Great fic is made from unresolved stories. But great fic is also made from well-written characters, well-written canon plots, and two leads with undeniable chemistry . I don't think completely happy K/L fans would less active, least not because of being happy. I think activity naturally drops off after a show ends. Still, it's an interesting question!

kag523 August 12 2011, 22:53:05 UTC

I have to say how amazing it is to have people like you - who have been here since the beginning - still active in fandom. I love that! :>D

Thread 5

rachelindeed August 12 2011, 15:22:16 UTC

I agree that it's finding other people who share your excitement and continue fueling you with their imaginings that keeps a fandom going. For me personally, I don't think it has much to do with whether the characters themselves got a happy or satisfying ending. I write about Kara and Lee, but also Snape (unhappy but satisfying ending) and Holmes and Watson (happy and satisfying, I suppose, in that there really is no ending). If I love the character, I enjoy writing and reading about them, and there are usually spaces to fill in almost any story, no matter how satisfyingly told. I usually move on from focusing on a particular character when I've said/read my piece or when other people stop reading/being interested, but I almost always circle back to the characters again later when I'm in the mood and new creative stuff has had a chance to build back up in fandom.

cosetteferaud August 12 2011, 15:55:08 UTC

Well, I always suspected that Kara and Lee weren’t going to get a conventional happy ending, but I thought it would be emotionally satisfying somehow --which of course it wasn’t. But aside their ending (and the fact that I clearly have a soft spot for doomed couples), the most compelling thing about pilots (and what brought me to fandom in the first place) was their relationship and their journey together (and apart). I just love these characters so much and I guess that’s why I am still here after all this time (or sort of, given that I am mostly in a lurker mode these days).

winegums August 13 2011, 11:29:58 UTC

Yes, in S4.5 I had the feeling things weren't going to end happily for them either, but I agree COMPLETELY that for me, my love of pilots was more about the journey and not so much the destination.

It's enough for me that they became people who loved each other and (as of Daybreak) wanted to be together, the pain of the poof cannot be undone but there's some very, very small consolation to be had in the moment they shared before the end - and for that I'm grateful.

Okay, I'll play devil's advocate... kag523 August 12 2011, 16:54:01 UTC

Um... well I'm just going to step outside the box here and admit that if Kara and Lee had gotten their happy ending, I wouldn't be here at all. I never would have read a word of fanfic (as I never did before). I never would have written a single fic myself (as all my writing prior to this was RL writing) and I never would have met any of YOU. And thought that's sad. It's true. So I'll admit to this odd fact: I'm GLAD (despite my grief over the ending) that the ending left so MUCH to be desired.

(Oh goodness, I can't believe I actually said that aloud.O_o)Now, have I found resolution with BSG since then? Yes, actually, I have. And I've found it for ALL the characters. I really do love them all. For Kara, in particular, I've come to see the ending as what it was meant to be (at least in my perception.) I have no hatred of it anymore... though it took me a year to actually get to this point. Have I lost the desire to write since reaching it? No. I'm still here. I still write lots (though as much of that is RL coping as ( ... )

Re: Okay, I'll play devil's advocate... rachelindeed August 12 2011, 21:30:13 UTC

So glad you took their lemons and made lemonade, bb! <3 <3 <3 <3

Re: Okay, I'll play devil's advocate... kag523 August 12 2011, 22:50:13 UTC

Thank you, R. Meeting YOU and getting to read your amazing writing is one of the many reasons I'm grateful for the ending being what it was. You ROCK! K :>D

Re: Okay, I'll play devil's advocate... winegums August 13 2011, 11:26:53 UTC

I'm on the same page with you when it comes to finding peace with the poof - at the end, on an emotional level, I've come to the conclusion that it's enough for me that they were two people who really loved each other and that Kara wanted to be with Lee at the end (implied by Kara's expression and very obliquely by Katee herself recently). To me, it wasn't about the destination so much as how they got there, and even if it took a few writing turns for the illogical (plot device marriages invested with way more significance than they should have had), it was beautiful.