AO3 Meme

[tinturtle]

I've never posted a meme before. I got this one from gilda_elise, whose post was linked in the Pros Newsletter.

1) How many stories have you posted?
Three.
(Also 6 vids and a bunch of photo manipulations.)

2) In what categories?
Gen (2)
Uncatagorized (1)
(Some of my vids and manips are slash.)

3) What ratings?
General Audiences (3)
(Some of my vids and manips have the "Teen and Up" rating, the vids for violence and the manips for cuddling in bed.)

4) How many fandoms?
Two: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Professionals

5) How many fandoms where you've written more than 10 stories?
None. I have 11 Professionals posts of all types.

6) Any fandoms where you were the first to post a story for it?
Ha. Not even close.

7) Any fandoms where your story is still the only one posted for it?
Nope.

8) How many fandoms that are still Yuletide sized?
None.

9) How many fandoms where there are still less than 5000 stories posted for it at AO3?
The Professionals, despite there being lots and lots of fic in that fandom.

10) How many megafandoms (over 50,000 stories posted for the fandom at AO3)?
None.

11) How many AUs have you written where the settings, occupations, etc are completely changed?
None. I probably won't, either, unless they're about a version of U.N.C.L.E. or CI5 in a sci-fi setting.

12) How many canon-divergent and/or canon distorting trope (like soul marks, body swap)+canon AUs have you written?
None.

13) How many stories have you written that would require an AO3 content warning?
None. I think it will be a long time before I have the confidence to write about any of the subjects that call for a warning.

14) What was the shortest number of words you've written?
217, in my first ever fic.

15) How many words in the longest story you've posted?
1374, in my MFU story What We Are, which is also my favorite of my three fics.

16) How many crossover stories have you written?
None.

17) How many fusion stories have you written?
None. I have some ideas for a fusion between The Professionals and His Dark Materials, featuring the members of CI5 and their dæmons. Cowley's dæmon is a Eurasian magpie named Catriona, and Doyle's is a British stoat possibly named Madeline. I'm still thinking about Bodie. (The choice for Doyle has quite a bit of interesting folklore and historical symbolism associated with it.)

18) How many RPF stories have you written?
None. I am against RPF.

19) How many WIPs and/or series do you have posted?
None. I don't think I'd post a work in progress if it really were in progress. I might post an abandoned work that I was sure I'd never finish.

20) Do you have any fanfic that's completed but not posted to AO3?
No.

Comments

[tinturtle]

Sorry to take so long to digest your reply.

That's quite all right. It was a lot to digest.

Judging by fanlore and some of the other things I've run across, I think a number of early Pros writers weren't Pros fans — they liked the cut of the lads' jib, and saw the slash potential, but didn't actually like the programme — apparently viewing it as some kind of paean to what we would today call 'toxic masculinity'.'

Ah, I see. Well, there are definitely things that bother me in The Professionals, but I like it overall. Obviously.

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

It has some 'period typical' awkwardnesses, but no more than Star Trek. In fact I'd argue a lot fewer, and — don't tell anybody — I'm definitely a fan !

[tinturtle]

What bothers me isn't the sexism. It's the threats made against people in CI5 custody, and the instances of violence (or property destruction) used against people who are themselves no threat. I realize that those are part of the "by any means necessary" concept of CI5, of course, and I think that itself may have been a product of its time--people felt that society was falling apart, so the fantasy of a law enforcement agency with unlimited authority was appealing (as long as that agency was presented as incorruptible, too).

(They did tone this stuff down a bit after the first series.)

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

Have you read about Mary Whitehouse — when the lads aired, the UK had three TV channels and she loomed large on all their horizons. She made some real improvements to the UK TV landscape (not least of which was curbing their sense of impunity — she was at heart a consumer champion), but she also had some very conservative views and in the end the public outgrew her.

You can't really explain the superstar status of shows like Pros to a Netflix generation, but everyone you met had seen the show the night before. Given Brian Clemens nature, I think the powers that be just decided to focus on the teenage adulation (and in those more closeted times, they would have assumed that meant the girls all wanted to date the lads, the boys to drive their cars) rather than navel gazing about ethical policing. Pretty much much the way Hollywood has gone with its young adult rated blockbuster franchises.

I think the lads suffered a far better fate than Starsky and Hutch, after their first series they spent the rest of their time helping out girlfriends !

[tinturtle]

I watched most of the first season of S&H, but it failed to grab me, somehow. That's strange, because, in the abstract, it's exactly the sort of thing I like. I may try again someday.

I am just old enough to remember when almost everybody watched the same TV on the same night.

I think the powers that be just decided to focus on the teenage adulation...rather than navel gazing about ethical policing.

Indeed. And I probably wouldn't be as interested in the latter, honestly. It's a good subject for fanfic, one of the purposes of which is to explore questions neglected by canon.

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

one of the purposes of which is to explore questions neglected by canon

I think that right there is why some shows ignite with fic writers and some don't. It's not to do with the quality of the show, it's to do with the quality of the characters, their universe and how many doors are left unopened.