snowynight (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
snowynight) wrote2013-02-18 08:46 pm
snowynight) wrote2013-02-18 08:46 pm
Entry tags:
B is for Betrayal
"When I woke up, I was led by two voices, one like the sound of thunders. And the other civilized, polite. We've been comrades ever since, but now we 're enemies." - Steve Rogers
When characters betray each other's trust, it 's often played for drama as a stab on your back hurts. No matter the trust violates was amongst individuals, between organizations or between individuals and organizations, the relationship is often inevitably broken and seldom can heal from it. Once bitten, twice shy. It's understandable that to quite a lot people, a betrayal is a nail to the coffin. An event horizon that a relationship never can go back from. For some others, betrayals can be bygone with atonement and true remorse. But usually we don't expect it to be forgiven lightly. That's why non-canonical betrayals in fanfics can be seen as character bashing. But then it can also be seen as a good chance to test the characters and there's always canonical betrayal (actual or perceived) that the fanfic writers want or need to deal with. Sadly I don't have much experience with betrayal in fanfics, but I'd like to talk about two betrayals in canon (actual or perceived) that leads to my different response.
As a Remus/Sirius shipper, there're some cases of actual or perceived betrayals in canon that I can't avoid. To Sirius, it happened when he was abandoned and sent to the prison for a crime he didn't commit. To Remus, here's the notorious Shrieking Shack incident. But their relationship, no matter you view it as platonic or not seems to be able to withstand it as evident in the canon. Many good writers deal with the Shrieking Shack incident and to be honest, the only thing that can help me forgive him along with Remus is that Sirius can be very impulsive and really stupid. Because I don't like stupidity, I guess I can't write a fic to deal with it. But I can understand the mistrust later because it was a war of white terror. No one could be sure of even themselves with the existence of dark magic. And time can heal a lot of things.
As a comics Steve/Tony fan, the immediate canon I have to deal with is Civil War, where Steve and Tony are on different sides on whether superhumans should register with the government. As they are both friends for decades, they both see it as a betrayal. However, they are angry and sad, but they always try to reach and respect each other. The canon shows us how they're affected by the split in Casualty of Wars and Tony to split his heart out in Confession. These help me to see a strong possibility that they can reconcile some day. I think that the difference is that I can get into the perceived betrayer's head in the later case and I can make sense of the motivation. Noble intention going terribly wrong is more easily to be forgiven than sheer stupidity. I think this's important in writing about betrayals in fics.
Question: What do you think about betrayals in canon or fanworks? How do you deal with it?
When characters betray each other's trust, it 's often played for drama as a stab on your back hurts. No matter the trust violates was amongst individuals, between organizations or between individuals and organizations, the relationship is often inevitably broken and seldom can heal from it. Once bitten, twice shy. It's understandable that to quite a lot people, a betrayal is a nail to the coffin. An event horizon that a relationship never can go back from. For some others, betrayals can be bygone with atonement and true remorse. But usually we don't expect it to be forgiven lightly. That's why non-canonical betrayals in fanfics can be seen as character bashing. But then it can also be seen as a good chance to test the characters and there's always canonical betrayal (actual or perceived) that the fanfic writers want or need to deal with. Sadly I don't have much experience with betrayal in fanfics, but I'd like to talk about two betrayals in canon (actual or perceived) that leads to my different response.
As a Remus/Sirius shipper, there're some cases of actual or perceived betrayals in canon that I can't avoid. To Sirius, it happened when he was abandoned and sent to the prison for a crime he didn't commit. To Remus, here's the notorious Shrieking Shack incident. But their relationship, no matter you view it as platonic or not seems to be able to withstand it as evident in the canon. Many good writers deal with the Shrieking Shack incident and to be honest, the only thing that can help me forgive him along with Remus is that Sirius can be very impulsive and really stupid. Because I don't like stupidity, I guess I can't write a fic to deal with it. But I can understand the mistrust later because it was a war of white terror. No one could be sure of even themselves with the existence of dark magic. And time can heal a lot of things.
As a comics Steve/Tony fan, the immediate canon I have to deal with is Civil War, where Steve and Tony are on different sides on whether superhumans should register with the government. As they are both friends for decades, they both see it as a betrayal. However, they are angry and sad, but they always try to reach and respect each other. The canon shows us how they're affected by the split in Casualty of Wars and Tony to split his heart out in Confession. These help me to see a strong possibility that they can reconcile some day. I think that the difference is that I can get into the perceived betrayer's head in the later case and I can make sense of the motivation. Noble intention going terribly wrong is more easily to be forgiven than sheer stupidity. I think this's important in writing about betrayals in fics.
Question: What do you think about betrayals in canon or fanworks? How do you deal with it?