drew | ten p.m. feels like two a.m.

So, I was under the impression that not having to go to work would leave me restless and full of pent-up energy. In reality? Not so much. Today I got up with the garbage collectors banging the trash cans right under my window, did apartment-y things, went to Costco, did more apartment-y things, went to the gym, made dinner, played some old-school N64 games, and was ready to crash at eight. I have NO IDEA why this would be.

I love the new mass-privacy-change tool LJ has made available for paid members. I just went back and friendslocked all my entries from before August 2004 because I really don't want to lose them, but I also don't want them public -- they're rather scarily reminiscent of who I was back then, and that person is so much more of a teenie than I am today. I grew up! I matured! Don't go back and look at me when I was nineteen! The existence of this new tool also makes it super-awesome if I happen to get hired somewhere where I feel I'd be comfortable using LJ, but not openly, since it would mean easy friendslocking of my whole journal. I hope it doesn't come to that, but you never know.

I have some burning questions, but I cannot for the life of me figure out the appropriate audience for them. Ordinarily I'd fire 'em off at you all and see if anybody can help, but these are the kind of questions I'm embarrassed to ask in public.

Here's a better burning question:

phaballa was talking about AUs and crackfic [here] and she mentioned [with this ring] as an example of a story that's not AU. Now, I totally agree, but I have seen it labeled AU. I have also seen it labeled as crack, and my response to that is: "...really?" Is a story about two men who are in love and get married really so far beyond fandom's comprehension that it's considered crackfic? Is it crackfic because it deals with what happens a year or so after the initial "hey, you're hot, let's have sex" moment so many fics fixate on? Or is the institutionalized homophobia inherent in fandom really so strong as to convince people that two men getting married is such an outlandish idea as to be worthy of the label "crackfic"? Because I've read the story. Hell, I *wrote* the story. And... crackfic? Not so much. It's just a story. It deals with the relationships between two men, their family members, and their friends, and contains banter, sex, some sappy dialogue (though hopefully not too much), and men acting like men (...hopefully). It is not an outlandish idea, really: two men can get married anywhere in Canada, or in Massachusetts. They can get a civil union in at least a couple of states. They can be registered domestic partners in a whole bunch more. Why does it deserve the labels "AU" or "crackfic"? Your thoughts, as thinky as you would like, are welcome.

Threaded | Flat

So, being curious, I went to read. I, uh, have never seen this show and only am vaguely sure which J is which except that I know one of them is the one I always think, on glancing, is Grant Show (this is because I am old and was ~14 when he was on Ryan's Hope), so I can't comment on whether a crack label would be one of characterization. As far as two men getting married, I dunno, I think maybe maybe in the general context of RPF about these people, maybe folks might think, okay, not actually gay, hence crack; however, in the context of RPS, I think that's kind of weird. If you can get behind the slash, I have a hard time with not being able to get behind the long term relationship/possibly wedding. I suppose maybe the issue of whether to have this thing in Texas could be viewed as a little cracked, since I reckon Texas may not be next on the list of places to allow.

I mean, I write crack a non-insignificant portion of the time, not in this fandom, and this doesn't have that feel about it at all. I think crack means both premise and execution are unbelieveable.

Also, despite not being much with the clue as to who's who, I love their mommas. Just sayin.

I remember reading this story, I think, because the "Two Texas mamas" and a wedding really rings a bell.

I didn't find it crack. It felt like schmoopy humor to me-- very sweet story altogether. With little jabs of funny all through it.

And I guess... I'm out of the mainstream, definitely, but I hope that in the future this kind of thing wouldn't be AU either. I wish I could say it was coming within the next 10 years, but I don't think so. Ignorance moves slowly. But do I think we'll get there? Absolutely.

So, neither AU nor Crackfic in my book. Getting married on a spaceship, or while the two of them are working as waiters in Chicago? That's AU. Getting married dressed up in Furries kink? That's Crack. But your story was neither, to me.

I always assumed crackfic was stuff like pirates and hookers and post-apocalyptic or dystopian sex in the rubble, where the characters' lives were so far out of canon that it had to be AU. Jensen and Jared getting married? Not actually crackfic or AU.

Why does it deserve the labels "AU" or "crackfic"?

If I were feeling generous, I might assume this happens with folks who've been in fandom since before same-sex marriages were legalized anywhere, and they never broke the habit of thinking of them as necessarily AU. ... but I'm not particularly generous today, so I suspect there are heads up posteriors involved.

I was thinking about this last night after our discussion, and I think part of it has to do not so much with people being bigotted, but simply ignorant. An example: yesterday a friend of mine asked me about Don't Ask Don't Tell. He hadn't previously thought it was overtly discriminatory until he read the full text of it and realized that, yeah, actually, it's pretty horrible. He didn't understand how it was possible to be so overtly discriminatory and I had to explain that the federal government is allowed to be discriminatory in its hiring/firing practices. The whole thing confounded him, and not because he's bigoted, but because he's so liberal he just didn't realize that other people would even *think* that way.

...which actually is not making my point, but um, ignorance, I think, is the key. A lot of fandom (most of fandom) are straight women who aren't involved in the gay rights movement at all, don't follow politics, and so on. So to them maybe gay marriage sounds fantastic, but they have this assumption that it's not a normative thing that gay people do because, of course, the conservative Christianists are pretty much the loudest people around. A lot of fandomers might assume that the majority of the country is against gay marriage.

Not that that's an excuse, because it's NOT. Ignorance is never a valid excuse.

Why does it deserve the labels "AU" or "crackfic"? Your thoughts, as thinky as you would like, are welcome.

(sigh) It's simply people who don't think things through. Personally, I'm very hopeful that in my lifetime everyone will be able to marry anyone they damn well please, and idiots will shut up. However, I'm in my 50s now, so the bastards better hurry up and make it happen. I only plan to live to be in my early 100s. (grin)

Seriously, I do think it's just people who are incapable of thinking that things will change, should change, are changing.

Some people's tiny brains can only think in the present tense.

WP

I think maybe if the story was written 20-30 years ago it may...maybe fit the crackfic definition because at that point in time it probably felt more outlandish for two men or two women to marry. Today...not so much. gay marriage is legal in several countries.

People need to start remembering the little-used fic designation "Alternate Reality", because that clears up a lot of confusion. I think people get confused over what to call that kind of story, b/c it's clearly not an AU since they're still *themselves* but it's not within canon (per se, and as loose as canon is), so they figure it must be crackfic. Also, if I never see the designation "crackfic" again, I will probably die happy.

(PS: I'm certainly not saying that some ingrained homophobia and uncomfortableness over the idea of two men marrying doesn't play into it for *your particular fic*, but on a broader scale I've noticed people labeling things 'crackfic' left and right even if the story is clearly NOT.)

Does anyone turn into a penguin? Are there feral elf orgies? Talking couches? Miniature dinosaurs? No? Then it's not crack in my book [grin]. Nor would I class it as AU. Now, if they'd met in high school and gotten married (with Chris as a bridesmaid), then I could see an AU label.

ten p.m. feels like two a.m.

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