Fanfiction is more commonly used, and there is a sort of... pejorative connotation to it. Fanfiction is seen in the same light as a bodice ripper-- and actually, I think that this is very telling. Fanfiction is coded feminine, just as romance novels are, and it suffers from the same prejudices. It is sexual! It's pathetic! It's girly!
So, why do we think that? Why do these things cause us to feel that those reading and producing this work are, on some level, disgusting?
For now, I'm going to leave that question dangling out there, and talk to you about the last thing I read that made me cry. This is a piece of transformative fiction which has no romance, and no sexual content whatsoever. That's right, it's a kidfic.
Kidfics are actually pretty popular. In some cases, I think because we find antisocial behaviors to be more acceptable in children. When you look at a teenager or a young adult or an older adult who is lashing out or obviously damaged in some way, the feelings you have tend to be different. You're annoyed at them for inconveniencing you with their problems. You are trying to decide if they're a threat to you. Sure, you might feel sympathy or compassion, but on some level, you would like them to just get over it already, god! They're supposed to have put on their big girl panties and gotten over it already. Life's hard for people all over. We're able to access our compassion and understanding for children much more easily, because it's easier to say "This is not your fault. You just don't know how to cope yet, because you're young."
Kidfic allows the writer to imagine a way to make all the bad things that have happened to a character go away. Are there any superheros out there who haven't had horrible, soul crushing childhoods? Because if there are, I can't really think of any. Batman, Spiderman, Captain America, even Superman-- all members of the Dead Parents club. Of course, these heroes at least had the benefit of having their dead parents be good people, and good parents. That is usually one of the primary differences between supervillians and superheros, actually. We have a few examples of this-- Hawkeye had shitty parents, which is why his brother Trickshot was a villian for a large swath of their history, and the same can certainly be said for Lex Luthor, Loki, and almost any other villian. Reason #1 to hug your children, The world does not need more supervillians. #LokiOdinsfault
I would say that one of the best examples of this in the Marvel Universe has always been Tony Stark. Because, wow, A+ parenting there, Howard. Let's just slow clap it out for you.
When we see Tony, it's always him as adult, and we find his personality quirks and his coping mechanisms amusing and annoying. In our hearts, we are all Pepper Potts, whining "Toooooony!" At him while he tomcats around with a drink in his hand. But... seriously, what happened to him to make him put up such fucking insurmountable walls? There are, in that man's past, a long line of adults that have failed him and have used him, starting with his parents and Obie, and extending to everyone but his butler, Jarvis. When we seem him extending love to anything, it is mostly machines, because they are safe. But, he's a grownup, so we're free to blame him for his issues-- and, I'm not really saying we shouldn't. Poor little rich boy, etc. He's a survivor, and a real person, and everything about him is not just a straight line drawn from his traumas. He get to be someone who was forged by his experiences, not broken by them. It's something to be proud of. But I do think that we should, at some point, look at him and see the 5 year old that he once was, and let it break our hearts a little.
It has always been my secret fantasy that Howard did find Captain America, partway through Tony's childhood, and THEN dies and leaves him to be raised by Steve. That is seriously my dream. It is my happy place.
In search of this happy place, I found A.I.s and Lullabies, which is not that story. This is a story that brings you that 5 year old, and makes you look at him, and fall in love with him, and then it takes him away. And yeah, I cried. For who he could have been, and for who he is.
So, should you like to have a similar emotionally cathartic experience, you may click the link below.
