Subverting the Dominant Paradigm

[mark_asphodel]

Now that I've landed on everyone's B.S. radar for the title...

When I was in Gundam Wing fandom, there were some clear-eyed and rational fans who took a moment to reflect upon how the fandom, or at least the writing end of it, got so damn screwed up.  The most eloquent of these was probably tzigane, a Chang Wufei fan whose 'fics weren't my thing but whose characterization essays (warning for language and discussion of yaoi) are essential for understanding how and why a fandom goes to hell.  Or, rather, how something blatantly out-of-character becomes the dominant take on a character, to the point where canon-faithful portrayals are shouted down, met with tar and pitchforks, etc.  Her essay on Heero Yuy contained an "a-ha!" moment for me when she talked about how successive waves of fans essentially distort the stereotypes crafted by the prior wave.

Circa 2008 I wrote something similar for SSB fandom concentrating on the mutilation desecration popular depiction of Roy and Marth.  FE11 wasn't out yet to confuse people further, but as far as I can tell FE11 hasn't mattered a jot to 98% of SSB 'ficcers, so as far as I'm concerned my take on things from then still stands.  I called the essay "Martian Canals" (x-ref), and my key assertion was that the 'ficcers were so far off base, even given fragmented and contradictory canon, that the "Marth" and "Roy" they were writing about essentially didn't exist anywhere outside of fandom itself. 

I wisely did not post that essay.  Anywhere.  I still thought FE fans were jerks and already figured the SSB crowd didn't care about self-reflection.

I could probably postulate for hours about how and why SSB fandom got so screwy, and why fans latched onto specific OOC takes on Marth and Roy-- which 'fics set the pace, and who borrowed from what, and so forth.  But I'm sure none of you in FE-land care; the end result is simply that we can collectively spot at once when an SSB-writer blunders into Fire Emblem fandom and slaps up a 'fic.  The traits are so clear you can practically write a field guide for it.

But Fire Emblem fandom has its own evolutions and subversions, though on a smaller scale.  I dunno about Tellius, but in the sub-fandoms I follow it usually consists of a couple of people who are really into one concept or one pairing, and suddenly the front page of ffnet's archive has three or four Marisa/Joshua stories on it.  And I think the rise of Kent/Lyn as the dominant Lyn pairing has been discussed many times in multiple places, but the essence of that one is that someone started writing something they liked and it turned out other people liked it too.

I don't think most writers have a mind to hijack a fandom.  I'm certain the early Gundam Wing writers had no idea that "their" Heero and Duo and whatnot-- characterizations based on a handful of fansubbed videos-- would mutate and devour fandom.  But it's an interesting thing to contemplate, particularly when I come across 'fics involving characters I am personally invested in and think, "Is this writer deriving their take on character X from canon, or did they get this from reading other writers' fanfics?"  Because coming across someone else whose take on Character X meshes with yours doesn't necessarily validate your beliefs re: Character X with regard to canon.  It could just mean you were both reading the same 'fics or the same commentary.  It could even mean they read your own story and liked it, and you're essentially agreeing with a reflection of yourself.

Seriously, I once found something in the Fire Emblem TV Tropes section whose wording was identical to wording in a discussion I was having with someone in the comments of my DA journal.  Now, did that other person then turn around and edit TV Tropes, or did some third party come across that conversation and lift a phrase, or did multiple fans in the same small fandom reach the same conclusion independently?  (Said wording is now gone, TV Tropes being what it is-- it had to do with FE3!Marth versus FE11!Marth, and the current text is pared down considerably.)  I've had the same experience at least once with the FE Wiki.  And some discussions in emblanon  have made the whole echo-chamber effect very disconcerting-- I've seen things that sound damn-near identical to my own beliefs, but it wasn't me.  But it's an anon meme, so I don't know if that writer was being sincere, or sockpuppeting, or what.  

So, dear f-list-- what fandom paradigms do you plan to subvert in the new year?  

Comments

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

Also I hate change, but I'm assuming most people do.

I hate change. But one person in each generation of my family (on mother's side) packs up and leaves and never really looks back. Great-Grandfather left Italy, Grandpa left Pennsylvania, Mom left California, and I left... everything. Different reasons each time, mind you, but everyone else in the family just kind of hangs out together in a colony. I don't get them and they probably don't get me. :/

And I'll take Michigan winters over Tennessee summers anytime.

There will be haters, and depending on how bad/whatever a leader is, there might be a lot of them. I'd imagine Hector might have quite a few haters, himself.

No kidding. Though I try to make that point in my post-war Archanea stories. Hello, the people have been exposed to a year, maybe more than a year, of anti-Marth propaganda. You think every single person in the kingdom is going to trust him immediately? Nah, it don't work that way.

Should I feel bad for her, at least a little?

Well, yeah. Her entire family was killed and strung up in public and she got to see their bodies afterward. That's pretty hard to get around...

[hooves.livejournal.com]

Though I try to make that point in my post-war Archanea stories. Hello, the people have been exposed to a year, maybe more than a year, of anti-Marth propaganda. You think every single person in the kingdom is going to trust him immediately? Nah, it don't work that way.

Oh yes, this. It's good you try to make this point, by the way. My biggest beef with it is, I guess, at least for FE7... Is the fanon vs. canon deal all over again! I force my hand a lot, rarely letting Lyn derp away from Caelin without consequences of some kind. However, canon states she does derp off into the sunset, so I'm half breaking canon, and half not. I hesitate to say I'm BREAKING it because I feel I tend toward the REALISTIC route-- especially in my headcanon. I only let Lyn get away easy when it works for the story, but it's not because I feel she actually could.

I wouldn't tell someone who wrote a happy-fic about Lyn going back to the plains that they were WRONG for letting her get off scot-free, but I also wonder if people might think I have forgotten what canon actually says. I haven't, I just ignore it. xDD;

As far as Marth goes, hell yes. People would be SO BITTER. I would almost liken it to Eliwood/Lyn/Hector tromping off on adventures, even after Elbert's death. BECAUSE:

-Lyn's grandfather is supposedly dead
-Elbert's dead
-And then Uther dies.

That leaves at least 2 of the bigger Lycian nations WITHOUT. LEADERS. WHAT THE HELL. This really pisses me off/bugs me because it's never addressed at all. Marth has it worse because of anti-Marth propaganda, of course, but especially in Lyn's case, I could see people being PISSED about those three just up and leaving. UNLESS they wanted Lyn gone anyway. But then she comes back and leaves again? So it either has to be assumed that --->SHE NEVER WANTED THE PLACE TO BEGIN WITH and she made this absolutely clear which is why nobody seems to care when she leaves<--- or she was so terrible at being a leader they couldn't wait to get rid of her.

Then again, I feel she'd be more likely to be killed in an assassination attempt if people hated her, and boy I'm sure she'd have haters. FOREIGNERS?! ON MY THRONE? HELL NO.

Meanwhile, Elbert dies, Eliwood comes back to leave again (-_-) and then Uther dies while Hector's out playing. Who knows how the people feel? They sure as hell don't tell everyone they're killing evil and slaying a dragon, because nobody would believe it. So they all look like serious pricks.

Then there's poor Marth who gets a year+ of anti-Marth shoved at all his folks. Well, they might have thought some ill of him beforehand, but anti-Marth stuff is sure gonna make it a lot worse. So when he shows up, they'd have to come to trust him...very slowly. And then any little mistake he made (and I mean LITTLE MISTAKE) would get shoved under his nose, dangled in front of him, pointed out, mocked, et cetera. Sucks to be Marth. I actually feel pretty bad for him. It's not like he doesn't try, I guess? Hector and Lyn never wanted their respective places, but Marth at least grew up assuming he'd get it anyway. Hector assumed, y'know, parents die...well there's a brother, I'll never inherit. And Lyn never thought she'd be an essential heir to anything, let alone a canton.

As far as Nyna goes. Yeah, gotta feel bad for her, definitely. Sadly death/seeing parents die/etc seems fairly common in Fire Emblem. I feel horrible for her, though. Poor girl!

Did you write a thing on Nyna, once, or was that maybe myaru? My memory's super fuzzy, so I can't recall if I saw something recently or not...

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

That leaves at least 2 of the bigger Lycian nations WITHOUT. LEADERS. WHAT THE HELL

Yeah. That's huge. That's a black hole kind of plot hole.

Marth has it worse because of anti-Marth propaganda, of course,

Well, the whole set-up is screwed up. In essence:

Old Dude: ...and our princess is going to marry a foreigner. He'll be our new king.
People: ...
Good!Hardin: Hi.
People: Yay?
Bad!Hardin: Taking over!
Old Dude: Where's Nyna?
Bad!Hardin: Never you mind.
People: This sucks.
Bad!Hardin: Not my fault. Prince Marth is an evil bad person and HE started this war because he wants to conquer the world.
People: DO NOT WANT
[War and stuff]
Marth: Hi. Totally NOT responsible for causing this war and please stop trying to kill me.
Old Dude: (dies)
Bad!Hardin: (dies)
Nyna: Thanks for saving me, Marth. Gotta go now! Have fun ruling my country.
Marth: OK. Taking over world now.
People: Wait... did we just get screwed, or not?

Yeah. I'd have second thoughts about that whole situation.

Also, it's never addressed how the people of Altea feel about having their country raped while Marth is off getting in trouble in Grust and Macedon. Seriously, if your country got trashed when the ruling prince was out of the country, meddling in the political affairs of other countries, and you had no word from him in nearly a year before he showed up with a liberation army... I'd expect some hard feelings from somewhere. Really, now.

So I guess you could say a lot of the hand-waving in FE7 has been a part of the games from the get-go. :D

Sucks to be Marth. I actually feel pretty bad for him.

I do, too. And I didn't used to. I used to actually be kind of ticked off about the ending to FE3, because so many characters ended up dead or miserable or got... nothing. And Marth got the whole continent and the glory and the pretty girl and everything... and so much of it just kind of fell into his lap. It was aggravating! But after spending several years thinking it over, I think he actually got handed a really, really bad deal that just looks all happy and sparkly on the outside. Part of why I liked FE11!Marth was that he seems AWARE that he doesn't really have a very good position. And come FE12 we learn that he's apparently in severe emotional distress, which I guess is better than just blithely going "I'm the light of the world la la la." Maybe.

Did you write a thing on Nyna, once, or was that maybe myaru?

We've both written Nyna stuff. I'm working on "Dark Sun of Desire" and Myaru has some things posted in her writing journal.