By Jove, I think I've got ... um, none of it?

[veronica_rich]

In the POTC fandom, I used to often wonder why some of the shoviest purveyors and defenders of the Sparrabeth porn (and adjacent fic) were older than about fourteen; like, a LOT older. Like, some of them had adult children. Some had grandchildren. To be fair, I only really wondered about the ones who acted like they were kids and heading up the cast of "Mean Girls" ... but I digress.

Considering the number of older women going for "Fifty Shades of Gray" and the fact the quality of the passages I stood in Target reading a week and a half ago is roughly the same as most J/E fanfic I used to see in POTC, I found this sort of enlightening - though, it did raise more questions than it answered on that front. Why do middle-aged women get off on reading about a 20-year-old woman fucking an older guy? I can't say I do (but then again, my issue with the sparrabethers was never their preference, only that they seemed to think they'd invented a groundbreaking genre of burgeoning-society-woman/older-bad-boy, when Harlequin et. al. had been publishing it for decades). Is it fantasy self-insert? Maybe, if you want to be 20 again. I wouldn't mind having the body and health I had at 20, but you can go hang yourself if you think I want to be that naive or dependent on other people's opinions again, LOL.

(None of this is to insult those who enjoy "Fifty Shades of Gray" - hell, I write fanfic. I used to read this kind of thing when I was a teenager, so I can't even say I've never enjoyed that kind of book. I guess I just think Anne Rice did it better 30 or so years ago with Sleeping Beauty? Not sure what I'm saying; but click on the link above, it's hilarious.)

Comments

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

That is very funny. And you are right.

[venusinchains.livejournal.com]

I am completely baffled by this trend. Everything about it seems so wrong. But I'm kinda glad it opens up the floodgates for articles like the one you linked. I almost couldn't get past the "I Can't Believe I Ate the Whole Team" line for rotflmao. (The titles are definitely the best part of video porn.)

I haven't read this monstrosity myself, just the quotes that so many writers, like the one you linked, are willing to share. They remind me SO much of that epic Sparrabeth fic (that I also only read snippets from, thanks to others), the one that took Jack Sparrow, the stinging trickster we know and love, and transformed him into a weak-as-water imitation of Will Turner. I wonder if that's why I'm finding it so repellent (Twilight and all its baggage aside). It's reopening an old wound. Why would anyone fall for this trash!

[bayliss.livejournal.com]

If I want to read a badly written bodice ripper, I'll find one. I don't need to read a rehashed twitard fan fiction. Amazon keeps suggesting it to me. Grrrr

[day221b.livejournal.com]

LOL! I hear ya! And I think, like you said, we all went through that fantasy self-insert phase - many of us - several times. (*cough* Not that we'll ever admit to it, mind you. :D)

I was actually confronted about this book at work today when a co-worker had just discovered the marvel that is "Fifty Shades of Gray." and I laughed my tuckus off. Whether it's welcomed in fandom or not, fanfic in the mainstream gives me the warm fuzzies even as I cringe just a little bit (or a lot.) I suppose because it's us "coming out" to the world.

Or maybe not.

Oh, and on the wank side of fandom. Kinda got that the other day. Apparently if you're not a BNF in certain fandom, they don't even want to acknowledge your existence even when you write them a glowing review. Once again I'm reminded why I lurk. :) I thought you'd appreciate that bit. Heading over to read the link you provided.

[janamelie.livejournal.com]

What I'd like to know is when the first recycled slash fanfic will get a publishing deal and hit it really big. ;)

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen or read it - my hatred of Twilight is so deep and intense that even the idea of it scares me. And I'm more of a slasher anyway, so there are clearly things I'll never understand XD

[giselleslash.livejournal.com]

Oh god, that article is stellar. Nearly laughed myself sick.

[finding-neo.livejournal.com]

My favorite line: "That dry, skittering sound you heard is your fallopian tubes curling like party ribbon."

I don't think any of you should be ashamed to know what fanfic is. It's making someone undeservedly rich so obviously now everyone's going to want to do it.

[bellumed.livejournal.com]

Waitwaitwait. I keep hearing about the dynamic of this book as innocent college girl defiled by an older man but-- the "older man" is 27? 27?! He's six years older than the heroine, seriously? Most of the 27 year olds I know are living off of sandwiches and coffee, panicking about their dissertations and how to pay off their student loans!

[finding-neo.livejournal.com]

Well, in this age of Facebook and the false privacy we are all told we're supposed to have, but don't, it is simply wise to adopt pseudonyms. There is no such thing as a private life anymore, unless you make one up :-)