FDK: The High Cost of Having a Life - A Birthday Challenge fic for Wendy - 02/19/06 02:28 AM
Okay, insert groan here, please. Loud groan. Tank, your story is really well written, makes a good point, but - well, groan!!! It ends with a Tank ending, minus the humour, which admittedly never made me laugh in the first place, sorry... 
Gaahh! I want to indulge in a basic waffiness of Lois and Clark, secure in the knowledge that all's well that ends well, and feeling cosy in my conviction that this will definitely end well, because it is, after all, Lois and Clark. 'Course, bring in the Tank endings and you'll kill the waffiness, as surely as you will bring Superman to his knees if you show him the Kryptonite. And a story that ends with Superman dying of Kryptonite is a story that will never endear itself to me, just as I will never like a story that wraps itself up with a Tank ending.
Of course, because of the definite lack of humour in this story, it should be considered a cautionary tale rather than a Tank ending comedy. So what does it warn us about? There are two possibilities. The first possibility is that you are warning Clark to stay away from Lois forever. You could be telling him that he should never try to have a private life at all, certainly not a romantic commitment to one special woman, because every time he spends quality time with her, innocent people are going to be killed because of his selfish romantic indulgence. And because Superman doesn't exist in the first place, so that no one can say what he is "really" like, and since it's certainly isn't a new idea that the Last son of Krypton can't be both protector of humanity and lover of Lois Lane at the same time - it was the guiding principle behind the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, for example - I definitely can't say that you are wrong to suggest that Clark and Lois just can't be together. But I'm never going to accept that idea for myself, or share that vision of Lois and Clark.
But it is possible to read your story in another way, and it has to do with focussing on Clark's strategy to lie about himself in order to gain and retain Lois's love. His decision to seriously, honestly inflict a split personality disorder on himself, so that he can pretend that Clark isn't Superman at all. His decision to allow himself to be honestly, pathologically jealous of himself, his feeling of being justified to convince Lois that she must love Clark because he isn't Superman, and only afterwards having to confess to her that Clark really is Superman after all... which is a confession he ultimately may not make. You made Clark think this to himself in your story,
Well, maybe she wouldn't forgive him. So wouldn't it be better to just keep lying to her? Forever? And thus having to ignore calls for help, having to let people die even though he could have helped them, just because he can't run off from Lois again because then she might get angry, or, alternately, she might figure out that Clark is Superman?
Maybe that is the point of your story, Tank. If Clark really wants a relationship with Lois, then he'd better 'fess up to her now. And he must ask her if she is willing to share him with the world. Because he is Superman, and his running away from her is never going to change. And if she can't accept that, then she must look for another boyfriend, that is all there is for it. And if Clark has any guts at all, he must admit to himself that he really should blame himself for Monica Pearson's death... but not because he was on a date with Lois on the night when she was killed. No, but because he hadn't come clean with Lois, hadn't told her that he might have to run off and be Superman even on their date. But if he had told her, and he still had been so distracted by Lois that he honestly hadn't heard Monica Pearson's cries for help.... Well, tough luck, Monica. Superman wants to help, but for all his being Kryptonian, he really is only human. And he shouldn't blame himself for loving Lois, and for occasionally being so distracted by her that he isn't aware of other people's agony.
Well, whew! Talk about giving somebody a piece of my mind. Are you still talking to me, Tank? If so, can you explain to me what you mean by this being a birthday challenge fic for Wendy? Are you, perhaps, asking her to write a sequel to this, so that it doesn't end so depressingly? Okay, if that was your intention, I guess I take back all the nasty things I said about this story! So, hmmm, Wendy? There's a story here that really, really needs rectifying... it needs a sequel... courtesy of somebody from London... so couldn't you let you-know-Who go, hmmm? For just a moment? Pretty please?
Ann
Gaahh! I want to indulge in a basic waffiness of Lois and Clark, secure in the knowledge that all's well that ends well, and feeling cosy in my conviction that this will definitely end well, because it is, after all, Lois and Clark. 'Course, bring in the Tank endings and you'll kill the waffiness, as surely as you will bring Superman to his knees if you show him the Kryptonite. And a story that ends with Superman dying of Kryptonite is a story that will never endear itself to me, just as I will never like a story that wraps itself up with a Tank ending.
Of course, because of the definite lack of humour in this story, it should be considered a cautionary tale rather than a Tank ending comedy. So what does it warn us about? There are two possibilities. The first possibility is that you are warning Clark to stay away from Lois forever. You could be telling him that he should never try to have a private life at all, certainly not a romantic commitment to one special woman, because every time he spends quality time with her, innocent people are going to be killed because of his selfish romantic indulgence. And because Superman doesn't exist in the first place, so that no one can say what he is "really" like, and since it's certainly isn't a new idea that the Last son of Krypton can't be both protector of humanity and lover of Lois Lane at the same time - it was the guiding principle behind the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, for example - I definitely can't say that you are wrong to suggest that Clark and Lois just can't be together. But I'm never going to accept that idea for myself, or share that vision of Lois and Clark.
But it is possible to read your story in another way, and it has to do with focussing on Clark's strategy to lie about himself in order to gain and retain Lois's love. His decision to seriously, honestly inflict a split personality disorder on himself, so that he can pretend that Clark isn't Superman at all. His decision to allow himself to be honestly, pathologically jealous of himself, his feeling of being justified to convince Lois that she must love Clark because he isn't Superman, and only afterwards having to confess to her that Clark really is Superman after all... which is a confession he ultimately may not make. You made Clark think this to himself in your story,
Quote
Would she be able to forgive him for lying to her for so long?
Maybe that is the point of your story, Tank. If Clark really wants a relationship with Lois, then he'd better 'fess up to her now. And he must ask her if she is willing to share him with the world. Because he is Superman, and his running away from her is never going to change. And if she can't accept that, then she must look for another boyfriend, that is all there is for it. And if Clark has any guts at all, he must admit to himself that he really should blame himself for Monica Pearson's death... but not because he was on a date with Lois on the night when she was killed. No, but because he hadn't come clean with Lois, hadn't told her that he might have to run off and be Superman even on their date. But if he had told her, and he still had been so distracted by Lois that he honestly hadn't heard Monica Pearson's cries for help.... Well, tough luck, Monica. Superman wants to help, but for all his being Kryptonian, he really is only human. And he shouldn't blame himself for loving Lois, and for occasionally being so distracted by her that he isn't aware of other people's agony.
Well, whew! Talk about giving somebody a piece of my mind. Are you still talking to me, Tank? If so, can you explain to me what you mean by this being a birthday challenge fic for Wendy? Are you, perhaps, asking her to write a sequel to this, so that it doesn't end so depressingly? Okay, if that was your intention, I guess I take back all the nasty things I said about this story! So, hmmm, Wendy? There's a story here that really, really needs rectifying... it needs a sequel... courtesy of somebody from London... so couldn't you let you-know-Who go, hmmm? For just a moment? Pretty please?
Ann
I can't wait to read the conclusion.
Now I want more! 
