Impediments I am really really tired of
Jul. 4th, 2018 02:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethI know I am reading old fic in old fandoms
but
it's not so old that it should be such a big deal that a character is gay and wants children.
I mean, I'm not saying the laws are set up to make it smooth and easy, but on the whole, that is a solved problem.
Making with the archaic inheritance laws solely to stick obstacles in teh way of your OTP is just
it's boring
they don't have a problem, there is no practical problem, but they're going to spend tens of thousands of words on this 'problem' anyway.
And I mean, this is in a world with magic, you have every excuse to make their reproductive 'technology' more advanced. A simple spell to confirm parentage is one of the Knowledge spells most likely to be invented in a world that cares about hereditary rights. And oh look, a paternity test was possible even when the story was set, and a full bloody genome test is around now. It is not difficult.
I can understand the character's parents might not want him to be gay, I can even understand his society might want him to have formal marriage bonds with the other genetic contributor to his child, but I do not want to read a novel on this particular source of angst, because it is boring and stupid and solved.
... I should obviously just back button and read something else, but by the time it became clear what the problem was, I was much more than half way through and invested. Which is my problem. Obviously. I'm not yelling at the writer, I'm being vague about it here. I just...
I am reading fiction where there is magic, and a recent war, spurred by philosophical differences that could be deep or shallow, depending on how you want to play it.
And do the plots use any of that? Do they heck.
It's just patriarchy and homophobia.
... so I should skip to the next story in hope of something more interesting. obviously.
or listen to something else.
just... i realise people are writing for different reasons, and playing through real life social tensions with familiar characters is obviously a story generator, I just... I wanted the unique stories, the escape from the norm, the new and interesting angles.
I get this.
/rant
I shall go away again.
but
it's not so old that it should be such a big deal that a character is gay and wants children.
I mean, I'm not saying the laws are set up to make it smooth and easy, but on the whole, that is a solved problem.
Making with the archaic inheritance laws solely to stick obstacles in teh way of your OTP is just
it's boring
they don't have a problem, there is no practical problem, but they're going to spend tens of thousands of words on this 'problem' anyway.
And I mean, this is in a world with magic, you have every excuse to make their reproductive 'technology' more advanced. A simple spell to confirm parentage is one of the Knowledge spells most likely to be invented in a world that cares about hereditary rights. And oh look, a paternity test was possible even when the story was set, and a full bloody genome test is around now. It is not difficult.
I can understand the character's parents might not want him to be gay, I can even understand his society might want him to have formal marriage bonds with the other genetic contributor to his child, but I do not want to read a novel on this particular source of angst, because it is boring and stupid and solved.
... I should obviously just back button and read something else, but by the time it became clear what the problem was, I was much more than half way through and invested. Which is my problem. Obviously. I'm not yelling at the writer, I'm being vague about it here. I just...
I am reading fiction where there is magic, and a recent war, spurred by philosophical differences that could be deep or shallow, depending on how you want to play it.
And do the plots use any of that? Do they heck.
It's just patriarchy and homophobia.
... so I should skip to the next story in hope of something more interesting. obviously.
or listen to something else.
just... i realise people are writing for different reasons, and playing through real life social tensions with familiar characters is obviously a story generator, I just... I wanted the unique stories, the escape from the norm, the new and interesting angles.
I get this.
/rant
I shall go away again.