There's a new Lois Bujold fantasy coming out today too. I'd go to the bookstore, but they probably won't have it until later this week.
Huh. I seem to recall this exact same issue occurring in Sentinel fandom, with Blair. Is it the curly hair, or what?
The shortness maybe? In Star Wars fandom, it was usually poor Luke who got to be abused. (Luke was also girly and delicate, too, oddly unlike the actor who played him in every version of the movies I saw.)
I think you're right: that must be what people want to see. If they want Iolaus to be a victim, that's their thing, but why call it canon? I mean, I don't call slash canon, for crying out loud. (Myth-canon, yes.)
That's what gets me too. I think with the Iolaus-as-victim people they realize somewhere that their interpretation is way off but instead of just admitting that that's the case and they like it that way, they have to justify it. With other people, I think they just like angst and don't care how bad the story is as long as it delivers. I like angst a lot too, but I like angst derived from the canon, or that can be justified by the characterization in some way. Things like sexual jealousy, or Hercules suddenly turning into a total dickweed, or Iolaus being insecure and co-dependent just don't work for me.
I think Liz and I were talking about this not too long ago, of how it takes more time, effort, and thought to come up with a good reason why Iolaus and Hercules would have a problem with their relationship, which is why you don't see many stories that pull this off effectively.
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Huh. I seem to recall this exact same issue occurring in Sentinel fandom, with Blair. Is it the curly hair, or what?
The shortness maybe? In Star Wars fandom, it was usually poor Luke who got to be abused. (Luke was also girly and delicate, too, oddly unlike the actor who played him in every version of the movies I saw.)
I think you're right: that must be what people want to see. If they want Iolaus to be a victim, that's their thing, but why call it canon? I mean, I don't call slash canon, for crying out loud. (Myth-canon, yes.)
That's what gets me too. I think with the Iolaus-as-victim people they realize somewhere that their interpretation is way off but instead of just admitting that that's the case and they like it that way, they have to justify it. With other people, I think they just like angst and don't care how bad the story is as long as it delivers. I like angst a lot too, but I like angst derived from the canon, or that can be justified by the characterization in some way. Things like sexual jealousy, or Hercules suddenly turning into a total dickweed, or Iolaus being insecure and co-dependent just don't work for me.
I think Liz and I were talking about this not too long ago, of how it takes more time, effort, and thought to come up with a good reason why Iolaus and Hercules would have a problem with their relationship, which is why you don't see many stories that pull this off effectively.