Thoughts on canon fetishism

[lobelia321]

This was meant to be a GIP because the lovely lazulus sent me Photoshop and I made a Jed'n'Steve icon except LJ won't let me upload it and I don't know how to save it as a non-Photoshop format.

So instead it will be GCP: gratuitous canon post, prompted by a discussion with thamiris about slashing Smallville.

As some of you know, Smallville, that third-rate TV show about Superman's teenaged youth, has been following me about Europe in three dubbed versions. I have to date not seen it in English! However, I do not need English nor extensive episode knowledge immediately to perceive the slashy potential in Clark Kent's adoptive dad Jonathan: I can see him with Clark himself or, even more, with that nice young bald man who does that curly thing with his lips and is Lex Luthor.

Needless to say, and this will surprise nobody on my LJ list, this is a not a standard pairing. Heh, how do I do it? I just sniff 'em out, it seems. So I mooted the vague plan of writing it myself as nobody has written it for me. Also, because it would afford the unmissable opportunity of sighed "Oh Mr Kent"s... (And we all know how I love the "Mr" appellation in slash...) But then Thamiris got worried at my lack of canon knowledge and would I get the characterisation right.

Dilemma! I have two, well three, responses.



Response numero uno:
Yes, I can see how people would get upset at seeing their canon ignored. And it seems to be more virulent in fps because in rps it's not quite as straightforward. In rps, there is no clear-cut canon - there's too little known about the private lives, things are constantly evolving, and so forth. (Unless you're of the Domlijah colour-of-socks brigade, of course...) I can see how I myself would get impatient with people in LotR fps who can't get Legolas's father's name right or muddle up the relationships among all the hobbits. So, I can sympathise and will tell myself: hands off.

Response the second: Who gives a stuff? It's some amateur prose posted for fun on the bloody internet, for god's sake, and it's making believe that some make-believe characters in an American TV show are having sexy thoughts about each other. Why be dogmatic? Given my own experience with fps -- and yes, amazing, folks: remember, Hetty Wainthropp-slash is indeed FPS -- there is absolutely no necessity to have extensive canon knowledge for delectable fic. badgermonkey and I have between us watched perhaps eight episodes of Hetty Wainthropp, and most of those in fast-forward mode in order to avoid tedious acquaintance with superfluous plot detail and excessive exposure to indifferent acting and clunky script. (Heh, on the other hand, some of the scenes have been rewound and studied most assiduously - I need only say "the urges talk"...!!) This has not stopped rampant Wainthropp slashing on our part. *gg* And leads to creative incorporation of new data as suddenly details are revealed that we had no clue of...

Final response: Stuff Smallville. I'll slash Jed and Steve.

About whom I know nothing. But who are Meant To Be and who look sharp as sharp in the icon I am unable to post, grrr.



Bonus Wainthropp slash on the topical subject of hackers in LJ (as sent to badgermonkey about 10 minutes ago:

"Mr Wainthropp, there's a new case just come in. Something about hackers on the internet."

"The what, son?"

"You know, the world wide web. People have been hacking into a site."

"Mm, my dear boy, let me hack into your site..."

Comments

[thamiris.livejournal.com]

I never said not to do it, babe. Writers should always do whatever they want, and screw readers. But, as a reader, I do prefer fiction that matches canon, since any disjunction from it, beyond ticks stemming from different interpretations, throws me out of the story. Do note the emphasis on "I" and "me" here. I was/am just one reader speaking of her interests, not proclaiming what others can or can't do, only what *I* like and don't. :-)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I know, and have already said to you elsewhere that I will post special Thamiris-warnings in the Header (should I ever actually go ahead and write such a fic...), *g*.

As you can see, your throwaway opinions on this matter sparked long and deeply Rodin-Thinkeresque musings... *snort*

[mystisblom.livejournal.com]

you have to make it to one plain (level i dont know the right word) and then you have to save as...
there you can change the format.
god i so suck in describe things but i hope it helps :)

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

Flatten image? Yeah - if you have more than one layer on the picture it will only let you save it as a Photoshop file, so you have to merge them. Flatten image should be under Layer or Image or something.