Adding somewhat frivilously to Helen's comments -
The proponents of male-speak, female-speak theories (which goes with that thing about men and women being two alien species, yadda, yadda, yadda, depending on whether or not you buy that [do somedays, don't others, myself]) say that women tend to bond over things like shared feelings but also sharing hurt and comforting each other about it.
Now, I'll be the first to admit, this is something that must be handled with care in the B7 universe. I don't quite see Avon and Tarrant sitting down over a large quantity of chocolate and saying things like "And, then, when the Liberator blew up, I just felt so abandoned. I'd given the best years of my life to that ship. Always there for it when it needed extra spark plugs, willing to stay up nights monitoring power levels. And what do I get for it? The one time - the _one_ time - I can't come through, it's just big explosions and goodbye and hope you die on that mutant planet. I just feel so . . . _used_." And Tarrant replying, "Hey, let it out. I'm here for you, man."
Pardon a moment.
OK, stomach distress with an urge to do something seriously damaging to the keyboard under control.
Anyhow, that's not quite them. It should only happen in a story where Vila is having the DTs to end all DTs and hallucinating it.
All right, back to the point, which is that h/c may have its place, especially if it spares us the above. However, whether it says something really sick about me or not (I hope not. I really, really hope not) but I am somewhat inclined towards it as a story device. Worse, my impulse is to put one of Avon's friends through Bad Things and make Avon feel guilty about it - which stands to reason since, even if it wasn't his fault, he's good at blaming himself for stuff (IMHO). If the laws of physics were ultimately responsible for hurting someone he didn't admit he cared about, he'd probably blame himself for not having fixed that design defect in the universe before it hurt someone.
JMO.
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From: Ellynne G. rilliara@juno.com
The proponents of male-speak, female-speak theories (which goes with that thing about men and women being two alien species, yadda, yadda, yadda,
I'm afraid the biologist in me insists that terms like 'species' be used with precision. We are all the same species, and we are all 99% bonobo.
depending on whether or not you buy that [do somedays, don't others, myself]) say that women tend to bond over things like shared feelings but also sharing hurt and comforting each other about it.
Which fits in with my general feeling that h/c and - to some extent - slash are essentially about 'feminising' the male characters, to get them to think, speak and above all feel in a female way (though not to make them female as such). Whilst this entails, as I've argued before, levelling off or even reversing a perceived imbalance of power between the sexes, it also tries to bridge the cultural gap between them and thus open up the opportunities for productive and efective communication.
It could also be argued that my preference for Ripley-esque action women and toughening up the women is essentially doing exactly the same thing, but working from the opposite direction by 'masculinising' the women (though again, not making them male per se).
A bit like the old joke about the Channel Tunnel. You know, the British starting at one end, working in yards, and the French at the other end working in metres...
Now, I'll be the first to admit, this is something that must be handled with care in the B7 universe. I don't quite see Avon and Tarrant sitting down over a large quantity of chocolate and saying things like <snip>
This relates, vaguely, to my last couple of nights at work. Monday night was an absolute pig, and I was heading for a right barney with my cell controller. Nothing actually got said, but a lot was left hanging in the air. Tuesday night, it was still hanging. But without saying a word on the subject, we wiped the slate clean. I asked him to clarify something for me (on the upcoming shift changes, a completely different subject), he did, I thanked him, the proverbial nod and a wink, and that was that. I really don't know, and never will, what was going on in his head, but I could feel the hatchets being buried. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I don't think so.
And that, to me, is how things ought to work in B7. It's not the kind of set-up where characters talk *about* issues, it's where they resolve issues by talking *around* them. It might be a very 'male' way of handling things, but for the male characters at least that only makes it more appropriate.
I'll concede, though, that it can be damn difficult to write!
Neil
Ellynne G. said:
I don't quite see Avon and Tarrant sitting down over a large quantity of chocolate and saying things like [snipped]
If Avon, Tarrant, and Vila take a weekend on a primitive planet for an Iron John drumming holiday, I think we can safely assume that Scorpio will NOT come back for them.
-(Y)
PS: as for suitable book to swear B7 oaths on: just give your word. It's the only thing that matters, really.
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Dana Shilling -
Ellynne G. -
Neil Faulkner