We have a future together, Rivka: Smallville as destiny

[rivkat]

I've been thinking about a certain sentiment I've seen expressed here and there. Caricatured, it goes like this: You guys who complain that Lex just can't catch a break (and makes really stupid choices on occasion, though so far those are less in evidence this season – I know, I know, give him time) should shut up, because you knew what you were signing on for from the get-go. I mean, come on, fifty years of canon has got to count as fair warning, right? It's not as if the end was unwritten.

I see the justice in this point, and yet I can't help but feel that there's another side: from my perspective, I didn't "sign on"; I got drafted. I wasn't looking for a new fandom and I most assuredly wasn't looking to fall in love with the bad-guy-to-be. Yes, I knew all along that it would end badly for the character I care most about. And yes, perhaps a stronger person than I am would have resisted. But I didn't know when I fell in love how much it would hurt, and I didn't experience the process as a choice. So when I talk about how my heart is being put through the juicer every time Lex steps or is pushed closer to the darkness, it's not because I expected different or thought the show owed me better. (The show owes me better continuity and characterization, but that's a separate issue.) It's because my heart is being put through the juicer, and I wish things were different. That's why I write fan fiction, after all – because in my dreams, sometimes things work out differently.

Why we end up with one fandom over another is often a mysterious process. By all rights, I should be far more fond of Daniel Jackson and (early) Willow Rosenberg than I in fact am, though I like them fine. My appreciation of John Crichton, while robust, is not as knee-jerk as my feelings for Scully and Lex. I suppose the reason the criticism "it's silly to complain when you knew what was coming" stings so much is precisely that, because I don't feel that I chose my allegiances, it feels like my personality is being criticized – whatever it is about me that led me to glom on to Lex – and not just my view of my show.

Comments

[thete1.livejournal.com]

So when I talk about how my heart is being put through the juicer every time Lex steps or is pushed closer to the darkness, it's not because I expected different or thought the show owed me better. (The show owes me better continuity and characterization, but that's a separate issue.) It's because my heart is being put through the juicer, and I wish things were different. That's why I write fan fiction, after all – because in my dreams, sometimes things work out differently.

It's been a while since I've been in SV fandom, and there were a lot of reasons why I bailed, but one of the major reasons was that I saw the future of pain and suffering and decided I couldn't deal.

But sometimes, when I read posts like this (after a long day of reading punch-to-the-gut comics), I find myself wondering if it might not have been easier for me to deal with if SV had given me... hmm. The sort of emotional payoff I'm getting from titles like Nightwing these days, perhaps. The sense that all the pain and suffering, however *awful*, was going to be handled in a way which made sense emotionally and was also *fun to watch*.

I'm not sure.

/wibble

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

But I didn't know when I fell in love how much it would hurt I've never been able to express this bizarre ambiguity of knowing yet hoping, but you are saying exactly what I feel...

i think that's why i ultimately love futurefic. i almost don't want to see the slow disintegration of the relationship and if it has to be there, i need to see them working through it...

[vylit.livejournal.com]

I know the feeling.

AtS was the first show I connected with to such an extent that I had to get involved in the fandom and write fic. I loved BtVS, but it was AtS and the character Angel that really drew me in. The problem was that Angel could never be happy, and the show was never going to give me an ending that didn't rip my heart out and stomp on it. I just... I loved Angel so much that I couldn't let go. I was sucked into that show and fell in love knowing that it was a dark show, and my favorite character was going to continue to make stupid mistakes that would make his life even worse than it had to be.

I resisted Smallville based on the fact that I wasn't a huge fan of Superman (more of a Batman fan), and I knew how it destined to end. But once I actually started watching, I fell in love. Smallville has plot holes the size of Texas, but it also Clark, Chloe, and Lex. Lex who is tragic and compelling and made it impossible for me not to love him. I didn't want to care for him to the extent that I do, because it's going to make his inevitable fall that much harder.

I don't think I really choose to love a character or a show, but that he/she/it just hits me on such a basic, gut level that I can't not care even when I know what's coming.

[harriet-spy.livejournal.com]

As the sort of person who makes that kind of remark, it's really not directed at people who are just suffering along with Lex. I mean, I am, too, and I knew just as well--perhaps better than the comics-innocent--what was coming, and I reserve the right to let out cries of pain at times. The problem is really with the fans who are actually aggrieved that Lex makes bad choices, that Clark's decisions work out better, that their relationship goes badly.

After all, there's a distinction between being unhappy for a suffering character and criticizing the show just because the character is suffering. The first is expressing emotional involvement with a character; the second is complaining simply because you don't like the kind of story being told, which is usually pointless. SV can please me, in the highest sense, even if it hurts me terribly in depicting Lex's suffering and degradation, as long as it tells the story in a satisfactory way. A person who can't appreciate the story regardless of how good it may be, just because of the kind of story it is, when she knew in advance what kind of story it would be, has forfeited the right to complain.

[justabi.livejournal.com]

I am totally with you on that. I love Lex, and I don't want him to be a baddy bad man. And it isn't just because he's pretty, because there's plenty of pretty guys on TV. There is something about him that I can completely relate to on a personal level. I mean, it seems like my attempts to help end up making things worse 9 times out of 10. So, I love him. And I hurt for him. And I don't care that I know where it's going.

[svilleficrecs.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on the whole "being drafted" thing. Every season, some of these shows you've been attached to die. And every season, one or two tiny baby new shows catch my eye. After the Smallville pilot, even though I'd enjoyed parts of it, the cheese factor disuaded me. I was busy, didn't pick up till the middle/late first season, at a couple of fellow ex-buffy fans' advice.

And just... got hooked. I fully admit that the embarassment of clex slash fic riches helped the addiction. But you never can tell what's gonna connect w/ you. Both Lex and Clark separately as characters, their slashy fic permutations, and their on screen canon relationship kept me coming back. I've fallen hard. And even when my baby backhands me with shitty characterazation and continuity...I know he still loves me. And he'll say sorry with some terrific romp, or scene, or twist.

Unfortunately, unless a show just batters the fuck out of you like Dawson's Creek's seasons 4-7 did with it's suckiness, you'll probably always give one more chance once you fall for a character, or a ship. This is how I think it will be for Smallville. Despite the bruises that are coming, I have to have faith it'll be worth it.

While I know that Smallville is not going to end with hugs and kisses, I'm fairly sure it'll leave us with a live Lex. He can't be his arch enemy later on if he dies, right? Superman isn't dying. So... I try to be hopeful. Even though I know what's coming. I just they have some good writing when they get there, because if you're gonna stomp on my heart, do it like you mean it, and wear some spikes.

Which makes me scared about Lost. ;) J.J. Abrams, you've been known to tear my heart to shreds, and I need to remember that. It's not always good to let yourself "glom on to" a show, or a set of characters.

Half of the quirky genre shows you love are quite likely to be canceled by the end of the season. Firefly? Farewell.

But Lost? Lost has legs, ratings speaking, and for the first time, like, ever, there's been a challenger for Gayest look of the Night when I'm watching Smallville. And pretty... what's his face? God I wish Young Americans would come out on DVD. My point is, though, that we've pretty much been guaranteed a high body count in Lost, by producers in printed interviews. They will fuck with us. And if the ratings so far are any indication, they'll be fucking with us for a couple of years.

Anyway, long comment short, you're right. You can't choose who you fall in love with, especially in good television shows.

Oh, and I just read "Genesis".

Great, great fucking story. ;)

Gonna go read again, tommorow. Your damn story kept me up till 4!

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

I have hopes it will be handled well on SV, though no certainty. I wonder if the difference might also have something to do with the fact that Nightwing isn't going to stop producing canon any time soon, while Smallville is going to end in a year or two. There aren't going to be do-overs or changes, whereas DC-verse as a whole will remain flexible.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

I understand the distinction you're making, but my discomfort is with the idea of "forfeiting" the right to complain. Maybe the fans you're criticizing didn't feel they had a choice of falling for Lex, either. And how do you draw the line between letting out cries of pain and being aggrieved? There may be styles of conversation that get you riled -- maybe expressing hatred for Millar/Gough when our very emotional involvement with Lex shows that they had a plan that worked? I don't know what really annoys you -- but I'm not sure there's a big divide between the two types of emotional expression. Would I want SV to be a show where Lex always wins and never suffers? In one sense, sure; in another, I know that would interfere with stories they want to tell and also stories I want to tell. My guess is that a lot of the people who express opinions that sound like "I want Lex always to win and never to suffer; I also want Clark & Lex to get together on the show" also have those two considerations in mind. They just express one, and not the other, because it feels good to let out your frustration and somewhat less good to explain why you're going to stay frustrated.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

For me, the abusive fandom was X-Files, and I didn't really give up until it was over, after which I got really mad.

I'm okay with Lost so far, and intrigued by Locke in particular. As I said, fannish love is about as mysterious as romantic love, so I just can't predict. For example, Desperate Housewives has me now, and it's not even genre.

Thanks for the kind words about Genesis!

[aelora.livejournal.com]

Oh thank god it's not just me!

Of course I knew the future of Lex when I started watching SV. I read the comics, I fangirl over the movies. I started watching because I loved Superman and could have truly cared less for Lex. And then? I fell hard. Really hard. I know he's supposed to be a bad guy, but dude, couldn't they have just made him a bad guy and not given me someone who fights so damn hard at every point to do the right thing? To have not painted this sympathetic and tragic character who, god, just needs someone to love him and pull him away from his mistakes and the paths that lead him there? I know, I know. That's a cop-out and it wouldn't be nearly as enthralling.

I keep telling myself if I can make it through Shattered/Asylum (even though Asylum had me bawling so badly I actually threw up), then I can certainly weather the storm to the end. But yes, I don't like it when people tell me to get over it and suck it up or whatever because I knew what was supposed to happen. I always knew Lex would be evil, I just had no idea the journey would be this painful as a viewer and die-hard fan of the character. If I had known I would be this drawn to him and have to suffer along with him? I might never have turned the damn show on.

[harriet-spy.livejournal.com]

my discomfort is with the idea of "forfeiting" the right to complain.

If you just plain don't like something, in *any* sense, and can choose to avoid it with little or no effort, yet continue to seek it out, then you are just deliberately cultivating a grievance and really don't have a claim on anyone's sympathy. Some people find it very cozy to nurse a sense that they're *entitled* to a certain story, and the evil incompetent TV bastards are abrogating that entitlement and are therefore horrible writers. I don't think they have any such *entitlement* and find it the spiritual equivalent of complaining that a fanfic writer has screwed you because they put icky *het* in the (pairing-labeled) story when it should have been slash!

And how do you draw the line between letting out cries of pain and being aggrieved?

I suppose individual cases, individual posts, especially taken out of context, may sometimes be ambiguous. However, I don't generally find it particularly challenging *overall* to distinguish between someone who's unhappy because something bad happens to a character and someone who's unhappy because she believes that the story *is a bad story because of what happens to the character*. One is an emotional reaction within the confines of a story, the other is a critical analysis on a flawed foundation. It really doesn't take much effort to find comments to the effect of "This story sucks! M&G are denying us our Clex! I'm going to quit this week...or maybe next!" or "This show sucks and I am just watching it to see how terrible it is. [long string of bitching]" I find this obnoxious. In most instances, though, I would be willing to make substantial allowance for people being surprised by a sudden and drastic turn in a show's previously-enjoyed tone, style, characters, etc. Such things do happen to TV shows all the time. In this case, though, the viewers should have known from day one that not only was the season one "idyll" doomed, but that season one was only idyllic in order to set up the later tragedy. As LaT often says, you don't go watch Romeo and Juliet for the happy ending.

[thete1.livejournal.com]

Possibly? But then what of all the films I watch and books-which-aren't-a-part-of-series I read where I know, going in, that I'm going to cry like a little bitch?

And, for that matter, what about the simple *fact* that Devin won't be writing Nightwing forever, and the next writer who jumps on board (after a two or three year run, which is really, really *good* for comics) may decide that the characters need to be written in a way which drives me batshit crazy?

I mean, it's exactly what happened to old-school DC fans when Dixon came on, and when Devin ran with Dixon's storylines.

I don't know... I don't think permanence is the issue... at least not for me.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

Admittedly, I quit ClarkLex because that wasn't the kind of commentary I wanted to see on a regular basis -- I just see myself as being on the same spectrum.

I find it fascinating that you mention Romeo and Juliet, because I'm in the middle of scripting a story that involves a conversation between Clark and Lex about the play, in which Lex points out that some popular nineteenth-century productions did change the ending so that they live. Lex finds this sacrelige; Clark thinks that Shakespeare's ending is stupid and that there should be more room for grace and mercy in our stories -- that stupid kids' decisions shouldn't lead to everybody dead and brokenhearted, even if reality is otherwise.

In that view, false hope is better than no hope at all.

[tehomet.livejournal.com]

JIMHO, I think it's fine for me to like Lex's character and dislike the way he is being pushed to the dark side, and even to disbelieve that he will end up the villain. Fifty years of canon, my eye. In terms of the story, watching Smallville, we are in the moment. Although he may sometimes approach the line, from our point of view, Lex is still on the side of the angels, and the future hasn't happened yet.

And anyway, even if it does play out that way, I'm a fanfiction junkie and a slasher. I don't have to accept a future Lex who ends up the villain as a whole complete text -- I can always look at the subtext. Lanning's Identity Series, Julad's Marble, Destina's Wetwork, Livia's Demarcation -- all posit ways, varying from substitution to resistance to collaboration, in which the future Lex of canon can be satisfyingly subverted.