Monday, December 16, 2013

Holy Christ, I’m going to hell… (the fan fic edition)

Speaking of military kink, I don’t know why the fandom insists upon it, but I know that retired / invalided military types don’t tend to wear their dog tags. They might if they’re active (I don’t know and never asked), but I’ve never seen an ex-military person wear them. There’s a bunch of fan fic out there where John is still wearing his tags and he takes them off his neck and gives them to Sherlock to wear. I don’t see that happening at all. Maybe he takes them out of a box and makes a romantic gift of them, but every time I see John wearing them, it makes me feel weird. Like the writer doesn’t understand the enormity of the symbolism behind those pieces of tin… I know what my dad’s tags meant to him: they were an unhappy reminder of the things he did in Viet Nam and he never wanted to see them again. I can’t imagine John - sweet, scarred John who has nightmares, a psychosomatic limp, hand tremors, and is possibly suffering from depression / PTSD - wearing them at home. AT ALL.

I never thought I’d say this, but I’ve found the one ‘normal’ thing that makes me all squicky.

And there’s been a development in the world of Sherlock fan fic that absolutely pisses me off to no end.

There was a huge screening of S3, E1 “The Empty Hearse” yesterday in London, with a Q & A with the cast…

The fucking moderator had Benedict and Martin read some fan fic. EVEN THOUGH THEY’RE ON RECORD AS NOT BEING COMFORTABLE WITH IT.

And, and, and, and!

IT WAS ROMANTIC, LEADING TOWARDS PORNOGRAPHIC. (I’ve read the fic, I like the fic, but really?!?! They didn’t get to the dirty part, but the part she had them read was obviously leading up to it.)

So - yeah - it got a lot of people up in arms. People hating fan fic writers, fan fic writers hating people like her, fluff vs. porn, I’ve seen it all in the past barely 24 hours. And this isn’t the first time publicity about fic has gotten out of control (look at all the Destiel shit going around, and around, and around, in the Supernatural fandom), which makes this all the more tragic.

I can’t even say what’s going on in my own head… but I guess the short version would be that fan fiction exists, it’s not going anywhere soon, and that we all need to be a little more respectful of ACD / Mofftiss’ creations and the actors who have brought them to life. Does that mean that the PWP writers need to stop? Not necessarily… If the media would let it go, we’d all be better off. The actors are aware it’s out there. The press is aware it’s out there. Can we just leave it at that? When was the last time you saw JK Rowling answering questions about Drarry? OR Romianie? OR Forge (twincest, dude! TWINCEST!)? The Harry Potter fan fic is just as crazy, just as dirty, just as ridiculous as Sherlock’s, but for whatever reason, everybody’s interested in Benedict and Martin’s reactions. Which is such bullshit that I can’t… I just can’t.

And… while we’re on the topic of squick and porn…

MY FUCKING BETA IS FIFTEEN. FIF-FUCKING-TEEN. ONE-FUCKING-FIVE.

Jesus fucking Christ on a fucking pogo stick.

I knew she was young - they all are compared to me - but I didn’t think she was that young.

The scary thing is, she’s actually pretty good. She’s read the first four out of the thirty prompts, and holy shit, does she know the Cabin Pressure canon inside and out. l couldn’t ask for a better beta, but the age thing… Wow.

I guess it’s a good thing that all my attempts at porn in the 2013 Johnlock NaNoWriMo Experience From Hell, no matter how much I tried to dig in and really write it, went something like this: John kissed Sherlock. Sherlock kissed him back. “Bedroom?” “Oh, God, yes!” /// The next morning, John woke up to the sound of something exploding in the kitchen. I can’t imagine giving a fifteen year old some heavy duty porn to proofread, even if she’s reading it on her own elsewhere. I will willingly corrupt the youth of America, but even I have boundaries!

And let’s end this on a happy note: I just read the most beautiful piece of fan fic that didn’t make me cry. Father_Christmas is just amazing. And yeah, again, I saved the PDF of it to read later. As I told the author in the comments, it was a nice reminder that Christmas shouldn’t always be about the empty chairs at the dinner table. It should be about Luke and Han and hope and those that are still sitting at the table.

Even if you’re not a Sherlock fan, it’s good. (No Johnlock - just a little boy’s letters to Father Christmas and the results.)