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RPF: In One Fandom, the Moral Highground
Aug. 10th, 2009 02:54 pmI just finished reading about a 100,000 word NFL RPF AU. And RPF AU culture is really interesting, because it's based on character templates; what are a kind of proto-archetypes that fill very specific narrative roles more than they are intended to reflect the actual persons named in the story. The Chad Michael Murray Is a Douchebag But a Good Friend fannish contingent is just one example.
So celebrity status has now morphed beyond star power into characters (though I'm tempted to write charicatures) of their own lives, and the appeal is easy: it's like having real life characters you can ask questions/harass/etc. Which explains where the tinhats come from; they're essentially mapping subtextual readings onto real people's lives. Because their "life", or rather, the image of their life, has become a text unto itself.
Anthropology might have something really interesting there, if the people in question can get their heads out of their asses and stop getting tripped up on chicks writing slash online in the first place.
I've been trying to read SGA fic but mostly I've found myself with my eyes bleeding (very messy), since for the most part I try to not imagine Dr. Rodney McKay naked,. Which. Well. It understandably limits what I can read. I get that I'm being picky, and I will probably come around to naked McKay eventually. Maybe. Then again, the gen stories I've found have outclassed the (other) pairing fic I've read, so that's something.
Even so, some of character portrayals of secondary characters have been really disappointing. Of course it's only the first pass, and I haven't even been able to really dig my heels in so to speak, so I'm willing to wait. Then again, if I read another story equating Ronon Dex to a caveman I may have to resort to car bombs.
So celebrity status has now morphed beyond star power into characters (though I'm tempted to write charicatures) of their own lives, and the appeal is easy: it's like having real life characters you can ask questions/harass/etc. Which explains where the tinhats come from; they're essentially mapping subtextual readings onto real people's lives. Because their "life", or rather, the image of their life, has become a text unto itself.
Anthropology might have something really interesting there, if the people in question can get their heads out of their asses and stop getting tripped up on chicks writing slash online in the first place.
I've been trying to read SGA fic but mostly I've found myself with my eyes bleeding (very messy), since for the most part I try to not imagine Dr. Rodney McKay naked,. Which. Well. It understandably limits what I can read. I get that I'm being picky, and I will probably come around to naked McKay eventually. Maybe. Then again, the gen stories I've found have outclassed the (other) pairing fic I've read, so that's something.
Even so, some of character portrayals of secondary characters have been really disappointing. Of course it's only the first pass, and I haven't even been able to really dig my heels in so to speak, so I'm willing to wait. Then again, if I read another story equating Ronon Dex to a caveman I may have to resort to car bombs.