ponderings

[tielan]

Is there any point in signing up for avengersfest when all I really want is Maria Hill or Maria/Steve, and so far about 10 people have signed up and Maria is either "will not write" or one of the "oh, I suppose you can write her if you really really absolutely must" listings or unmentioned in their sign-up

Comments

[scribble_myname]

Yes, actually! I love women. All the guys I end up loving are solely because a favorite female character loves them, then they grow on me.

[tielan]

I like the guys well enough, but I'm well aware that the stories are always written about them and I don't have any wish to contribute to the continuation of the status quo: that the only stories worth telling are about the guys

[scribble_myname]

I write them all, but let's just say I rarely pass the reverse bechdel test, rare being compared to my entire collection of fiction. If my guys are talking, it's usually about women. I've just always been about the women

[tielan]

Her story is secondary, but it's always HER story

I think that's it, really.

I don't get involved with fandom culture around MCU for that reason, just my friends and fic.

Problem is, some of this came up in a discussion with a friend from a previous fandom. Not one who's actually in the MCU fandom, so far as I can tell, just LOOOOOOOVES Natasha (and thinks Maria is 'meh').

[azewewish]

I loved Maria long before we were ever friends. :D In fact, she's one of the reasons I friended you - because there aren't that many of us.

[tielan]

There are simply not enough. And growing smaller the less she's in MCU things and the larger the MCU gets.

[geckoholic]

Do I love Maria as much as I do now because we met? Possibly. But then again, that's always been part of fandom for me? I can go through my flist, and like, point at the one who made me really go for Meg, the one who fanned my love for Finnick into a flame, then one who made me start writing AUs, the one who made me watch Strike Back or had me start reading The Hunger Games. Hell, me getting into Marvel for real is due to the one who sat me down for the movies and then the one who shoved my first comic at me. Half the people I squee with about my OTP are people I've ~recruited into it, and there's more than one person who's watching my latest TV obsession now because I squeed loud enough that they got curious, after *I* only started it because another friend did that for me. Fandom is community, and I *love* being infected with someone else's love for a character or a pairing, and vice versa.

[tielan]

Fair enough.

I guess, while I enjoy other people's pairings and characters (where they make me believe in them), I rarely take on other people's fannish loves.

[geckoholic]

Yeah, everyone processes that differently I guess? And hey, I also could cite a few times where someone got me into a fandom and we went total opposites when it comes to characters and pairings. But yeah, idk, I'm easily influenced in these things, probably. I like it that way though. XD

[tielan]

Probably the 'no romantic interest' angle: a woman isn't interesting until she's approved by a man.

[redbrunja]

In related thoughts, thanks to a conversation with a friend from SGA fandom (well, with her and assorted other people): am I the only one who finds Maria an interesting character who is worthy of fannish development (ie. fanfic) without the addition of fandom?

Yes.

I have a lot of affection for Cobie Smulders from HIYM so I was like 'Robin as a superhero? sounds legit!' and I just REALLY enjoyed that in the Avengers Maria is more of the pragmatist and Fury, for all his rough edges, the optimist, and THEN I saw the panel of the comics where she tells Nick Fury to go fuck himself when he asks for his organization back.

I mean, I was so sold.