Tumblr crosspost (8 January 2021)
Apr. 2nd, 2024 02:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anghraineAn anon said (in clear response to this rant):
A big part of the reason that I don't read Forced Marriage P&P fic is because of the almost universal assumption that a pre-Hunsford Darcy would tyrannize Elizabeth, when it's pretty clear from the text that we're supposed to see his relationship with Georgiana (where his affection is always emphasised) and Mrs Reynold's glowing commendation (sweetest-tempered, never had a cross word, etc.) as proof that he's literally the opposite of a tyrant in how he interacts with people.
I replied:
Yes, exactly!
Fans and academics both tend to focus overwhelmingly on what the Pemberley scenes reveal about how Darcy has changed, but Austen dedicates a significant amount of time and space to revealing that Darcy was already different than Elizabeth thought.
Tagged: #tyrannical alpha male darcy is the worst
[ETA 4/2/2024: you can probably guess this, but if you're not particularly familiar with P&P fandom, my anon was referring to a fic trope common to P&P fics called FMS or "Forced Marriage Scenario." This is a fairly specific and formalized genre of P&P fanfic where Elizabeth and Darcy (usually before either has had their character development) are forced into marriage for reasons and they have to learn and grow and fall in love in that context. The reason why they're forced to marry can vary from something relatively believable to comically ludicrous, but it's pretty much always a fairly thin pretext to get them married off before they have matured. At least back when I still read these, FMS fics tended to depict Darcy as much more domineering and "alpha" and generally awful than canon Darcy—most often he is entirely unrecognizable in pretty much the exact way this anon was describing, yet still somehow framed as the only one for Elizabeth.
There are, or were, gentler FMS-adjacent tropes where the appeal is similar, but the author tries to sand down the problematic aspects of it, like AUs where Elizabeth accepts Darcy at Hunsford or shortly thereafter because of [pretext] and you still get the "getting to know each other in the context of engagement/marriage" aspect, but it's voluntary. I do get the appeal of the FMS and its various sister tropes—as a kid, I actually thought it was what was going to happen in P&P itself and was shocked!!!! that they got together in such a different way. But in practice, it's really difficult to manage this trope with P&P in a way that a) makes sense for Elizabeth, b) doesn't make Darcy a monster, c) doesn't fall into weird gender essentialist heteronormative shit, and d) doesn't completely lose the edge. Back in 2006, I was attempting a take on this with Such Terms of Cordiality that completely got rid of the consent issues by having Darcy and Elizabeth meet on much better terms, fall into a sort of calf love that would lead them to voluntarily marrying before they'd had their character arcs, and meant to focus on their clashes and growth within their marriage—but tbh I got distracted by subplots and wandered off.]
A big part of the reason that I don't read Forced Marriage P&P fic is because of the almost universal assumption that a pre-Hunsford Darcy would tyrannize Elizabeth, when it's pretty clear from the text that we're supposed to see his relationship with Georgiana (where his affection is always emphasised) and Mrs Reynold's glowing commendation (sweetest-tempered, never had a cross word, etc.) as proof that he's literally the opposite of a tyrant in how he interacts with people.
I replied:
Yes, exactly!
Fans and academics both tend to focus overwhelmingly on what the Pemberley scenes reveal about how Darcy has changed, but Austen dedicates a significant amount of time and space to revealing that Darcy was already different than Elizabeth thought.
Tagged: #tyrannical alpha male darcy is the worst
[ETA 4/2/2024: you can probably guess this, but if you're not particularly familiar with P&P fandom, my anon was referring to a fic trope common to P&P fics called FMS or "Forced Marriage Scenario." This is a fairly specific and formalized genre of P&P fanfic where Elizabeth and Darcy (usually before either has had their character development) are forced into marriage for reasons and they have to learn and grow and fall in love in that context. The reason why they're forced to marry can vary from something relatively believable to comically ludicrous, but it's pretty much always a fairly thin pretext to get them married off before they have matured. At least back when I still read these, FMS fics tended to depict Darcy as much more domineering and "alpha" and generally awful than canon Darcy—most often he is entirely unrecognizable in pretty much the exact way this anon was describing, yet still somehow framed as the only one for Elizabeth.
There are, or were, gentler FMS-adjacent tropes where the appeal is similar, but the author tries to sand down the problematic aspects of it, like AUs where Elizabeth accepts Darcy at Hunsford or shortly thereafter because of [pretext] and you still get the "getting to know each other in the context of engagement/marriage" aspect, but it's voluntary. I do get the appeal of the FMS and its various sister tropes—as a kid, I actually thought it was what was going to happen in P&P itself and was shocked!!!! that they got together in such a different way. But in practice, it's really difficult to manage this trope with P&P in a way that a) makes sense for Elizabeth, b) doesn't make Darcy a monster, c) doesn't fall into weird gender essentialist heteronormative shit, and d) doesn't completely lose the edge. Back in 2006, I was attempting a take on this with Such Terms of Cordiality that completely got rid of the consent issues by having Darcy and Elizabeth meet on much better terms, fall into a sort of calf love that would lead them to voluntarily marrying before they'd had their character arcs, and meant to focus on their clashes and growth within their marriage—but tbh I got distracted by subplots and wandered off.]