Posts From The Desert - MOVIEVERSE
Oct. 27th, 2002 11:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dexfarkinA little subsection of a group of notions that have recently been noted on my earlier post about the CBFFAs. It's a minor little thought that has occured to me, and seeing as my little exile is all about exploring those thoughts, I am going to run with it.
I wonder why the idea exists that X-Men Movieverse is a ghetto of the comic book fanfiction community. Some of the major early work in that community was done by people who were big on the comicfic side of the fence. There is a fair amount of cross-over involved. Yet, it seems that a large number of exclusively movieverse writers feel as if they're advancing against a storm of hatred; modern martyrs of fanfiction.
It puzzles me because I didn't know that any of us comic book fanfiction writers were supposed to hate Movieverse fic until someone told me that I did.
When Movieverse first came out, the overall opinion of the community was that the movie was damn good. I took forty-five people to see it during DexCon. (Side note: Funniest movie comments ever provided in a packed theatre by Speedy Paul. "Ah just kissed him and he was in a coma for eight months." "Cause she's just that good!" and "Senator Kelly is dead." "On the plus side, if anyone's thirsty...") However, the opinion on reading fic about it was lukewarm at best. Some, like Dyce and Kielle looked forward to it. Others, like myself, really didn't care.
It was a good movie. It was about the best adaption of the X-Men to the big screen you could hope for, while still retaining their personalities. But they were still X-Men Lite. Two hours verses forty years? I'll take my comic canon.
That seemed to be the end of the issue. The Movieverse grew (exponentially) and drew in some comic writers. It also started with some people who crossed over later. However, in general, it seemed to be it's own community, with it's own stars and issues and ideas.
The Rogue/Logan debate was the first real spill-over that I noted. The idea of their's as a sexual relationship was treated by most comic writers with the same mindset that they approached Logan/Kitty and Logan/Jubilee relationships. Some were huge fans of it. That distaste seemed to rankle the L/R people (shippers, guild, community? I'm not sure the word) which touched off the first cross-community argument. Even that was considered by most comic writers, including myself, as an off-handed little argument in a corner. Obviously, it was not considered in the same light by the L/R writers.
Then came the CBFFAs. I'm not going to get into the logistics, suffice to say that I made the significant error in not barring them or throwing the doors wide open right off the bat. My vague 'gentlemen's agreement' idea led to a lot of ill feeling. This was compounded by a very unfortunate element of the Movieverse community who felt they had the right to demand their own categories, and threaten the integrity of the awards if not appeased. (The Best Serious-Logan/Rogue, Best Humourous-Logan/Rogue and my favourite, Best Erotic-Logan/Rogue were the main demands) Talk about tarring the entire community with the same brush. Completely devalued the opinions of the Movieverse in one stroke. The sheer volume and viciousness of the attacks left me raw to the far more reasonable voices of Naomi and Minisinoo.
Even after all that, I don't hate the Movieverse. However, it still doesn't interest me all that much. Again, X-Men Lite. I realise that there are many fine writers involved and producing likely some exceptional work. Still, I'm not very interested in it. Same reason I don't read much Batman fanfiction. Don't care. Characters don't interest me.
My sojourn into Movieverse is because the exploration of Doctor Jean Grey fascinates me, and I get to do horrible things to Mister Sinister. Even writing it, I'm still not all that interested in the characters. They feel less real to me than thier comic canon versions.
Which brings me to the question: Is this why Movieverse fanfic writers feel ghettozied? (Or if they don't, is this why Victoria P feels ghettozied?) Is it because they get disinterest about their work, while a new comic fanfiction story receives interest?
I'm rather curious on this, mostly because after reading the past posts on the X-Men Movieverse list, most of the struggles seem to be between seperate bodies of Movieverse writers arguing about interpretation, or the ever present 'Logan/Rogue' question. A wash of comic fanfic writer's posting negative protrayels of Movieverse wasn't amoungst that.
Perhaps there's an idea that Movieverse should be interchangable with comicverse, on an archival level, which has not happened to a large extent. Or perhaps that disinterest is taken as a personal rejection as a writer. Or is it that even though you're writing about a movie property of a comic book, you feel the characters and concepts should be interchangable?
Anyhow, feel free to elighten me. If you're a Movieverse writer and feel like you've been relegated to a second class citizen by comic book fanfiction, explain why that is. This is not a trial or a place for justifications. I'm honestly curious why the feeling exists, and in what ways you feel it's manifested on a regular basis. Enlighten me.
Stormfreak (who needs an LJ code) here...
Date: 2002-10-28 09:29 pm (UTC)Why, why, WHY does Stormfreak's name get into conversations she's not even a part of? Why can't people leave Stormfreak the fuck alone? Stormfreak's doing her own thing on the other side of the goddamned Internet. It's a big Internet. In fact, it's a big fandom. How Stormfreak's NAME keeps coming up in shit, she'll never know.
Stormfreak doesn't represent a motherfucking body but her goddamned self, and she wished people would GET THAT. Leader of a new movement, my black ass. Stormfreak doesn't fucking CARE. Stormfreak's been a published journalist for going on three years. Stormfreak does this shit for fun.
Stormfreak is speaking in third person and needs to go to bed.
(BTW, Minisinoo, this isn't directed at you as a barb as much as it is a "how did MY name get in this?" type of question. Sorry if it came off as otherwise. Congrats in your X-Day wins, BTW.)
Re: Stormfreak (who needs an LJ code) here...
Date: 2002-10-28 10:41 pm (UTC)To clarify that you don't speak for the comicverse community as a whole is equally fair.
SF, this is not an attack on you, nor is it intended to be read as so. I applaud your efforts to react as (relatively) politely as possible. There is no witchburning or such going on here, so let's all take a deep breath and go on with the real questions.
(Note: This applies to everyone. I will not have another Haven thing flare up in here. Take it to e-mail, or you will be deleted.)
Speaking one journalist to another, the facts are pretty basic here. Let's try to avoid editorializing ourselves into an off-topic flame war. I am pretty male... *sigh* I must be slipping. That used to be so obvious... I blame my hermit beard and the hair shirt
Re: Stormfreak (who needs an LJ code) here...
Date: 2002-10-29 04:10 pm (UTC)That would be yet another lie. The Haven has never had a problem with movieverse. Contrary to popular belief, Logan/Marie fics do not and have not ever equated with movieverse.
Ghettoization. My ass. Bunch of people sitting around crying "martyr," if you ask me. Write what you want to write and to hell with the rest. Stop writing for AWARDS. Write for YOU.