Again, from Carol:
But what I have said was that if those relationships were presented as "the love of a lifetime" or "that one great love" then that premise would consequently make it inconsistent for either Clark or Lois to be presented as "the love of a lifetime" at some other point.
Carol, how do we know that one of those other relationships was "the love of a lifetime?" What's the criteria? Where's the checklist for making that decision? What tips us off? How can we tell? Or do we have to await your judgment?
This sounds like Clark's reaction to his wife's sudden and violent death at the end of "The Road Taken" should have been to sweep Lois into his arms, kiss her senseless, proclaim his eternal love for her, and remark that his love for Lana pales in comparison to his love for Lois. Then she says "Okay, when's the wedding?"
No way. Not gonna happen. Not only does a hokey ending like that cheapen their relationship, it devalues the character of Lana and makes
her just a notch on Clark's bedpost. Like we've said, you want to see Clark with Lois and ultimately
only with Lois. Hey, I got no problem with that. In fact, I prefer that outcome myself. And if you want to leave feedback saying that this is what you prefer, by all means do so.
The problem, Carol, is that you insist that because this is a Lois and Clark forum, Lois can end up only with Clark and Clark can end up only with Lois - unless, of course, those other relationships really didn't mean anything. You see a story where an author decides to explore something really juicy, something really different, something with some angst and a few WHAMs and an "edge" to it, and because Clark and Lois don't get together right away, you think it's not L&C fanfic. There are tons of romantic stories with the L&C relationship resolution as the central focus. If you like those kinds of stories, fine! Read them! Enjoy them! There are a lot of them on the archive and more being written all the time by highly skilled authors who feel the same about our heroic couple that you do.
The difference is that they don't feel it necessary to dismiss a story that doesn't settle under this umbrella as "too Smallville" or "too movie Superman" or "not really canon," whether you use the word or not. You're trying to force us into your preferences, and
that's what is generating all these sparks.
Ann wrote:
But I feel so enormously strongly about Lois and Clark. I feel so enormously strongly that Clark is dead to me as a fictional hero if he doesn't love Lois, and if he doesn't love her a lot more than any other woman, and if Lois isn't alive and around for him to love.
Please accept that I feel that way.
Ann has told us that Clark cannot exist for her unless Lois is the dominant love in his life. Gosh, Ann, doesn't that make Clark subservient to Lois? Doesn't that make his existence an adjunct to hers, without substance on its own? Doesn't that make him completely dependent on her for not only his identity but for his life?
This is the kind of thing that, if we reverse the gender of the pronouns, would be denounced (and rightfully so) as anti-female. How can someone who is an ardent feminist, dedicated to the equality of the sexes, express so biased a viewpoint?
To Ann's credit, she clearly states that this is
her viewpoint and she's not trying to make anyone else adopt it. Thank you, Ann. You have a right to feel this way, and you have a right to express your feelings. You aren't trying to make the rest of us take on your viewpoint, and I applaud you for your eloquence while I shake my head wonderingly at this highly limited and very sexist view of Clark.
There are a number of similarities and a few differences between Ann's POV and Carol's POV, but the main difference is that Ann recognizes that she's not the ultimate authority on what qualifies as L&C fanfic while Carol feels compelled to point out what is and what is not L&C fanfic by her measure.
This is the problem, Carol! If you want to express your opinion, please feel free to do so. If you don't like the same kinds of stories that I do, fine! You don't have to, and in fact there should be some disagreement, otherwise all the stories would sound the same. But don't try to shoehorn us into your narrow view of what's acceptable L&C fanfic. Because your opinions and feelings are perfectly valid, they are perfectly acceptable, but they are
not the perfect guides for the rest of us.
I'm done ranting. I will check into this thread again, but I doubt that I'll post anything else. I'm beginning to feel like a broken record here.
Maybe we all need to just go write something.
