In another thread, Nancy wrote:
I am glad that she finally got a dose of her won [own] medicine!
So, is it this "Lois must be punished" idea?
As in this Nancy? As in me? It sounds very familiar, but I can’t find the quote.
I don’t think Lois should be punished, but she was incredibly mean to him in the first season. She didn’t even give Clark the courtesy of treating him like a co-worker should be treated. She treated him like a doormat. She treated him like dirt under her feet. That’s why she should get a dose of her own medicine so she knows how it feels. I had a really hard time coming to terms with the way Lois treated Clark in the first season. And I know I’m not the only one that feels that way because I’ve seen it mentioned in other threads.
I think a quote from a recent fic I read says it well:
She had taught him that a pure, deep, abiding love like his meant nothing to her. She'd enjoyed his attention; it had made her very happy most of the time. The only time it had bothered her was when she started to weaken and contemplate returning that love. She would then do something to make sure he understood his place in her world and she could go back to her teasing banter with no fears that he'd mistake her friendliness for anything more.
Now, mind you, she eventually changed, but it took her a long time, and Clark put up with a lot from her.
Is it because she wanted to be the best at her job? (but that "uppity female" argument doesn't apply in 2007, does it?)
No.
Or because she loved Superman, rather than Clark, in most of Season 1? (although on her wedding day, it was Clark she loved and so said no to Luthor)
No.
Because she didn't figure out that Clark was Superman in S1?
No.
Don’t know what you mean.
Or because we believe Clark can do no wrong? He is always lovable, regardless of what he does. (what my psych text calls the 'halo' affect)
No. Clark can be pretty stupid at times. (Like the thing he did in Contact where he said he couldn’t be with her because it was dangerous.) But with that and one other exception (when he told Lois not to bother with the robe because he could see through it), he wasn’t mean to her. He didn’t treat her like a doormat. He didn’t treat her like dirt under his feet. It seems to me that I rather more see the idea that Lois can do no wrong, and she gets rewarded regardless of her very bad behavior.
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Maybe I've just missed the "Lois moves on fics"? And there's not this double standard in fics at all?
For me, Clark / Superman is the main character. (Don’t hit me, Ann.) As much as some people might want to deny that, that’s evidently what other people believe, too, or we might see more of those Lois moves on fics.
Yvonne evidently agrees:
I like reading about Clark - which I know is pretty narrow-minded of me, but there you go.
Perfectly said, Yvonne. I like reading about Clark, too.
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Perhaps there is a unconscious thought that if *we* had Clark (we being the women FoLCs), *we* would never treat him in such an abominable manner. Lois did, and therefore she should be punished by remaining alone for life. I think if we were to take a survey, not many would admit to this feeling, but it may be underlying nonetheless.
Exactly, Lisa. I don’t think she should be punished by remaining alone the rest of her life, but she did treat him horribly, so why should she always get the man of her dreams when she acted that way? (I’m speaking about elseworld fics.)
And sometimes we
do lose the love of our lives because of stupidity, but does that mean we can’t go on to find some kind of happiness and love with another?
Come to think of it, I can't offhand think of any fics where Lois is indeed alone for life. All the separation fics I can recall (before 9am ) have Clark coming back in the end. Looks like I need to catch up on my archive reading!
There’s one that has just been posted to the archive where Clark has moved on with his life and is quite happy. Lois marries Luthor and later finds out he is scum. It leaves Lois with the knowledge that she will never have Clark / Superman because of the way she treated him. (It does leave it open as to whether she will find her own love.) Here it is:
It Might Have Been... The author has told me he has no intention of writing another fic where Lois and Clark get together. I rather like to see some elseworld fics that explore these things, but I know I’m in the minority.
But Clark treated Lois pretty badly, too, at times. So why no "punish" Clark fics? And there really are none. Is it as simple as the gender thing - we still are harder on own sex than on men?
It could be that we are harder on our own sex, but when you compare it, Lois was far worse to Clark (at least in my opinion). The only two things I can think of where he treated her really badly was the, ‘Don’t bother, I can see through your gown thing’, and the ‘I can’t be with you because you might be hurt thing’.
I think part of why there are maybe no "moving on" fics is because as authors, we tend to write what we think will be enjoyed by the readers. For the most part, I don't think any of us want to see Lois or Clark "move on". We want desperately for them to end up together - one way or the other.
I like to see the occasional moving on fics. I know a lot of folks might not admit the same, but there are fics that have been written about both of them moving on and there are fics where both Lois or Clark dies prematurely, so there are folks who want to both read and write them. True, there aren’t as many about Clark dying prematurely, but there are a few. But yes, authors are driven by what their readers want. I found out very quickly that very few folks want to read a story where Lois is dead.
I think I'd be afraid of being run out of town on a rail if I wrote a fic in which Lois dumps Clark (or vice versa) in a permanent fashion and gets together with someone else.
No, I don’t think you would, DJ. The author of It Might Have Been told me that he has gotten a lot of positive feedback.
Clark probably wouldn't really be able to move on even if Lois did.
I’ve never thought that. I think he could move on. He might never again have exactly the same type of instant love that he did with Lois, but I think he could still find love. (Obviously or I wouldn't have written such a fic.)
and let's face it, most of the time, she not only didn't know whether she did or not, she did her damnedest to fight it, hide her feelings and demonstrate her appalling taste in human men.
Yes, she did.
most of the first two years of their relationship is "punish Clark", coming to a head after the Sardine appears and is not immediately shot for lowering the human average IQ.
Great way of putting it. The first two years was ‘punish Clark’.
What’s FWIW mean?
Actually, if you exclude the fact that Clark will inevitibly outlive Lois, there aren't too many of the Clark moves on type of fics either.
I think that’s true, Tank.
But then again, I'm not really into the soulmates thing, fictionally speaking or not. I don't think there's just-one-and-only-one right person for everybody.
Yes, I think just about everybody knows that I agree with this.
Clark, on the other hand, is clearly lost without Lois. So in the mind, his personality and behavior actually *beg* the question "Could he move on? Is he capable of it?"
Again, I think he’s quite capable of moving on although not easily. I think it would be pretty hard for him.
So the idea of him leaving her is a very hard concept for a FoLC to swallow.
Yes, I find the idea of leaving him a difficult concept, but I don’t find the idea difficult that he could move on if Lois was out of his life.
1 - Lois' death. Much more likely than Clark's death because she is human and has a knack for trouble to boot.
2 - Lois' leaves/rejects Clark and possibly marries someone else, either happily or unhappily. Obviously there is precedent for this.
Yes, I find these the more likely scenarios, too.
I guess I just don't get the whole 'punish anyone' idea
Well, as I said, I’m pretty sure it’s my quote that CC used, and that’s not what I meant.
Hmm... Very interesting thread.
