Ianto Musings

[ithildin]

You know, something I've been pondering the last few months as I've been watching Torchwood is what if Ianto were female? My thinking is that the very things his fans like about him, they'd hate if he was a she. To me, it seems that he has a lot of characteristics that female characters are frequently bashed for in fandom.

[runs and hides from the legions of Ianto fans]

Comments

[fides.livejournal.com]

I've considered that myself a time ot two. I think that if Ianto was a girl I probably wouldn't like the Jack/Ianto relationship because part of the fun is that it isn't the standard sf lead male/f relationship (although oddly the more it becomes canon the less I care whether they are actually shagging because the care/support/duty aspects are what are calling me. Maybe I am just contrary, if they weren't including the canon hints I'd probably care about whether they were boiking).

However as long as the female version of Ianto had all his redeeming features as well then I think I would still like her. I love Tosh, for example, and I think she is actually very close to being a female version of Ianto. There strengths and weaknesses fall in very similar ways. Most Ianto fans I know also love Tosh as well for what it is worth.

Don't hide, it is an interesting point to think about.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

(although oddly the more it becomes canon the less I care whether they are actually shagging because the care/support/duty aspects are what are calling me. Maybe I am just contrary, if they weren't including the canon hints I'd probably care about whether they were boiking).

Now that I find very interesting! I wonder if that's part of what I hear other people call 'Moonlighting Syndrome' (they talk about it on my House email list a lot)? That once the couple with the UST gets together, the fans lose interest and the pairing loses its spark.

Don't hide, it is an interesting point to think about.

I'm glad.

[fides.livejournal.com]

I don't think it is necessarily 'Moonlighting Syndrome' because Jack and Ianto clicked for me the first time he was introduced and still do it for me as 'OMG!Hot' ;-) But I am, for the most part, a very canon based slasher (in so much as that isn't a contradiction in terms). Since normally all I get is UST, when a pairing clicks for me I am used to it having 'sparks' and often having risk attached. (It is also worth noting that a lot of the pairings I like have a bit of an edge to them and most of them I wouldn't want to become canon). Jack and Ianto, however, are pretty much canon and we get to see the way they are around each other and it is... different. I've been trying to work out how put put it and it just came to me... most of my other pairings the relationship is easy (and canon) but the sex is difficult, Jack and Ianto the sex is easy but the relationship is difficult. And it is the difficult which intregues me.

Happy ever after endings are great for fic because they are fairly short - they are crap for serieses, I think it is often the same with relationships unless they are well written. I think part of the problem when the UST pairing becomes canon is the is all becomes to easy (which isn't as interesting) or the writers don't go the way you think it should which is always a problem *eg*. There are a few couples (although Joss is doing his bit to make them rarer) that I dearly love but in almost all the cases the relationship is solid and shown in low key little things rather than being a focus.

Sorry - didn't intend for my response to be that long and waffly.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

No, no! Long is good. I'm totally fascinated by your thoughts on this. I have no OTP in any fandom that comes to mind, nor am I particularly shippy, and usually I don't even like the 'official' or even the popular pairings. There are a few exceptions, but generally, I don't ship in any of my major fandoms. So I'm interested in the opposite perspective, of those for whom a pairing is a fannish necessity. Not saying that's you, but in general, I've noticed that pairings are a huge component to fandom for a lot of people.

(I'm not so good at explaining it, I'm afraid)

[fides.livejournal.com]

No I get you.

A lot of the time I don't like the 'official' pairings particularly. There are a few notable exceptions but pretty much anything which follows the 'main male lead' and 'main female lead/ingenue' formula... well they have to go that bit further to persuade me that the characters are actually interested in each other (and good for each other) rather than it just being written that way because that is what always happens.

Oddly, if I do have a pairing I normally only have one significant one per fandom. I guess I'm just the manogamous type :-) I vary between liking the 'popular' pairing in some fandoms and liking the really obscure ones in others. I don't know why that is since, obviously I think the pairings I like are totally logical ;-)

I would say that a pairing isn't necessary for me to be in a fandom or love a show. However one is pretty much necessary to get me *writing*, at least initially. And to a certian extent reading, there are a few shows read gen in, if and when I can find decent gen (annoyingly a lot of the shows I want gen in I can't stand the canon relationships so really, really want total relationship free which makes my life much harder) but normally if I am after fic it is for something I can't get from the show itself (or wouldn't want to get from the show itself). As a result, I tend to be on more lists for shows I read/write in (for obvious reasons) and this tends to mean the ones that I have pairings in. So to a large extent my pairings are a large part of fandom for me, but sort of by accident (if that makes any sense). I like the sensible discussions (tis how I try and run those discussion coms I mod) they are just harder to find and half the time I can't be bothered to wade through the dumb if I am not at least getting pretty fic out of it :-)