They Keep Killing Sam
Nov. 23rd, 2007 06:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hmpf(Sorry. I don't even watch Torchwood. But I sort of liked that ep title.)
But. Seriously. WTF is it with fic writers and killing Sam recently? Seems like it's the new big fad. Which is kind of odd - as well as kind of fitting - seeing as how the lad's *already* dead! I mean, is it even still possible for him to die in 1973? *g*
Actually, it's kind of a continuation of an older trend I've noticed. There's a tendency in the fandom to take Sam's physical predicaments and transpose them from 2006 to 1973. There's a lot of fic in which Sam gets physically hurt really badly in 1973, up to and including going into a coma(!), apparently. And now there's a lot of fic in which Sam dies in 1973.
It's fairly easily explained, really: the fic writers want the angst of ill/injured!Sam and comatose!Sam and recovering!Sam and dying/dead!Sam, but to get the right kind of kick out of it they need people to relate to Sam when he's ill/injured/comatose/recovering/dying/dead. It's all about the people who love Sam reacting to what's happening to him; it's not so much about Sam himself. The aim is a mixture of warm, fuzzy feelings and cathartic pain; the taste is bittersweet. And since Maya, Sam's mum, his aunt and assorted unknown friends, colleagues and relatives are too abstract (or, perhaps more importantly, simply aren't Gene) fic focusing on Sam being injured, comatose, recovering, dying etc. in 2006 just won't do the trick for most writers and readers. The thrill is in seeing the 1973 crowd, and mostly Gene, react, seeing them care, seeing them grieve - because they are the people the writers and readers relate to and are invested in. Hence, Bad Stuff has to happen to Sam in 1973.
In short: most of the angst in LoM fandom is tinged in shades of hurt/comfort - because it's all about suffering revealing the ways people care about/for each other.
Whereas what I'm interested in is how suffering changes people's outlook on life and the world in a larger sense, how it changes relationships in subtle and radical ways, how it changes people's sense of who they are and how they relate to other people and the world - etc. The point is that, while there is a relationship component here as well, it's not the main focus - the main focus is in the sense of self, in identity.
(But what about Starving on the Jump Down, you ask. How is that dealing with identity and all the stuff you listed above? True - it isn't. But it's not the 'warm and fuzzy'(1), relationship-centred kind of deathfic, either. It's not about confirming, even in loss, a relationship the reader believes in and is invested in; it's about showing losses that tend to go forgotten.)
(1) I know not all deathfics have that 'warm and fuzzy' component - deathfic involving unrequited relationships can be sort of bitter. Still, even with those there tends to be a sense of mutual caring of some sort, some sort of connection, and ultimately that connection is what the deathfic is about. Starving..., though, is about a lack of connection.
*
Speaking of dead protagonists. To complement my writing that frelling useless essay/paper/thing about An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge recently (not really - it's just a coincidence, really) I just bought Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman.
Any other texts with dead protagonists I should know? *g* (I know there are a few movies - Jacob's Ladder, Abre Los Ojos... anything else?)
But. Seriously. WTF is it with fic writers and killing Sam recently? Seems like it's the new big fad. Which is kind of odd - as well as kind of fitting - seeing as how the lad's *already* dead! I mean, is it even still possible for him to die in 1973? *g*
Actually, it's kind of a continuation of an older trend I've noticed. There's a tendency in the fandom to take Sam's physical predicaments and transpose them from 2006 to 1973. There's a lot of fic in which Sam gets physically hurt really badly in 1973, up to and including going into a coma(!), apparently. And now there's a lot of fic in which Sam dies in 1973.
It's fairly easily explained, really: the fic writers want the angst of ill/injured!Sam and comatose!Sam and recovering!Sam and dying/dead!Sam, but to get the right kind of kick out of it they need people to relate to Sam when he's ill/injured/comatose/recovering/dying/dead. It's all about the people who love Sam reacting to what's happening to him; it's not so much about Sam himself. The aim is a mixture of warm, fuzzy feelings and cathartic pain; the taste is bittersweet. And since Maya, Sam's mum, his aunt and assorted unknown friends, colleagues and relatives are too abstract (or, perhaps more importantly, simply aren't Gene) fic focusing on Sam being injured, comatose, recovering, dying etc. in 2006 just won't do the trick for most writers and readers. The thrill is in seeing the 1973 crowd, and mostly Gene, react, seeing them care, seeing them grieve - because they are the people the writers and readers relate to and are invested in. Hence, Bad Stuff has to happen to Sam in 1973.
In short: most of the angst in LoM fandom is tinged in shades of hurt/comfort - because it's all about suffering revealing the ways people care about/for each other.
Whereas what I'm interested in is how suffering changes people's outlook on life and the world in a larger sense, how it changes relationships in subtle and radical ways, how it changes people's sense of who they are and how they relate to other people and the world - etc. The point is that, while there is a relationship component here as well, it's not the main focus - the main focus is in the sense of self, in identity.
(But what about Starving on the Jump Down, you ask. How is that dealing with identity and all the stuff you listed above? True - it isn't. But it's not the 'warm and fuzzy'(1), relationship-centred kind of deathfic, either. It's not about confirming, even in loss, a relationship the reader believes in and is invested in; it's about showing losses that tend to go forgotten.)
(1) I know not all deathfics have that 'warm and fuzzy' component - deathfic involving unrequited relationships can be sort of bitter. Still, even with those there tends to be a sense of mutual caring of some sort, some sort of connection, and ultimately that connection is what the deathfic is about. Starving..., though, is about a lack of connection.
*
Speaking of dead protagonists. To complement my writing that frelling useless essay/paper/thing about An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge recently (not really - it's just a coincidence, really) I just bought Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman.
Any other texts with dead protagonists I should know? *g* (I know there are a few movies - Jacob's Ladder, Abre Los Ojos... anything else?)
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-24 10:01 pm (UTC)Haven't read the meta yet - will adjust this comment accordingly when I have.They had Sam in a kind-of-coma in the show, in the Trumpton episode (but then again, that was 2006 docs messing his drugs about, so...not what you were talking about). I haven't been reading any LoM fic really recently, so I don't know what you're talking about but...I can kind of figure why people write it, and pretty much agree with what you said. However, I have nothing else of great import to say about it, so I'll shut up.
But. You just spoilt the entire book by mentioning the dead protagonist in The Third Policeman ;) No, seriously, you're not supposed to know he's dead till the end of the book (by the way, have read, good book, if a little annoying in places. I thought there were some good ideas in it, but I'm not entirely sure if I "got" it, if you see what I mean? I read it 'cause of Lost. LOL. Is An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge any good?).
The Third Policeman
Date: 2007-11-27 06:51 pm (UTC)Re: The Third Policeman
Date: 2007-12-01 09:18 pm (UTC)Sorry, didn't mean to sound...uh...well, didn't mean to sound like I was telling you off or anything.