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Herongale (![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} herongale) wrote in ![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/community.gif){kind=small} unfunny_fandom, |
I've read the fic they are talking about(Inertia, a Hikaru no Go slash fanfic), and there definitely is some room to be critical of how the OC female (Akira's wife) is portrayed. She basically is written to be an obstacle for Akira to get over rather than a person in her own right. Here, from a review of this fic that I wrote privately for a friend of mine:
Personally I have a hard time reading stories where the female OC is such an emotional basketcase and kind of an unintentional villain, because even though I know there's a emotional honesty to this kind of post-partum depression story, it really bothers me when a female character is created primarily as an obstructing force in some male character's life, the obstacle he must overcome before finding peace with his one true love. So I am not especially objective about these kinds of things.
Still, the writing on this is impressively strong, with great dialogue and covering an expansive sweep of time, and I get the feeling that Natsumi was a carefully considered character on the part of the author, so I can forgive the fact that she's written to be dead-in-the-water from the first moment she appears. Also, it just simply makes sense that such an emotional wreck as Touya would end up married to someone like her (kind of like how it makes sense for Abe [*] to marry into a similarly picture-perfect but emotionally soul-killing relationship), because he's the kind of person who is so in denial that he goes looking for someone who is in her own way the same... someone who he thinks can understand him because she is of similar temperament, but who in the end simply helps to facilitate the mutual drowning that the two of them do to each other. So I like Natsuke, and appreciate her for what she is, and oh is she so sad.
As far as I'm concerned, the OFC in this fic is problematic, and there are some legitimate issues to discuss about it, buuutttt... to say "this fic is offensive" goes kind of too far, imho. The difference between "problematic" and "offensive" is vast and I tend to only label things as offensive if I feel that they come from a place of callous indifference, not well-meaning ignorance. The author of this story was trying to tackle a difficult subject-- post-partum depression-- and I think she was truly trying her best to flesh out this character. But not everyone is good at writing original characters, particularly ones in extremis in terms of emotional complexity. It's hard to be offended when the author clearly cares and is trying. She may have missed the mark, but so what? I write too, and I miss the mark all the time. It's hard to be perfect and all you can do is try your best, and when that fails, try harder. :/
[*] Abe Takaya, from Ookiku Furikabutte fandom. MY CURRENT OBSESSION (as if anyone cares lol)
Personally I have a hard time reading stories where the female OC is such an emotional basketcase and kind of an unintentional villain, because even though I know there's a emotional honesty to this kind of post-partum depression story, it really bothers me when a female character is created primarily as an obstructing force in some male character's life, the obstacle he must overcome before finding peace with his one true love. So I am not especially objective about these kinds of things.
Still, the writing on this is impressively strong, with great dialogue and covering an expansive sweep of time, and I get the feeling that Natsumi was a carefully considered character on the part of the author, so I can forgive the fact that she's written to be dead-in-the-water from the first moment she appears. Also, it just simply makes sense that such an emotional wreck as Touya would end up married to someone like her (kind of like how it makes sense for Abe [*] to marry into a similarly picture-perfect but emotionally soul-killing relationship), because he's the kind of person who is so in denial that he goes looking for someone who is in her own way the same... someone who he thinks can understand him because she is of similar temperament, but who in the end simply helps to facilitate the mutual drowning that the two of them do to each other. So I like Natsuke, and appreciate her for what she is, and oh is she so sad.
As far as I'm concerned, the OFC in this fic is problematic, and there are some legitimate issues to discuss about it, buuutttt... to say "this fic is offensive" goes kind of too far, imho. The difference between "problematic" and "offensive" is vast and I tend to only label things as offensive if I feel that they come from a place of callous indifference, not well-meaning ignorance. The author of this story was trying to tackle a difficult subject-- post-partum depression-- and I think she was truly trying her best to flesh out this character. But not everyone is good at writing original characters, particularly ones in extremis in terms of emotional complexity. It's hard to be offended when the author clearly cares and is trying. She may have missed the mark, but so what? I write too, and I miss the mark all the time. It's hard to be perfect and all you can do is try your best, and when that fails, try harder. :/
[*] Abe Takaya, from Ookiku Furikabutte fandom. MY CURRENT OBSESSION (as if anyone cares lol)
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