A Certain Slant of Light

Some of the worst fanfic I've ever read was for Sentinel. *shudders* With runners-up in Harry Potter and Highlander.

Who wouldn't fall for a rogue CIA agent with a heart of gold??

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The Sentinel is honestly one of the slashiest shows that ever slashed. Jim Elison is hardcore and super-manly, but also totally dependent on Blair Sandburg, his smaller, hippie-ish, and vastly more intellectual sidekick (who also happens to have long curly hair). Actually, I take it back. It's the badfic version of slash tv.

...I didn't spend my freshman year of college obsessed with it, no. It's a guilty pleasure, right up there with the fact I can actually quote Forever Knight.

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Hey, I spent my freshman year of college obsessed with Torchwood. The Sentinel can't be that much worse, can it?

Do you think the Sentinel writers knew they were writing slashtastic television? Because just from reading the recaps, I find it hard to believe they were so dense that it was unintentional.

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I can only assume that they were trying to show how manly Jim was by over-feminizing their resident academic. It's an easy trap to fall into, to assume that because a character does embody all the physical elements commonly associated with manly virtues, he must be inherently feminine. Obviously, I take issue with the assumption, but it's frighteningly common with fic writers (just find some Jack/Ianto badfic, it's not a lesson-learned situation).

But, honestly, the way Blair was consistently portrayed in the series, it wouldn't have surprised me in the least if the pitch had been for a female guide and the writers just did a universal replace for all gender notations.

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Your second sentence there is a little confused. I'm assuming that the "does" should be "doesn't"?

The only problem with the female!Blair idea is that the writers would have felt compelled to throw in at least a token episode of kickass!Blair, to show that they had girl power. Otherwise I would be whole-heartedly on board with that theory.

Speaking of h/c fic, badfic, and Sentinel fic--I think the problem is one of power dynamics. The Sentinel has appallingly lopsided power dynamics in the source, and from your comment below it appears to be reflected in the fics. A good h/c fic (IMO--I think this is a minority opinion) relies implicitly on the fact that it could be either character doing the comforting, and it just so happens to be Y this time.

Whereas Blair seems incapable of any such thing.

A lot of pairings have a default suffering character, though. I feel like this doesn't invalidate my theory, but I need to think through it more. *adds Unified Field Theory of Hurt/Comfort Fanfiction to list of future posts*

To cut the badfic Janto writers some slack, though, it's really hard to write Jack as weaker than Ianto. He's freaking immortal; no matter how good his intentions are, his relationship with Ianto is based on an enormous power imbalance.

Having cut some slack, however, that's no excuse for writing Ianto as a deranged, weeping, pathetic excuse for a three-year-old. He has lots of traditionally feminine traits--he's the caretaker, he is (in the first season) very unassertive, and he's emotional. But he isn't weak; it's so irritating when writers assume that any feminine characteristics make a character inherently wimpy.

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See? That is exactly why I should be banned from communication after work: I'm vaguely incoherent (at best). Today too, by the way.

As far as the Ianto/Jack power balance, I think there's immense potential for weakness in Jack. While Ianto's had a hard life, goodness knows, Jack has too, and his is neverending; Ianto's lost a few people, Jack will lose everyone always; most importantly, Jack seems to be more open to letting himself feel than Ianto is, so more likely to be hurt. I think also that Jack and Ianto have more in common than most people than, say, Jack and Gwen, because Ianto lived through the destruction of Torchwood Tower.

I do side with you, however, about Ianto. He may assume the Mother role of the team, but he's by no means weak. Ianto is the one who managed to sneak a monster into the basement, his brave reaction to the cannibals was astounding, and shooting Owen in the finale downright ballsy (especially when you take into account that he must have wanted Jack back at least as much as Owen did).

Gender roles are awesome!

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Does anyone ever write h/c fics with Jack doing the h? It always seems to be Ianto, Ianto, Ianto suffering. He suffers beautifully, but still.

Although Jack has the potential for pain, the iconic Jack is Jack the laughing sex fiend, not Jack crying over his brother or angsting on a rooftop. Jack's angst always seems kind of staged (he's seeking out rooftops to angst on? Really?) whereas the sex fiend seems more real--as real as it gets with Jack.

Gender roles are awesome, yet strangely exasperating.

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It took a while to find, but The Hint of a Spark (http://community.livejournal.com/lucyjanesparlor/7273.html) is a pretty good hurt Jack fic. It's part of a series (which I was completely unaware of) where Jack/Ianto is already established, but it takes place after "Out of Time," and Jack is definitely the injured party.

Other recs from the girls who found this fic for me. (http://community.livejournal.com/twstoryfinder/202197.html)

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I stand corrected!

It seems very unkind of Jack not to just tell Ianto--"You know, I can't die."

But I guess that would be a really awkward conversation and might not work without a demonstration.

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On the other hand, that fic was the only example of could remember of reasonably good Jack h/c...and it took me days and outside help to hunt it down. Maybe hurt!Jack as a sub-genre isn't impossible, but it is definitely rare.

I get the feeling Jack doesn't really announce his psuedo-immortality to anyone. Come to think of it, he's probably half ashamed of being a freak, and harboring some well-founded paranoia about being experimented on.

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New fic idea: Five Reasons Captain Jack Harkness Doesn't Tell People He's Immortal.

Because that would be way cool.

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Really, a rogue anything is pretty much irresistible.

I think it would be hard to beat some of the really rotten Harry Potter fics, given that they're written by ten-year-olds, but I'll take your word for it that The Sentinel can be even worse. Although now I'm curious what on earth those stories were about...?

Although really, the fanfic I've had the most difficulties with is Starsky & Hutch. Maybe it's just that I've never seen the show (although that was never a problem with, say, Sentinel fic), but even in the well-written fics I cannot tell Starsky and Hutch apart.

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Livejournal ate my comment! ...I hate that.

I remember finding a web site way back when that had this atrocious content, and not because it was centrally focused on s&m or ever h/c, but because it was indicative of whas was written about these characters: 75% involved Blair in mortal peril for the sole purpose of being Jim's damosel in distress; about 20% involved Blair getting raped; and there are a pretty solid percentage that involved Blair being in that ever-present mortal peril and getting raped.

On the upside, I suppose it was always easy to tell the characters apart, as the authors practically used the feminine to describe Blair.

...I retrospect, however, I think The Sentinel may have deserved the quality of fic it inspired.

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I've never watched 'Sentinel' or 'Highlander' on tv. I read some Sentinel fic because I was trying earlier stories by writers whose SGA fic I loved. I read far too many Sentinel stories: there were so many, and they were long, and I kept hoping that they would have to get better at some point. Needless to say, they never did. Yes, to what

exuberantself was saying about Blair being ridiculously feminized, and the power imbalance in the relationship, and what you were saying about the hurt/comfort. Argh! BAD!FIC! BAD!FIC!!

The names Jim and Blair give me hives now. (And so do Duncan and Methos).

Harry Potter fic was the first thing I read when I was introduced to fandom, and weirdly enough, it was a different kind of bad. There was the schmoopy or melodramatic Harry/Draco OTP bad!fic, where one of them was very obviously a female stand-in; there was the angsty wallowing-in-the-awfulness-of-war bad!fic; and there was the please-I-need-to-go-scrub-my-brain-out-now-kthnx adult bad!fic.

SGA fandom was my happy place.

even in the well-written fics I cannot tell Starsky and Hutch apart.
I have never read Starsky and Hutch fanfic, but this sounds very distressing!

But, honestly, the way Blair was consistently portrayed in the series, it wouldn't have surprised me in the least if the pitch had been for a female guide and the writers just did a universal replace for all gender notations.
That's an interesting thought! I can't decide if that would have made the show better or worse, leaving everything else about their relationship the same. Maybe worse. Then the subtext would have be an actual relationship.

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Just as I was typing that I up, I was thinking about how that could have seriously improved the show. Sure, it would have been more cliche, but at least the characters would have made more sense.

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I'm not sure there's a way to make Blair make sense. He's supposed to be a good anthropologist, right, who's done lots of anthropological studies and presumably learned something about self-defense along the way, enough to get him out of trouble at least occasionally--

But no, no, he always has to be rescued by Jim. I think it would still be silly with girl!Blair.

Also, shouldn't Jim at least occasionally run into something too tough for him to handle? He's Rambo, but he's not God.

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I think Starsky and Hutch have the opposite problem from Jim and Blair. Instead of being too clearly delineated, they're too much alike.

Harry/Draco OTP fics? Eh. You'd think H/D be at least as allergic to OTPness as Owen and Ianto, given that they loath each other; OTP is just so contrary to canon!

I guess most slash is, technically, but Harry/Draco OTP only works if they're entirely OOC. It's one thing to write a crack!fic that way, but I don't see the appeal for something longer and more serious.

I think most H/D fics are really fanfics of the Draco Trilogy, not Harry Potter, though.

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but Harry/Draco OTP only works if they're entirely OOC

The only Harry Potter fic I still read is by

mistful. I really love her Drop Dead Gorgeous. It has the only Harry I like, in or out of canon. He's an Auror in his early twenties, and he's learned humility and that his faults are actually faults. He's pretty awesome, and so is everything else about mistful's story. I completely buy the Harry/Draco in this.

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...okay, I overgeneralized. Harry/Draco could work once they get older and they both mellow a bit.

But while they're in school--no way.

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In school they are both incredibly annoying boys anyway, if they're written in character.

I actually like mistful's fic much, much better than J.K. Rowling's canon.

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