DPP: Fanon aka Tie Me Up With Tropes

[winegums]

Welcome to this week's DPP, everyone! I'm usually all over the discussion of canon and I cheerfully admit it (can never get it out of my head), but today, I thought we'd talk about fanon instead

Comments

[wicked_sassy]

The best trope I've seen in BSG fic is better than canon. BSG fic does a great job for me in filling in gaps for Kara and Lee's childhoods, in making Helo a fun sidekick/frakbuddy for Kara, explaining/ avoiding/ redoing the poof, and finding resolution for Kara and Lee. Kudos to all of the fabulous writers!

Btw, I love Academyfic. :) workerbee73's Borrowed Time is a good one.

[winegums]

omg I just finished Borrowed Time this weekend. Amazing, but it really did put me through the wringer.

[workerbee73]

**hands everyone cups of cocoa**

I do feel badly about that. (And OMG that fic was tropey. Like every fanon trope in the book. You could seriously play a drinking game. *g*)

[workerbee73]

**fistbump**

Thanks, bb. I think academyfic is kind of synonymous with fanon tropes, and I mean that in the best possible way. I love it too. :)

[workerbee73]

I'm not sure there is such a thing as a bad trope. No seriously, I mean it. I think the trick is recognizing that it IS a trope and not being all... trope-y about it? :) Just have fun with it, be tongue in cheek about it and if possible, turn it one its head. Sometimes really tropey premises can work beautifully that way.

[winegums]

True, most good fic authors recognise their tropes and it'd probably be impossible to write a fic without one considering how many of them canon ultimately deployed.

It's just that certain things, like babyfic (a common trope across all fandoms, though maybe not so much in this one) are a personal quibble of mine because they really don't seem to fit the people we know pilots to be. Or the whole 'Lee is a complete stick-in-the-mud, and Kara is totally and completely out of control' for no good reason. Or even completely weakening one of them (usually Kara) so the other one can 'fix' it...it all comes down to personal taste, I suppose.

[workerbee73]

Or the whole 'Lee is a complete stick-in-the-mud, and Kara is totally and completely out of control' for no good reason

I think those are definitely examples of tropes being employed perhaps badly (or maybe worse-- thoughtlessly). I always say that I'll go along for the ride on any story if the author sells it. If there a good reason why things are happening and characters are behaving the way they do.

And I think that applies to babyfic too. I know there was a pretty intense debate awhile back on that particular issue, and a lot of excellent points were raised, but I think even babyfic and even with pilots can work if the context works. And of course that is the hard part.

[anamarya]

I always say that I'll go along for the ride on any story if the author sells it.

exactly. I managed to read fics that have all sorts of bad ideas and strange tropes in them but that as a whole were good because the author managed to express them in a convincing way. and then again, there are fics (more in other fandoms than here) that in theory sound very ok but the delivery is not really in sync with me.

[winegums]

Oh, I'm on the edge about whether it's canon or fanon, depending on whether what Sam told Lee about her cheating on him on New Caprica is true.

It could really be either way, though I don't know whether trust or emotional connection are what is really on Kara's mind when she goes to Baltar with her tags and ring in Islanded, I always read it as more that she wants answers so badly that she didn't care who she had to ask - and I felt that it was easier for her to ask someone she wasn't close to, who could have the answers.

[winegums]

I have no trouble with the idea that Kara likes sex or that one-night stands are her MO, it could fit her character that she takes those things on her own terms (I detest the fact that she gets judged for that, though - admittedly, Lee and Sam had their own reasons for lashing out, and if you treat Sam's statement about her cheating on him during their marriage to be false it's even worse because he's accusing/judging Kara for something she hasn't even done). But yeah, it's an even split either way.

[pennyante]

I'll also go along for just about any ride, if it's done well. I'm not that excited by: Gianne (canonically, she has more substance as a dream that Lee had for a day than as an actual person he actually knew), Kara's mother (defies my imagination to try to sympathize with her), or battle scenes against Cylons (though I love them canonically). But I've read fics with all of those that I like.

I love the "resolving things with Zak" trope. It's the great open wound of their relationship. In canon, they seem to decide that because Zak died and what happened before that is irrevocable, their "betrayal" is sort of irredeemable. I love fanon that takes it on. (I'm trying to even now! It's fun and hard!)

[winegums]

I love the "resolving things with Zak" trope.

OMGYESSS me too! Though in some ways it almost felt like Zak took a backseat as a concern proper after Kara forgave herself for passing him, and in a way really became a major excuse they used to stay apart because they just couldn't deal with the idea of being together. Which is why I love it when fic resolves that problem for them.

(and agreed on the Gianne thing too. For what it's worth, I treat that part of Black Market as basically fanfiction with Gianne as a variety of Mary Sue - dead Mary Sue, to be sure, but Mary Sue nonetheless)

[workerbee73]

For what it's worth, I treat that part of Black Market as basically fanfiction with Gianne as a variety of Mary Sue - dead Mary Sue, to be sure, but Mary Sue nonetheless

LOL, I love it. In my mind, I imagine the writer's room when storyboarding Black Market as follows:

RDM: Hey guys! Wouldn't it be cool if Lee was all messed up in the head over some chick we've never heard of and we had a whole ep about it?

Everyone else: Cool! Let's do it!

Annoying disciple of logic in the corner: Okay..... but what does it all mean?

**CRICKETS**

((and really that's how i imagine most of season 3 and 4 went down as well. ;P)

[winegums]

I love that it's so terrible that not a single person involved tries to pretend it isn't - from RDM down to Jamie, they've as good as disowned the final product.

(and what really makes it basically fanfic that happened to get written in the writers' room is this - you have an entire episode about the complicated love life of Lee Adama.....and it doesn't feature a single appearance by, or mention of, Kara Thrace. )

Leaving one of my own here

[winegums]

1. Pilots being attracted to each other but putting it aside to be friends first. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

2. Pilots going down on each other (never saw it in canon, but I love the frequency with which it turns up in fic)

3. All the cuddling, especially stealth!snuggles (possibly my favourite kind of trope in fic EVER, along with grief!sex).