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extrapenguinChallenge #14
In your own space, share your love for a trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme. (Or a few!) What makes it particularly appealing for you? What do you like in fanworks featuring that trope? Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
I'm enough on the side of novelty on the novelty vs familiarity continuum of why-do-you-read that most tropes qua tropes don't do much for me, but I do have likes of different scopes!
On the "exceedingly specific scenario" level, there's "Shen Wei gets outed as Dixingian, but everyone he cares about still loves him even if he's from Dixingand this is in no way a metaphor for the closet or autism etc" because I am very predictable and my id very specific. Another scenario I enjoy is "and then everyone got a good night's sleep cuddled up with each other" whenever I'm tired. *g*
When it comes to tropes, I think time travel fish out of water scenarios count as one? So I enjoy the thought of young Shen Wei in the modern era being a fish out of water learning the ropes of modernity, and Yang Jian from Fairytale Lovers is also delivering that a lot. (Oh, and he brought a bicycle to a car chase. I gotta respect a guy for that.) IDK why exactly I'm enamored with this? No, wait, this too is a manifestation of my "wrong planet" autistic feels, oops? (Self-analysis: dangerous.) I have a huge embarrassment squick, though, so I'm not keen on the fish on dry land having embarrassment rain down on them.
Characterization-wise, I like competent and determined, and if characters are too bad at everything they do, or wallow in failure rather than picking themselves up, I'll just drop it, because I'll find it boring/annoying.
In things I find no better descriptor than the plot column, I enjoy ridiculous things, like the abovementioned Yang Jian bringing a bicycle to a car chase, and Yang Jian and Bai Qi taking the same elevator to their battle of nemesisness, or them adding each other on WeChat. All the hilarious hijinks! I like laughing.
Thematically... well. In addition to the themes present in the above, one thing that's catnip to my id is good mentor-mentee relationships that are a giant ball of unrealistically supportive fluff. (Think Shen Wei mentoring Li Qian, except nothing goes wrong.) On the other end of the scale – in many ways – I'm intellectually stimulated by portrayals of mothers beyond "saintly mom who is the very best mom" or "evil stepmother". Mothers who are their own people instead of plot tokens, basically. (I think this is part of the reason I'm uninterested in Jiang Yanli. She's just a saintly plot token who dies. Boring narratively, and I think I'd find her frustrating IRL.) It's also not something I see much "casually" in fiction, as the cultural concepts about ideal motherhood and how mothers aren't meant to deviate from that are still rigid.
On the very shallow level, women with swords are hot. As are women in menswear. Very hot. See: Sect Leader and Little Shimei's Story for women with swords, and some misc tumblr images for women in sci-fi armor, women in WW1 uniforms (especially #2, hot damn), women in certain types of hanfu, and, um, I think I might just like women in general. Especially if there's any hints of badassery. *g*
Congrats on reading all of it! If you have any questions – whether clarifying or "I notice you've done thing X often in your fics, is that also an interest of yours or just coincidence?" -type things – please ask. And general "me too" comments welcome as well
In your own space, share your love for a trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme. (Or a few!) What makes it particularly appealing for you? What do you like in fanworks featuring that trope? Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
I'm enough on the side of novelty on the novelty vs familiarity continuum of why-do-you-read that most tropes qua tropes don't do much for me, but I do have likes of different scopes!
On the "exceedingly specific scenario" level, there's "Shen Wei gets outed as Dixingian, but everyone he cares about still loves him even if he's from Dixing
When it comes to tropes, I think time travel fish out of water scenarios count as one? So I enjoy the thought of young Shen Wei in the modern era being a fish out of water learning the ropes of modernity, and Yang Jian from Fairytale Lovers is also delivering that a lot. (Oh, and he brought a bicycle to a car chase. I gotta respect a guy for that.) IDK why exactly I'm enamored with this? No, wait, this too is a manifestation of my "wrong planet" autistic feels, oops? (Self-analysis: dangerous.) I have a huge embarrassment squick, though, so I'm not keen on the fish on dry land having embarrassment rain down on them.
Characterization-wise, I like competent and determined, and if characters are too bad at everything they do, or wallow in failure rather than picking themselves up, I'll just drop it, because I'll find it boring/annoying.
In things I find no better descriptor than the plot column, I enjoy ridiculous things, like the abovementioned Yang Jian bringing a bicycle to a car chase, and Yang Jian and Bai Qi taking the same elevator to their battle of nemesisness, or them adding each other on WeChat. All the hilarious hijinks! I like laughing.
Thematically... well. In addition to the themes present in the above, one thing that's catnip to my id is good mentor-mentee relationships that are a giant ball of unrealistically supportive fluff. (Think Shen Wei mentoring Li Qian, except nothing goes wrong.) On the other end of the scale – in many ways – I'm intellectually stimulated by portrayals of mothers beyond "saintly mom who is the very best mom" or "evil stepmother". Mothers who are their own people instead of plot tokens, basically. (I think this is part of the reason I'm uninterested in Jiang Yanli. She's just a saintly plot token who dies. Boring narratively, and I think I'd find her frustrating IRL.) It's also not something I see much "casually" in fiction, as the cultural concepts about ideal motherhood and how mothers aren't meant to deviate from that are still rigid.
On the very shallow level, women with swords are hot. As are women in menswear. Very hot. See: Sect Leader and Little Shimei's Story for women with swords, and some misc tumblr images for women in sci-fi armor, women in WW1 uniforms (especially #2, hot damn), women in certain types of hanfu, and, um, I think I might just like women in general. Especially if there's any hints of badassery. *g*
Congrats on reading all of it! If you have any questions – whether clarifying or "I notice you've done thing X often in your fics, is that also an interest of yours or just coincidence?" -type things – please ask. And general "me too" comments welcome as well
no subject
Date: 2020-01-29 20:20 (UTC)This is one of my big ones, too!
OMG are you me? No, don't answer that. But this is another one of my biggies.
I give in. You are me.
This is a really interesting one which never occurred to me but yes! Madam Yu could have been a role model if she hadn't had this irrational hatred of Wei Wuxian.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-29 20:41 (UTC)Okay, so, this depends on your canon, I think. I don't think I'd call her anyone's role model, but the drama took a much meaner approach to her characterization than the novel. (The novel could also add some context that made her hatred less irrational, and also presented it differently.) I also think she must be one of the main teachers of the Jiang sect, given the admittedly scanty evidence we have of the kids doing things that aren't goofing off. No matter what, though, she's a much more compelling character than her daughter, IMO.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-30 07:50 (UTC)Yes, she must have been one of the main teachers, and obviously one of the strongest fighters. She's really quite badass in any scene that doesn't involve her dealing with Jiang Cheng or Wei Wuxian.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-30 07:57 (UTC)