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Aug. 4th, 2007 12:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethI've been thinking about enemy slash and why I seem to like it so, and the pairings that don't seem to fit that pattern. And I've realised that actually they do. Because what I like most about enemies - aside from teh hawt, which you know, obvious - is the way they represent some kind of philosophical opposition. In order to get the two into a relationship you have to reconcile the opposition, make it not-opposite, make it instead complimentary.
Magneto and Professor X - because one day maybe the government will go there again, and then he'll need him. (You know, the early movie still looks kind of sane version of him.)
Giles and Ethan - because Order needs Chaos
Doctor/Master actually hits some of those exact same buttons for me, but with the good/evil alignment the other way around. Master being lawful evil - dictator. Except insanity usually gets called chaotic, but that's not the bit I like. I mean what kind of explanation is 'he's insane', really? You just have to heal that, you can't talk him out of it. But if the Master is lawful evil and the Doctor is classic chaotic good, then you've got a big argue going on.
But then there's the people that already work together, the partners, Jack&Daniel, Jim&Blair. Aren't they a whole different deal?
Actually, no. Again we have people representing opposing philosophies, and having to negotiate some common ground.
To put it another way - you can't lock 'appreciate diversity' and 'threat assessment' in a room until they work things out, but a particular anth/arch and a specific military/cop? They can. And do. And then are very very pretty when they finally... fit together.
This may be why there's only a limited number of Doctor/Companion pairs that interest me this way. Because the point is usually that they get on from the start. And the other thing is the way the Doctor's universe tends to agree with him, so you have to find some way he needs to change, and the bit where he needs to actually say nice things and express his feelings and maybe stop being such an arrogant ass sometimes doesn't exactly boil down to a major philosophical divide. I mean, he wouldn't even disagree with it as a general point, just fails in specific exercise.
On the other hand this very much explains why my Jack/Ianto love keeps looping back to 1-04. Gwen might be the one who harps on staying human, but Ianto lived it quietly for months and then went boom about it and told Jack off. And, okay, was proved wrong by plot... but. It makes it interesting. Different ways of constructing their duty, big picture vs personal loyalty, and it keeps shifting. "I'd make the sacrifice" turning out to be the wrong idea. Who is hiding what from whom. (Did I use whom right? My fingers just did that, I can never remember the rule.)
I like playing with big ideas. And watching pretty men fight. This is why Highlander remains important to me.
It's also why I keep on trying to get enemies into bed together. Because sometimes they're not opposing, they're complimentary.
Magneto and Professor X - because one day maybe the government will go there again, and then he'll need him. (You know, the early movie still looks kind of sane version of him.)
Giles and Ethan - because Order needs Chaos
Doctor/Master actually hits some of those exact same buttons for me, but with the good/evil alignment the other way around. Master being lawful evil - dictator. Except insanity usually gets called chaotic, but that's not the bit I like. I mean what kind of explanation is 'he's insane', really? You just have to heal that, you can't talk him out of it. But if the Master is lawful evil and the Doctor is classic chaotic good, then you've got a big argue going on.
But then there's the people that already work together, the partners, Jack&Daniel, Jim&Blair. Aren't they a whole different deal?
Actually, no. Again we have people representing opposing philosophies, and having to negotiate some common ground.
To put it another way - you can't lock 'appreciate diversity' and 'threat assessment' in a room until they work things out, but a particular anth/arch and a specific military/cop? They can. And do. And then are very very pretty when they finally... fit together.
This may be why there's only a limited number of Doctor/Companion pairs that interest me this way. Because the point is usually that they get on from the start. And the other thing is the way the Doctor's universe tends to agree with him, so you have to find some way he needs to change, and the bit where he needs to actually say nice things and express his feelings and maybe stop being such an arrogant ass sometimes doesn't exactly boil down to a major philosophical divide. I mean, he wouldn't even disagree with it as a general point, just fails in specific exercise.
On the other hand this very much explains why my Jack/Ianto love keeps looping back to 1-04. Gwen might be the one who harps on staying human, but Ianto lived it quietly for months and then went boom about it and told Jack off. And, okay, was proved wrong by plot... but. It makes it interesting. Different ways of constructing their duty, big picture vs personal loyalty, and it keeps shifting. "I'd make the sacrifice" turning out to be the wrong idea. Who is hiding what from whom. (Did I use whom right? My fingers just did that, I can never remember the rule.)
I like playing with big ideas. And watching pretty men fight. This is why Highlander remains important to me.
It's also why I keep on trying to get enemies into bed together. Because sometimes they're not opposing, they're complimentary.
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Date: 2007-08-04 12:28 am (UTC)Pretty.
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Date: 2007-08-04 09:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-04 12:30 am (UTC)just recently self and friends had this discussion on "what the characters and/or pairings we like say about us in real life", inspired because one of them linked to this essay (http://go-back-chief.livejournal.com/38573.html). So posts like this one, yours, make me go "hmm".
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Date: 2007-08-04 09:21 am (UTC)*opens essay to read*