(no subject)

[erda]

I’ve been reading Fan fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet, specifically the chapter called Intimatopia by Elizabeth Woledge.



I had a strong negative reaction to the term Intimatopia at first, but I find I keep coming back to it because much as I dislike the connotation it has for me, it says something that feels true. There’s a whole lot going on in the essay which I won’t go into here, but in part she coined the term to represent a type of slash story in which intimacy is the primary point, with depictions of sex optional and only after intimacy has been well established by non sexual means. This captures what is to me an essential part of my enjoyment of slash writing.


I was rereading sardonicsmiley 's story Atlantis City Limits and intimatopic is the best word I can find to describe it. Intimatopic slash can begin with a sex scene and still be considered intimatopic if prior intimacy has been established between the characters canonically, but most authors of this type of fanfiction,and this one in particular, will attempt to deepen the intimacy through various plot devices in the early stages of the story long before there is any sexual contact. From the first paragraph we are given evidence of the intimacy already existing between Sheppard and McKay and the story continues to deepen that intimacy with every succeeding incident.

Sheppard acquires a guitar like instrument. Knowing McKay as he does, he gives it to McKay quietly by leaving it in McKay's room for him. They don’t speak of it, which only highlights the informality of their relationship and hence their intimacy.

Rodney teaches himself to play the guitar thingy alone. Privacy underlies Rodney’s relationship to the instrument and the author establishes his unwillingness to share his music so that later she can knock it down and thereby increase the intensity of the sharing. It's obvious early on that this is what is going to happen, but that is ok; this is a story that seduces rather than surprises the reader.

One night John is out alone, prowling the corridors of Atlantis and he hears the guitar. He finds a small group of people listening to the music. Rodney is unaware that he is being observed. The author uses words like private, quiet, and contemplative to increase the feeling of intimacy between Rodney and the listeners.

Teyla tells John how she had interrupted Rodney playing the guitar right after he’d gotten it, and he had been flustered and embarrassed and made her promise not to tell anyone about it. We see again that this music thing is a very private act Rodney indulges in solely for himself, not wishing to share this clearly intimate act with others.

John continues to join the small group eavesdropping on Rodney at night- of course the playing takes place at night in order to increase the feeling of secretiveness that is central to this story.

I have to say here that Rodney plays some sort of rock music, I have no idea what because I’m an extremely pompous music snob and the only guitar music I’ve ever bothered listening to is Bach, and that rarely. The writer manages to transcend my lack of understanding of rock and (temporarily) put aside my prejudice by the slow and careful way she builds this story.

John’s favorite nights are the ones where Rodney takes one song and improvises on it, because the improvisations are more personal and intimate than just playing someone else’s music as written. He listens with his eyes closed, and in case we still don’t get it, the author says that afterwards he wishes for a lighter. Okay, that probably was overkill, I was already getting it, but it’s nice to know the mood is intentional.

One of the listeners destroys their secrecy by bursting in on Rodney and the description of the scene John observes when he rushes after her to try to stop her is amazing. The details here blow me away, especially for some reason that Rodney has kicked off his shoes and socks and placed them in a messy pile with his jacket.

John is outraged at the girl’s intrusion on Rodney, on his intimacy with Rodney, even though Rodney doesn’t know he’s been listening. I might point out this John doesn’t really seem much like the John I see in canon, but he’s the John I’d like to see, the John I come to fanfiction for because TPTB will never give me this character. I love when John gets protective toward Rodney. Anyway the scene is infused with intimacy and terms like open vulnerability and naked hurt and betrayal abound, ratcheting up the intensity. Rodney feels intruded upon and gets mad. He seems to think John brought the girl to hear him kindof like a date, which, yeah, would be maddeningly insensitive. Rodney returns the guitar to John in anger, and John’s all horrified and sorry. Which hurts so good.

There follows a scene in which Rodney is pretty much raped by being made to play some music thing for total strangers while on a mission. This follows your average fanfiction rape story aside from the fact that it is not literal. Rodney voluntarily embraces the assault to save all their asses and John is all horrified some more. And he tries to comfort Rodney and Rodney’s all raw and hostile and just been raped and all that good stuff.

Teyla straightens out the misunderstanding between the boys so they can make up and Rodney plays the guitar thing for John, alone, in John’s room, replete with many many more intimacy markers, like John locking the door, significant looking, desperate breathing and so on. Really the sex scene that follows is a lovely culmination of this story but I would have enjoyed it even if it had stopped with the private concert.

Anyway, I went into a lot more detail than I intended here. I really just wanted to point out what a perfect example of Intimatopic writing this story is.





Be warned: extensive spoiling for the SGA story Atlantis City Limits behind the cut.