Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Of Fandoms and Fanbrats
Okay, now while I normally would be writing about some new comic I've discovered, today I'd like to address an issue that runs rampant throughout the web. Bad Fanfiction, note I say "bad", I have no problem with well written fanfiction that respects the characters. But why do badfic writers seem to have this uncontrollable urge to write not only slash pairings that should have never existed and had little or no basis in the canon (meaning the series on which the fic is based), but some truly sickening works of fiction that really make you wonder about the mental state of the person who wrote it.
Example of a fiction that makes you not just feel bad for the fandom, but for the writer, is one of the classics of bad fanfiction (yes. There is such a thing). The title, Agony in Pink, the subject, a full-featured torture fic in which Lord Zedd of Power Rangers goofy villain fame, creates a monster solely designed to torture humans. Zedd then captures the Pink Ranger and proceeds to horribly torture her in countless ways. Now I haven't been a fan of Power Rangers for quite some time, but I still had some good memories. And after reading this fic, not only was I disgusted, but as I read it, I couldn't help but wonder why the author was writing the story, because if you read this, you'd see how much disgusting detail the author goes into.
On a less psychological fiction note, there are people that write pairings that are obviously contrived to help the writer get off. This is not only in the realm of Male/Male pairings. Ever read a Neon Genesis: Evangelion fanfiction? About 9 times out of 10 there will be a pairing that involves either:
*note: spoilers ahead for the serries*
A.) Rei and Auska in a gay relationship, now this one is of prime annoyance, as while in the serries all but one of the relationships were stated merely in subtext. These relationships built a fair amount of the serries, such as the never mentioned but completely implied crush Auska had on Shinji. But of all the relationships that were mentioned in the serries, only one was a homosexual one, and then it was still only implied. The relationship between Dr. Akagi and her assistant Maia. This is one that could never happen as Risko is firmly straight, but it was a sorta nice one. However, the fanbrats seem to need to write gay pairings on both sides of the line that never had a basis, such as the aformentioned Rei and Auska relationship.
B.) Shinji and Kaoru, oh mien gott, as Auska would say. I've got some fangirl friends that like Eva, and this is the motherlode of yaoi fanfics for the serries. Now there is some discussion about Kaoru, as he does make some pretty serious advances on Shinji, however a few friends of mine have worked out a fairly resonable explaination for this. In the past at least one angel had tried to merge with Unit 01 as well as Shinji. This lends some explainations for Kaoru's seemingly sexual advances, Kaoru is trying to merge with Shinji. Not have sex with him, which would be impossible as the angels have no gender.
C.) Some really random pairing that had absolutely no basis in the serries. Examples include Gendo and Fuyuski, Kaoru and Kenske, Risuko and Auska, etc.
Basically this was a entry to let people know that while fanfiction is not inheriantly bad, it's very easy to make it so. If any fanfic writters read this, please follow this piece of advice: if you're writing a pairing, please make it a plausible one, and by that I do not mean a mary-sue. Thank you and goodnight.
Example of a fiction that makes you not just feel bad for the fandom, but for the writer, is one of the classics of bad fanfiction (yes. There is such a thing). The title, Agony in Pink, the subject, a full-featured torture fic in which Lord Zedd of Power Rangers goofy villain fame, creates a monster solely designed to torture humans. Zedd then captures the Pink Ranger and proceeds to horribly torture her in countless ways. Now I haven't been a fan of Power Rangers for quite some time, but I still had some good memories. And after reading this fic, not only was I disgusted, but as I read it, I couldn't help but wonder why the author was writing the story, because if you read this, you'd see how much disgusting detail the author goes into.
On a less psychological fiction note, there are people that write pairings that are obviously contrived to help the writer get off. This is not only in the realm of Male/Male pairings. Ever read a Neon Genesis: Evangelion fanfiction? About 9 times out of 10 there will be a pairing that involves either:
*note: spoilers ahead for the serries*
A.) Rei and Auska in a gay relationship, now this one is of prime annoyance, as while in the serries all but one of the relationships were stated merely in subtext. These relationships built a fair amount of the serries, such as the never mentioned but completely implied crush Auska had on Shinji. But of all the relationships that were mentioned in the serries, only one was a homosexual one, and then it was still only implied. The relationship between Dr. Akagi and her assistant Maia. This is one that could never happen as Risko is firmly straight, but it was a sorta nice one. However, the fanbrats seem to need to write gay pairings on both sides of the line that never had a basis, such as the aformentioned Rei and Auska relationship.
B.) Shinji and Kaoru, oh mien gott, as Auska would say. I've got some fangirl friends that like Eva, and this is the motherlode of yaoi fanfics for the serries. Now there is some discussion about Kaoru, as he does make some pretty serious advances on Shinji, however a few friends of mine have worked out a fairly resonable explaination for this. In the past at least one angel had tried to merge with Unit 01 as well as Shinji. This lends some explainations for Kaoru's seemingly sexual advances, Kaoru is trying to merge with Shinji. Not have sex with him, which would be impossible as the angels have no gender.
C.) Some really random pairing that had absolutely no basis in the serries. Examples include Gendo and Fuyuski, Kaoru and Kenske, Risuko and Auska, etc.
Basically this was a entry to let people know that while fanfiction is not inheriantly bad, it's very easy to make it so. If any fanfic writters read this, please follow this piece of advice: if you're writing a pairing, please make it a plausible one, and by that I do not mean a mary-sue. Thank you and goodnight.
# posted by Darth Miho @ 8:28 AM 
