Thanks for the reminder! I think I haven't thought of the Fanfic Symposium since I lost all my links two or three year ago.
"Miriam critiques the tendency that many fanfiction writers, and fen more generally, have to rewrite (on paper or in discussion) male bodies in slash so that they are thinner and ignore the physical reality of the character/actor's actual body." " I'm hesitant to offer an explanation, as I'm sure that someone out there has the equivalent of rose-colored glasses and really does, honestly and sincerely, attempt to convey just what she sees on screen. It just happens that she can only see Bodie during that brief period of time during which Lewis Collins was quite unusually thin. She can't really help that, can she?"
Thinking of that, I would say that the advantage of fanfiction is hat we all know what/who we are talking about. Therefore there is no need of too detailed descriptions. Maybe some well known piece of clothing is used sometimes. :-) The moment they get undressed? Hmmmmm... I really can't say that in most (modern?) stories there is a frequent use of bodily rhapsody. Of course they are lean and strong and they have muscles etc...But why not? They are fit agents! I also have heard more than once that Doyle IS teasing Bodie with his light belly. That they care for each other for being too slim after an injury. And in older lads stories they have – due to their job – some weaknesses or even handicaps.
Maybe reading, more than seeing, depends on the reader! So if an author describes Doyle as thin/smaller/catlike/fairylike..., I still have MY picture of him in mind while I read the story! So I can live with such a description – as long as it’s not repeated too often(twice)...
(That doesn’t work with some art, where the artist shows Doyle indeed completely wrong(for my eyes).
So bodily descriptions never have been a big problem for me - as long Doyle isn't the small elf and Bodie the bulky Hulk, and that's IMO very seldom in (modern) stories!
Maybe the symposium had something to do with that? :-)
Re: Miriam Heddy's Take On "Bodie's Bodies"
"Miriam critiques the tendency that many fanfiction writers, and fen more generally, have to rewrite (on paper or in discussion) male bodies in slash so that they are thinner and ignore the physical reality of the character/actor's actual body."
" I'm hesitant to offer an explanation, as I'm sure that someone out there has the equivalent of rose-colored glasses and really does, honestly and sincerely, attempt to convey just what she sees on screen. It just happens that she can only see Bodie during that brief period of time during which Lewis Collins was quite unusually thin. She can't really help that, can she?"
Thinking of that, I would say that the advantage of fanfiction is hat we all know what/who we are talking about. Therefore there is no need of too detailed descriptions. Maybe some well known piece of clothing is used sometimes. :-)
The moment they get undressed? Hmmmmm... I really can't say that in most (modern?) stories there is a frequent use of bodily rhapsody. Of course they are lean and strong and they have muscles etc...But why not? They are fit agents! I also have heard more than once that Doyle IS teasing Bodie with his light belly. That they care for each other for being too slim after an injury.
And in older lads stories they have – due to their job – some weaknesses or even handicaps.
Maybe reading, more than seeing, depends on the reader! So if an author describes Doyle as thin/smaller/catlike/fairylike..., I still have MY picture of him in mind while I read the story!
So I can live with such a description – as long as it’s not repeated too often(twice)...
(That doesn’t work with some art, where the artist shows Doyle indeed completely wrong(for my eyes).
So bodily descriptions never have been a big problem for me - as long Doyle isn't the small elf and Bodie the bulky Hulk, and that's IMO very seldom in (modern) stories!
Maybe the symposium had something to do with that? :-)