DVD Commentary Meme

[out_there]

Pick a paragraph (or any passage less than 500 words) from any story I've written, and comment to this post with that selection. I will then give you a DVD commentary on that snippet: what I was thinking when I wrote it, why I wrote it in the first place, what's going on in the character's heads, why I chose certain words, what this moment means in the context of the rest of the fic, lots of awful puns, and anything else that you'd expect to find on a DVD commentary track.

Comments

[phoebesmum.livejournal.com]

OMG GEOCITIES ATE YOUR FANFIC!! Are the Sports Night epics archived anywhere else?

Also - woe - all that hard work I put in adding your fic to snarchive has just been made totally redundant. Bad Geocities! Bad!

So I won't use a snippet from Like Sailing and Home Runs, I'll use this instead:

But knowing that doesn’t actually help. Because every time his father calls, every time Dan gets a brief email saying, ‘In New York on the 13th. Maybe we should get lunch,’ there is this small, childish, ridiculous part of him that still thinks that this is his dad, that dads have to care, right? It’s a rule somewhere, written in stone or up on some great big blackboard in the sky: dads are supposed to care; dads are suppose to give a damn; dads are supposed to want to see you happy and be proud of you and love you.

[out-there.livejournal.com]

OMG GEOCITIES ATE YOUR FANFIC!! Are the Sports Night epics archived anywhere else?

Hee! Sorry for the momentary panic, there. Geocities did eat my fic, but I saved a copy. I just haven't got myself organised enough yet to repost it (probably to Dreamwidth, to see how much it can take in one posting -- a ridiculous amount, or so I've heard). When I do, I'll try to remember to update the snarchive link too...

(Commentary will come after lunch. Promise.)

[out-there.livejournal.com]

I remember writing that paragraph as part of a relatively short story (for me in SN, it was a short story) although I can't remember the fic title. But I can remember wanting to delve into the relationship between Dan and his father. One of the things I adored about SN was Sorkin's deft ability to flesh out a character's backstory and relationships with very light touches. While I would have loved to have seen Dan interract with his father a little more, given that we only saw him once, only heard Dan talk about his a handful of times, we were left with a strong impression of how the relationship worked and how much it effected Danny. (Which was also the reason for writing "Like Sailing and Home Runs". (*g*)

But knowing that doesn’t actually help. Because every time his father calls, every time Dan gets a brief email saying, ‘In New York on the 13th. Maybe we should get lunch,’

I think this is precisely how Dan's father would communicate: brief and to-the-point. But it's also the kind of message that can seem incredibly impersonal when it's received, even though it might not be sent with that thought in mind. To Dan's dad, he's being practical, being informal because it's a member of the family and they shouldn't have to stand on ceremony. To Dan, it's impersonal, it's borderline dismissive; it's the exact opposite of the affection and affirmation that he's really seeking from his father.

there is this small, childish, ridiculous part of him that still thinks that this is his dad, that dads have to care, right? It’s a rule somewhere, written in stone or up on some great big blackboard in the sky:

That last phrase -- "some great big blackboard in the sky" -- I shamelessly stole from The Secret. I'd recently seen it when I wrote this, and it was a phrase that I adored. This idea of god/fate/the universe/karma as some over-organising teacher writing up to-do lists on a blackboard in the sky is a really interesting thought. I like the way it implies childhood and a slight sense of helplessness, or at least reliance on someone else's words and rules.

When talking about parents, about how we deep-down feel about them and those really basic expectations that come from childhood, I think you need those subtle reminders of being a kid. Because in the bottom of our hearts, no matter how old we are, being around our parents and thinking of them is strongly connected to how we felt as kids.

And Dan knows this. Knows that when he thinks of his family, it's childlike (or "childish"), it's emotional, not logical. And part of him desperately wants to be "mature" about this, to be able to distance himself as an adult and not feel hurt and disappointed by his father's lack of effort.

...but that's rarely something that's even possible.

dads are supposed to care; dads are suppose to give a damn; dads are supposed to want to see you happy and be proud of you and love you.

And that's the ideal. Someone who loves and supports you, no matter what. The thing that Danny can't seem to see here is that sometimes, it's not parents who can fill that role (I mean, in Danny's life, that's so clearly Isaac and Casey and all the rest of the SN crew who love him dearly). Sometimes, as much as parents may think they're trying, they fail.

And sometimes, they're trying and you just can't see past your own expectations to recognise it.

I honestly think that Danny's stuck between the two. Stuck not quite realising that his Dad isn't ignoring him to be hurtful -- Jacob simply doesn't see what the fuss is about, he isn't as emotional as Danny and I don't think he's any good at reaching out to his son to reassure him -- and sometimes, he gets so stuck on his relationship with his dad that he forgets there are people around him who love him dearly.

But the upbeat thing about SN is that there are people there to remind Danny, even if they have to slap him upside the head (or steal his pants) to make him see it.

[paulettekid.livejournal.com]

Halfway through the junior pile, he gets a call from Felicia, saying, "Of the many, many themes present in Moby Dick, bestiality is not one of them."

It surprises a laugh out of Alex. "A man's love for his whale? There's got to be a market for that somewhere."

"But not in my class," Felicia complains. "I have an entire essay on bestiality."

"I'm trying to work out the logistics of that." He leans back in his chair, stretches his arms up and then drops his pen to his desk. It's not that he doesn't sympathize with Felicia, it's that she's fun to needle and it's nice to watch someone else deal with idiot students. Stretching and flexing his fingers against the ache of constant writing, Alex smirks and says, "I mean, how would you even--"

Felicia talks through him. "Don't go there, Alex. Really. Some of these kids, they're just not right."

"Ask me, there just isn't enough written about a guy getting it on with a whale," Alex says, turning his head and stretching his neck to the side. That's when he notices someone standing in his doorway.

The kid looks surprised and amused. Alex knows how fast rumors spread around campus. In the faculty room tomorrow, there'll be fish jokes, he's sure of it.

"I've gotta go," he tells Felicia, and she snorts and says, "Don't forget lunch," as he hangs up.
~~Just wanted to add that I loved this story but being an English major I had to pick the Moby Dick paragraph :)

[out-there.livejournal.com]

Halfway through the junior pile, he gets a call from Felicia, saying, "Of the many, many themes present in Moby Dick, bestiality is not one of them."

It surprises a laugh out of Alex. "A man's love for his whale? There's got to be a market for that somewhere."

"But not in my class," Felicia complains. "I have an entire essay on bestiality."

Moby Dick is one of those stories where even if you've never opened hte book, you still know about it. It's cultural osmosis, really. Sorry to disappoint an English major, but I've never read it. I've seen the Patrick Stewart version and heard about it enough to know enough to see that Ahab is clearly focused on the whale, and his obsession eventually causes his own downfall.

What makes it such a great literary comparison is that it's so clearly known. It gives Felicia a way of pointing to Alex that an objective opinion can be needed, that being too focused on your own goals/opinions/beliefs/fears can lead to your misery. Felicia brings it up earlier, admittedly in a round-about way, but it's the underlying thread of this entire story (acknowledging your blindspots and achieving happiness -- or the hope of it -- by testing your self-imposed limits).

"I'm trying to work out the logistics of that." He leans back in his chair, stretches his arms up and then drops his pen to his desk. It's not that he doesn't sympathize with Felicia, it's that she's fun to needle and it's nice to watch someone else deal with idiot students. Stretching and flexing his fingers against the ache of constant writing, Alex smirks and says, "I mean, how would you even--"

Felicia talks through him. "Don't go there, Alex. Really. Some of these kids, they're just not right."

This section started because I liked the idea of Felicia being Alex's closest friend. I liked the idea that even though they're quite different (as they are in canon, in many respects) they still *get* each other and Felicia is still the person that Alex would turn to and genuinely trust.

In a lot of ways, this story is barely about Alex/Michael. Oh, sure, the Alex/Michael is there, but mostly the story is about his friendship with Felicia. It's about how this version of Alex sees the world and how much Felicia means to him. (As you can see, I clearly believe Felicia Lang rocks.) I wanted to show a moment of them relaxing and having fun, a moment of them bothering each other as only best friends can.

It's also a sign of what they can and can't comfortably discuss. Alex can make jokes about beastiality, about his students, and almost about his lovelife, but not about the dishonourable discharge. While he trusts Felicia and her advise, while they share the world of academia (but not the same subjects), while he can accept that what she teaches will bleed through to her conversations (much like his students and subjects will be a big part of his life each semester), there are still limits.

"Ask me, there just isn't enough written about a guy getting it on with a whale," Alex says, turning his head and stretching his neck to the side. That's when he notices someone standing in his doorway.

I had to have that. When I thought about this section, I wanted an utterly ridiculous and bordering-on-moronic example of what a student might submit, and as soon as I thought of Moby Dick and bestiality, I knew it would be the most embarrassing thing to have a stranger overhear.

The kid looks surprised and amused. Alex knows how fast rumors spread around campus. In the faculty room tomorrow, there'll be fish jokes, he's sure of it.

"I've gotta go," he tells Felicia, and she snorts and says, "Don't forget lunch," as he hangs up.

But true to form, while Alex knows it might be embarassing, while he knows it's going to haunt him, it doesn't really phase him. It doesn't even make him stop his conversation with Felicia or try to pretend he was saying anything else.

Really, Alex just sits there, finishes his conversation, and silently dares Michael to say anything about it. And I have to admit, that kind of oomph, that kind of personal confidence, is one of the things that really attracted me to Alex as a character. (He's pretty awesome, it must be said.)

[paulettekid.livejournal.com]

thank you so much for the commentary, and I will let you in on a little secret I never read Moby Dick either. I was a writing major and only had to take a handful of Lit classes. I didn't even have to take William Shakespeare though I did take Neoclassic and that did include The Tempest which I would not recomend to anyone.