lol, tumblr

[anghraine]

Not even f-locking this.

Okay, another anti-woobification rant popped on my dash, of the 'I just don't understand stupid shallow fangirls acting like their woobies are just misunderstood, why do they have to ruin the characters for the rest of us' variety. So I responded with, well, that'd be because they think they ARE misunderstood, at least to some extent, and fandoms often focus on dark characters' softer sides because it's what conflicts with the general villainy and makes them interesting in the first place, and come on, other people interpreting characters differently doesn't ruin the characters, even if we think the other interpretations make no sense. We can disagree and point out problematic trends and all that without going all STOP HAVING FUN, GUYS at swaths of fandom.

(Or: If you think Darcy is a hot-tempered, impulsive, fiercely authoritarian, debonair, alpha male, sex god who constantly broods over the torment of his soul, I think you're wrong. I don't, however, think that you're stupid, immoral, or somehow wrecking Darcy as I see him in the book, I just disagree. And probably don't like your fic. That's okay.)

I was unprepared, however, for the OP's brilliantly persuasive rebuttal:

go away i don't care

Wow, I'm crushed. Of course, then other people were responding to me, and she complained about that, then deleted her posts, and now she's complaining that those people just don't understand, she was talking about woobies and not just liking villains, her username is a villain, some people just have no reading comprehension, GOD. Because, clearly, we weren't talking at all about woobification, just about enjoying evil characters being evil. Getting a kick out of Palpatine's machinations and MUAHAHAHAHAHA ULTIMATE POWAH!!! is the only proper way to like villains.

Comments

Darcy!

[anghraine]

Darcy is such an introvert. I will never not laugh over the scene where he works himself up to talking to Elizabeth by listening to her talk to other people, and after the scene where Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam tell him to try harder (and it's pretty obvious that he can't be bothered to even try to be more pleasant), I love that in the end Elizabeth is all I MUST PROTECT HIM HE IS A DELICATE FLOWER. And he keeps trying to flirt by philosophical argument and talk about books and he's always buying them - and he expresses affection for his sister via interior decorating, like redecorating her parlour and hanging her drawings in his art collection. So yeah, I'm with you on Darcy leaning strongly to the adorkable side of the spectrum.

I really like that idea! I am so tired of modern!Darcy virtually always being a CEO, or occasionally some other high-powered profession that involves a lot of getting along with people. Part of what makes moderns interesting is that the characters' situations aren't quite as externally determined; the girls can get educations and careers, the men aren't stuck in the narrow gentry/clergy/military paths with little room for personal preference. If Darcy were in business, I think he'd much more likely be attracted to something R&D-related, but you never see that.

My favourite idea is still academic!Darcy, however - a bunch of my friends and I brainstormed through that a few years ago, and yeah, I imagine it'd be basically like your plotbunny, haha. Though not hard science; I imagined Darcy as a literary theorist or a linguist, I can't remember which. I imagine that Elizabeth would be more ... she's not exactly the driven type in canon, it'd be a job that happens to interest her, while whatever Darcy did would be a srs bznz vocation. So he'd be off in his own head and then omg she's been flippant about Derrida and it's on. So, slightly different geek parties, but yeah, same adorable dynamic. (Also, it annoys me that modern!Darcy always seems to be written as incredibly old-fashioned in his hobbies and ideas, even though he isn't in his own time. So in my headcanon, Darcy is not some snobby traditional-canon-or-gtfo guy, but a snobby post-structuralist or something.)

Re: Darcy!

[sathari]

Yes, yes, DARCY IS A BIG OLD DORK. IMO this is what makes him loveable throughout the book. Just, you know, DORK DORK DORK and as a reader I'm facepalming fondly through the awkward bits.

Oh, my God, Darcy as a CEO. Darcy. As. A CEO. I think my brain just broke, excuse me, I'll be over here putting the pieces back together. Because no. No no no no no no. So much no. Definitely an R&D guy, or if he did end up in corporate maybe the geek with the basement software startup who did a Bill Gates, but mostly NO.

I'm so glad you like the idea! I hope you also like the fic I posted; I went with hard-science for both of them, more or less on a whim, but I also really like your idea about lit-geekery!