An open letter to my anonymous reviewer.
Jan. 25th, 2009 09:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icarusWhoever sent me this review -- I can't respond unless you give me your email.
I'll respond here, and hope that you'll see it. I don't know if you're on my f-list or not, so I'm not able to f-lock it the way I normally would. But I am glad you brought up the subject of Rodney's weight because I haven't had a chance to address this yet.
Anonymous wrote: I've very much enjoyed reading this and look forward to more. The only frstration is the repeated mentioning of Rodney being fat/ugly etc. It becomes very frustrating and makes me hurt for him, considering he's neither of the two. Every compliment you give him seems as if you've written it almost grudgingly, which makes me wonder why you have him paired with John at all if you dislike him so much.
Apart from that, the humour and banter is very them.
In truth, no one can tell anything about my feelings about Rodney from this story. Or any other story. I've even killed him, yet that does not mean that I do not love Rodney or that I want to see him dead. I write what is appropriate the story (for example, a fic about John grieving it's appropriate to have someone close to him die. Who better than Rodney?)
If you attempt to discern my feelings about a variety of topics from my fics, you will become very confused and might even decide that I'm for rape, dub-con, incest, murdering people, male pregnancy, war, teacher-student relationships, child abuse, that I'm both for and against slash, and into drugs, alcohol abuse, and prostitution. I think writing should explore a variety of different topics, including tough ones, and I believe that we shouldn't prejudge what our conclusions should be but let the story tell itself.
In this case, Out Of Bounds is a figure skating story. This story explores the world of figure skating.
Figure skaters are athletes.
Athletes have a different standard of physical fitness from most of us. This may or may not be surprising. Figure skaters have to watch their weight to a degree that is not usual for, say, an astrophysicist.
Three-time U.S. Champion Johnny Weir has written about how strict he has to be with what he eats and how he has to "avoid that Haagen Dazs." Let's have a look at how immensely overweight Johnny Weir is:
Last summer he let himself eat a more healthy diet during the off-season and then trimmed ("most of") the weight off before competing. His idea of "extra weight":
While we're at it, let's have a look at another skater, Evan Lysacek:
Rowr. I just made up an excuse to throw that in. But you do see that these guys are in extraordinary shape?
Now let's have a look at one of my favorite photos of Rodney McKay, one I had in mind in for that early scene where Rodney's wakened by John knocking on his door after falling asleep on the coach:
Don't you just want to tickle him? He's adorable. But! Definitely not in the same shape as those figure skaters (see above).
He was however, thinner (much thinner) when he was younger. I couldn't find any screencaps of The Penthousebut here he is in Pin but ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
scinscript could:
Now it's a tradition for skaters to let themselves go once they're no longer competing. After all those hard years of skating and dieting they deserve it. Here's former champion Dick Button:
But every time Rodney mentions skating again, John (and Sonja) are going to point out that Rodney's not exactly in prime figure skating condition (please note photo of Johnny Weir above). John's not going to resist razzing Rodney, especially since even John has to be on a diet (imposed by Rodney). And all the women Rodney has mocked over the years for being too heavy for skating? They're ready and waiting for him now.
This is not because Rodney is abnormally fat, but because physical fitness is an important part of athletic competitions.
That said, Christopher Bowman's struggle to maintain his prime skating weight didn't keep him from being a wonderful performer. Not even when his weight was a little higher than usual:
Bowman "Birth of the Blues" COI 1987 -
I hope you have enjoyed this photo essay. I will now return you to your regularly scheduled Out Of Bounds. For a more personal reply, in the future, please include your email address.
I'm glad you're enjoying the story otherwise. I hope that weighing (pun intended) Rodney's physical fitness against the requirements of competitive skating gives the proper context. It's a little like standards of beauty in Hollywood: not exactly reasonable, but part of that world.
P.S. Nowhere in Out Of Bounds is it ever said that Rodney is ugly. I don't know why anyone would consider "overweight" to equal "ugly," frankly. My mother is overweight and drop dead gorgeous. But it is telling that these two were automatically equated. I sense a fic about Keller and her struggles with her body image from being a chubby preteen in here somewhere....
I'll respond here, and hope that you'll see it. I don't know if you're on my f-list or not, so I'm not able to f-lock it the way I normally would. But I am glad you brought up the subject of Rodney's weight because I haven't had a chance to address this yet.
Anonymous wrote: I've very much enjoyed reading this and look forward to more. The only frstration is the repeated mentioning of Rodney being fat/ugly etc. It becomes very frustrating and makes me hurt for him, considering he's neither of the two. Every compliment you give him seems as if you've written it almost grudgingly, which makes me wonder why you have him paired with John at all if you dislike him so much.
Apart from that, the humour and banter is very them.
In truth, no one can tell anything about my feelings about Rodney from this story. Or any other story. I've even killed him, yet that does not mean that I do not love Rodney or that I want to see him dead. I write what is appropriate the story (for example, a fic about John grieving it's appropriate to have someone close to him die. Who better than Rodney?)
If you attempt to discern my feelings about a variety of topics from my fics, you will become very confused and might even decide that I'm for rape, dub-con, incest, murdering people, male pregnancy, war, teacher-student relationships, child abuse, that I'm both for and against slash, and into drugs, alcohol abuse, and prostitution. I think writing should explore a variety of different topics, including tough ones, and I believe that we shouldn't prejudge what our conclusions should be but let the story tell itself.
In this case, Out Of Bounds is a figure skating story. This story explores the world of figure skating.
Figure skaters are athletes.
Athletes have a different standard of physical fitness from most of us. This may or may not be surprising. Figure skaters have to watch their weight to a degree that is not usual for, say, an astrophysicist.
Three-time U.S. Champion Johnny Weir has written about how strict he has to be with what he eats and how he has to "avoid that Haagen Dazs." Let's have a look at how immensely overweight Johnny Weir is:
Last summer he let himself eat a more healthy diet during the off-season and then trimmed ("most of") the weight off before competing. His idea of "extra weight":
While we're at it, let's have a look at another skater, Evan Lysacek:
Rowr. I just made up an excuse to throw that in. But you do see that these guys are in extraordinary shape?
Now let's have a look at one of my favorite photos of Rodney McKay, one I had in mind in for that early scene where Rodney's wakened by John knocking on his door after falling asleep on the coach:
Don't you just want to tickle him? He's adorable. But! Definitely not in the same shape as those figure skaters (see above).
He was however, thinner (much thinner) when he was younger. I couldn't find any screencaps of The Penthouse
scinscript could: Now it's a tradition for skaters to let themselves go once they're no longer competing. After all those hard years of skating and dieting they deserve it. Here's former champion Dick Button:
But every time Rodney mentions skating again, John (and Sonja) are going to point out that Rodney's not exactly in prime figure skating condition (please note photo of Johnny Weir above). John's not going to resist razzing Rodney, especially since even John has to be on a diet (imposed by Rodney). And all the women Rodney has mocked over the years for being too heavy for skating? They're ready and waiting for him now.
This is not because Rodney is abnormally fat, but because physical fitness is an important part of athletic competitions.
That said, Christopher Bowman's struggle to maintain his prime skating weight didn't keep him from being a wonderful performer. Not even when his weight was a little higher than usual:
Bowman "Birth of the Blues" COI 1987 -
I hope you have enjoyed this photo essay. I will now return you to your regularly scheduled Out Of Bounds. For a more personal reply, in the future, please include your email address.
I'm glad you're enjoying the story otherwise. I hope that weighing (pun intended) Rodney's physical fitness against the requirements of competitive skating gives the proper context. It's a little like standards of beauty in Hollywood: not exactly reasonable, but part of that world.
P.S. Nowhere in Out Of Bounds is it ever said that Rodney is ugly. I don't know why anyone would consider "overweight" to equal "ugly," frankly. My mother is overweight and drop dead gorgeous. But it is telling that these two were automatically equated. I sense a fic about Keller and her struggles with her body image from being a chubby preteen in here somewhere....