I wish there was such a thing as Vindication fic...

[moonbeamsfanfic]

..., because then maybe fandom would stop making me feel like I'm a broken freak who needs to be "fixed" to find true happiness.

I would like it if (just once even!) I could a find an angsty fic that doesn't pull a complete turn-around into a so-called "happy ending" by essentially saying: 'Oh, hey? That thing that was making you miserable? All your own fault! Just admit I'm right and you're wrong, and presto! All fixed! Now we can be together forever!' Tadda, instant happy ending!

Because I don't buy it. Relationships don't just magically fix everything. And, hey, guess what? That's okay! People have flaws, they have fears, they have angers... it's part of life. It doesn't mean they're "broken" and need fixing to be happy. They can, wonder of wonders, learn to be happy with themselves flaws and all, you know. Love doesn't always conquer all.

But the message all these fics are sending is that no, really, I'm wrong. If I just change who I am, I can find love and then suddenly everything in my life will be so much better, yay! And that makes me feel horrible and alienated after reading these fics because, sorry, I don't buy their happily ever after endings. Because I want the characters to hold out for once, to not compromise themselves to make the 'happy ending' possible. Because I am not only not satisfied by the relationship working out, I am actually upset by it. Because it's not goddamn FAIR to the character, okay? It's just not. And it's not fair to me either.

Why can't these characters be allowed to be themselves and not have to change to suit someone else instead? Why aren't they allowed to hold on to their so-called "hangups" and have the other person adapt to live with them? To accept them as they are?

Why do they, do I, have to be "fixed" to find happiness?

Answer: We don't. I'm just fine the way I am, and so are most of them. That's why we love those characters in first place, isn't it? So, please, just someone... leave them be. Let them live however they want, let them find happiness in themselves for once.

Even if that means being alone.

Comments

[redwolf]

I can see at least one fandom that will now be demanding your head on a spike for even suggesting that. Scratch that, pretty much all of them.

[moonbeamsfanfic.livejournal.com]

I'm getting used to always having the unpopular opinion in a fandom. My skills as a lurker have increased dramatically!

[rusti-knight.livejournal.com]

Partially why I very rarely read fanfic anymore. By the end of the story, most of the characters are unrecognizable as the ones I grew fond of in the movie/show/book. I won't say I'm not guilty myself, I was young(er) once.

Most (not all, mind, but most) fanfic authors also lack the wherewithall to allow terrible things to happen to their characters without the 'fix it quickly' resolution. It's different to me now that I'm in the throes of attempting a real, original fiction novel, with characters who are like children to me, but the conflict they're in, things won't be happily ever after. Things will change forever. And I think I need a sticky note on my forehead to remind me of that.

In other words, I'm with you.

[moonbeamsfanfic.livejournal.com]

I don't even mind if they wind up happy in the end, that part's fine. I just don't like that the only way to bring it about is for the angst-centric character to realize that the entire cause of their angst was self-inflicted and if they just do as a their partner/friend/family/lover says they'll be fixed and capable of achieving happiness for once. Because don't you know they can never be happy as they are? They have to pull a complete 180 in the personalities to find love and acceptance, because it was all their own fault all along that they were alone!

It wasn't even any one fandom that led to the post, since I've seen it everywhere the last few weeks, but there were a few particular fics which were so blatant at "fixing the broken" in a person by essentially telling them (and therefore me!) that they were just flat-out wrong their whole lives, believing what they did about themselves. Why couldn't someone, say, try going the radical route of loving them as they are and accepting them flaws and all? You know, like in real life where people are actually not perfect and yet still manage to live fulfilling lives. Shocking concept, I know!

[rusti-knight.livejournal.com]

Ah, I misunderstood. But I still agree. I wonder if the folks writing things out like that are the ones that have great difficulty being happy by themselves?