thinking about au_bb, kind of
Feb. 10th, 2010 03:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anghraineI've been poring over P&P, searching for letters for the present draft, and considering how to recreate --er, everything -- in the next. For me, fanfic is just analysis in narrative form. (Crossed that out because analysis is awesome. And mixing the interpretative experience with the creative is also awesome.) Bad fanfic, as opposed to sheer bad writing, is bad analysis. By its nature it comments on the text - e.g., an AP says "this could have worked too! (and maybe better)," an AU says "in this situation, the character(s) would have acted like this," a prequel says "this could have happened before the story" and so on.
The same goes for my fics, of course, and the ones I dislike the most tend to be the ones where I go "... you know, I don't really believe this myself." All fiction calls for willing suspension of disbelief. Fanfic too! And if the suspension cords start breaking all over the place, it's my fault.
So, since this is my first attempt at a fully alternate-storyline P&P fic, I've been reading P&P. Over and over. Seeing what leaps out, etc etc. And as I've been planning and writing, some ideas have leapt out, which I find mildly interesting.
(1) Colonel Fitzwilliam is totally Darcy's Charlotte. Ambitious, plain, thirtyish, disadvantaged by the patriarchy -- particularly in comparison to the comparatively privileged BFF (it's deliberately pointed out too), sensible, very close (constant intimacy-- there would be so many shippers in, er, every other fandom on the planet) but not so much that he can't say "Darcy, what is up with you AHAHAHAHAHA." (Which scene is randomly related from Charlotte's POV.) It's undoubtedly why they're constantly shipped together.
(2) I've ranted about brooding!Darcy often enough (TV Tropes, I only want to love you! why do you keep hurting me?), so I probably don't need to say it. Therefore I'll just content myself with: as I've been rewriting/expanding the pre-Hunsford scenes, I've had to struggle against making Catherine too cheerful. We never know exactly how Darcy is smiling, just that he does, frequently (and apparently always has *mutters*), so that's up to me. Henry/Elizabeth undoubtedly sees smirks or sneers, but I've always imagined them as ... happy, really. And pretty. ;)
(3) Usually I see Darcy and/or Elizabeth described as "good people, but deeply flawed." And, you know what? I don't actually agree. My own description would be more like "people with insane levels of intelligence, loyalty, principle, and strength of character, with a few minor personal failings, like being snarky for the sake of snark, instead of just when people totally deserve it, and a total lack of sentimentality despite being the protagonists of an apparently epic love story." Or, more concisely, "awesome." But what I was trying to get at, before getting bogged down in their awesome, is that I don't really think their flaws run that deep. It's not like they have Flaw Resilience +5 or something; when their flaws are pointed out to them, they're angry for a bit and then go "I'm sorry, I just didn't know any better. But now that I do know, I won't do it any more." Which is... yeah. More awesome.
*fangirls*
(4) Although I love them both, I personally prefer Darcy to Elizabeth. The same goes for this, but I really like Henry Tilney and, unsurprisingly, find it much easier to like Elizabeth as a man. I also love Darcy even more as a woman. I suspect it's a daughter-of-the-nineties thing, which largely comes down to "little girls, you must ALWAYS identify with the spirited, slightly-less-pretty heroine! ALWAYS!!" I spent a good deal of my (shy, obedient, bookish) childhood hating them.
(5) Mrs Bennet is pretty much prostituting Jane (and, to a lesser degree, Elizabeth) to the highest bidder. Whether she's doing it for the girls or just herself depends on how sympathetic a line you take, but regardless it's squicky. Especially since Elizabeth, explicitly stated to be the child Mrs Bennet loves least, becomes her favourite the instant she nets Fitzwilliam "as good as a Lord" Darcy. Ew.
I really don't care for her.
(6) Darcy's first proposal, the bane of every scriptwriter ever, kind of has to be the way it is. I mean, if it's as horrible as Elizabeth thinks it is, then there's a real danger that nothing will ever make up for it. And when Elizabeth later thinks that she'd gratefully accept the proposal he gave in April, she'll look like she's lost all self-respect. On the other hand, if it's just mildly tactless and Elizabeth's fury/hatred/UST is exaggerating it out of proportion, the response will be more "wtf Elizabeth?" than "go girl!" and obviously she's going for the latter (... so she can gloriously subvert it one chapter later, but still).
It's still kind of weird that people go on about how it's ZOMG so much worse than Collins' "nobody else will want you EVER" and "you'll have to learn how to keep your mouth shut, woman," though. Since we don't, um, actually hear it.
(7) Mr Bennet is not evil.
He's not even a sadist, really; it's not "I did it to REVEL IN YOUR PAIN" but "I did it for the lulz." He'd be at home on![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandom_wank .
And, um, Darcy kind of does the same thing with Caroline. A bit more subtly, but he does have a habit of winding her up just so he can watch her be stupid. This is my justification for making girl!Darcy sort-of friends with her. Endless lulz.
And now I'm thinking of Mr Bennet!Darcy married to Caroline in some sort of insane crackfic.)
(8) A lot of random phrases end up being those smoking guns that go off later. A LOT. Like, there's my personal favourite:
I do assure you that I am not one of those young ladies (if such young ladies there are) who are so daring as to risk their happiness on the chance of being asked a second time.
But there's also things like:
ELIZABETH: blah blah your selfish disdain for the feelings of others
MRS REYNOLDS: blah blah not like young men nowadays, who think of nothing but themselves.
(9) Darcy really hates dancing. At first he just says, like the introvert he is, that he hates dancing with strangers, but within a few pages it's AND I ESPECIALLY HATE DANCING, FOR ALWAYS.
(10) Elizabeth thinks she has more to gain-- er, intellectually-- from her marriage than Darcy does. I don't know why this is.
ETA: I think I've been struck by Fridge Brilliance. I've always focussed on the 'knowledge of the world' part of Elizabeth's ship manifesto, because it's more of a situational than dispositional thing, but the first thing she mentions is Darcy's 'judgment.' Her ability to judge character, of course, is what pre-Hunsford Elizabeth's vanity revolved around -- the thing she prized, and likely continues to prize, the most.
Her judgment turned out to be only so-so -- that's what her epiphany revolved around. But Darcy, for all that he's got all the emotional sensitivity of a rock, is an excellent judge of character. It's not terribly significant to his own self-concept, so I hadn't really thought of it except in a meta way, but that would be incredibly significant to Elizabeth. Of course she would think she has more to gain; it's not that he's objectively superior but that he has what she, personally, most prizes.
*phew*
(11) P&P is actually not all wit and sparkles and lulz.
(12) Not only is the narrator not Elizabeth, it's not really even much like Elizabeth. (An NT, to begin with. ;) )
(13) There's a lot of emphasis on how Darcy becomes interested in Elizabeth because she's not afraid of him, nor deferential. And rightly, of course -- I've seen it disputed once or twice, but IMO it's quite clear. However, I do think it's interesting that the most explicit statements seem to be made from Darcy to Elizabeth:
I am not afraid of you.
and:
I am more likely to want time than courage, Elizabeth.
In the world of D&E, fear is apparently like compromise-- something that happens to other people. Incidentally, I think that fearlessness is part of what makes them so attractive, and also contributes heavily to the sort of youthful effervescence people see in the novel. I don't think P&P is just abridged!narrative!First Impressions, but I suspect that it's pretty close.
The same goes for my fics, of course, and the ones I dislike the most tend to be the ones where I go "... you know, I don't really believe this myself." All fiction calls for willing suspension of disbelief. Fanfic too! And if the suspension cords start breaking all over the place, it's my fault.
So, since this is my first attempt at a fully alternate-storyline P&P fic, I've been reading P&P. Over and over. Seeing what leaps out, etc etc. And as I've been planning and writing, some ideas have leapt out, which I find mildly interesting.
(1) Colonel Fitzwilliam is totally Darcy's Charlotte. Ambitious, plain, thirtyish, disadvantaged by the patriarchy -- particularly in comparison to the comparatively privileged BFF (it's deliberately pointed out too), sensible, very close (constant intimacy-- there would be so many shippers in, er, every other fandom on the planet) but not so much that he can't say "Darcy, what is up with you AHAHAHAHAHA." (Which scene is randomly related from Charlotte's POV.) It's undoubtedly why they're constantly shipped together.
(2) I've ranted about brooding!Darcy often enough (TV Tropes, I only want to love you! why do you keep hurting me?), so I probably don't need to say it. Therefore I'll just content myself with: as I've been rewriting/expanding the pre-Hunsford scenes, I've had to struggle against making Catherine too cheerful. We never know exactly how Darcy is smiling, just that he does, frequently (and apparently always has *mutters*), so that's up to me. Henry/Elizabeth undoubtedly sees smirks or sneers, but I've always imagined them as ... happy, really. And pretty. ;)
(3) Usually I see Darcy and/or Elizabeth described as "good people, but deeply flawed." And, you know what? I don't actually agree. My own description would be more like "people with insane levels of intelligence, loyalty, principle, and strength of character, with a few minor personal failings, like being snarky for the sake of snark, instead of just when people totally deserve it, and a total lack of sentimentality despite being the protagonists of an apparently epic love story." Or, more concisely, "awesome." But what I was trying to get at, before getting bogged down in their awesome, is that I don't really think their flaws run that deep. It's not like they have Flaw Resilience +5 or something; when their flaws are pointed out to them, they're angry for a bit and then go "I'm sorry, I just didn't know any better. But now that I do know, I won't do it any more." Which is... yeah. More awesome.
*fangirls*
(4) Although I love them both, I personally prefer Darcy to Elizabeth. The same goes for this, but I really like Henry Tilney and, unsurprisingly, find it much easier to like Elizabeth as a man. I also love Darcy even more as a woman. I suspect it's a daughter-of-the-nineties thing, which largely comes down to "little girls, you must ALWAYS identify with the spirited, slightly-less-pretty heroine! ALWAYS!!" I spent a good deal of my (shy, obedient, bookish) childhood hating them.
(5) Mrs Bennet is pretty much prostituting Jane (and, to a lesser degree, Elizabeth) to the highest bidder. Whether she's doing it for the girls or just herself depends on how sympathetic a line you take, but regardless it's squicky. Especially since Elizabeth, explicitly stated to be the child Mrs Bennet loves least, becomes her favourite the instant she nets Fitzwilliam "as good as a Lord" Darcy. Ew.
I really don't care for her.
(6) Darcy's first proposal, the bane of every scriptwriter ever, kind of has to be the way it is. I mean, if it's as horrible as Elizabeth thinks it is, then there's a real danger that nothing will ever make up for it. And when Elizabeth later thinks that she'd gratefully accept the proposal he gave in April, she'll look like she's lost all self-respect. On the other hand, if it's just mildly tactless and Elizabeth's fury/hatred/UST is exaggerating it out of proportion, the response will be more "wtf Elizabeth?" than "go girl!" and obviously she's going for the latter (... so she can gloriously subvert it one chapter later, but still).
It's still kind of weird that people go on about how it's ZOMG so much worse than Collins' "nobody else will want you EVER" and "you'll have to learn how to keep your mouth shut, woman," though. Since we don't, um, actually hear it.
(7) Mr Bennet is not evil.
He's not even a sadist, really; it's not "I did it to REVEL IN YOUR PAIN" but "I did it for the lulz." He'd be at home on
fandom_wank .And, um, Darcy kind of does the same thing with Caroline. A bit more subtly, but he does have a habit of winding her up just so he can watch her be stupid. This is my justification for making girl!Darcy sort-of friends with her. Endless lulz.
And now I'm thinking of Mr Bennet!Darcy married to Caroline in some sort of insane crackfic.)
(8) A lot of random phrases end up being those smoking guns that go off later. A LOT. Like, there's my personal favourite:
I do assure you that I am not one of those young ladies (if such young ladies there are) who are so daring as to risk their happiness on the chance of being asked a second time.
But there's also things like:
ELIZABETH: blah blah your selfish disdain for the feelings of others
MRS REYNOLDS: blah blah not like young men nowadays, who think of nothing but themselves.
(9) Darcy really hates dancing. At first he just says, like the introvert he is, that he hates dancing with strangers, but within a few pages it's AND I ESPECIALLY HATE DANCING, FOR ALWAYS.
(10) Elizabeth thinks she has more to gain-- er, intellectually-- from her marriage than Darcy does. I don't know why this is.
ETA: I think I've been struck by Fridge Brilliance. I've always focussed on the 'knowledge of the world' part of Elizabeth's ship manifesto, because it's more of a situational than dispositional thing, but the first thing she mentions is Darcy's 'judgment.' Her ability to judge character, of course, is what pre-Hunsford Elizabeth's vanity revolved around -- the thing she prized, and likely continues to prize, the most.
Her judgment turned out to be only so-so -- that's what her epiphany revolved around. But Darcy, for all that he's got all the emotional sensitivity of a rock, is an excellent judge of character. It's not terribly significant to his own self-concept, so I hadn't really thought of it except in a meta way, but that would be incredibly significant to Elizabeth. Of course she would think she has more to gain; it's not that he's objectively superior but that he has what she, personally, most prizes.
*phew*
(11) P&P is actually not all wit and sparkles and lulz.
(12) Not only is the narrator not Elizabeth, it's not really even much like Elizabeth. (An NT, to begin with. ;) )
(13) There's a lot of emphasis on how Darcy becomes interested in Elizabeth because she's not afraid of him, nor deferential. And rightly, of course -- I've seen it disputed once or twice, but IMO it's quite clear. However, I do think it's interesting that the most explicit statements seem to be made from Darcy to Elizabeth:
I am not afraid of you.
and:
I am more likely to want time than courage, Elizabeth.
In the world of D&E, fear is apparently like compromise-- something that happens to other people. Incidentally, I think that fearlessness is part of what makes them so attractive, and also contributes heavily to the sort of youthful effervescence people see in the novel. I don't think P&P is just abridged!narrative!First Impressions, but I suspect that it's pretty close.
no subject
on 2010-02-11 12:18 am (UTC)And wow, that's the first time I had any kind of thought regarding personality models. o_O
no subject
on 2010-02-11 12:29 am (UTC)I'm not sure. I suspect that the conflation of E with the narrator is what leads people to mistake her character in general, and those misunderstandings lead some people to think she's an NT, yes.
Actually, though, most people seem to make her a decided F-- which she is, though perhaps not as much as fandom would have it -- but they constantly write her as if she were an N. And I do think this is absolutely why.
So, summary is... yes, indirectly, or yes, partially. ;)
Congratulations! We'll bring you to the dark side yet. Though it should really be the five-factor model (high reliability AND validity AND cross-cultural statistics FTW!!), fictional characters are easier to discuss through the MBTI paradigm.
...
no subject
on 2010-02-11 12:54 am (UTC)I suspect this is why I like Jane so much. And Fanny Price. And Anne Elliot. I revolt against spirited and witty and sparkling heroines most of the time. It's actually a testament to JA's skill that I like Elizabeth as much as I do. It's not exactly fair to the character, because she is, as you say, awesome, but being so not witty and often very uncomfortable in company, I find it hard to relate.
no subject
on 2010-02-13 05:38 pm (UTC)Er. I can see why you would do that. I'm not a Jane fan in particular (though I do think she's generally underestimated, I just don't care for Pollyannas in general), but that does make sense. The most sympathetic Austen heroine for me is probably Elinor, though. She's quiet and conscientious, but still pretty sharper-edged.
For me, though, there's as much pressure from the "heroine" part of the equation as the "spirited" one. You're female, you must identify with the girl. If there is one. It's pretty near as frustrating since the characters I identify with vary wildly (as to gender -- they do tend to be similar in personality: proud, abrasive and scheming, but incredibly loyal and brave).
When it is a spunky young thing designed to be liked, though, yes. The author has to be really good to carry it off, and it's still hard to identify at all.
no subject
on 2010-02-13 08:01 am (UTC)also, i think i've discovered that one of the reasons why i can't get into tvtropes like everyone else on the planet is because it's just so ugly and poorly designed. i mean, it makes FFN look attractive and streamlined in comparison.
*g*
on 2010-02-13 05:10 pm (UTC)Well, the format's never bothered me -- but then, it's a wiki and I'm not very particular about formatting in wikis. Shiny is good, but crap is okay too. ;)