I agree that the strong focus on explicit sex/high ratings can get tedious, and I'd like to add that to me, stories with lower ratings but plenty of chemistry/tension can often be sexier than fics that go into detail after technical detail. The emotions and characterisations are what gets to me the most, basically.
As for the obsession with pairings, it's something I've thought about myself from time to time. I do enjoy stories about romance and/or sex -- and I don't mind background pairings in genfic either -- but there's also more to life. If a character's 'pairability' is the only thing considered interesting about them, then that sounds rather boring.
Of course, if a writer wants to write m/m within the Jeeves stories, theirs are the first two names that spring to mind.
I'm not sure how often it actually happens in that order, though? I can only speak for myself, of course, but most often the desire to write about a pairing actually stems from enjoying their dynamics and the prospect of there being more to their relationship than what is shown in canon. I can't remember reading a story and thinking, 'Oh, I want to slash SOMEONE, but who? Oh well, these two guys will have to do...' So my guess is that many most people who read or write Bertie/Jeeves romance do so because they enjoy this specific pairing, and not because any slash ship in that canon would do the job -- I know I don't feel that way about the pairings I like. I couldn't replace Holmes/Watson with Holmes/Lestrade and enjoy it just as much, for instance.
Basically I think the desire to read/write about characters' relationships can often be similar or even identical to the desire to read/write about characters' backstories: wanting to know more about the stuff canon doesn't tell us.
Pairing [Lewis] with Hathaway would make him OOC to me.
I think there's a significant difference between a story in which Lewis has spent his whole life in the closet, only marrying because of expectations etc., and a story in which he comes to love Hathaway, though that doesn't in any way negate his previous relationships. The first scenario is ooc because we know Lewis loved his wife and that he's attracted to women. The other one doesn't have to be, IMO, given that sometimes people fall in love with a person of a different gender than they'd previously been attracted to. L and H may not be sleeping together, but they certainly care about each other -- I've read several stories in which skilled writers have believably developed their friendship into love.
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regna
(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-20 09:54 pm (UTC)As for the obsession with pairings, it's something I've thought about myself from time to time. I do enjoy stories about romance and/or sex -- and I don't mind background pairings in genfic either -- but there's also more to life. If a character's 'pairability' is the only thing considered interesting about them, then that sounds rather boring.
Of course, if a writer wants to write m/m within the Jeeves stories, theirs are the first two names that spring to mind.
I'm not sure how often it actually happens in that order, though? I can only speak for myself, of course, but most often the desire to write about a pairing actually stems from enjoying their dynamics and the prospect of there being more to their relationship than what is shown in canon. I can't remember reading a story and thinking, 'Oh, I want to slash SOMEONE, but who? Oh well, these two guys will have to do...' So my guess is that many most people who read or write Bertie/Jeeves romance do so because they enjoy this specific pairing, and not because any slash ship in that canon would do the job -- I know I don't feel that way about the pairings I like. I couldn't replace Holmes/Watson with Holmes/Lestrade and enjoy it just as much, for instance.
Basically I think the desire to read/write about characters' relationships can often be similar or even identical to the desire to read/write about characters' backstories: wanting to know more about the stuff canon doesn't tell us.
Pairing [Lewis] with Hathaway would make him OOC to me.
I think there's a significant difference between a story in which Lewis has spent his whole life in the closet, only marrying because of expectations etc., and a story in which he comes to love Hathaway, though that doesn't in any way negate his previous relationships. The first scenario is ooc because we know Lewis loved his wife and that he's attracted to women. The other one doesn't have to be, IMO, given that sometimes people fall in love with a person of a different gender than they'd previously been attracted to. L and H may not be sleeping together, but they certainly care about each other -- I've read several stories in which skilled writers have believably developed their friendship into love.