Here and There

[my_daroga]

*Someone recommended this lovely fic to me and I'm passing it on, not even having finished. It's Star Trek XI, Cupcake/Chekov, and highlights the fact that what little we get of "Cupcake" in the film is that he stands up for a woman who's said no more than once already. Kirk's the hero of the film, and yeah, Cupcake's rough, but does that make him right? Very sweet, and I believe the author has gone on to write more about him. We always read about Starfleet's avowed geniuses. What about those redshirts, huh?

*This should explain itself:



*An interesting writing meme:
Is my id showing?

via snickfic: So, a couple of us got to wondering what our fics revealed about us. Hence this anonymeme. Are our ids showing?

I've just put all my stuff up on Archive of Our Own, so this got me wondering. I probably know what my primary concerns are already, but it's interesting to think about how many of them come through in my fanfiction, and which ones I'm not actually aware of. And I wonder if they're consistent through fandoms, or if my concerns are native to one or the other area. Or is there something that links my RPF and my Trek and my Phantom of the Opera? I'm not sure anyone's actually read fic in more than one of my fandoms, but if you've got any insight, let me have it!

*
So far, I'm not super impressed with Doctor Who. I mean, I usually am not, and I think it comes down, essentially, to my feeling that the writers want to bring up a whole truckload of interesting issues that they don't actually want to deal with. Sort of like with superhero films, they want to situate things more firmly in something like reality without actually addressing what that means. So every time the Doctor acts like a vengeful(/lonely) god, or mistreats a companion, or gets called on thinking so highly of himself, I lean forward and hope it'll get looked at. But the writers are inveterate fans, and instead of his obvious issues becoming a focus they're swept away in the wake of how awesome we are assured he is.

Now, I'm not sure what I want, and I realize that. If the show was about what a problem his behavior is, it wouldn't be the same show. But I keep watching for those little things where he's just batshit or hypocritical because that's what makes him interesting to me, and no, I don't feel that the end of "The Waters of Mars" really addressed this or that what looks to be the current Big Bad (himself leaving little time!rifts everywhere) will actually be about his responsibility. They want enough of it to give him some nummy angst, but not enough to admit there's something wrong with him. I think it's okay if you don't think there's anything wrong with him, or like the way the show handles it, but it means we're watching for different things--and I am not the target audience.

That said, I don't really have a bead on Matt Smith yet (I still think he looks funny, and man I feel mean for feeling that way) but it's rather unfortunate that Amy is so incredibly hot, as it is further inducement to keep watching, and I hate myself for being so easy. I am not sure how I feel about her being a "kiss-o-gram," because on the one hand I don't think that makes her less interesting or less competent but it also more or less admits that's what they want from companions. I'm not sure she's done anything yet to let me know who she is, other than a girl who's waited about her whole life for the Doctor, and aren't they all? (Again, it feels so far like they've introduced that for it being ever-so-slightly fucked up and delicious, rather than a statement about how terribly fucked up that is and what the consequences are.)

The thing is, I can never tell when we are meant to take his responsibility for interfering, or his hubris, or his hypocrisy seriously, and when it's meant to be part of his lovable eccentricity. And it's quite possible I'm thinking entirely too hard about it.

*lettered/tkp and I may be attending a Star Trek convention. "May be" as in "are."

Comments

[lettered]

So there is this super smart girl at work who's insightful and pretty and talks a mile a minute and is interested in awesome things and was an English AND a bio major and I sort of you know, feel all, "wanna be my friend?"

Anywho, we were talking one day and she started talking about Doctor Who. And she's the girl who was all, Doctor Who is not racist! And then she kept telling me to watch the 11th doctor because she said the new season was good and she wanted to know what I thought.

But I talked to her again after those 4 eps we watched and I was like, "LOOK. There are all these problems, see?" And it was when we were talking about Ricky in particular she was like, "Yeah . . . yeah! That's true! Man, now I'm all angry!"

And then I was sad, because she was bubbly and she liked it, and I probably ruined all enjoyment for her. And yet, at the same time, I feel like PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW.

[my_daroga]

Man. I know. I mean, now I feel guilty about posting this. Because who am I to come down on people liking something that's supposed to just be fun? I feel like a dick. But at the same time, I want to talk about it, and it's interesting, and... Should I just keep it between us, you know?

[lettered]

Well, you didn't come down on anyone, did you? There's a difference between saying, "you're stupid for liking this" and saying, "this is stupid". And I think we're entitled to say, "this is stupid" just as often as people say, "this is good". What makes me sad is when someone agrees with me and then they can't enjoy it any more. What's stupid is when someone DOESN'T agree with me and just can't stand to hear anything bad about something they like, and *that's* what ruins their enjoyment, not actually thinking about it and realizing, hey, yeah, there are problems. I don't know what to do about the former issue, though. There are those who are like, "hey, yeah, you're right; there are problems, but I still like it anyway." That's best because I feel like we can discuss without someone having one less thing they enjoy, but it's definitely true for me that some stuff I did NOT realize was problematic I like a lot less now, and it sort of hurts to think about those things, because they meant so much to me. This is SO long and rambley.

[holyschist]

I dunno, I still enjoy Doctor Who even though I regularly want to throw things at the writers for all the aforementioned reasons.

I'm not sure why, huh.