meta & fanart rec (FMA), fic rec (SGA)

[astridv]

FMA meta rec: rawles wrote a really great post on Roy & Riza, on subtext and canon. (link)

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FMA fanart rec:
TheOnlyWayIsDeath on DA made an Envy Motivational Poster that alternately cracks me up and makes me go Aww (and then slap myself for going Aww because, seriously, it's Envy!)
Spoilers for chapter 80 and up.

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Driven by the desire to subsidize both Amazon and FedEx, I preordered Shounen Gangan. The shipping fee is outrageous but I just don't want to read the final chapter on a screen. (final chapter, waaah) I really dislike reading fiction on the computer. And it's a one time thing, so I figure I indulge. I just hope shipping really takes only a few days... once the chapter is out I'm not going online until I've read it.

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a SGA fic I very much enjoyed:
Germination by thingswithwings
Jennifer/Rodney; kink: tentacles!; post-ep for 502 The Seed; words: 5600

It's interesting: the other day someone, I think friendshipper, said that her major story kink is to be surprised (or something like that) and that felt about right. It's why I prefer story warnings that are hidden behind spoiler tags.

I've noticed that after almost three years of reading in this fandom my plot kinks have largely been satisfied - I still enjoy reading them, but right now the kind of story that really hits the spot is one that goes somewhere unexpected, no matter how... by going wildly AU, or developing a minor character or pairing, or turning a common cliche inside out.*

And that's what this fic does, too: it takes some tropes and themes and does something different with them. It's sweet and funny, and her Jennifer voice is spot on. And, well, I can never get enough of well-written Jennifer/Rodney. :)

*That's also why propinquitine's fic Never Quite What You Expect was one of my favorite stories of the entire last year even though it's a pairing I generally feel I overdosed on.

Comments

[sholio]

You do find the best links. That Envy poster ... I literally LOL'd. *g*

The subtext/canon link, though ... I don't really agree. You know that I am just about the biggest Roy/Riza shipper ever. *g* But I really don't think that Roy and Riza pass my main benchmark for "Is this relationship canon?" -- i.e. if the characters appeared briefly in the background of a gen fic in an obvious relationship (kissing; being married; having kids; daydreaming about the other's eyes or lips or hair; whatever) would I still consider it gen? And with Roy and Riza, I think the answer is definitely "no". You can easily read their relationship as a romantic one. But you can also read it as the relationship of close military companions/buddies/partners. I really don't think that Roy and Riza would behave differently if you genderwapped one or the other of them, for example.

There are definitely situations in which it's pretty inarguable that there's something romantic there even when the characters themselves don't act on it -- Ronon and Jennifer, for example: they almost kiss, they discuss the possibility of a relationship a little bit in Quarantine, and he is clearly attempting to attract her attention and/or court her in a couple of episodes. It's impossible to argue that attraction between Ronon and Jennifer is not present in canon.

But the whole thing about subtext is that it's sort of in the eye of the beholder and/or the author, right? It's debatable by definition. Saying that there is obviously canon subtext between two characters, even though it's two characters that I do ship, makes my tinhat detector start pinging.

[astridv]

I considered that as I was reading her post (my first impulse as I read the first paragraphs was to argue that subtext is in the eye of the beholder ;) but in the end I found that I agree with her here. I mean, Rawles isn't saying Roy/Riza is canon (as in, they're officially together in a romantic way) but that the subtext is itself part of canon, and that this subtext here is of a romantic nature.

And that there's a difference is between 'subtext' and 'interpretation of subtext'. This difference is of course, to a degree, open to interpretation itself. Fans can always make a case for their own interpretation, and every fan will see subtext slightly differently. But I think there is a foundation to base any interpretation on - no matter where each individual fan thinks canon ends and interpretation begins - and depending on the foundation you can make a strong case for your reading, or a less strong one.

In this particular case, with all the examples in FMA canon, I honestly can't see Roy/Riza as just platonic. I mean, I don't think they're secretly together as a couple or that they've even as much as kissed in the past, I don't even think they've ever talked about their feelings. That stuff would be extrapolation and interpretation. But there are just too many factors for me to see those two as merely platonic... and I really can't imagine Arakawa intending it as such.

[sholio]

Hmm. *waffles*

I think one reason why I'm balking on this is because any argument for Roy/Riza romantic subtext being canon -- aside from authorial intent, which is damned hard to prove -- can apply equally to characters for whom I don't believe that the canonical-subtext argument holds water, like Sam/Dean on SPN or pretty much any mutually co-dependent partners in any big fandom ever.

I also don't want to let my feelings on the pairing sway me, because I do support Roy/Riza as a pairing, so I know darned well that I'm going to be glomming onto any bits of canon that provide support for it. Whereas with something like, say, John/Teyla in SGA, which isn't one of my pairings but probably has at least as much canon support as Roy/Riza if not considerably more, I think I'm guilty of downplaying it when I write them because I prefer the friendship. I also struggle with how much of the perceived subtext is simply due to the characters being a man and a woman in a close emotional relationship (in both cases ... actually, in most situations of that sort).

[sholio]

Hmm, you know, re-reading the above comment, it sounds like what I'm saying is "I can't acknowledge Roy/Riza subtext because then I'd be forced to acknowledge subtext in a bunch of other canons where I don't want to!" -- and that's ... not really where I was trying to go with that. Or, rather, I do think it's playing a part, but a relatively small part. The problem is really much more that I don't trust myself to accurately gauge whether or not there is Roy/Riza subtext in FMA because I do like the couple, so I think I'd be inclined to read it into scenes where it may not be intended. I don't think I can honestly say "Yes, there is subtext here" for a couple with absolutely no textual romantic relationship because I think that I'm too biased to accurately judge that in their case.