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rsadelleI had a lovely lunch with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
norwich36 yesterday where we spent an entire hour talking about Hawaii Five-0. (We might have spent longer, but then we were off to see Priest, which has one really good moment but is otherwise not very good. It's kind of too bad, because I would see a sequel anyway.) In talking with her about H50 fic, I was finally able to really articulate something I don't like about it.
H50 has a somewhat old-school fandom. (icanbreakthesky said, "It's like The Sentinel for the new generation: better hair and explosions!") That means that a lot of the fic falls into those old-school patterns, which is probably why I find that most of the things where the writing is bad/mediocre are also incredibly boring in concept. But it also means that a lot of fic falls into that traditional slash model of one guy who is open/in touch with his emotions, and one guy who is not. I'm generally not a big fan of this dynamic; I like relationships between equals, and often between equals who are also adults who own their own emotional stuff. Closed off guy/open guy is often not that. Closed off guy/open guy also plays into that old staple that all the stoic guy needs is the right woman (to do all the emotional work) where the part of the woman is played by the open guy, and that's not a model I'm fond of either.
The problem with this as a pattern for Steve/Danny fic is that that's not what's happening on the show. Sure, in the pilot Steve's a little closed off. His dad has just been murdered and he's holding it together while he finds the guy who did it and learns to work with someone new. But halfway through the ep, he and Danny are drinking beer on the beach and having a relatively intimate conversation for strangers. (I like to think of this as their first date. In the epic story I hope someone writes where they're hooking up the whole time, this is the point where one of them says, "Don't punch me if I'm reading this wrong. Wanna fuck?") By the end of the second ep, he's referring to his team as his family. As Nora pointed out, just because Danny says things about Steve only being a softie when kids and their fathers are involved doesn't mean that it's actually true. I think this is part of why I prefer fic from Danny's pov: I'm not interested in and don't buy the pov of a closed off Steve. H50 is not a show where one guy thinks they're married and the other one is oblivious. It's a show where Steve and Danny are married to each other - they're both in this together. That's the kind of fic I want to read.
The most stoic, closed off character on the show is actually Chin (except sometimes with Kono, who could definitely fit the younger sidekick exception role), and in a world where the show and the fandom didn't put the white guys first, all that closed off guy/open guy fic would be about him and Steve.
norwich36 yesterday where we spent an entire hour talking about Hawaii Five-0. (We might have spent longer, but then we were off to see Priest, which has one really good moment but is otherwise not very good. It's kind of too bad, because I would see a sequel anyway.) In talking with her about H50 fic, I was finally able to really articulate something I don't like about it.H50 has a somewhat old-school fandom. (
icanbreakthesky said, "It's like The Sentinel for the new generation: better hair and explosions!") That means that a lot of the fic falls into those old-school patterns, which is probably why I find that most of the things where the writing is bad/mediocre are also incredibly boring in concept. But it also means that a lot of fic falls into that traditional slash model of one guy who is open/in touch with his emotions, and one guy who is not. I'm generally not a big fan of this dynamic; I like relationships between equals, and often between equals who are also adults who own their own emotional stuff. Closed off guy/open guy is often not that. Closed off guy/open guy also plays into that old staple that all the stoic guy needs is the right woman (to do all the emotional work) where the part of the woman is played by the open guy, and that's not a model I'm fond of either.The problem with this as a pattern for Steve/Danny fic is that that's not what's happening on the show. Sure, in the pilot Steve's a little closed off. His dad has just been murdered and he's holding it together while he finds the guy who did it and learns to work with someone new. But halfway through the ep, he and Danny are drinking beer on the beach and having a relatively intimate conversation for strangers. (I like to think of this as their first date. In the epic story I hope someone writes where they're hooking up the whole time, this is the point where one of them says, "Don't punch me if I'm reading this wrong. Wanna fuck?") By the end of the second ep, he's referring to his team as his family. As Nora pointed out, just because Danny says things about Steve only being a softie when kids and their fathers are involved doesn't mean that it's actually true. I think this is part of why I prefer fic from Danny's pov: I'm not interested in and don't buy the pov of a closed off Steve. H50 is not a show where one guy thinks they're married and the other one is oblivious. It's a show where Steve and Danny are married to each other - they're both in this together. That's the kind of fic I want to read.
The most stoic, closed off character on the show is actually Chin (except sometimes with Kono, who could definitely fit the younger sidekick exception role), and in a world where the show and the fandom didn't put the white guys first, all that closed off guy/open guy fic would be about him and Steve.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-17 02:41 pm (UTC)Ah, right. I have mixed up my thoughts with what you said. Although you were definitely the one to point out that just because Danny says it doesn't make it true!