somehow still talking about Spuffy...

[deird1]

I was discussing Love Actually with my friends, and someone mentioned that the relationship involving Keira Knightley is extremely problematic.

I said, "Yep. But it's one of my favourite stories in the movie."

Everyone stared.

"Why?" they asked. "It's all so… unhealthy."

"EXACTLY," I said.



Because, honestly, my love for fictional relationships has little to do with how healthy I think that relationship would be in real life. If anything, the reverse is true.

Are you a soulless vampire, desperate to stake/screw/destroy the disgustingly soulled vampire lover who you simultaneously adore and despise? I will ship that.

Are you desperately, sort-of secretly, in love with a woman who you keep on calling a "whore", while she insults your job, your skills, and your personal hygiene any chance she gets? I will ship that.

Are you fighting an intergalactic war against your nemesis, father of your daughter, whom you are openly ordering killed while secretly arranging for him to slip through your fingers? I will ship that.

Are you terrified of your wife leaving you, and have arranged a fake pregnancy so that she will stay? Or have you discovered the whole fake-pregnancy thing and are secretly plotting your husband's downfall, while still pretending everything's fine? I will ship that.

Are you utterly devoted to your commanding officer, and following his every order, especially the ones about tying him up, humiliating him, kicking him, and making him lick your shoes? I will ship that.

Are you having fight scenes that somehow morph into sex scenes, where you keep wanting to hurt each other but also can't stay away? I will absolutely ship that.



Healthy relationships are great. They're also – for me – kinda boring to watch. Give me the problematic weirdness any day.

Comments

[out_there]

Healthy relationships are great. They're also – for me – kinda boring to watch. Give me the problematic weirdness any day.

Sometimes, I like the sweet, healthy relationships onscreen. But when it comes to what gets my fannish brain bubbling over? I want a little more angst and meat to it. (And then, usually, I'll write a very fluffy AU where none of those things are addressed.)

[lirazel]

I swear I did not read your comment before I also used the word "meat" in mine!!! But that's the key: I want a nice four-course meal, not some cotton candy.

[out_there]

Hee! Yeah, that's it exactly. I want something I can chew on for a bit and enjoy.

[deird1]

Absolutely.

I find the healthy relationships delightful, I really do. But they can’t make me CARE the way I do about the hot messes.

[out_there]

But they can’t make me CARE the way I do about the hot messes.

Yes! that's it exactly!

[lirazel]

I like some healthy fictional relationships, but the ones that grab me most are the people who have been through some shit! Like, even the ones that I think are really healthy


For me, it's more about "have this couple been through some shit?" Sometimes, as with Buffy and Spike, that shit is due to the inherent unhealthiness of their dynamic. Sometimes, like with Mulder and Scully, their relationship itself is actually quite healthy (if co-dependent) but they've been through so much that there's tons of drama. Or like Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji--they end up in a place that's extremely healthy but they go through so many different kinds of relationship dynamics that it's impossible not to be interesting.

I just want lots of meat to a ship, you know? And often times the meatiest ones are the most screwed up ones, and I am very okay with that! (I'll just be over here shipping Lucrezia/Cesare from The Borgias and Casey/Derek from Life with Derek till I die, okay?)

[deird1]

A good way of putting it! And helpful, because it gives me somewhere to categorise John/Aeryn and Eleanor/Chidi.

[shadowkat]

Because, honestly, my love for fictional relationships has little to do with how healthy I think that relationship would be in real life. If anything, the reverse is true.

Yup. While not always the case? It is to some extent. I like soapy fictional relationships - that are abusive, impossible, and can't realistically exist or continue in reality. Nor would anyone in their right mind want them to exist in reality. There are exceptions of course. I too have things that ..ahem don't work for me at all. I mean it depends on lots of factors - such as do the characters have chemistry, do the actors (if it is television or film)..

[deird1]

Yeah, I’m willing to go with amazing actor chemistry, even it’s a relationship that would otherwise do nothing for me.