meme responses
Aug. 1st, 2012 12:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitHere are my answers to the prompts I was given for this meme. I'd be happy to take more prompts if anyone is interested.
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miss_morland asked about Captain Haddock (Tintin fandom).
Why I love them or why I wish they'd go die in a fire.
Devotion. Deep, loving devotion is a trait that I find irresistible in characters (in fact, even selfish stalkery pseudo-devotion interests me, but Haddock's devotion is definitely the former). Haddock will follow Tintin anywhere. Complaining all the time, of course.
My OTP for the character
Haddock/Tintin forever!
My favorite gen relationship with this character.
I'm afraid I don't much care for Professeur Tournesol (= Professor Calculus in the English translations), who is Haddock's best canonical friend apart from Tintin. I'm intrigued by Haddock's history with the loathsome and loathing Allan, but I don't see that as gen (Allan's hatred is so personal and visceral that I think they must have had sex some time). So I guess it's Haddock & Captain Chester.
An unpopular opinion about this character.
Not a funny drunk. A very unfunny drunk, in fact, even when Hergé seems to be trying to play it for comedy. There's always an element of self-destruction, self-loathing, and danger.
One thing I wish would [have] happen[ed] with this character in canon.
I'd have loved to see him really try to stop drinking. He is, of course, briefly the head of Sailors Against Alcohol, but that doesn't last and his non-drinking is almost entirely offscreen.
An idea I have for the character that I haven't written yet/won't ever write for whatever reason.
I tried to write a porntastic story about Haddock and Tintin's first time together sexually, because (a) porn, and (b) I was interested in Haddock's feelings about having so much innocence, sexual and emotional, entrusted to his care. But the first thousand words were awful and I couldn't go any further with it.
mcicioni asked about Peter from Eric Williams's The Wooden Horse (link goes to my LJ post about the novel; there's some interesting discussion in the comments).
Why I love them or why I wish they'd go die in a fire.
Something that intrigues me about Peter is that he's so different from the image of the heroic escaper--he's introspective, a bit gloomy, not especially patriotic, by no means fearless, and his obsession with escape comes across almost as neurosis rather than BAMF-ness. A lot of non-escapers seem to have seen the escapers as neurotic in this way, but it's rare to see it in a narrative by someone who did escape.
My OTP for the character
Peter/John, oh yes. Peter's pretty clearly got a bit of a thing for the handsome, intelligent, dreamy, boyish John, and since the narrative frequently has them sharing a bed or huddling together for warmth, I feel actually invited to read between the lines.
My favorite gen relationship with this character.
I've have loved to see more of Peter's friendship with Nigel, especially since they're both in love with John.
An unpopular opinion about this character.
Unpopular among whom, the three people in fandom who actually know this story?
One thing I wish would [have] happen[ed] with this character in canon.
Well, as I said, there was all that bed-sharing and huddling for warmth . . . Or, perhaps slightly more realistically for a book published in the 1940s, a bit more of the interestingly dissonant and ironic discussion of homosexuality featured in it.
An idea I have for the character that I haven't written yet/won't ever write for whatever reason.
It would be interesting to cross Peter over into the Colditz fandom, probably in the context of the ex-POW circle thathalotolerant and I have imagined forming around Pat Grant and Dick Player after the war. A lot of the men in this circle are queer (because we can, that's why) and I rather like the idea of following Peter, who is a widower, as he tries to figure out whether his feeings for John make him queer or whether it was just a symptom of prison life. No points for guessing which route I'd take on that one.
executrix asked about "Pilot Officer Larry Page," from Colditz. His name is in scare quotes because it's not really his name; for an introduction to the character, see my post here.
Why I love them or why I wish they'd go die in a fire.
Page is hard to love. He's cold, verbally cruel, and capable of brutal violence. But he's also hard to hate, because he is so damaged. You can see the damage, and the fragments of Page's capacity for love, tenderness, and remorse, in this amazing scene (it starts at about 3:25, but honestly I recommend watching the whole episode to give it context; incidentally, Harry is not an idiot, just a sweet boy who doesn't come up to Page's rather exacting notions of ruthless competence).
My OTP for the character
Page/Palmer, for which see the same post (link above) in which I introduced Page. They don't interact onscreen at all, but Palmer's character seems to have reserves of inner toughness that would make him capable of dealing with Page's damage, as well as the caring to want to do so.
My favorite gen relationship with this character.
Page does not have friends. Even in a best-case scenario for Page, I can't picture him ever again having easy relationships with other people. Sex and a very fraught, reluctant affection may tie him to Palmer, but Page has become both too used to manipulating people and too frightened of his own capacity to hurt them to want friendships. But I can picture him having a cautious respect for Pat Grant (whom, in my andhalotolerant's head-canon, he meets after the war) because Pat is strong and unsentimental but not unfeeling.
An unpopular opinion about this character.
This is such a difficult question with tiny fandoms! I think the fact that I have any liking for him is an unpopular opinion, at least going by the comments about Page that are attached to the YouTube uploads. (Admittedly, the Shovewood people are David McCallum fans and tend to view Colditz through their own idiosyncratic lens.)
One thing I wish would [have] happen[ed] with this character in canon.
Oh, how about seeing him again after this episode? He and Palmer are great characters, both tragically dropped in favor of some truly dull and stereotyped creations introduced by inferior writers later in series 2.
An idea I have for the character that I haven't written yet/won't ever write for whatever reason.
Still working on an actual Page/Palmer fic! It might be interesting to write the story of Page and his French boy (yes, I am interpreting that relationship as sexual, given the way it's explicitly paralleled with Page's relationship with his mistress), but it would also probably be too heartbreaking even for me.
slashgoddess80 asked about Tintin.
Why I love them or why I wish they'd go die in a fire.
Tintin's bravery is tremendously appealing, as is his (imperfect, but strong) commitment to justice. One of the pleasures of the comics is seeing Tintin (and thus Hergé) develop a social conscience; I love the fact that in the last completed album, Tintin and the Picaros, Tintin has decorated his motorcycle helmet with a peace sign.
My OTP for the character
Tintin/Haddock. Some people are put off by the age difference, but I am not among them. So, so not.
My favorite gen relationship with this character.
Tintin and Milou, of course! Or, if we're only talking about other human beings, Tintin and Chang have a nice friendship.
An unpopular opinion about this character.
Some of his heroism does come close, as Haddock accuses during On a marché sur la lune (Explorers on the Moon), to playacting, doing things because it's appropriately heroic to do them and ignoring the potential consequences for other people. For example, he's prone to sudden displays of heroic mercy that result in bad guys (including bad guys who have, for example, kidnapped and enslaved hundreds of people) getting away.
One thing I wish would [have] happen[ed] with this character in canon.
It would have been fascinating to see him confronted with the closing irony of Tintin and the Picaros, which we readers see but Tintin doesn't: that the revolution has just put a new bunch of oppressors on top.
An idea I have for the character that I haven't written yet/won't ever write for whatever reason.
Tintin and Haddock during the Second World War, when they're either in the Resistance or helping run an escape line to get downed Allied flyers back to Britain.
elaineofshalott asked about Conan Doyle's G. Lestrade.
Why I love them or why I wish they'd go die in a fire.
I'm afraid I'm having a hard time remembering anything much about bookverse Lestrade, as opposed to Lestrade in the Granada series (The Blue Carbuncle somehow got me shipping him in a threesome with Holmes and Watson) or Rupert Graves's Lestrade in Sherlock. Anyway, I feel a bit sorry for all Lestrades, because Lestrade is not stupid, he's just not Sherlock Holmes.
My OTP for the character
Don't have one.
My favorite gen relationship with this character.
He could commiserate entertainingly with Watson, as indeed he does in Sherlock.
An unpopular opinion about this character.
This is Sherlock-verse, I'm afraid, but: I don't see any justification whatsoever for Mycroft/Lestrade. Not even in the sense of "there's no canonical backing but they'd be great together," which I'm perfectly comfortable with when I think it's true. In this case, I don't think Mycroft is capable of loving anyone but Sherlock. Take that as you will. And as for Lestrade, he has a hard enough time dealing with Sherlock's arrogance; Mycroft would be far too much for him.
One thing I wish would [have] happen[ed] with this character in canon.
I'd have liked to see him be right for once, and Holmes wrong, and then tear a strip off Holmes for being such a patronizing jackass.
An idea I have for the character that I haven't written yet/won't ever write for whatever reason.
The idea above, I suppose.
miss_morland asked about Captain Haddock (Tintin fandom).Why I love them or why I wish they'd go die in a fire.
Devotion. Deep, loving devotion is a trait that I find irresistible in characters (in fact, even selfish stalkery pseudo-devotion interests me, but Haddock's devotion is definitely the former). Haddock will follow Tintin anywhere. Complaining all the time, of course.
My OTP for the character
Haddock/Tintin forever!
My favorite gen relationship with this character.
I'm afraid I don't much care for Professeur Tournesol (= Professor Calculus in the English translations), who is Haddock's best canonical friend apart from Tintin. I'm intrigued by Haddock's history with the loathsome and loathing Allan, but I don't see that as gen (Allan's hatred is so personal and visceral that I think they must have had sex some time). So I guess it's Haddock & Captain Chester.
An unpopular opinion about this character.
Not a funny drunk. A very unfunny drunk, in fact, even when Hergé seems to be trying to play it for comedy. There's always an element of self-destruction, self-loathing, and danger.
One thing I wish would [have] happen[ed] with this character in canon.
I'd have loved to see him really try to stop drinking. He is, of course, briefly the head of Sailors Against Alcohol, but that doesn't last and his non-drinking is almost entirely offscreen.
An idea I have for the character that I haven't written yet/won't ever write for whatever reason.
I tried to write a porntastic story about Haddock and Tintin's first time together sexually, because (a) porn, and (b) I was interested in Haddock's feelings about having so much innocence, sexual and emotional, entrusted to his care. But the first thousand words were awful and I couldn't go any further with it.
mcicioni asked about Peter from Eric Williams's The Wooden Horse (link goes to my LJ post about the novel; there's some interesting discussion in the comments).Why I love them or why I wish they'd go die in a fire.
Something that intrigues me about Peter is that he's so different from the image of the heroic escaper--he's introspective, a bit gloomy, not especially patriotic, by no means fearless, and his obsession with escape comes across almost as neurosis rather than BAMF-ness. A lot of non-escapers seem to have seen the escapers as neurotic in this way, but it's rare to see it in a narrative by someone who did escape.
My OTP for the character
Peter/John, oh yes. Peter's pretty clearly got a bit of a thing for the handsome, intelligent, dreamy, boyish John, and since the narrative frequently has them sharing a bed or huddling together for warmth, I feel actually invited to read between the lines.
My favorite gen relationship with this character.
I've have loved to see more of Peter's friendship with Nigel, especially since they're both in love with John.
An unpopular opinion about this character.
Unpopular among whom, the three people in fandom who actually know this story?
One thing I wish would [have] happen[ed] with this character in canon.
Well, as I said, there was all that bed-sharing and huddling for warmth . . . Or, perhaps slightly more realistically for a book published in the 1940s, a bit more of the interestingly dissonant and ironic discussion of homosexuality featured in it.
An idea I have for the character that I haven't written yet/won't ever write for whatever reason.
It would be interesting to cross Peter over into the Colditz fandom, probably in the context of the ex-POW circle that
halotolerant and I have imagined forming around Pat Grant and Dick Player after the war. A lot of the men in this circle are queer (because we can, that's why) and I rather like the idea of following Peter, who is a widower, as he tries to figure out whether his feeings for John make him queer or whether it was just a symptom of prison life. No points for guessing which route I'd take on that one.executrix asked about "Pilot Officer Larry Page," from Colditz. His name is in scare quotes because it's not really his name; for an introduction to the character, see my post here.Why I love them or why I wish they'd go die in a fire.
Page is hard to love. He's cold, verbally cruel, and capable of brutal violence. But he's also hard to hate, because he is so damaged. You can see the damage, and the fragments of Page's capacity for love, tenderness, and remorse, in this amazing scene (it starts at about 3:25, but honestly I recommend watching the whole episode to give it context; incidentally, Harry is not an idiot, just a sweet boy who doesn't come up to Page's rather exacting notions of ruthless competence).
My OTP for the character
Page/Palmer, for which see the same post (link above) in which I introduced Page. They don't interact onscreen at all, but Palmer's character seems to have reserves of inner toughness that would make him capable of dealing with Page's damage, as well as the caring to want to do so.
My favorite gen relationship with this character.
Page does not have friends. Even in a best-case scenario for Page, I can't picture him ever again having easy relationships with other people. Sex and a very fraught, reluctant affection may tie him to Palmer, but Page has become both too used to manipulating people and too frightened of his own capacity to hurt them to want friendships. But I can picture him having a cautious respect for Pat Grant (whom, in my and
halotolerant's head-canon, he meets after the war) because Pat is strong and unsentimental but not unfeeling.An unpopular opinion about this character.
This is such a difficult question with tiny fandoms! I think the fact that I have any liking for him is an unpopular opinion, at least going by the comments about Page that are attached to the YouTube uploads. (Admittedly, the Shovewood people are David McCallum fans and tend to view Colditz through their own idiosyncratic lens.)
One thing I wish would [have] happen[ed] with this character in canon.
Oh, how about seeing him again after this episode? He and Palmer are great characters, both tragically dropped in favor of some truly dull and stereotyped creations introduced by inferior writers later in series 2.
An idea I have for the character that I haven't written yet/won't ever write for whatever reason.
Still working on an actual Page/Palmer fic! It might be interesting to write the story of Page and his French boy (yes, I am interpreting that relationship as sexual, given the way it's explicitly paralleled with Page's relationship with his mistress), but it would also probably be too heartbreaking even for me.
slashgoddess80 asked about Tintin.Why I love them or why I wish they'd go die in a fire.
Tintin's bravery is tremendously appealing, as is his (imperfect, but strong) commitment to justice. One of the pleasures of the comics is seeing Tintin (and thus Hergé) develop a social conscience; I love the fact that in the last completed album, Tintin and the Picaros, Tintin has decorated his motorcycle helmet with a peace sign.
My OTP for the character
Tintin/Haddock. Some people are put off by the age difference, but I am not among them. So, so not.
My favorite gen relationship with this character.
Tintin and Milou, of course! Or, if we're only talking about other human beings, Tintin and Chang have a nice friendship.
An unpopular opinion about this character.
Some of his heroism does come close, as Haddock accuses during On a marché sur la lune (Explorers on the Moon), to playacting, doing things because it's appropriately heroic to do them and ignoring the potential consequences for other people. For example, he's prone to sudden displays of heroic mercy that result in bad guys (including bad guys who have, for example, kidnapped and enslaved hundreds of people) getting away.
One thing I wish would [have] happen[ed] with this character in canon.
It would have been fascinating to see him confronted with the closing irony of Tintin and the Picaros, which we readers see but Tintin doesn't: that the revolution has just put a new bunch of oppressors on top.
An idea I have for the character that I haven't written yet/won't ever write for whatever reason.
Tintin and Haddock during the Second World War, when they're either in the Resistance or helping run an escape line to get downed Allied flyers back to Britain.
elaineofshalott asked about Conan Doyle's G. Lestrade.Why I love them or why I wish they'd go die in a fire.
I'm afraid I'm having a hard time remembering anything much about bookverse Lestrade, as opposed to Lestrade in the Granada series (The Blue Carbuncle somehow got me shipping him in a threesome with Holmes and Watson) or Rupert Graves's Lestrade in Sherlock. Anyway, I feel a bit sorry for all Lestrades, because Lestrade is not stupid, he's just not Sherlock Holmes.
My OTP for the character
Don't have one.
My favorite gen relationship with this character.
He could commiserate entertainingly with Watson, as indeed he does in Sherlock.
An unpopular opinion about this character.
This is Sherlock-verse, I'm afraid, but: I don't see any justification whatsoever for Mycroft/Lestrade. Not even in the sense of "there's no canonical backing but they'd be great together," which I'm perfectly comfortable with when I think it's true. In this case, I don't think Mycroft is capable of loving anyone but Sherlock. Take that as you will. And as for Lestrade, he has a hard enough time dealing with Sherlock's arrogance; Mycroft would be far too much for him.
One thing I wish would [have] happen[ed] with this character in canon.
I'd have liked to see him be right for once, and Holmes wrong, and then tear a strip off Holmes for being such a patronizing jackass.
An idea I have for the character that I haven't written yet/won't ever write for whatever reason.
The idea above, I suppose.
