I have never heard of misaimed fandom. There is so much out there in fanfic that addresses everything under the sun, including major taboos, that I kinda thought that was what fandom and slash was for...addressing things not normally addressed in "pretty little fictions." Now much of fanfic is not well-written, but that's another subject. If the author cannot pull off her insane idea, then, well, it may not be the idea that is the problem but the writing itself.
As for liking the villains, it depends on how it's done. If done well, you find yourself liking the bad guy and then questioning it, which is a GOOD thing and a tribute to good writing (getting the viewer/reader to question, philosophically, some things they might think are black and white when really things come in shades of gray.)
I have liked quite a few villains in my time. I love Lestat. I'm always on the side of the misunderstood vampire. I like Spike from Buffy (and always have.) A more recent film I watched where I found myself liking a serial killer (and maybe a little shocked about that) was the film "Mr. Brooks" starring Kevin Costner. In every way he was a pretty good guy...he just had this little quirk...he liked to kill couples as they made love. Just a little quirk, mind you.
And of course the BIGGIE is (and like you I am not over him and never intend to get over him) is Sonny Steelgrave. What I like about this character is that he's not as dumb as he sometimes acts, he does have feelings (not just coldness) and he is a businessman. I think I may see the character slightly differently from you, which is perfectly fine, in that his "evilness" is purely business, not really personal. I never saw him, like you do, as homophobic. In fact, I saw him as maybe more open than others that way (compared to his brother and Tony.) I never saw him as racist, either. But maybe I missed something. Or maybe it's my penchant to always be defending him. But he is not going to lose sleep over doing what needs to be done to keep himself and his loved one safe, and keep his business on-going. Now a lot of people say that he corrupts Vinnie, but I see it the other way around (and write from this pov a lot) wherein Vinnie comes along and corrupts Sonny, makes Sonny feel a bit more, feel conscience, compassion, makes him want to be a better person. Well, I think about that episode with Joey the singer, where Sonny is pushed by others (like Mack) into doing bad things he doesn't seem to really want to do. And he argues with Vinnie over Joey, but you can see he really tries to take Vinnie's advice to heart and is sorry that he cannot do that because business is business. There are other things about Sonny that I'm not even sure I can put into words as to why he is such a sympathetic characters. The actor did a bang up job...I give him major credit. I think the writers took stuff from the actor and wrote later on more for the way Sharkey was "taking off" with him, and it was later that Sonny became more and more sympathetic and vulnerable that you just were so sure he had something inside him worth saving, worth it for Vinnie to save.
I have never watched The Shield. I despise The Sopranos and never felt sympathy for ANY of those characters so got bored with it quite quickly. It did not push any of my "good" buttons. I can fall for villains, but I don't like shows with only cold characters. However, I like Patty in "Damages" and she's NOT nice.
By the way, I am a total Twin Peaks fan and can get behind you re: Ben Horne quite easily.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-06-05 04:33 pm (UTC)As for liking the villains, it depends on how it's done. If done well, you find yourself liking the bad guy and then questioning it, which is a GOOD thing and a tribute to good writing (getting the viewer/reader to question, philosophically, some things they might think are black and white when really things come in shades of gray.)
I have liked quite a few villains in my time. I love Lestat. I'm always on the side of the misunderstood vampire. I like Spike from Buffy (and always have.) A more recent film I watched where I found myself liking a serial killer (and maybe a little shocked about that) was the film "Mr. Brooks" starring Kevin Costner. In every way he was a pretty good guy...he just had this little quirk...he liked to kill couples as they made love. Just a little quirk, mind you.
And of course the BIGGIE is (and like you I am not over him and never intend to get over him) is Sonny Steelgrave. What I like about this character is that he's not as dumb as he sometimes acts, he does have feelings (not just coldness) and he is a businessman. I think I may see the character slightly differently from you, which is perfectly fine, in that his "evilness" is purely business, not really personal. I never saw him, like you do, as homophobic. In fact, I saw him as maybe more open than others that way (compared to his brother and Tony.) I never saw him as racist, either. But maybe I missed something. Or maybe it's my penchant to always be defending him. But he is not going to lose sleep over doing what needs to be done to keep himself and his loved one safe, and keep his business on-going. Now a lot of people say that he corrupts Vinnie, but I see it the other way around (and write from this pov a lot) wherein Vinnie comes along and corrupts Sonny, makes Sonny feel a bit more, feel conscience, compassion, makes him want to be a better person. Well, I think about that episode with Joey the singer, where Sonny is pushed by others (like Mack) into doing bad things he doesn't seem to really want to do. And he argues with Vinnie over Joey, but you can see he really tries to take Vinnie's advice to heart and is sorry that he cannot do that because business is business. There are other things about Sonny that I'm not even sure I can put into words as to why he is such a sympathetic characters. The actor did a bang up job...I give him major credit. I think the writers took stuff from the actor and wrote later on more for the way Sharkey was "taking off" with him, and it was later that Sonny became more and more sympathetic and vulnerable that you just were so sure he had something inside him worth saving, worth it for Vinnie to save.
I have never watched The Shield. I despise The Sopranos and never felt sympathy for ANY of those characters so got bored with it quite quickly. It did not push any of my "good" buttons. I can fall for villains, but I don't like shows with only cold characters. However, I like Patty in "Damages" and she's NOT nice.
By the way, I am a total Twin Peaks fan and can get behind you re: Ben Horne quite easily.