catching up, a few pet peeves, and incest
May. 12th, 2011 01:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anghraineToday is a much better day than ... every day for the last month. I got A's on my Spanish exam (and for the first time ever, got everything right in the listening section), 90% on my psychology midterm, and 95% on my maybe-slightly-overkill Women and Star Wars project for the same class; my professor gave me 35+++ out of 35 on analysis. So while I still have to write my paper on Beloved, things are looking up, academically.
Then I ran across the first thing in relation to bin Laden's death that I care about in any way whatsoever: this. I think the comments are my favourite.
Speaking of Star Wars, I went on a Han/Luke spree and read ... I don't even know how many. I kind of ship them, in a "hey, subtext I can actually SEE!" way, but I found the actual fics rather disturbing. Mostly because of Leia. There's this weird insistence that Han's relationship with her was never really serious, that he was never really interested in her, that they'd never really have made it -- or, in one memorable occasion, that he was only interested in her because she's Luke's sister. Yes, during ESB.
Almost worse, she's largely irrelevant to Luke, too, even though, you know, psychic twins. When she's not just bitch queen of the universe because OMG rival. Luke's daddy issues are also miraculously gone or he has them only for Han to dismiss them as unimportant. It's not like his father just died in his arms or anything!
I remember an odd one where stuff happened and a mother ended up sacrificing herself for her daughter, which made Luke think of ... Han? Because, you know, when Luke Skywalker sees parents dying for their children, he's going to be reminded of anything but his own family. I don't know, maybe it's my own bias. For me, SW is all about the Skywalker family, and the Skywalkers themselves are all about the Skywalker family, so it's odd to read a bunch of stories about Luke Skywalker where his family is largely irrelevant to him.
On the upside,lotesse just wrote one where Han/Luke =/= excising Leia from the narrative. Also, Firefly. Yay!
Switching pairings, I also read a bunch of Han/Leia. Oddly enough, they're the only ones I really shipped in the movies, and I find myself totally uninterested in them. Again, the focus on the pair is disconcerting to me, but Luke seems much less sidelined (and demonized!) than Leia when it's the other way around. I CAN'T POSSIBLY IMAGINE WHY THIS IS.
Another thing I keep coming across, that I really, really really hate is the frequent announcement that Luke can forgive Anakin because he didn't really know what he was like. You know, he finds some proof that Vader did some bad stuff and he's all OMG HE WAS A BAD GUY HOW COULD I HAVE EVER THOUGHT THERE WAS ANY GOOD IN HIM HOW YOU'RE SO RIGHT LEIA. Or Luke's not even there, and Leia's like, "if he knew what our father was really like, he'd never have been able to love him. For his own peace of mind, we must preserve his innocence." And Luke and Leia keep identifying him as "Darth Vader" -- it's one thing for Leia (maybe), but for Luke? You know, you were once my father, Anakin Skywalker? Or it's the name of your true self, you've only forgotten? Or I will not fight you, Father! Yeah, he's going to think of him by his pseudonym of evil.
The whole idea that Luke could only love and forgive his father because he didn't really understand him -- it's undercutting the emotional crux of the entire trilogy. Luke doesn't sense the good in him because he's too deluded to admit that his father's done some really evil shit in his life, he senses it because it's there. Yoda is wrong. Obi-Wan is wrong. Anakin himself is wrong. Palpatine is very, very, very wrong. The entire point is that Luke was right about him. If he's just blinded by his hopeless idealism, then ... what even happened? Nothing makes sense! It's depressing and confusing and A;KDJFA;KDJF;AKJDF;KADFJK;DSFJ;K.
Oh, speaking of smashing my head against the keyboard, my search for Skywalker fic unfortunately led me to Skywalkercest, and not just Luke/Leia (which only halfway counts, in my books). Most unintentionally hilarious line so far:
Padmé would not approve of him seducing their son.
NO SHIT, SHERLOCK.
I'm rather curious if incest-happy fandoms actually address the incest. I mean, I'd figured that it'd be presented as ... uh, a hurdle to be overcome, I guess. But from what I somehow couldn't tear my eyes from, the incest taboo seems less an obstacle to the pairing than part of the appeal in the first place: not "we're in love despite being siblings" but "we're in love as siblings." Or whatevers. The blood relationship isn't something that everybody collectively agrees to overlook, but ... almost fetishized? Definitely pretty central, at any rate. Relatives with benefits! (... I can't believe I just said that.)
But even though the fact that it's incest is part of the appeal in the first place, there doesn't seem much struggling with the, er, ready-made conflict. Of course, I've never sought it out, just accidentally stumbled into it, so maybe that leads to different stuff? But I was surprised to find so little "oh God she's my sister what's wrong with me?" or even "so wrong! and yet so right!" I think the closest thing was something like "and you're just upset over the incest??" And it's like um most people don't need another reason actually. I don't know, I figured that stuff predicated on a ginormous taboo would draw its primary conflict from that taboo, but ... it doesn't, really.
Maybe it's just my squick talking, though. I would never have thought of any of this before, since the only incest I remember reading was this horrifying Darcy/Georgiana adulterous noncon pedophilia thing of eternal brain-scarring. And now I can't help wondering about these things. WHYYYYYY.
On the upside, the random song/icon selection is hilariously (in)appropriate.
Then I ran across the first thing in relation to bin Laden's death that I care about in any way whatsoever: this. I think the comments are my favourite.
Speaking of Star Wars, I went on a Han/Luke spree and read ... I don't even know how many. I kind of ship them, in a "hey, subtext I can actually SEE!" way, but I found the actual fics rather disturbing. Mostly because of Leia. There's this weird insistence that Han's relationship with her was never really serious, that he was never really interested in her, that they'd never really have made it -- or, in one memorable occasion, that he was only interested in her because she's Luke's sister. Yes, during ESB.
Almost worse, she's largely irrelevant to Luke, too, even though, you know, psychic twins. When she's not just bitch queen of the universe because OMG rival. Luke's daddy issues are also miraculously gone or he has them only for Han to dismiss them as unimportant. It's not like his father just died in his arms or anything!
I remember an odd one where stuff happened and a mother ended up sacrificing herself for her daughter, which made Luke think of ... Han? Because, you know, when Luke Skywalker sees parents dying for their children, he's going to be reminded of anything but his own family. I don't know, maybe it's my own bias. For me, SW is all about the Skywalker family, and the Skywalkers themselves are all about the Skywalker family, so it's odd to read a bunch of stories about Luke Skywalker where his family is largely irrelevant to him.
On the upside,
lotesse just wrote one where Han/Luke =/= excising Leia from the narrative. Also, Firefly. Yay!Switching pairings, I also read a bunch of Han/Leia. Oddly enough, they're the only ones I really shipped in the movies, and I find myself totally uninterested in them. Again, the focus on the pair is disconcerting to me, but Luke seems much less sidelined (and demonized!) than Leia when it's the other way around. I CAN'T POSSIBLY IMAGINE WHY THIS IS.
Another thing I keep coming across, that I really, really really hate is the frequent announcement that Luke can forgive Anakin because he didn't really know what he was like. You know, he finds some proof that Vader did some bad stuff and he's all OMG HE WAS A BAD GUY HOW COULD I HAVE EVER THOUGHT THERE WAS ANY GOOD IN HIM HOW YOU'RE SO RIGHT LEIA. Or Luke's not even there, and Leia's like, "if he knew what our father was really like, he'd never have been able to love him. For his own peace of mind, we must preserve his innocence." And Luke and Leia keep identifying him as "Darth Vader" -- it's one thing for Leia (maybe), but for Luke? You know, you were once my father, Anakin Skywalker? Or it's the name of your true self, you've only forgotten? Or I will not fight you, Father! Yeah, he's going to think of him by his pseudonym of evil.
The whole idea that Luke could only love and forgive his father because he didn't really understand him -- it's undercutting the emotional crux of the entire trilogy. Luke doesn't sense the good in him because he's too deluded to admit that his father's done some really evil shit in his life, he senses it because it's there. Yoda is wrong. Obi-Wan is wrong. Anakin himself is wrong. Palpatine is very, very, very wrong. The entire point is that Luke was right about him. If he's just blinded by his hopeless idealism, then ... what even happened? Nothing makes sense! It's depressing and confusing and A;KDJFA;KDJF;AKJDF;KADFJK;DSFJ;K.
Oh, speaking of smashing my head against the keyboard, my search for Skywalker fic unfortunately led me to Skywalkercest, and not just Luke/Leia (which only halfway counts, in my books). Most unintentionally hilarious line so far:
Padmé would not approve of him seducing their son.
NO SHIT, SHERLOCK.
I'm rather curious if incest-happy fandoms actually address the incest. I mean, I'd figured that it'd be presented as ... uh, a hurdle to be overcome, I guess. But from what I somehow couldn't tear my eyes from, the incest taboo seems less an obstacle to the pairing than part of the appeal in the first place: not "we're in love despite being siblings" but "we're in love as siblings." Or whatevers. The blood relationship isn't something that everybody collectively agrees to overlook, but ... almost fetishized? Definitely pretty central, at any rate. Relatives with benefits! (... I can't believe I just said that.)
But even though the fact that it's incest is part of the appeal in the first place, there doesn't seem much struggling with the, er, ready-made conflict. Of course, I've never sought it out, just accidentally stumbled into it, so maybe that leads to different stuff? But I was surprised to find so little "oh God she's my sister what's wrong with me?" or even "so wrong! and yet so right!" I think the closest thing was something like "and you're just upset over the incest??" And it's like um most people don't need another reason actually. I don't know, I figured that stuff predicated on a ginormous taboo would draw its primary conflict from that taboo, but ... it doesn't, really.
Maybe it's just my squick talking, though. I would never have thought of any of this before, since the only incest I remember reading was this horrifying Darcy/Georgiana adulterous noncon pedophilia thing of eternal brain-scarring. And now I can't help wondering about these things. WHYYYYYY.
On the upside, the random song/icon selection is hilariously (in)appropriate.