kungfuwaynewho (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kungfuwaynewho) wrote2011-01-15 09:51 am
kungfuwaynewho) wrote2011-01-15 09:51 am
Entry tags:
Question about ships. (Not the sailing kind.)
I wrote this big long entry about how I haven't been able to write any fic in awhile, beyond a few crappy paragraphs here and there, but it was boring and whiny even to me. I was rereading for typos before posting and I was like, shit, this is the epitome of no1curr.
So instead I am going to ask a fandom-nonspecific question, in the hope that the answers will help me figure something else out. And, you know, be interesting to read besides.
What is your all-time favorite ship? Why? And what was the moment/scene/episode that made you feel really invested in that relationship? And if you can't narrow it down to one, just write about two or three. (But not, like, ten. Commit, you wishy-washy girl.) (Unless you're a boy.) (Do any boys even read this?)
It occurs to me that I should get the ball rolling. As much as I've greatly loved other ships since, and as much as it's hard to really be objective about the whole thing, I'd have to say that ship that meant the most to me in general - though certainly not right at this moment - would be Mulder and Scully from The X-Files. It wasn't my first ship (that would be Link and Zelda, tyvm), but XF in general was a show that aired at a critical time in my life. I was 11 when it started, and 20 when it ended. So many of my dramatic sensibilities were formed by that show - what kind of stories I enjoy, how I like them being told, my expectations as far as quality goes, my love of shows that can experiment and defy their own premise, and so on. But most of all, the relationship between Mulder and Scully was an important one for me. I prefer ships that start off with a foundation of respect, and trust, and actual friendship. I'll never be that interested in two people meeting who seem to immediately fall in love without even knowing each other, for instance. Or relationships that start with lust and proceed from there.
Most importantly, I think, Mulder/Scully for me is all about the absolute equality in the relationship. For every time he saves her from danger, she saves him right back. Where one is strong, the other is weak, and they hold each other up. They might have disagreements but they don't belittle each other, or treat each other cruelly. That's what I want to see in a ship, even if it means foregoing manufactured ship drama. (Actually, especially if it means forgoing any of that.) And the first time I really knew that I needed them to be together would have been the Duane Berry arc - Scully is abducted and Mulder cannot save her, and has to hope against ever increasing odds that she'll return to him alive. It was the first time that there was the sense that they didn't just respect each other and depend on each other, and maybe be attracted to each other - Mulder was lost without her. He could not function. And to need someone else like that is pretty heady stuff.
So instead I am going to ask a fandom-nonspecific question, in the hope that the answers will help me figure something else out. And, you know, be interesting to read besides.
What is your all-time favorite ship? Why? And what was the moment/scene/episode that made you feel really invested in that relationship? And if you can't narrow it down to one, just write about two or three. (But not, like, ten. Commit, you wishy-washy girl.) (Unless you're a boy.) (Do any boys even read this?)
It occurs to me that I should get the ball rolling. As much as I've greatly loved other ships since, and as much as it's hard to really be objective about the whole thing, I'd have to say that ship that meant the most to me in general - though certainly not right at this moment - would be Mulder and Scully from The X-Files. It wasn't my first ship (that would be Link and Zelda, tyvm), but XF in general was a show that aired at a critical time in my life. I was 11 when it started, and 20 when it ended. So many of my dramatic sensibilities were formed by that show - what kind of stories I enjoy, how I like them being told, my expectations as far as quality goes, my love of shows that can experiment and defy their own premise, and so on. But most of all, the relationship between Mulder and Scully was an important one for me. I prefer ships that start off with a foundation of respect, and trust, and actual friendship. I'll never be that interested in two people meeting who seem to immediately fall in love without even knowing each other, for instance. Or relationships that start with lust and proceed from there.
Most importantly, I think, Mulder/Scully for me is all about the absolute equality in the relationship. For every time he saves her from danger, she saves him right back. Where one is strong, the other is weak, and they hold each other up. They might have disagreements but they don't belittle each other, or treat each other cruelly. That's what I want to see in a ship, even if it means foregoing manufactured ship drama. (Actually, especially if it means forgoing any of that.) And the first time I really knew that I needed them to be together would have been the Duane Berry arc - Scully is abducted and Mulder cannot save her, and has to hope against ever increasing odds that she'll return to him alive. It was the first time that there was the sense that they didn't just respect each other and depend on each other, and maybe be attracted to each other - Mulder was lost without her. He could not function. And to need someone else like that is pretty heady stuff.
TEAL. DEER. (Part 1)
I'm one of those people who can't narrow down to just one favorite ship, but I have noticed that approximately every nine months to a year, I return to Fraser/Thatcher from due South. I'm not sure if it's because the fandom is still quite large for such an old show, or if it's something inherent in their relationship that keeps drawing me back, though possibly it's a combination.
As far as why I like them...part of it's rooted in the fact that Thatcher doesn't get a lot of characterization, and what she does get, especially in the later seasons, is contradictory and often headdesk-inducing. But she also gets some awesome bits in season two, and there are several moments where the really cool, kickass, funny person who lives under her icy shell gets to shine through. So when I write them, I like taking those really great moments and expanding on them, and in having Fraser discover and delight in Thatcher's hidden qualities, because there are a couple places in the show where he does both of those things (both of them making jokes while trapped in an egg incubator--and realizing that this person they thought was humorless actually has a pretty good sense of humor--and semaphoring compliments to each other, among other things). And Fraser himself is one of my very favorite characters ever. (I identify with him a lot.) There's tremendous complexity to his character, and you can interpret him so many, many different ways--is his politeness and uber-Mountieness completely genuine or partially an act? If so, why? How much is he changed by living in Chicago? So it's fun to write them together, because they're both interesting individually.
As well, I love how, despite outward differences, they're are actually quite similar on the inside, as she points out in a very cool speech on top of a speeding train. They're both decorated police officers, devoted to duty and justice, and they both have that sort of weirdness that, in the show, is an inherent quality of being a Mountie--they know semaphore, and how to fire ceremonial canons on a replica of the HMS Bounty, and are both totally cool with climbing on a moving Ferris Wheel and getting turned upside down while they defuse a bomb.
Re: TEAL. DEER. (Part 1)
Re: TEAL. DEER. (Part 1)
Plus it doesn't hurt that Paul Gross is absolutely gorgeous.