tell me your thoughts so i can eat your brain

[schmerica]

Here is a poll! It is about fandom and infidelity and incest. WOOOOOOOT.

[Poll #734194]

The second answer to the last question should be: To me it's more weird than pairing related characters played by unrelated actors.

Comments

[fox1013.livejournal.com]

I voted as directed, but I would still be VERY UNHAPPY if Addison died of plague in ANY context.

...By contrast, please feel free to ship Addison with anyone, regardless of whether McDreamy has been EATEN BY A BEAR yet or not.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

What if she died of plague and came back as a ghost to haunt McDreamy and drive him insane? And she still had really good hair and could have ghost sex with people?

[fox1013.livejournal.com]

*small voice*

Izzie is people, right? And Cristina and Burke?

And maybe Meredith if she dyes her hair pink again?

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

GHOST ORGY.

[fox1013.livejournal.com]

HOT.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_swallow/]

... The actors for Richie and Eli were related? I never knew.

[annakovsky.livejournal.com]

For question one, I am uncomfortable with it, but have done it and will do it nonetheless. I don't know what that says about me. Ditto for question two, actually.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Me too, actually! I wonder if the discomfort just means that when we do write or read it, we want the infidelity to be treated as uncomfortable, if you know what I mean.

[smartlikejustin.livejournal.com]

we want the infidelity to be treated as uncomfortable

Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking.

[annakovsky.livejournal.com]

Yeah, TOTALLY.

[raveninthewind.livejournal.com]

I didn't take the poll because my answers are less emphatic than the choices.

I am slightly bothered by RPF. Even more so if the RPs are married and the story doesn't acknowledge some emotional turmoil over that fact. And incest with RPs is, well, uncomfortable. Not to say I wouldn't read all of those if the writer and RPs were appealing.

With fictional characters, I am much less bothered by both incest and marital infidelity, because, well, I don't know why. It's less real, or not trying to proximate real. But I could be creeped out by incest fic and turned off by an infidelity story if those issues were treated too cavalierly.

[cereta.livejournal.com]

What she said, sorta. I don't read RPF, but I find the idea of infidelity or incest more problematic in them. Actually, I once said when talking about a movie about real people that I wasn't sure I could handle having one of the men in question cheat on his wife, so clearly there's a line there.

In FPF, God, as close as I can come is, "it depends." I've written slash in which one of the characters was married, but it was very important to me to treat that marriage with respect becuse I was invested in it. If I weren't invested in the marriage, I might be less concerned, or maybe I would still tread lightly, I dunno.

[meacoustic.livejournal.com]

In regards to questions #1 and RPF, I have a personal rule that if the spouse is not a public figure, they're not allowed to be a character (example: Matt Damon's wife), but that still doesn't allieviate my need to have some sort of explanation about things. I have a hard time pretending that a spouse or significant other doesn't exist in a story set during a time when they are/were the spouse or S.O. - I always have to come up with some kind of breakup/separation/divorce/death/etc reason as to why they're not around.

[aerye.livejournal.com]

I couldn't find boxes to click!

Taking on incest first -- in general, I'm not put off by any of the instances you decribed (which is not to say I might not find particular instances of either odd).

Infidelity -- see, it's all about the context for me. It all depends on how the spouse is portrayed, the circumstances of the infidelity. I suppose I'm most uncomfortable when the spouse is portrayed as some sort of one dimensional bitch or bastard -- where there is no reference to any sort of mutual failure. I want spouses treated with respect. So almost any of the situations you described would be okay with me -- or not okay with me -- depending on the context created by the story. We know Danny thinks Lisa (Lisa?) is a bitch but we don't really know Lisa's side of the story. It's entirely possible being married to a guy who's in love with his television partner would drive anyone to bitchitude.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

*grins* Obviously you are too complex for my attempted compartmentalizations!

. I want spouses treated with respect.

I think this, definitely, is a central point for a lot of people. There's definitely a difference between trying to just get rid of a character to be able to play OTP with your new pairing, and actually trying to explore the relationships.

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

It's funny, I was just thinking about the second question today b/c I was rereading Ces's SGA incest fic and realized that one reason it didn't squick me was that the characters are not related in any other fic, i.e., there's a certain level of external disbeliefeven as I believe the brotherhood within the story.

And then I started thinking about the fiction/RL connection and realized that one of the reasons weasley twincest really squicks me is b/c it's the double whammy, i.e., I have no resort (SPN I know they're really not related and other way around, I can stay with the characters rather than the actors...with those two there is no escape!!!)

[lunaris1013.livejournal.com]

I'm uncomfortable with married characters. Doesn't stop me from writing my little RPF heart out with 'em. I compensate by making one or both of my pairing horribly guilty and the relationship doomed. Hell, I've written from the *wife's* POV!

I am the queen of punditslash angst for a reason.

[etben.livejournal.com]

Really, for me, the first question all comes down to context and believability. Because, OK: In the real world, I come down pretty heavy on the side of Infidelity is BAD and you should not do it. So, for me to even read infidelity fic, there always has to be guilt, or at least some sort of recognition that this is a world-class fuckup and something that you Do Not Do.

I don't mean to be preachy, here, really I don't. It's just—it's a thing, for me, one of what passes for core tenets in etben-land. It's not that I think I'm better than anyone else for it: it's just something that I honestly can't take on any level. It freaks me the fuck out, for reasons that a) don't need going into and 2) I don't really understand anyway.

And yet, I totally can understand and recognize that not everyone is like me, so I can read fic with infidelity for some characters, and in some situations. I couldn't read fic that involved Fraser being unfaithful, for example, but I could read fic with...but then, too, I tend to identify most with the characters who wouldn't be unfaithful (or: I tend to assume that the characters I love wouldn't be unfaithful), so...not so much.

I mean, a good author can sell me on any number of things—I know I've read some good cheating-fic in dS, although I can't remember what, now—but infidelity is one of my big-time squicks, so I'm never really going to enjoy cheating-fic, even if I like it and recognize it as well-written and awesome. It's hurty and wrong and makes me flail at the characters for being stupid, even if it all turns out fine in the end.

It's fine if it's set in a future where the spouse is not a spouse, and I can cope if the spouse is evil—but there, you run into the whole thing of having to make me believe in the breakup or the evil.

There's another something in here about how open relationships freak me out, but threesomes make me flail in glee...but I'll quit spamming your journal now.

[sage]

Re infidelity:

By "fine with it in all contexts" I mean that I prefer to read infidelity fic that acknowledges the infidelity being done. I'd rather not have the spouse demonized or poofed out of existence simply because s/he's inconvenient to the porn. Even in abstentia s/he's relevant.

Acknowledging that people cheat and making that part of the story (rather than ignoring it) is interesting to me as a reader. It isn't pretty or honorable, but it happens (frequently) in life and adds a complicating dimension to a relationship plot (assuming there's a plot to start with).

OTOH, when a story purports that the absent spouse is "fine with it," even though that claim goes entirely against the known characterization of their relationship -- that bugs me.

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'm probably in the minority, but in fiction I find infidelity generally more squicky than certain brands of incest. Infidelity is one of my major squicks. For example, Simon/River bothers me far less (though it's still squicky) than Wash/Kaylee or something - I mean, post-movie, Zoe can do what she likes, but I won't read a story that breaks up Wash and Zoe while they're both alive, whereas I find certain incestuous pairings fascinating.

[ethrosdemon.livejournal.com]

Can Addison AND Meredith AND Derek die of the plague?

[ethrosdemon.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I don't care about cheating OR incest. At all. If it's written well, who cares?

[bexless.livejournal.com]

By weird, I don't necessarily mean distasteful. Heh.

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

I should add, by way of clarification: I answered both "all contexts" and "not RPF" because infidelity is the least of my issues with RPF, which gives me the heebies. So the answers should be taken to read "in all FPF contexts". Also, when I say "fine", I mean, I have no problem writing infidelity, but I would have a problem ignoring it, if you see what I mean. Which is to say I'm not going to completely disregard a canon relationship, and if the characters do, at least some part of the story is going to be about how and why.