heystasa | H/D Fandom - just, urrrg! Stop sucking!!!!

So I've been reading Harry/Draco 'fic alot lately. It is a great pairing, with some top stories, but...

Where is this notion that Seamus Finnigan is flamboyantly gay and very promiscuous coming from?

Granted, it's been a while since I read the books, and I didn't pay much attention to him anyway, but I'm sure I'd remember if he was written as eyeing Harry up lecherously. Where is it coming from?

A character can make a few jokes without being outrageously and unrelentingly flirtatious. Remember OotP, when he and Harry had a falling out? Or DH, with all the bruising on his face and whatnot? He was hardly the cheerful, fashion conscious, impossible-to-deter and unwilling to do anything too gritty or strenuous, walking stereotype that he is so often written as then, was he.

It's becoming a H/D convention: Seamus flirts with Harry, Harry blushes and can't discourage him, Malfoy gets jealous and makes Seamus bugger off for a while and then proceeds to snog Harry all possessive like. Later, Seamus gives Harry advice on the mechanics of gayness. Because he has somehow shagged half the boys in Hogwarts.

Just, aargh. It wasn't even entertaining the first time it was done, let alone in character. And too many writers seem to use it as a cop-out to make Harry feel more comfortable with his relationship with Malfoy, or as a source of "comedy". Bloody hell, can we get some originality here? I hate it and am sick of it.

Surprisingly, I've only encountered homophobic!Seamus once or twice, and then it wasn't so much homophobia, as just getting uncomfortable in the presence of Harry & Draco acting too couple-y or sexy (Which I think is one of the more realistic reactions a person might have in that situation, but is sadly almost never used. Fandom only seems to believe in one level of negative reaction to homosexuality).

Where is this coming from and why do so many people think it is a good idea? And why can I not seem to stop looking for H/D, even though so much of it is OOC rubbish with no sensible plot written by twits and filled with wank? And when oh when will the rhetorical questions end??

I posted this complaint on fanficrants, and someone there said that it had to do with the fact that many Americans find the Irish accent rather inherently gay/ feminine. What? How-huh-What? That is one of the single most stupid things I have ever heard. And what about Boston? I thought the whole idea there was tough Irishness.

Do Dean/Seamus shippers have to put up with this? If so, why in God's name would you even bother with that pairing.

It is a ridiculous notion that stems from blatant stupidity and a severe lack of knowledge about human behaviour. A fandom does not require an obligatory slutty character, and a story concerning homosexual themes does not require an absurd homosexual stereotype. I don't even care for Seamus in particular one way or the other, but I still can't stand him, or anyone else, being so warped so pointlessly.

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Hmm. Yeah, I dunno. I think it's just because there's so little written about him (relative to other characters) that it's easy to just give him whatever characteristics you'd like without making him OOC. We don't know enough about his character to know whether he's in or out of it. And once a few people have written him that way and done it well, it's fanon. Personally I find gayfanon!Seamus OK, if a little trite and overdone and annoying sometimes. Though I do agree that depicting him as relentlessly cheerful doesn't mesh terribly well with OOTP!Seamus, and even less with DH!Seamus.

It does bug me a bit to see a gay character stereotyped as flaming, but then again a lot of the time when I see Seamus portrayed like that he's in a fic with other characters who are also gay and not flaming. So I take it as a sort of "Hey, you know, it's not just OK to be gay if you are still completely straight-acting in every conceivable way other than wanting a guy in your bed. It's also OK to be gay if you are the very epitome of a campy!slut queer. It's all good."

As for the Irish accent being gay/feminine... um, what? Never heard that one before.

Do Dean/Seamus shippers have to put up with this? If so, why in God's name would you even bother with that pairing.
Not the Dean/Seamus fics I've read. Seamus is usually vastly more sexually experienced than Dean, but he's not generally a slut, or campy. I think I've only read one or two where he was. And in one of them, somehow he was still Seamus, you know? I find him more likely to be a charicature when he's not one of the main characters.

I completely agree with you that some characters require fleshing out and guess-work (hey, that is how we end up with so many somehow IC characterisations of Malfoy, afterall). But we are given something to go on, and that something, however small, just does not go with the extremity of this interpretation.

once a few people have written him that way and done it well
I get the impression that you have seen the flaming!Seamus in different fics than I have. Xp In the ones I've seen it has never been done well. The fic may (very rarely) be good otherwise, but the Seamus isn't. Not saying that it couldn't be done well, just that it hasn't been (that I've seen), and that it would take a bit of work to be convicing.

"Hey, you know, it's not just OK to be gay if you are still completely straight-acting in every conceivable way other than wanting a guy in your bed. It's also OK to be gay if you are the very epitome of a campy!slut queer. It's all good."
That is a lovely message, and a camp conversion of a character could be a decent way of showing it... but, we must be reading different stories. I get the impression it's more that some writers just want to include a character that fits that shape for the sake of conflict or comedy, and they decide that Seamus'll do to beat into it. "Afterall, that other author did it once, why not me!"

I just don't understand why, if the author feels adding a character like that is neccesary, they can't just make an OC? Or why they feel the need to take the slutty!campy!characterisation so far that it becomes ridiculous.

Heh. I think it's not really anything to do with Seamus really - some writers just want a slutty gay character so Harry and/or Draco can fool around with someone, and make the other one jealous. I suppose Seamus is used just because he's, you know, male and there. I've seen Blaise used a lot in the same role. And I agree - it's a bit silly, and I usually ignore fics that have that. Some cliches are just too annoying. Homophobic!Ron who hates Harry cos he's gay is one of my pet annoyances.

(I can't believe someone said that about the Irish accent! That's so... so... *speechless*. So MORONIC!).

(I suppose you just have to put up with the OOC fics, because only by wading through them can you find the good ones!)

Your first paragraph = exactly what I was trying to say but much neater and with less rage and hyperbole. I talk too much.

Guh. I hate homophobic!Ron. It works on a minor scale, but when people go all out... just, guh. I learnt pretty quickly that when I see particular cliches, it's much better in general to just read something else. I've only seen one fic that was worth reading despite the crap Seamus, and I've never come across a good Harry-hating!homophobic!Ron. They're usually corruptions of the character beyond recognition for the sake of drama or making a point, and I've no interest in that.

I know, right? I was stunned. I should say though, those who said that (about Irish accent) did not actually believe it themselves. They were just passing it on.

But I'm in psychology, I need characters to act like people (except for crack & comedy). OOC hurts! *whimper* I wants peoples!
~~That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! Pander to me, for I am a sook in a psych degree!~~ /jk
You're right though. It is all totally worth it for the good ones. :)

H/D Fandom - just, urrrg! Stop sucking!!!!

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