xparrot | would you like a little RAGE with your RAGE?

So Martin Gero made some comments on the most recent episode of SGA.

"For five years, we didn’t even know it, but all [Rodney] wanted was for someone to tell him that they loved him in an unconditional way."

I want to...I want to kick Martin Gero's head in with a big spiky boot. OF LOVE.

So the love of friends and family (because doesn't Jeannie love him, too? or was she lying when she said "I love you" in "Miller's Crossing" and faking her tears in "The Shrine"?) counts for snot, because it's not romantic, sexual love.

And unconditional love is quoting a guy's own brain-damaged love confession back at him (six months later), and then offering him sex on a plane to make him shut up.

I have no boyfriend! I HAVE NO LOVE! What do I do??? My life is empty! Meaningless!

*cue total fucking mental breakdown*

Okay, now I'm going to do my best to forget this episode ever happened. There's been other eps I haven't enjoyed, but this is the first one that's seriously in danger of spoiling my fanning. It pretty much ruined Rodney's character for me even when I was ignoring the McKeller (I swear, I'd've been almost as outraged if the ep had gone the same way only with John instead of Keller, though at least then I'd have some McShep making out), and now that I am meant to think that banging Keller on the plane is the most significant and important event of Rodney's life in the past five years - yeah. Someone tell me how to hold onto my SGA love, because I don't want to lose this fandom, but the show seems pretty determined to use its dying breath to drive me away.

ETA: I gotta say, SGA these days is really making me appreciate NCIS. NCIS has one s5 ep that is explicitly the 100% opposite theme as this.

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Anyway -- the way we relate to fic is emotional; I don't have the "slash gene", the romance gene or whatever it is, so what makes other people swoon for that kind of fic is missing in me. Instead I sit back and nitpick the details. *g* Just like someone who doesn't have a science fiction kink -- rather than getting engrossed in the wonder of the SF setting, they pull it apart and get frustrated because it doesn't obey real-world logic. I think that's kinda what I'm doing when get frustrated with slash (and ship) for "messing with" my character relationships -- because it doesn't push my buttons, in general, I search it for other buttons to be pushed: my friendship buttons, my storytelling and world-building buttons. Which, of course, some stories will do and others won't, since they're setting out to push a specific button I don't have. Just like many of my h/c stories will do nothing for someone who doesn't have the h/c kink, but some of the ones with more complex worldbuilding and character relationships might be able to satisfy a reader's other narrative kinks anyway (even though they'll probably be irritated and bored at the h/c scenes, because it's not their kind of porn).

... hmm. You know, I think that last paragraph really nails the crux of the whole issue, doesn't it? If you're getting your rocks off with the story, whatever those rocks might be *g*, then its other literary merits are not so important, though awfully nice to have. If it's not getting your rocks off, or worse, if it's developing a theme that squicks you, then you'll be looking for other things about it to appreciate -- which it may or may not have, through no real fault of its own. Like watching "Civilization" (the game) for the romance ...! It's not only not there, it's not supposed to be there.

And looking at it that way does make me feel bad (well ... worse; I already felt bad) about getting bitchy towards slashdom, because it's not for me -- I mean, it's not not for me, but it's written to a kink that I generally don't have. It's like reading porn and getting upset about the sex.

The thing is, again, I know, particularly after this conversation, that one of the unspoken assumptions in most slash/ship is that the particular change being made (from not having sex to having sex) is not a particularly important one in the grand scheme of things -- either because the author already sees the sexual attraction as part of the canon relationship (so the change is merely a matter of degree, not a fundamental shift in the quality of the relationship), or because the change is so small in the big picture of how they feel about each other that it doesn't make that much difference.

Yes, that's it, exactly - at least that's how it works for me. To the point that fics that make a big deal about how the relationship changes when they start having sex can throw me off; I'll feel like too much emphasis is on the sex!

And looking at it that way does make me feel bad (well ... worse; I already felt bad) about getting bitchy towards slashdom, because it's not for me -- I mean, it's not not for me, but it's written to a kink that I generally don't have. It's like reading porn and getting upset about the sex.

Ah-hah! I think you've hit on it here! This makes a lot of sense to me. And I think it's why I've been getting confused, because I'm mostly a gen fan, too, but I have slightly different buttons, and it happens that those buttons are more compatible with (some) slash. There are certain elements of slash that go against my grain, but I can ignore them and enjoy what I get. So I had a hard time understanding why you couldn't; I get it a lot better now. (And yeah, I think you probably should avoid my slash-fic, because it's not what you're looking for. Or don't read it for the John/Rodney parts, anyway - most of my McShep does have other elements to it, but I think you'd get as frustrated with my McShep as in a lot of other fic...)

FWIW, there are some slashers who see and write romantic relationships more like you prefer - ironically, those are the writers I tend not to prefer (I'll often appreciate their world-building and such, but the 'shipping will disappoint me to the point that I won't enjoy the story...)

Don't feel too bad about getting bitchy at slashdom, it's not like you were flaming or anything! and I can totally understand the disappointment (there's almost no good fic in NCIS! and I'm not really interested in slash there, not having a specific OTP, but I've been reading it because there's NO FIC! and I've been having the same cranky disappointed reactions, because slashing Gibbs/Tony just doesn't do it for me, at least not the way most writers do it. While as Tony/McGee I can see more easily, but then it's missing the Gibbs-Tony relationship I love, not to mention no one writes enough TEAM, which is what I most want...!)

would you like a little RAGE with your RAGE?

Still more comment, HALP.

Re: Still more comment, HALP.