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

[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 :-)