On Thu, Oct 03, 2002 at 10:12:28AM -0700, Gillian von Karmann wrote:
1) This short fic IS an "Out-Of-Character" story. If you just hate
O-O-C stories, then simply do not read this one. You were warned.
Please do not come tell me that this fic is a bad fic *only because
it is O-O-C* and you don't like O-O-C fics because O-O-C fics ipso
facto are bad fics --- unless you really want to be:
a) flamed back and b) duly called "baka yarou" and "kisama",*minimum*.
Every fic is an OOC fic, unless it's written by the creater of the
series. However, most fics try to be as IC as they can, or else be OOC
with a REALLY GOOD REASON. Otherwise, people see that you're taking a
paper doll and putting a blond wig on it and calling it Usagi. The
farther you get from IC, the farther you get from the characters that
people know and love. Eventually, the fic is full of original
characters and we are forced to evaluate it by different
criteria. (Hint: Most people are far more critical about what stories
they read when the stories don't involve characters they already
know.)
2) Good artworks usually are full of symbols of universal/
traditional/esoteric nature. Quite unfortunately, as time goes by it
becomes more and more difficult to find persons who can realize the
presence of the great symbols and comprehend correctly their
respective meanings. Of course the symbols that appear in
anime and manga are not "just for decoration". And because of
their undeniable strong influence upon the collective psych?, one
cannot seriously consider that the symbols were used only for
helping the manga editors and TV network owners
make (more) profit. Unless you keep this in mind you will not be
able to appreciate or evaluate this fanfic properly.
The words "comprehend correctly" in the above paragraph show that you
have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Symbols often
cannot be comprehended at all. Take, for example, Moby Dick. The whale
is obviously a symbol; only a fool would deny that. But what does it
mean? It could mean a great many things. An English writer named
D. H. Lawrence said, "Of course he is a symbol. Of what? I doubt if
even Melville knew exactly. That's the best of it." One could
"comprehend" the whale as a symbol of hostility towards the Catholic
Church, in one extreme case, because Ahab treats the whale as both
adversary and confessor, at times. Merely the fact that you can see
symbols in literature and interpret them means nothing, unless you
subscribe to deconstructionism, your Jungian psychobabble
notwithstanding.
3) Generally speaking, anime have a fragmentary and not much "coherent"
narration structure. The possibilities of inserting new characters,
additional parallel and concurrent plots, unusual or bizarre
situations, change and development of the original characters, etc.,
are thus made innumerable.
To be sure, some anime has this characteristic. The NukuNuku OVAs are
a prime example. But many others do not, such as NGE, where you cannot
add events or characters without changing part of the series.
Concretely, anything can happen, and
anything can be sure believable as well, where and when nothing
is real. The so-called "suspension of disbelief" before "unbelievable"
or "inadmissible" situations is in fact a process that depends
much more on the current state-of-mind of the reader themselves than
on the author, and effectively it does not have much to do with the
efforts and capabilities of this latter.
Coleridge's original statement WAS talking about the reader, but the
skill of the author is important. If the style is too stilted, the
turns of phrase too wooden, I get caught up in the words he's using
and am unable to imagine the world he's trying to conjure. Even so,
not everything can happen. It would take a good deal of explanation
for a mecha to show up in Rurouni Kenshin, as the series is not that
which easily allows for time-travel and other such oddities. The anime
universe may have different "laws", but it does have laws.
In this way, some excessively
stupid readers can accept a whole lot of unanswered/unanswerable
questions and blatant absurdities in the anime without an objection
or complaint,but at the same time those same stupid readers certainly
will not approve the presence of new unanswered questions and
not-so-absurd absurdities in a fanfic. Kuso ne.
Mommy, the emperor's naked.
4) I am a person who (still - ?) loves the good anime *and* has a
reasonably huge and well-formed general knowledge. I am perfectly
aware that I am an avis rara.
You are not, however, aware that the term is "rara avis". Or, for that
matter, aware of the generally held convention, as stated in Strunk
and White, that use of foreign languages for their own sake is
considered pretentious.
I also know that most anific readers
and authors do *not* enjoy _actual_ good literature, especially
because they were "educated" (read: programmed) to both ignore and
despise good books, good music, good film, for the self-evident
reason that real good artworks are *not* suitable for global mass
production and extra-fast megaprofit.
One wonders where you pick up this "knowledge". For one thing, the
definition of "good literature" will vary from person to person. I
know of one person who believes that Proust's "Remembrance of Things
Past" is the greatest novel of its century. It may indeed be so, but I
would not consider it as such, because I think sixteen volumes is a
bit long. There are certainly readers and writers who care little for
good writing, preferring to concentrate on their pet biases. These
people tend to hang out at places like ff.net, though, instead of the
FFML. Furthermore, while the fact that popular culture is often
shallow is sad, the beginning of a story is not the proper place to
rant about it.
Sou desu yo! Therefore
authors like myself often are called "bad writers" and our works
frequently are regarded as "bad fics". Well, presently
I am not sorry to have to say that I really don't know how to
produce "good fics" --- for I really have no interest in doing it.
Whenever I write, I sincerely concentrate all my energy and efforts
upon making good LITERATURE, i.e., a decently-done job.
Funny. Your fic shows no signs of "good literature". If you consider
Tolkien and Lewis to be passibly good writers at all, you may do well
to read what they had to say about myth. You might find it
enlightening to your ideas of "good fics".
The fic claims to be a BSSM fic. Apart from the names you've given to
your characters, I see absolutely no sign of it. Even in very
different SM worlds, such as "On A Clear Day You Can See Forever", we
can still see something of Takeuchi's creation. What you've given us
is a poorly-written robot-sex fic, while attempting to decieve us by
claiming that these characters are really Usagi and Hotaru.
Either this is an elaborate rant on deconstructionism, or you really
have no idea that you don't know what you're talking about. I hope
this enlightens you, but I'm afraid it won't.
--
Jonathan Rosebaugh - Read my fics!
http://chibi.anifics.com/
------------------------------------------------------------
It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a
sentence to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate
in all times and situations. They presented him the words: "And this,
too, shall pass away."
-- Abraham Lincoln
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