H/D Fandom - just, urrrg! Stop sucking!!!!

[sjazzmreow]

So I've been reading Harry/Draco 'fic alot lately. It is a great pairing, with some top stories, but...

Where is this notion that Seamus Finnigan is flamboyantly gay and very promiscuous coming from?

Granted, it's been a while since I read the books, and I didn't pay much attention to him anyway, but I'm sure I'd remember if he was written as eyeing

Comments

[annafugazzi]

Hmm. Yeah, I dunno. I think it's just because there's so little written about him (relative to other characters) that it's easy to just give him whatever characteristics you'd like without making him OOC. We don't know enough about his character to know whether he's in or out of it. And once a few people have written him that way and done it well, it's fanon. Personally I find gayfanon!Seamus OK, if a little trite and overdone and annoying sometimes. Though I do agree that depicting him as relentlessly cheerful doesn't mesh terribly well with OOTP!Seamus, and even less with DH!Seamus.

It does bug me a bit to see a gay character stereotyped as flaming, but then again a lot of the time when I see Seamus portrayed like that he's in a fic with other characters who are also gay and not flaming. So I take it as a sort of "Hey, you know, it's not just OK to be gay if you are still completely straight-acting in every conceivable way other than wanting a guy in your bed. It's also OK to be gay if you are the very epitome of a campy!slut queer

[sjazzmreow]

I completely agree with you that some characters require fleshing out and guess-work (hey, that is how we end up with so many somehow IC characterisations of Malfoy, afterall). But we are given something to go on, and that something, however small, just does not go with the extremity of this interpretation.

once a few people have written him that way and done it well
I get the impression that you have seen the flaming!Seamus in different fics than I have. Xp In the ones I've seen it has never been done well. The fic may (very rarely) be good otherwise, but the Seamus isn't. Not saying that it couldn't be done well, just that it hasn't been (that I've seen), and that it would take a bit of work to be convicing.

"Hey, you know, it's not just OK to be gay if you are still completely straight-acting in every conceivable way other than wanting a guy in your bed. It's also OK to be gay if you are the very epitome of a campy!slut queer. It's all good."That is a lovely message, and a camp conversion of a character could be a decent way of

[who_la_hoop]

Heh. I think it's not really anything to do with Seamus really - some writers just want a slutty gay character so Harry and/or Draco can fool around with someone, and make the other one jealous. I suppose Seamus is used just because he's, you know, male and there. I've seen Blaise used a lot in the same role. And I agree - it's a bit silly, and I usually ignore fics that have that. Some cliches are just too annoying. Homophobic!Ron who hates Harry cos he's gay is one of my pet annoyances.

(I can't believe someone said that about the Irish accent! That's so... so... *speechless*. So MORONIC!).

(I suppose you just have to put up with the OOC fics, because only by wading through them can you find the good ones!)

[sjazzmreow]

Your first paragraph = exactly what I was trying to say but much neater and with less rage and hyperbole. I talk too much.

Guh. I hate homophobic!Ron. It works on a minor scale, but when people go all out... just, guh. I learnt pretty quickly that when I see particular cliches, it's much better in general to just read something else. I've only seen one fic that was worth reading despite the crap Seamus, and I've never come across a good Harry-hating!homophobic!Ron. They're usually corruptions of the character beyond recognition for the sake of drama or making a point, and I've no interest in that.

I know, right? I was stunned. I should say though, those who said that (about Irish accent) did not actually believe it themselves. They were just passing it on.

But I'm in psychology, I need characters to act like people (except for crack & comedy). OOC hurts! *whimper* I wants peoples!
That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! Pander to me, for I am a sook in a psych degree! /jk