The whole cohabitation/family-of-circumstance kink is definitely one that I share in a major way, as you probably have noticed. ^_^ And I think this is exactly why -- because it, basically, keeps the characters pulling in the same direction. It is quite possible that on some level I do agree with you that friendships are -- okay, not doomed to fail necessarily, but extremely hard to keep together in the modern world. I mean, the cohabitation thing with marriage probably is one of the major factors keeping a marriage together; there are certainly some marriages that survive when the two people maintain separate households or are apart for long periods of time -- human beings are so varied that somewhere out there, there's probably someone who is happy in pretty much every conceivable variation of relationship that there is! But it's not usual and it's not standard, and most marriages can't survive that.
So my favorite fictional friendships (for fanning on, that is; I read and enjoy lots of things that I don't fan on) seem to be those with some element of "bonding" that isn't marriage -- usually above and beyond the norm of partners, co-workers or even siblings. Atlantis is a good example of that, because they're not just partners at work; they also all live together in what's basically a big dorm, PLUS they're stuck together in another galaxy fighting overwhelming odds. (Dormitory ... IN SPACE!) Combined with the general adorableness of the characters, it just took a big wad of my fictional kinks and rolled them together into a big katamari of cute. ^_^
It may be that the reason why such relationships appeal to me is because I'm able to indulge my freedom-of-association kink while appeasing my inner skeptic by giving them a reason, other than sex, for everyone to spend their lives together.
I'm also pretty sure that I don't have quite the same status-quo kink that you do. As a matter of fact, SGA is one of the few things I've fanned on where I haven't been more interested in things changing than staying the same -- in other words, in most other things that have an enduring fan-interest for me (e.g. Death Gate), the point of fan-fixation is where things change ... it's the transition process of enemies becoming friends that I like in that book, not the status quo afterwards. SGA is kind of unusual for me in that I like where they are now so much that I'm not all that interested in going back to the early days when they were just becoming friends, which normally would be the part that I most want to explore and to see explored on the show.
I think this one of the big reasons why I become bored in fandoms fairly easily and wander along to a new shiny -- the changes intrigue me at least as much, if not more than the end product. (And NCIS is following a very typical fan trajectory for me -- a few months of active fanning, slowly tapering off.)
Hmmm ... maybe one of the reasons why slash is often not my cup of tea is because it teases me with something that I want from fic -- exploring the changes in a relationship over time -- and then fails to deliver? Which makes my little whine that kicked off this whole conversation even less defensible, really.
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winterfish
Cohabitation and such
Date: 2008-11-27 09:14 pm (UTC)So my favorite fictional friendships (for fanning on, that is; I read and enjoy lots of things that I don't fan on) seem to be those with some element of "bonding" that isn't marriage -- usually above and beyond the norm of partners, co-workers or even siblings. Atlantis is a good example of that, because they're not just partners at work; they also all live together in what's basically a big dorm, PLUS they're stuck together in another galaxy fighting overwhelming odds. (Dormitory ... IN SPACE!) Combined with the general adorableness of the characters, it just took a big wad of my fictional kinks and rolled them together into a big katamari of cute. ^_^
It may be that the reason why such relationships appeal to me is because I'm able to indulge my freedom-of-association kink while appeasing my inner skeptic by giving them a reason, other than sex, for everyone to spend their lives together.
I'm also pretty sure that I don't have quite the same status-quo kink that you do. As a matter of fact, SGA is one of the few things I've fanned on where I haven't been more interested in things changing than staying the same -- in other words, in most other things that have an enduring fan-interest for me (e.g. Death Gate), the point of fan-fixation is where things change ... it's the transition process of enemies becoming friends that I like in that book, not the status quo afterwards. SGA is kind of unusual for me in that I like where they are now so much that I'm not all that interested in going back to the early days when they were just becoming friends, which normally would be the part that I most want to explore and to see explored on the show.
I think this one of the big reasons why I become bored in fandoms fairly easily and wander along to a new shiny -- the changes intrigue me at least as much, if not more than the end product. (And NCIS is following a very typical fan trajectory for me -- a few months of active fanning, slowly tapering off.)
Hmmm ... maybe one of the reasons why slash is often not my cup of tea is because it teases me with something that I want from fic -- exploring the changes in a relationship over time -- and then fails to deliver? Which makes my little whine that kicked off this whole conversation even less defensible, really.
(Comment limits, I hatessssss them...)