I've gone on digest on BBF a while back, but I thought the proportion of B/S out of the total number of recs went down significantly compared to, say, late S5-early S7? I may be mistaken though, since it's been a while since I read my last B/S fic (my eyes usually skip over these nowadays; It seems I've developed major intolerance to the whole 'epic romance' genre, in any fandom.)
Sorry! I meant in terms of number of published stories at major archives, as of the last time I felt wanky enough to collect the data.
Well, Bad Boy Archetype, Hauteur Subtype.
Also: Obsession with the hero, as a foe (Spike & Lindsey), as a friend (Methos) or both (Lex). Often uncommon insight into the inner-workings and conflicts of our hero and his posse. Unpredictability and omnisexuality. There are aspects these characters have in common, including the frequent puppification and tendency toward sexy Mortal-Enemy-Sue.
So, what do people do, if they're huge fans of, like, a Jack Nicholson character?
Describe their lips inaccurately?
Puppification. Excellent new coinage.
Well, I liked the guy, till he started reading existentialism and got all puppified.
Jim, if you don't lose the 'tude immediately, I will be forced to puppify you!
Jim, if you don't lose the 'tude immediately, I will be forced to puppify you!
Heh. This reads more literally to me, like, you know, in that movie where Patrick Swayze was a dog? Or was it Michael Keaton?
I'm trying to think of a female version of the type, and I can't think of anyone except Lilah, who never went all that gray anyway. Huh.
Personally, I'm hoping for some sort of development of canon-Draco beyond the "I'm rich and evil therefore an arrogant shithead," because it's such a cliche. Harry found out his father wasn't the shining example of perfection in the last book, so maybe he'll find out that the bad guys aren't utterly predictable either. I find Snape a surprising character in that he's a good guy (officially) but he can't stand Harry. A nice bit of reality: the folks on your side may be jerks but they're still your allies.
It's also easier to puppify Draco because so much of HP fiction, by necessity, takes place in the future, either after the Voldemort problem has reached a climax or after it's over, and those are the sorts of events that might change a person drastically.
I'm completely in love with A.J. Hall's canon on the whole thing anyway, and I'd bet her stories have influenced a good portion of Draco fanon.
Faith?
Ahh, of course. For some reason, I thought about the characters that started out bad and went to various shades of gray, but not the other way around. Well, except for Lex.
Is the question really that complicated? It's the Bad Boy phenomenon.
Draco is only a bad boy, though. He belongs with Angelus, not with Spike.
