Posts From The Desert - MOVIEVERSE

[dexfarkin]

A 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.

Comments

Stormfreak here...

[(Anonymous)]

I can't take movieverse seriously. Sorry, I just can't. Never have. And I actually write it on occassion.

But understand that I don't take the MOVIE seriously. And because I didn't take the MOVIE seriously, I'll never respect the FANDOM as anything but what it is - an excuse to write the X-Men in a non-canon way. And YES, I've done it too. Anyone who knows my work knows that I'm still in the middle of penning a Storm/Sabretooth trilogy that's done very well, feedback-wise. It even won an X-Day award. So don't think I just toss work in my mind because the pairing is off.

I was the one who made the "respected Ro/Lo writer" quip. I'm pissed that Minisinoo made it seem as if I said NO respected writer would write movieverse, which is a flat lie. I said no respected RO/LO (Storm/Wolverine) writer will touch movieverse with a ten foot pole. I'm a mod at the largest S/W list on Yahoo (ironically, I'm NOT a Ro/Lo shipper - in fact, I find the pairing comical). I simply echoed the opinions of what it said there. Often.

Now. The vast majority of moviefic is L/M. It is. Let's pretend not pretend that it's not, and that is equal representation across the board. There's not. That reason ALONE is enough to make me skip movieverse altogether. For reasons unbeknownst to me, however, I'm supposed to sit down and try to sift through the pure L/M crap (not to be confused with L/S crap and S/J crap and S/V crap, btw) because there are a few good writers that do it. I'm absolutely SURE there is EXCELLENT Logan/Marie work out there. I just don't want to read it.

Ever.

In life.

And possibly death.

I consider myself rather openminded. I've read GREAT stories that had crazy pairings. Logan/Marie, however, is one of the two or three pairing I absolutely refuse to give ANY props to, mainly because I find it incredibly uninspiring and an excuse for some 14-year-old to indulge in a High Jackman fantasy. YES, I find it sick. But I come from a country where grown men exploit teenaged girls on a daily basis without a care in the world. So I'm very against ANY pairing with a grown man and a young girl. (And that Magical Aging Crap (TM)...funny.)

As for those who have visited my Haven and see that yes, it's very anti Logan/Marie...again, the majority of active Havenites are of Caribbean background, and exploitation of young girls by grown men is very, VERY common in black communities. ESPECIALLY Caribbean ones. And the L/M pairing glorifies the crap that has wrecked our families and our lives, and it makes me see red.

It's funny, but I have yet to see anyone defend that Vic/Ro pairing. L/M shippers - who get called peddlers of pedophilia, for goddness' sakes - will tell ME that I'm a support of rape and violence against women. I would think that if ANYONE would know what it's like to have your personal character attacked because of your choice of pairing, L/M shippers would. They seems to be the loudest ones bitching. Go figure. To which I say...shut the hell up. You have your pairings, I have mine. I don't HAVE to support your pairings. I'm free to trash it all I want. But I'll be damned if I'm going ti sit down and actually pen an e-mail to a L/M writer!

But guess what? For all my L/M bashing (I'm the proud vice-president of the Anti Logan/Marie Society, which is nothing but a JOKE, for goodness' sakes]), I bash Ro/Lo faaaaaar more. Trust me.

Do I HATE Movieverse? No. Do I take it SERIOUSLY? Nope. But those who do, good for you. That doesn't make you any less of a writer than comicverse writers. Not at all.