excuse me, fandom overlords, I have a complaint

[aphrodite_mine]

I finished We Have Always Lived in the Castle last night (MUCH SQUEE, much WTAF at Letham's outro - YOU SIR are dragging hoses and dirt into this house) and had a bout of anxiety-related insomnia (oh dread, I see ya there) so checked out AO3 because I recalled that I'd spied some fic when I'd done my initial look for anything related to Hangsaman (spoiler: there is none as of yet) and to my HORROR discovered that at least 50% of the fic is either Charles-centric or CHARLES/READER DUB CON. 

Is there a place I can sign a petition for Sebastian Stan to never be in a fandom I'm in? He's perfectly fine, but... GOD. 

(I do want all of the Merricat/Constance, though. Pretty please?)

(I want to say like, no offense if you're into that, but... I do not know if I can say that.)

Comments

[minoanmiss]

I hear you. Not on this one specifically (reading part of the book traumatized me because it was so well crafted, I don't think I could deal with visual media) but on fandom in general. There's always orders of magnitude more stuff for certain demographics and genres than anything else.

[aphrodite_mine]

I feel strongly that the movie will get it wrong, so am planning to avoid it.

Do you need me to cut-tag chatter about Jackson?

[minoanmiss]

Oh goodness, no cut tags needed. That the story traumatized me is a compliment to her writing -- it shook me to my soft and fluffy core. But I appreciate your asking. :)

spoilers for terrible movie

[kore]

LOLOL the movie is SO BAD. They change Charles so he beats up Merricat and tries to assault Constance after the fire and Merricat kills him with a Symbolic Snow Globe and they bury him in the garden and Constance thanks Merricat for saving her from Charles, LIKE SHE DID WITH THEIR FATHER. Fin.

Re: spoilers for terrible movie

[aphrodite_mine]

Well they really did make the quiet part REAL FREAKING LOUD, goodness.

That's a bit much. I mean, a bit. :P

Re: spoilers for terrible movie

[kore]

It reminded me of that Dorothy Parker review of the play about Elizabeth Barrett Browning -- Browning's father was horrible enough, there was no need to make him horrible with raisins on top. (Paraphrasing, badly)

Re: spoilers for terrible movie

[aphrodite_mine]

That's how I feel about Lethem's outro!

Have you read it?

Re: spoilers for terrible movie

[kore]

Oh yes, and I loathe him, and I loathed his outro, and I just in general loathe the people they picked SOMEHOW to write the intro/outro for the new Penguin eds of Jackson's books. It's like they took all the people least suitable, wrote down their names, and got a hat.

Re: spoilers for terrible movie

[aphrodite_mine]

Okay thank god I'm not imagining it because he basically drew dicks all over the novel????????

Re: spoilers for terrible movie

[kore]

HE DID. And the horrifying thing was they seemed to be portraits of his own dick!

Re: spoilers for terrible movie

[aphrodite_mine]

*pushes up glasses and sips martini smugly*

Oh, Shirley Jackson? You've never heard of her.

But you've READ her.

Re: spoilers for terrible movie

[kore]

YES. Just, what even! What a self-aggrandizing superior dick. I just hate when "educated" people play that kind of gotcha. It's so stupid and mean-spirited and just makes people hate you, anyway.

[marginalia]

This is me SO OFTEN in AO3, scrolling through like... did we watch/read/listen to the same text?

[aphrodite_mine]

I have to assume that, no. No we really didn't. Yeesh.

[kore]

Fucking WHAT??

I adore that book and that is just terrible. I am just so sick of all the self-insert Reader/Male Celebrity "Character" on AO3. It's just about impossible to filter out.

[aphrodite_mine]

Character/Reader is the CRINGIEST CRINGE AND I CANNOT HANDLE IT.

[kore]

I can't even look at it. "Sebastian softly mms and takes your face in his hands. He looks you in the eyes and leans in" and I'm just like AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH screaming off into the distance

[aphrodite_mine]

Am literally gagging and my body is passing away.

[kore]

I can't quite figure out what the reaction is! Sort of like extreme second-hand embarrassment? But like if that was set ON FIRE. "Cringe" seems good enough I guess.

[aphrodite_mine]

Cringe is what the kids call it these days.

Urgent need to escape the experience of reading something my body doesn't consent to?

[kore]

Yes, that is interesting! I don't much like second-person fiction in general -- outside of COYA books. But this feels too much like....being in someone else's fantasy? Their actual fantasy.

[fiachairecht]

DO NOT THE MOVIE, I know kore already said that but truly! Was That Necessary: The Film.

I think I have Merricat/Constance recs stashed somewhere, if you'd like?

[aphrodite_mine]

Yes, pleeeeease. :D

[summerstorm]

Actor-based fandom is so off-putting. Like, I get seeking out movies for an actor you’re into, and then maybe being into their character in those movies (I got into Chris Evans via MCU even! I got into Push AFTER that! I’ve also seen a bunch of his movies where I had no interest in fic), but most of the people I see do this just go ‘oh, pretty person, bare-bones setup, characterization who?’ and it’s so damn weird.

[aphrodite_mine]

Getting into an actor and then getting into their fandom is one thing, but GAH yeah, this is sooooo gross and weird.

[lunabee34]

And now my secret plan can be revealed for yea verily I did write We Have Always Lived in the Castle for Yuletide that one time and now I can rec it to you:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16569809

[aphrodite_mine]

I spotted it in my perusal, but I was MUCH too traumatized to dive in! I'm so pumped to read it!

[lunabee34]

And you did, and you left the most wonderful feedback.

*goes to answer*