Meme Answers 4

[osprey_archer]

More meme answers! potofsoup asked:

10. What’s your favorite trope?

How could I possibly choose between “huddling for warmth,” “there’s only one bed,” “character A has to pretend to hate character B in order to protect them from the Big Bad even though it rips them apart inside, bonus points if there’s face-slapping,” “face-slapping,” (I really enjoyed the scene where Leia slaps Poe in The Last Jedi), and “hurt/comfort.”

I feel like hurt/comfort might be the ur-trope here, although sometimes the comfort is optional. Emotional suffering might, in fact, be the ur-trope. “I am forced into proximity with this person and I have Feelings about it!” “I think this person betrayed me and I have Feelings about it!” “I have a lot of Feelings about this person and I can’t tell whether the positive or the negative feelings are going to prevail because frankly there’s a good argument either way.”

11. What’s your (least) favorite overused trope?

High school AUs. They’re positively an infestation and I just do not see the point. It’s not that I’m opposed to high school settings on principle; I still read the occasional high-school-set YA novel, most recently the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy. (Still waiting for my hold on the third book!) But I don’t understand the appeal of taking a premise like “nineteenth century French revolutionaries!” or “World War II vets frozen in ice!”, and ignoring canon to make a more boring AU.

Or, rather, I can get the appeal as a writer (less research!), but as a reader, no. And yet they’re so popular! There are so many of them! Why does the entirety of fandom not cater specifically to me???

12. Which trope would you absolutely abolish?

I don’t think I would abolish any of them, because clearly they’re all doing something for someone…

But if A/B/O somehow perished from this earth, I would not cry.

13. Are there any tropes you’re embarrassed for enjoying?

I don’t know how common this trope is outside the Winter Soldier fandom, but there was a small but thriving subgenre of fics that might be summarized as “the Winter Soldier has forgotten what an orgasm is,” which were pretty great. I’m pretty sure they were totally bunk in terms of how amnesia works, particularly amnesia that allows you to retain all your super-assassin skills (presumably you’d retain on handle on your other, you know, physical skills?) but this did not make them any less delicious. Like virginity kink kicked up to eleven. (Which I also like. Blushing! Confusion! Shy enthusiasm! Overwhelming sensations!)

...actually, it occurs to me that I basically wrote a version of this trope for Vikings fandom, where Athelstan asks Ragnar to whip the carnal lust out of him and Ragnar obliges and Athelstan does not realize that the reason he feels less lustful after being soundly whipped is that his lust has been satisfied.

Comments

[kore]

I don’t understand the appeal of taking a premise like “nineteenth century French revolutionaries!” or “World War II vets frozen in ice!”, and ignoring canon to make a more boring AU

SERIOUSLY

I wouldn't mind if A/B/O mysteriously vanished either

[osprey_archer]

I can only assume that it's comforting or something. You can read high school AUs in any megafandom without any need to be familiar with the canon or the setting or the characters!

[silverusagi]

Ditto to high school AUs and A/B/O, lol.

[osprey_archer]

I'm glad that other people enjoy them? I guess? But I just don't get it.

[silverusagi]

I'm just so tired of seeing A/B/O all over Hannibal fandom. I start to read a fic summary and it sounds great, until I get to the A/B/O part. Then I'm out.

I just checked out of curiosity. Out of 21,000 Hannibal fics, over 1000 are A/B/O. That's like 1 out of 20.

[osprey_archer]

That seems truly excessive. I think a lot of people are just fans of A/B/O regardless of fandom. A/B/O is their fandom.

[silverusagi]

Thankfully, it hasn't seem to infiltrate Good Omens yet. *knocks on wood* Out of 11,000 GO fanfics, only 19 are A/B/O.

Maybe the rigid world-building of that universe, plus the emphasis on gender fluidity in the canon, lends itself less to a trope that seems on the surface to be about rigid gender roles?

[osprey_archer]

I don't know! I've noticed (as a very casual observer) that a lot of Hannibal fic seems to be almost indifferent to canon - like, there seem to be a lot of cute Hannibal/Will boyfriend fics for a canon about a serial killer where one half of the main pairing stabs the other in the stomach one time.

It might be the world-building thing, but Les Mis fandom also has tons of barely-related to canon fic, and that's also a canon with a well-defined world (although at least in movie form it has less time to world-build than the Good Omens miniseries would). Maybe it's related to the age of the fandom writers? Or maybe the early writers in a fandom set the tone, and people who are interested in A/B/O or in canon-compliant fics flock to the fandoms that have the culture they prefer.

[silverusagi]

There IS a lot of cute fluffy fic, either in an AU format, where neither of them are killers, or in a curtain fic sort of way, that just ignores the tumultuous relationship they had and now they're playing house and everything is fine.

As far as world building and Good Omens, I wonder if the fact that the show literally starts at the beginning of Earth has anything to do with it. (I can't remember if you've seen the show or not?) I mean, it's "here is the world, I'm God, this is how the universe is, or isn't." Judeo/Christian mythology is fact with little room for interpretation. Man and woman and original sin, not man and woman with variables for alpha and omega.

Not that fanfic doesn't go in any multitude of AUs no matter what canon is doing, because fanfic is not constrained by canon, but I wonder if some canons lend themselves to that more than others. Maybe canons that are more clearly set in "our" world get more of it? Hannibal has dream logic, but is set more in "our" world than Good Omens is, I think. Sherlock is also set in "our" world, and it had a huge amount of A/B/O. Though I think Marvel/Avengers does too? And it's pretty far from "our" world.

Or maybe it's about taking two characters and making them even "more." You've got two guys who have all these issues and attractions, how can we make it even more harrowing? Let's add biological imperatives! Then you've got Aziraphale and Crowley, who are a literal angel and demon, who have been around since the beginning of time, and who are about as much "more" than human as you can get.

I don't know, I'm just throwing things out there. It is interesting, how a trope can be completely prolific in one fandom and non-existent in another, when on the surface (Hannibal and Good Omens) the pairings are similar in appearance, as far as the age, sex, and ethnicity of the actors goes.

And Good Omens fandom has plenty of porn, with the characters trying out sexes, since that's a thing angels can do, but so far it's stuck with real world sexes.

Or maybe the early writers in a fandom set the tone, and people who are interested in A/B/O or in canon-compliant fics flock to the fandoms that have the culture they prefer.

I can also see this, that if you are into A/B/O, you'll go to the fandoms that have it, that you might not have read for otherwise.

[ladyherenya]

I wonder if the appeal of high school AUs for readers is that people want to read stories about high school (a place that is familiar and relatable) and they want those stories populated with characters they already care about? Or else because they know how to find fanfiction that tells the sorts of stories they want?

I've always turned to YA novels rather than fic when I've wanted high school settings, but I've had friends (online and off) recommend YA novels to me -- I don't think anyone has ever recommended a high school AU!

[osprey_archer]

Yes, I think that must be part of the appeal. The familiar characters, familiar setting itch is one I usually scratch by rereading, but of course there are many different ways to scratch that itch.

[potofsoup]

oooo thanks for all the wonderful answers! What a great list of favorite tropes. Emotional suffering is A+++, especially that gut-punch moment where character A and character B are both suffering for each other but can't clearly express it yet.

As someone who teaches high school, high school AUs are poison. It's just like... why take all these complex themes and settings and simplify it to teenage hormones set in suburbia? (because it's always suburbia -- I've never encountered a high school AU that's set anywhere else. Give me Killmonger in a West Oakland high school!)

Winter Soldier re-learning the orgasm is wonderful. I think my favorite highly specific WS trope is the "WS treats members of the Avengers as his handler" since that gets into all the ways that his brain has been rewired by HYDRA.

[osprey_archer]

Another favorite flavor: character A has to do something mean to character B (pretend to betray B so the mob boss doesn't kill them both instantly or whatever) and B either 100% believes it and is totally crushed, or realizes that it was ultimately a ploy to protect them both... but knowing that barely lessens the pain.

You'd think people might pick different kinds of high schools - an art high school! a high school in rural Alaska! a French high school! But no. It always seems to be generic American suburban high school.