N.Faulkner@tesco.net writes:
My take on h/c is completely different. I did an article on it in AltaZine 3, where I proposed that the Patient (usually Avon) is the actual
character,
but the Nurse (the comforter) was a surrogate for the writer/reader - a
kind
of Mary-Sue in disguise.
I agree that the comforter can be a surrogate for the writer/reader but I don't agree with your other points, Neil.
<snip>
The dynamic here is one of levelling off - or reversing - a perceived
imbalance
of power to facilitate access to the Patient.
<snip>
Basically, A-C or A-V h/c fic is about the symbolic death of a cold, arrogant, supercilious bastard and his symbolic rebirth as an understanding nice guy.
Interesting that you should think so. I don't see how that would come about unless Avon were the comfortee. Of the h-c I've read (and I claim no great experience in this area though I'll admit to both perpetrating and reading the genre) where Avon is the one hurt, he gets to lie about in terrible agony (looking marvelous) and does not appear to be changed at all by the experience.
As I perceive it, the real focus in h-c is upon the relationship(s) between the other character(s) and the one who is hurt. Any marked change or growth occurs in the comforter's perspective of the one who is hurt.
I see h-c as an opportunity for the author to place a particular character on a pedestal or in the spotlight. Because of the threat to this spotlighted character, the others are provided with an opportunity to reflect and reevaluate their relationship with or their opinion of him/her.
<snip>
- h/c is a means of getting emotional
access to Avon, who is in a state that prohibits him from shrugging off or actively blocking that access.
And this is where I agree that comforter can be a surrogate for the writer. By forcing the comforter (and sometimes other background characters) to reflect upon the character who has been hurt, the author is able to use that emotional access to
1) forge or repair an emotional bond between the characters that might more accurately portray the emotional bond between the author and the hurt character
and
2) elaborate all of the sterling qualities of the character who has been hurt
In other words, h-c can be a bit of a soapbox for the author.
Morrigan
From: B7Morrigan@aol.com
I agree that the comforter can be a surrogate for the writer/reader but I don't agree with your other points, Neil.
Fair enough, you just need more persuading.
Basically, A-C or A-V h/c fic is about the symbolic death of a cold, arrogant, supercilious bastard and his symbolic rebirth as an
understanding
nice guy.
Interesting that you should think so. I don't see how that would come
about
unless Avon were the comfortee. Of the h-c I've read (and I claim no
great
experience in this area though I'll admit to both perpetrating and reading the genre) where Avon is the one hurt, he gets to lie about in terrible
agony
(looking marvelous) and does not appear to be changed at all by the experience.
I've already made the point that the injury is generally made to be one from which the Patient can (and does) make a complete recovery (not terribly difficult with Liberator's medical facilities). However, my idea of the Patient also undergoing some kind of pychological change (or growth) might be offbeam. Where Avon is the Patient (and in most of the h/c I've bothered to read, he usually fills that role), he goes from being a strong, intelligent, active character, *inaccessible* to the Nurse (ie writer), through a phase of weakness, insensibility and passivity, and then re-emerges as a strong, intelligent active character who is now emotionally accessible to the Nurse/writer.
Or as you put it:
- forge or repair an emotional bond between the characters that might
more
accurately portray the emotional bond between the author and the hurt character
Make that 'desired emotional bond' and I'd agree (assuming as I do that h/c is a form of vicarious wish fulfilment, though I suppose you could say that for almost any fanfic).
and 2) elaborate all of the sterling qualities of the character who has been
hurt
Those qualities being the ones that made him inaccessible to the writer in the first place. He starts off a hunky he-man, he ends up still a hunky he-man, but the kind of hunky he-man the writer wants him to be.
In other words, h-c can be a bit of a soapbox for the author.
Not so much soap as flannel, IMO.
Neil
Neil Faulkner wrote (re Avon and h/c):
Those qualities being the ones that made him inaccessible to the writer in the first place. He starts off a hunky he-man, he ends up still a hunky he-man, but the kind of hunky he-man the writer wants him to be.
Hunky he-man? Can't say I've ever thought of him in those terms. I'm surprised if you have.
Mistral
From: Mistral mistral@centurytel.net
Hunky he-man? Can't say I've ever thought of him in those terms. I'm surprised if you have.
I was abstracting from the B7-specific to a wider generality (the kind one often finds in tabloid agony columns).
H/C fic is not a recent development and is not unique to media fandom. Apparently it was very popular about two hundred years ago, and Mary Wollestonecraft did a parody of it. But don't ask me for titles, authors etc because I can't supply them.
Neil
-
B7Morrigan＠aol.com -
Mistral -
Neil Faulkner