pondering on pairings

[xparrot]

How can you like a pairing when you hate one character in the pairing? Do any of you do this? I often have my favorite characters in a pairing (sometimes to the point that I'll stray from my OTP to see my favorite with others - for all I am obsessively McSheppist, I will on occasion indulge in Rodney/various-others, because it's fun to see Rodney getting love.) But even when I have a favorite, I'll still like the other character, else I wouldn't be able to understand what they see in each other. I don't think I've ever had a preferred pairing (not just romantic, friendship, either) that I actively disliked one member. How do you manage it, if you do? How do you explain your favorite char's tastes, if you can't see the appeal yourself? I'm genuinely curious; I can't figure out how it would satisfy me to read or write something like that (break-up fics aside. And I only like writing break-up fics, I don't like reading them...)

(...Brought on by a discussion with another SGA fan who detests Rodney but apparently reads McShep.)

(...while I'm at it, did anyone see The Scene in "Miller's Crossing" as Rodney selfishly and deliberately dumping the problem of feeding Todd onto John? I'd never encountered that interpretation before, and it kind of boggles me. What with Rodney begging John to let him sacrifice himself, and then trying to sneak around John's back later anyway. Yes, Rodney can be an arrogant ass, it's part of his charm. But there's more to him than that. I always saw John as the selfish one in "Miller's Crossing", not allowing his teammate to give up his own life - and I love John for that crazy selfishness, even if it was Rodney's choice; I love that John couldn't. But I didn't suspect that Rodney expected that - I thought he went to John partly to get his affairs in order, but mostly because he needed John's help to do it. Without John's orders, the Marines would've shot Todd the moment he laid a hand on Rodney, and that wouldn't have helped anyone. Rodney went to John prepared for an argument - but not for John's flat refusal. And I think he probably struggled to come to terms with what John did, but in the end forgave John, because John needed his acceptance, and Rodney understood why John did it, even if he couldn't have done the same. It never crossed my mind that he was actually manipulating John to kill for him. I wonder how arrogantly selfish that makes him in "The Shrine," then, taking up John's valuable time demanding comfort and beer, just because he's losing his mind...)

Comments

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

Oh, I always try to see what A (let's call him "Spock") might see in that jerk B (whom you can think of as "Kirk"). I generally come around to being able to see B from A's POV -- or else I kind of drift away from the fandom, because it hurts me to see my darling A throw his/her heart away on someone who really annoys me. This is basically what happened for me with SV, also because they totally butchered Lex's characterization in the process.

[sholio]

Ha, it's funny that your example is Kirk/Spock in the context of this discussion, because I'm pretty sure that's *exactly* why I always preferred Spock/McCoy -- I really don't like Kirk and, even though I certainly can't deny how important he is to Spock in canon, I just couldn't get past my dislike of the character.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I wonder if my non-dislike of Kirk comes in part from reading fic (well, Star Trek novels) before really watching the show - I'd seen a couple eps and a couple movies when I saw the show (and I still haven't seen the whole thing, I don't think, though I read novelizations of all the eps...) Much of the fic were written by Spock-fans, and, while gen, was awfully K/S subtexty, so I got to know Kirk "through Spock's eyes" as it were. The same thing happened with Clark, actually. So when I did watch the show, I was primed to like the char already, and could easily reject the parts I didn't care for.

SGA, on the other hand, I watched 3 seasons without reading any fic, so while certain of my tastes have definitely been influenced by the fic, my basic opinions were shaped on my own...