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citrus_java) wrote2013-11-02 03:10 pm
citrus_java) wrote2013-11-02 03:10 pm
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Characterization and universality in fic and in SPN canon
I have this rule about writing (not that I always follow it myself) - don't assume the audience likes the characters because you gave them a reason to, two chapters ago. You have to keep giving reasons. This rule doesn't apply, for me, to Dean and Sam. I love them so much, that part is stable. So I need to amend my rule to say - even in season 9, you have to keep characterizing. These days, I really miss Sam and Dean. These days, the characters are less specific, wobbling too much for emotional arcs I really feel I can hang on to. J&J make it float , (especially Jared, which makes me so proud and glad, since Jensen was the one who used to do more of that, and also since Jared has way less to work with).
It's common these days, in more and more sorts of research, to talk about what's considered "normal", "universal", "not worth mentioning, because of course". Like someone being a white straight man. You know the drill. The common approach today (or, at least, around me) is to look at it as something that is specific, too, not universal. Like- being a man is specific, men aren't "general people". And in one way, most research in existence is about men, canonical everything is written mostly bu men and so forth, but in another way, there's not a lot of research about masculinity itself.
It's interesting to me to look at fic that's like that, in SPN, our "usual" fic. Or at least, your usual Sam/Dean or Sam & Dean fic, I don't read enough of the others to know, and I am curious to hear about this in other places in fandom, if you know and feel like saying.
I'd say your garden variety fic is "not season specific", but it takes place around season 3, minus the deal, give or take the angels and Sam's muscles. Motel rooms, following cases from town to town, diners, bringing each other coffee/take out in the morning(have they ever, ever done that in canon before last episode?) , they know about possession and demons, if there are angels around, they're not central, nobody is crazy or suicidal or an alcoholic, and they don't know about fic. Dean's likely to hit on random (gorgeous) girls, Bobby's around and walking, The Trickster is around in either persona, Crowley probably isn't.
Even with fic that's less specific than that, it's often easy to tell around what season stories were written, the same way decades have indications in fashion and music. Vibe, characterizations, small things that became non-canon, the description of Sam's body and hair, And, of course, bigger things like each character's mental place, the way the audience is expected to think about their relationship, and how they're likely to act.
It's really interesting to me that "first time", while perhaps more central, is far from being obvious in this sort of fic. It might be cause it makes PWPs easier, but I don't think that's why. Perhaps it's because to many people, they sort of always had a relationship. Perhaps it because it's been so long, we get it, they're together, and as I took to yelling at the screen, watching SPN for the first time - there's only so much UST you can drive your audience crazy with before they gather outside the network offices with farm tools and take Show from you. Which is, of course, the low tech version of writing fic.
It seems like in seasons 8-9, a lot of Dean's characterization is "general" Dean, which is to say - zig-zaging between seasons and states of mind. Yeah, they're all Dean, but what Dean are we getting? Why? Sam, on the other hand, is still suffering from his role as "the everyman", even after everything he went through, and we went through with him.
Dean gets so much characterization, while Sam gets close to nothing official. I love, *love* that fandom took things like him not having specific hobbies, not having/decorating a room and so forth, as characterization, as a thing. And I like that canon finally caught up with that last episode. Either way, the writing of both of them suffers from this generalization, imo.
It's common these days, in more and more sorts of research, to talk about what's considered "normal", "universal", "not worth mentioning, because of course". Like someone being a white straight man. You know the drill. The common approach today (or, at least, around me) is to look at it as something that is specific, too, not universal. Like- being a man is specific, men aren't "general people". And in one way, most research in existence is about men, canonical everything is written mostly bu men and so forth, but in another way, there's not a lot of research about masculinity itself.
It's interesting to me to look at fic that's like that, in SPN, our "usual" fic. Or at least, your usual Sam/Dean or Sam & Dean fic, I don't read enough of the others to know, and I am curious to hear about this in other places in fandom, if you know and feel like saying.
I'd say your garden variety fic is "not season specific", but it takes place around season 3, minus the deal, give or take the angels and Sam's muscles. Motel rooms, following cases from town to town, diners, bringing each other coffee/take out in the morning
Even with fic that's less specific than that, it's often easy to tell around what season stories were written, the same way decades have indications in fashion and music. Vibe, characterizations, small things that became non-canon, the description of Sam's body and hair, And, of course, bigger things like each character's mental place, the way the audience is expected to think about their relationship, and how they're likely to act.
It's really interesting to me that "first time", while perhaps more central, is far from being obvious in this sort of fic. It might be cause it makes PWPs easier, but I don't think that's why. Perhaps it's because to many people, they sort of always had a relationship. Perhaps it because it's been so long, we get it, they're together, and as I took to yelling at the screen, watching SPN for the first time - there's only so much UST you can drive your audience crazy with before they gather outside the network offices with farm tools and take Show from you. Which is, of course, the low tech version of writing fic.
It seems like in seasons 8-9, a lot of Dean's characterization is "general" Dean, which is to say - zig-zaging between seasons and states of mind. Yeah, they're all Dean, but what Dean are we getting? Why? Sam, on the other hand, is still suffering from his role as "the everyman", even after everything he went through, and we went through with him.
Dean gets so much characterization, while Sam gets close to nothing official. I love, *love* that fandom took things like him not having specific hobbies, not having/decorating a room and so forth, as characterization, as a thing. And I like that canon finally caught up with that last episode. Either way, the writing of both of them suffers from this generalization, imo.
no subject
I also think that Jared has just become a better actor than he was in the first couple of seasons, when he was still incredibly young. That's probably part of the reason Jensen became the character who got the majority of emotional scenes in the early seasons. By S4 Jared had raised his game a lot, but by then the show was kind of tied to the notion that Dean would always be the emotional viewpoint.
And yeah, it's got to be exhausting for any actor to play the same character for 9 years. I don't know much about the Jared and Jensen, but I can imagine it might be hard to be a certain age and feel like the chances you're ever going to get your big break are slim, especially as the quality of the show you're on is in decline.
Oh! That is interesting! Are the characters in the AUs a common fanon, or related to the way they are at certain points of the show, or is it different between stories, or something else? For some reason there are very few AUs for Sam/Dean, as you said, and so so many AUs for Jensen/Jared. What's it like for Jensen/Misha? I think I maybe read one or two of those, ever, without other people involved...
Dean/Cas AUs are almost entirely indistinguishable from Jensen/Jared AUs, to the extent that you could take a Dean/Cas AU fic, find and replace the names for Jensen and Jared, and I doubt you'd know the difference (oddly, Cas would probably be the better fit for Jensen in that scenario because he's more often the woobie, although there's some variation). They're mostly just original fiction with the characters' faces pasted on. Which is another reason I've lost some of my enthusiasm for Dean/Cas--in spite of the massive amount of fic written, very little of it is the kind of fic I want to read.
I think the lack of AUs may very well be in part that the Sam/Dean contingent of fandom is older and mostly on LJ, where wacky AUs never became quite as popular. I also think in part that canon Cas is hard to write, and so instead of trying writers create a scenario where they don't have to. AU Dean is far more often recognizable as Dean than AU Cas is recognizable as Cas. In the Jared/Jensen case there are probably a lot of people uncomfortable portraying real people cheating on their real wives. If you make Jared and Jensen into Medieval knights you avoid the squickiness.
no subject
I want to get why.
It' s odd to me that Cas isn't that characterized in AUs! He's even more specific than Dean, on the show! Writing Cas like you do is hard, cause you write him magnificently. But writing a recognizable Cas? Overly literal, long looks, personal space perhaps, that combination of experiencing needs/emotions and talking about it in a way that's not as aware of social conventions - should work. Should probably be recognizable as Cas just from that innocent overly literal thing he does, wouldn't you say?