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Apr. 9th, 2006 12:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icarusPet peeve time!
I confess, kids in fanfiction bug me.
It's not that I don't like kids. We get along just fine, kids and I. It's just that there's a certain -- certain... people write the kids like they're extensions of their parents.
They look like their fanfiction parents.
They act like their fanfiction parents.
They have similar talents as their fanfiction parents.
They aren't treated as if they are OCs, when really, they ought to be.
Why are they written this way?
Folks, the human method of procreation is designed to mix and match our DNA in such a way that we have a random slice of our parents' genetic code. In addition, that randomization expresses different dominant and recessive traits. Additionally, while I do not believe in Tabula Rasa (no insult to the fine fanfiction writer of that name) I do believe that our experiences do have an impact. There is no way that the fanfic kid's experiences are the same as their parents, so their personalities are going to be radically different.
Why the hell do people go ga-ga over fanfic kids who look or act like their fanfic parents? I'm not into the ga-ga over kids thing anyway, kids are just people as far as I'm concerned, but there's something troubling in the fact that writers forget this fact.
I actually brought my MPreg Reunion to a screeching halt over this issue. Someone sent me a photomanip of what the baby (which I never promised would ever exist) would look like, combining traits from Ron and Draco. Augh!
An entire chapter of that story was devoted to creating kids that were real people and not just one-dimensional extensions of the fanfic parents. Ron's four kids were not cute. Not a single one was like Ron. His youngest little girl was pampered and hurting and a little angry over his divorce, demanding his attention when he was trying to talk to Harry. Ron couldn't control his two oldest -- he was too mellow a parent -- and the third middle child was bright, quiet, and simmering with resentment. They had little lives of their own, and they were pretty miserable.
When Draco's daughter turned up, you were going to find a rigidly correct little stick, wan and smothered by the expectations of her Dad. She didn't have Draco's feisty rebellious spirit so the same parenting that led to Draco's constantly forgetting his father's advice and battling Harry turned her into a virtual paper doll.
But I couldn't battle the kid-lovers. They wanted Ron and Draco's kid to be just like them, ignored the real kids, and panted after the baaaaaby.
Sometimes I strongly suspect that people love babies because they can project their own image of who that person is onto them. Which is precisely why I like young kids over babies: when they're that tiny it's hard to tell who they are.
I confess, kids in fanfiction bug me.
It's not that I don't like kids. We get along just fine, kids and I. It's just that there's a certain -- certain... people write the kids like they're extensions of their parents.
They look like their fanfiction parents.
They act like their fanfiction parents.
They have similar talents as their fanfiction parents.
They aren't treated as if they are OCs, when really, they ought to be.
Why are they written this way?
Folks, the human method of procreation is designed to mix and match our DNA in such a way that we have a random slice of our parents' genetic code. In addition, that randomization expresses different dominant and recessive traits. Additionally, while I do not believe in Tabula Rasa (no insult to the fine fanfiction writer of that name) I do believe that our experiences do have an impact. There is no way that the fanfic kid's experiences are the same as their parents, so their personalities are going to be radically different.
Why the hell do people go ga-ga over fanfic kids who look or act like their fanfic parents? I'm not into the ga-ga over kids thing anyway, kids are just people as far as I'm concerned, but there's something troubling in the fact that writers forget this fact.
I actually brought my MPreg Reunion to a screeching halt over this issue. Someone sent me a photomanip of what the baby (which I never promised would ever exist) would look like, combining traits from Ron and Draco. Augh!
An entire chapter of that story was devoted to creating kids that were real people and not just one-dimensional extensions of the fanfic parents. Ron's four kids were not cute. Not a single one was like Ron. His youngest little girl was pampered and hurting and a little angry over his divorce, demanding his attention when he was trying to talk to Harry. Ron couldn't control his two oldest -- he was too mellow a parent -- and the third middle child was bright, quiet, and simmering with resentment. They had little lives of their own, and they were pretty miserable.
When Draco's daughter turned up, you were going to find a rigidly correct little stick, wan and smothered by the expectations of her Dad. She didn't have Draco's feisty rebellious spirit so the same parenting that led to Draco's constantly forgetting his father's advice and battling Harry turned her into a virtual paper doll.
But I couldn't battle the kid-lovers. They wanted Ron and Draco's kid to be just like them, ignored the real kids, and panted after the baaaaaby.
Sometimes I strongly suspect that people love babies because they can project their own image of who that person is onto them. Which is precisely why I like young kids over babies: when they're that tiny it's hard to tell who they are.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-09 07:17 pm (UTC)As far as fic!kids go, I think they often arise from the same instinct as the Mary Sue. Get two characters to shag (by any means necessary) and then use heredity as an excuse to mix 'n' match their favorite set of character traits regardless of how much sense it makes. "Oh, she's brilliant because Hermione's her mum, and she's a badass because Snape's her dad, and she's sexy because Draco is...also her dad...it was a complicated relationship..." I think psychologists call it the fundamental attribution error.
Personally, I loved Ron's kids in Reunion and would love to meet Draco's daughter. The focus of the story isn't the baby, it's Ron and Draco. ::issues a cyper-poke to the baby hounds::
no subject
Date: 2006-04-09 07:36 pm (UTC)Thank you! *clutches at your skirt, or jeans, or pyjama bottoms* It was, but it started to seem like the MPreg fan was conditioned to expect the baby to be the central figure and there was no way I could fight that.
I think some parents have babies so they can project--it's really quite sad.
Frightening, but true. My best friend when I was a kid really seemed to think this and I could never understand it.
As far as fic!kids go, I think they often arise from the same instinct as the Mary Sue.
Some of it I think is just a lack of imagination, too. They need a baby for the story, and the baby is Draco's so therefore.... *rolls eyes* They don't even notice how similar the kid is to dad, or assume, "well of course she would be."
Icarus
no subject
Date: 2006-04-10 12:25 pm (UTC)Really? I read very little MPreg, but the few I've read mostly seem to stop around birth. The baby's barely there, except in a "we must bring this into the world (usually so he can save us all)" sort of way.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-10 03:47 pm (UTC)Icarus
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Date: 2006-04-11 06:51 am (UTC)Of course, you realize you've now inspired a next-generation MPreg plot bunny in me? Two entire cliches that I've never been even tempted to write, and by ranting against them you've inspired me.
*sigh*