Avoiding the Appearance of Favoritism
May. 2nd, 2010 04:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shipperxActually, the post isn't really about avoiding the appearance of favoritism (I just have an icon for that) and more about what constitutes character bashing.
Bear with me. This is a something of a stream of consciousness brought on by my having seen the link to a 'Spike meta' last night that if it were translated into Angel terms would boil down to something along the lines of "Angel: Hero or Hyper-controlling Douchebag?" (By the way, I'm not posing that question, nor do I think posing such a question would do justice to a character that I believe is both nuanced and complex and better than either simplistic answer). Anyway, I avoided delving into the linked post because, what's the point? People think what they think, and if I followed the link, I'd no doubt end up saying something snarky because that's what I do. Nothing good would come of the exercise.
Still, it's somewhat lingered in my thoughts as I reviewed my notes for the next chapter that I'm writing in the never-ending fanfic. I don't know whether all the notes will make it into the final draft, but when reading the notes, I wondered whether when I post a chapter of a Spuffy-centric story should place a warning that it will involve Bangel? Some folks are quite sensitive to Bangel showing up in Spuffy fics. On the other hand, I wondered if I post it with a Bangel warning for Spuffies whether I also needed to warn that, while there are romantic Bangel scenes involved, it's not OTP 4 Evah Bangel either. I almost feel that if I say there's Bangel, because I'm a Spuffy, it would be analyzed with an eye toward Bangel bashing.
I hate character bashing fic. I really do. But it must be said that in many respects, bashing is in the eye of the beholder. What one person feels is an honest assessment of a character or a subject is to a partisan seen as 'bashing'. If you're not part of the partisan group for a character, I do think that there has to be a little sensitivity involved.
That said, one thing I try to tell myself is that fic is better when it's honest. Sometimes I find I write around the world to keep from saying something bluntly and I end up having to back up and tell myself to cut the bull and just be honest. Say what I think. I am aware, however, that though something is honest, it's a very subjective honesty. It's what I think. It's not objective truth. It's what dovetails with my views and the needs of my story. And I have worried whether something I write can objectively be viewed as character bashing (subjectively, we're all screwed. Someone will always be offended. People have their sensitivities.) We can't always worry about that. However, I think that characterization is important, which is why when something really crosses the line into character bashing in a story it bothers me. (Although it's also amused me that I had agonized over Angel's behavior over something in a fic, worrying whether it might constitute crossing an invisible line... and then the comics blew right passed me into territory I would never have dared go. Hell, I was just contemplating a faux pas compared to the comics that went all slayer-killer or "I'm not telling Buffy that I'm allowing an apocalypse for her own good". Either way, not good. But it does make me wonder whether I was worrying way too much over my Angel character foible. By comparison it's nothing!)
I also worry whether when I have a character say something that it's perceived as my saying it. Basically, I have Lindsey say stuff about Angel. And, I think for it to carry weight it needs some truth to it, and there is some truth in it. However, I also don't consider Lindsey to be an objective voice regarding Angel. I'm letting Lindsey say some things that I wouldn't let other characters say or even think. Will that be taken as character bashing? Lindsey has all sorts of issues with Angel, some fair and some unfair. I don't consider allowing Lindsey to have a chip on this shoulder to be condoning everything that Lindsey says... but will that be taken as my validating Lindsey's issues? Will that be taken as my "character bashing?"
I think the reason I worry about the stuff involving Angel is because Angel does not actively appear in the fic. (He's in some flashbacks, but he really isn't part of the story). That's somewhat deliberate. He's a shadow for other characters as Buffy's relationship to him, Spike's relationship to him, and Lindsey's relationship to him are all issues I wanted to explore and to deliberately do so without Angel being actively part of the plot.
Angel is important to the story even though it's not Angel's story. It isn't about Angel. It's about Buffy, Spike, and even Lindsey. But, each of them have Angel issues and so I deal with those situations through their eyes. Spike and Lindsey in particular have a few negative thoughts/feelings to express... because I think Lindsey has hard feelings and Spike has conflicted ones. My adding Buffy's on top of it complicates matters. But I don't consider these characters to be objective. I don't expect them to be.
Does my seeing Angel through a specific characters eyes come across as my validating this point of view, even if I don't believe myself that the view being expressed is objective?
Oh well. I said this was stream of consciousness, right? I don't have any real point to make, just that these are things I've thought about while plotting.
It's now rainy and cloudy and I'm overwhelmed by an urge to nap. :)
Bear with me. This is a something of a stream of consciousness brought on by my having seen the link to a 'Spike meta' last night that if it were translated into Angel terms would boil down to something along the lines of "Angel: Hero or Hyper-controlling Douchebag?" (By the way, I'm not posing that question, nor do I think posing such a question would do justice to a character that I believe is both nuanced and complex and better than either simplistic answer). Anyway, I avoided delving into the linked post because, what's the point? People think what they think, and if I followed the link, I'd no doubt end up saying something snarky because that's what I do. Nothing good would come of the exercise.
Still, it's somewhat lingered in my thoughts as I reviewed my notes for the next chapter that I'm writing in the never-ending fanfic. I don't know whether all the notes will make it into the final draft, but when reading the notes, I wondered whether when I post a chapter of a Spuffy-centric story should place a warning that it will involve Bangel? Some folks are quite sensitive to Bangel showing up in Spuffy fics. On the other hand, I wondered if I post it with a Bangel warning for Spuffies whether I also needed to warn that, while there are romantic Bangel scenes involved, it's not OTP 4 Evah Bangel either. I almost feel that if I say there's Bangel, because I'm a Spuffy, it would be analyzed with an eye toward Bangel bashing.
I hate character bashing fic. I really do. But it must be said that in many respects, bashing is in the eye of the beholder. What one person feels is an honest assessment of a character or a subject is to a partisan seen as 'bashing'. If you're not part of the partisan group for a character, I do think that there has to be a little sensitivity involved.
That said, one thing I try to tell myself is that fic is better when it's honest. Sometimes I find I write around the world to keep from saying something bluntly and I end up having to back up and tell myself to cut the bull and just be honest. Say what I think. I am aware, however, that though something is honest, it's a very subjective honesty. It's what I think. It's not objective truth. It's what dovetails with my views and the needs of my story. And I have worried whether something I write can objectively be viewed as character bashing (subjectively, we're all screwed. Someone will always be offended. People have their sensitivities.) We can't always worry about that. However, I think that characterization is important, which is why when something really crosses the line into character bashing in a story it bothers me. (Although it's also amused me that I had agonized over Angel's behavior over something in a fic, worrying whether it might constitute crossing an invisible line... and then the comics blew right passed me into territory I would never have dared go. Hell, I was just contemplating a faux pas compared to the comics that went all slayer-killer or "I'm not telling Buffy that I'm allowing an apocalypse for her own good". Either way, not good. But it does make me wonder whether I was worrying way too much over my Angel character foible. By comparison it's nothing!)
I also worry whether when I have a character say something that it's perceived as my saying it. Basically, I have Lindsey say stuff about Angel. And, I think for it to carry weight it needs some truth to it, and there is some truth in it. However, I also don't consider Lindsey to be an objective voice regarding Angel. I'm letting Lindsey say some things that I wouldn't let other characters say or even think. Will that be taken as character bashing? Lindsey has all sorts of issues with Angel, some fair and some unfair. I don't consider allowing Lindsey to have a chip on this shoulder to be condoning everything that Lindsey says... but will that be taken as my validating Lindsey's issues? Will that be taken as my "character bashing?"
I think the reason I worry about the stuff involving Angel is because Angel does not actively appear in the fic. (He's in some flashbacks, but he really isn't part of the story). That's somewhat deliberate. He's a shadow for other characters as Buffy's relationship to him, Spike's relationship to him, and Lindsey's relationship to him are all issues I wanted to explore and to deliberately do so without Angel being actively part of the plot.
Angel is important to the story even though it's not Angel's story. It isn't about Angel. It's about Buffy, Spike, and even Lindsey. But, each of them have Angel issues and so I deal with those situations through their eyes. Spike and Lindsey in particular have a few negative thoughts/feelings to express... because I think Lindsey has hard feelings and Spike has conflicted ones. My adding Buffy's on top of it complicates matters. But I don't consider these characters to be objective. I don't expect them to be.
Does my seeing Angel through a specific characters eyes come across as my validating this point of view, even if I don't believe myself that the view being expressed is objective?
Oh well. I said this was stream of consciousness, right? I don't have any real point to make, just that these are things I've thought about while plotting.
It's now rainy and cloudy and I'm overwhelmed by an urge to nap. :)
