When fangirls collide
So, I was recently wandering around reading Queer as Folk stuff in my vast amounts of leisure and spare time while procrastinating and somewhere or other I saw someone rec a fic in response to a request and I was all OMG!
And for once it was not because I think the fic sucks, or is crack being recc'd like a serious fic, or is bad!fic that the recc'er doesn't know is bad!fic, which are the usual reasons I go OMG when I read a rec.
No, it was because of the other reason, cruelty to the Justin.
And I wanted to rant and rave and tell her how that whole fic that she loved was nothing but an evil and OOC revenge on Justin fic and start my whole long Justin defense, but I didn't because number one, no one cares and number two, most of you could probably recite Xie's Justin defense in your sleep and it's a big waste of time.
Also, it's rude.
So instead I have a question for you.
Does that ever happen to you? That people, maybe even people you otherwise like and respect and have fun with, really like something that makes you want to tear out your hair and scream and commit mayem in the fandom? I'm not talking about our friends who read the bad!fic (*pets bookgirl and vamphile*) nor even our friends who get on the crack pipe (among whom I have to number myself) and read insane things like bindfolded!escort!Justin (shut up, yes, I'm aware it's totally OOC and wrong, but I love it, bite me). I don't even mean friends who like fic that might be badly written, OOC, lame, whatever.
I mean fic that presents the characters you love in a situation that is so contrary to who they are you see them to be, in a way that feels ugly and mean-spirited and vengeful. I am thinking right now of two fics, one that does this to Justin and one that does it to Brian, so this is actually not a Justin!point I'm making, but a general one.
Of course I just don't read the fics. Of course I don't feedback the author, because what they choose to write is none of my business. But in my heart, I want to cry and then shake the people who read and like these fics, and then cry some more.
I honestly understand the appeal of bad!fic (sort of) and cracky fic of all kinds. I understand why sometimes we like blindfolded!escort!Justin OOC fic, and why we'll sometimes read things like the Abernathy Trilogy which I've read twice, that have only the most fleeting (if that) link to Brian and Justin from Queer as Folk, other than their names and hair color) that are only slightly inspired by the show even though they are supposedly QAF fan fic, and just as I don't want to be judged for my worship of the silly things I love, I don't judge other people for the silly things they love.
But all that said, I really feel uncomfortable sometimes when people like things that seem to stab the characters in the back, and get them wrong in an ugly way rather than a crackilicious way. I don't know if they just don't REALIZE, or they don't care, or if I'm just taking this all way, way too seriously.
And yes, I'm aware coffeeclub is not a support group for the emotionally unstable. Meep.