From: Ashton7@aol.com
Well, I wasn't going to say anything... but what he said. I take exception
to
the statement that the British have more "reserve, dignity and respect"
than
Americans.
Er ... actually, Helen said that, not me.
Even if we want to extrapolate that many of the B7 characters were meant
to
be "British" in the far future, who's to say that the *behavior* of people that far in the future will be the same when it comes to emotions or *anything*? Hundreds of years ago in England, did people think and talk
the
same way that they do today?
By which argument, it becomes perfectly reasonable to posit that people in Blake's time think, act and feel in a 'British' manner, even if those people are not British themselves.
And taking it even further, just how much of the characters' lives did we
get
to see? Not much, really. This is why so many fans find fan fiction
appealing
in the first place: the ability to take the characters and the situations
in
different directions and to explore all different kinds of things,
including
emotions.
But I think we see enough of their emotional lives to speculate with confidence that some degree of reserve is the norm, though obviously more so for some than others.
It seems to really bother some British fans when American fans want to participate in the fandom in this manner and I can only say sorry. A fan
is a
fan and if they feel motivated to write in their danged old American way,
too
bad. Don't read American fan fiction if it really bugs you that much.
I don't think I'd go quite that far:) American fans have made an enormous contribution to fandom, much of it positive, some of it less so. Some British fans haven't exactly covered themselves in glory, either. It's not a clear-cut case of 'British good, American bad', and I wouldn't want anyone to think I was trying to say that.
Neil
"We had joy, we had fun, Had the Trekkies on the run. But the fun didn't last Cos the buggers ran too fast."