SN rambling...

[out_there]

harriet_spy wrote an interesting article on how fandom shapes how writers write.

I think that she does have a point. It's very easily to take fanon for granted, to write a fic relying on the people reading it already knowing certain unstated facts. After a while, it becomes almost second nature to assume that everyone knows that x does this, or that x and y are Meant To Be, or Obviously Shagging.

I'm wondering if this is part of the reason I like the fics I like. I *like* first time fics. I like the build-up, I like the work that goes into making it believable that x would sleep with y. But, more than that, it made me think about why I'm so head-over-heels in love with Sports Night fandom. (Because I am. I really, really am. I'd even say I'm more ensorcelled by SN fandom than I was by SV, and that's saying something. Interestingly enough, they're both OTP fandoms.)

I'd consider SN an OTP fandom. Not every fic revolves around Dan/Casey, but it's pretty much a given that a heck of a lot do. Regardless of the fact that most of the fandom accepts that these two are Meant To Be (I am ridiculously optimist and sappy about this pairing. I make no excuses for it.), I don't think it's a particularly "esoteric" fandom.

I haven't found a lot of fics that simply assume that Casey and Dan are sleeping together, and when they do, they tend to either be PWP (which I do enjoy) or fairly shortish fics. Either way, they don't tend to grate the way that a lot of fics can. I don't find them as exclusive (as in, excluding new readers) as some other fandoms.

Of course, I'm somewhat biased. I've seen all the episodes, more than once; I can quote lines; I love the show to an unreasonable degree. I'm not on the mailing list, but I'm part of the LJ fandom, and post frequently to both inthetallgrass and sn100. But I don't believe there's the same feeling of exclusivity that I find in other fandoms, such as BtVS, LoTRPS and popslash.

I'm thinking about this, because I was talking about SN characterisation yesterday with shellah. There are... some large holes in SN canon, and the show ended so early that there's a lot of wiggle room for authors. As a direct result, I don't have a definite characterisation of Dan and Casey. I have a general feel of them, but their world view, their actual attitudes and reactions, changes from fic to fic.

In West Wing, I have a definite idea of Sam and Josh; I can name twenty things about them, and I have a certain idea of how they would reaction to situation A. In SN, I'm honestly not sure. It depends on the particular fic that I'm writing and my mood at the time. It depends on the last episode I watched and the last fannish discussion I had about them. Hence, my idea of them isn't too certain.

I mean, for a very basic difference, take their attitude towards homosexuality. In Casey's case, you could argue that he is a somewhat conservative midwestern boy, he makes a disparaging remark about lesbians and is accused of being homophobic. (To quote Dana, "Tell me you're not a homophobe.") He's been married for ten years, canonically slept with Sally, spent a lot of time in pursuit of Dana, and went on nine dates with women over the two seasons (Leesa, Pixley, and seven "practice" dates during the six month dating plan).

(During the show, we see both guys fall for women, so I tend to believe that at best, they're both basically bi. At worst, they're both straight.)

On the other hand, he's not exact closed-minded, regardless of our value assumptions. When confronted with an alternative view, he tends to complain about it or rile against it, but will eventually admit he's wrong without holding a grudge. He has a hero-worship of male sports stars (or as he crows to Jeremy, "Shane McArnold just asked me out!"), which is either amusing, or telling of a less than straight college life.

I'm never quite sure how straight Casey is, or how inexperienced. He's not as confident, not as "smooth" with women, but... when he wants to be, he's quite the charmer. I'm never too sure if Casey is hiding from the idea of being attracted to Dan, or if he's emotionally mature enough to simply accept it. I'm generally not sure if he'll freak out about the idea of sleeping with Dan, accept it as long as he doesn't have to talk about it, or be perfectly willing to discuss it like a rational adult.

Of course, then there's Dan. There are far more canonical references to Dan being gay than Casey. Casey mentions he's an "attractive guy" (although I can't remember which episode...); the legal advisor says some people think it's "vaguely gay" that he sung happy birthday to Casey on-air; his father says, rather unkindly, that his haircut "makes him look a little gay"; Dan jokes about Robert Wagner or Elliot sending him flowers. Add to that the knowledge that he spent his teenage years drinking and smoking dope, and his college years being basically uncomfortable about spending time around people, and it's easy to assume that Dan either sleeps with guys, or used to.

However, there's plenty of mentions of him seeing women (his stalker Mandy, flirting with and probably sleeping with the Volleyball player, sleeping with Bobbi, dating Elaine, sleeping with Rebecca, flirting with Abby). Intriguing, we see four of these women onscreen, and only see three of Casey's het love interests. There's mentions that Dan is "smooth" with women, that he finds it easy to date them. There's also his sessions with Abby to consider. Dan genuinely wants his father to like him, and he has a remarkable ability to hide his feelings and reactions from other people. I think it would be very easy to assume that Dan's in strong denial, that he has far more invested in considering himself "straight".

(It's interesting that I do consider that Dan's main objection would be thinking of himself as "not gay", while Casey's would be considering himself a "man". Much as I love Casey, he tends to be very politely chauvanistic.)

Likewise, I think other fans may suffer from this same complaint, albeit to a less uncertain degree. If each fan isn't *positive* of their characterisation, it's very hard to come to a fannish consensus of who each character is. Accordingly, it's harder to reach that same level of fannish shorthand, except amongst a very small pocket of SN fen. It doesn't apply to the larger fandom, so it doesn't appear too frequently in fic.

On the other hand, there is definite fanon in my fandom. I can't deny it. The overabundance of "Case" in fic, when Danny says it twice in the show (I don't know if/how often Isaac says it, but I keep meaning to keep an eye out for it. If anyone spots Isaac using it, could you let me know the episode/situation?). The habit of assuming that all Danny needs to be a little more sane is to kiss Casey and it's magically all better. The assumption that they stay over at each others' place (which, doesn't actually happen in the show. Danny offers for Casey to stay at his place, but I don't think we ever get confirmation that he does. But how many fics feature them crashing at each other's place?).


ETA: Do you all remember my Teamwork Josh/Sam icon? ("My fandom believes in teamwork") That the cap being used this week for wwcontest. I don't know whether I should just submit the old icon, or try to revamp it (We can rebuild it. We have the technology.). Either way, I'm mightily amused.