Just Lean Into The Wrongness, Let It Fuel Things

[redbrunja]

WHY HAS FANDOM NOT WRITTEN A ZILLION SEXYTIME FICS FOR JANE/ROCHESTER FROM THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JANE EYRE? AM I GOING TO HAVE TO WRITE THEM MYSELF?

I skipped ahead a bit, before committing to watching this webseries, so I saw the more recent videos where Rochester and Jane are being, you know, epically cute together, and then I went back to the beginning and last night I got to this episode:

And HOLY FUCK, HIS SHIRTSLEEVES ARE ROLLED HALF-UP AND HIS TIE IS UNDONE AND HIS TOP BUTTONS ARE UNBUTTONED AND I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE UNTIL THE SECOND VIEWING BECAUSE I WAS TOO BUSY STARING AT HIS LEFT FOREARM AND THAT HALF-OBSCURED TATTOO.

Comments

[just-shai.livejournal.com]

Those are some seriously distracting arms.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Yes they are.

[hungrytiger11.livejournal.com]

So is this by the same people who made LBD or just inspired by it?

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

Different team than the LBD; they're currently on an adaptation of Emma.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Just inspired by it.

[sharkflip.livejournal.com]

YES YES YES

Usually I loathe skinny jeans, but he manages to rock the skinny jeans and peacoat look, too.

I just wish their means included clothes that could pass off as casually wealthy business wear. The twenty-something off-the-rack and clearance look does not work for my suspension of disbelief.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I just wish their means included clothes that could pass off as casually wealthy business wear. The twenty-something off-the-rack and clearance look does not work for my suspension of disbelief.

Or the literally TINFOIL DECORATIONS. It's so clear that they're making this on zero dollars. Like, ZERO.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

From what I've gathered from the fandom, there's a general agreement that Jane's faith is of the variety that would insist on waiting until they're married, which means it would need to be set . . . several plot points down the road.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Excuse me? Jane’s faith? Where the fuck did Jane talk about her religion? Is this because she passed on the wine? Because a.) there are multiple secular reasons not to drink, and b.) there is an extra video who it certainly seems like she was drunk, so even IF Jane’s faith was one that preached abstaining, there is NO NEED TO ASSUME that she necessarily did all the time.

God, I am so fucking sick of virginal heroines or people wanting their heroines to be virgins, in fact, the ~allure~ of virgins in general is something that I am NOT DOWN WITH.

(http://s190.photobucket.com/user/redbrunja/media/castletumblr_msehd74V3q1qdvep5o1_500copy_zpscab7c337.gif.html)

Also, fyi, what is up with a fandom – ANY FANDOM – making excuses not to write porn?

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

What? Um, no, this is because of the video of Jane saying her faith is a major part of her life (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ll4Zjc06EA&list=PL3NxAiyc-89HP3wHV2y5mbwi2TidvocKZ&index=22). Episode 20, the bit about how the bible matters to her starts around 1:50, and it looks to me like at least some of the fandom came from the LBD and agrees Lizzie unquestionably got some action before meeting Darcy.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I completely missed Jane explicitly stating that she was Christian the first time I watched that episodes, I'm pretty sure my computer skipped from her talking about the Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe right to the next episode, and I didn’t notice (thanks computer!).

THAT SAID, I still say that fandom deciding that being Christian means she’s a virgin is WAY more about the larger cultural idea that virginity is ~special~ and it’s ~sexy~ to give it up to your love interest (if you’re a girl).

I’ll repeat: plenty of Christians of various levels of devout have sex LONG before marriage.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

Okay, I asked around tumblr about this and the general response agreed that a virginal heroine was not a requirement (and, as I suspected, they cited Lizzie as having likely experienced her fair share of consenting and enjoyable sexytimes pre-series). None of the ones who responded to me actually mentioned her religion, but cited Jane's personality in general as why they think she'd have waited. The reverse can also be true -- some people just don't make sex a priority, regardless of their beliefs (I'm a virgin due to crippling social anxiety more than any moral stance, btw).

Possible other way of looking at it: Her life has been kinda crap up until now and she hasn't encountered anyone pre-Rochester where there was mutual attraction to the point of naked fun times, and with Rochester she's just barely reached the point of realizing he likes her back and still needs a bit of time to process. Maybe hold off on sleeping with him until she feels comfortable calling him by his first name without envisioning sparkly vampires.

Other factors relating to the lack of porn, from my extremely unofficial survey:
* Impending plot point potentially hinges on Jane and Rochester not having enjoyed the horizontal tango yet
* The fandom is small and minimal levels of fic logically lead to minimal levels of porn
* The creators are active in fandom, occasionally leading to a feeling akin to knowing your parents are reading what you write
* The portion of the fandom that has read the book is too distracted waiting for the other shoe to drop to write smut (or, in some cases, even allow themselves to ship Jane/Rochester).

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your response. I bet the small fandom size combined with the creators being active combined with waiting for the other shoe to drop is contibuting to the lack of smut, but it still sucks for me personally. And as I mentioned in my recent post, I had several 'heroine is a virgin!' fictional situation hit me, and I'm just like, 'ugh, no.'

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I get it. I'm coming from the angle that I just don't think Jane has had sex (though between the century she was born in and her medical training, I doubt she's a complete innocent, just inexperienced), and you're seeing her as the umpteenth heroine you've encountered who happened to make that personal decision. It compounds things. Just try to take a step back, breathe, and accept Jane as an individual rather than a trend. Or write your own smut, if so inclined, though futurefic is preferable due to impending doom.

I've been there. Don't expect me to have a rational response to Wybie from the Coraline movie . . . *smothers urge to kill fictional character*

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

and you're seeing her as the umpteenth heroine you've encountered who happened to make that personal decision.

Yep. Or who had worldbuilding that make that basically logically dictated.

Or write your own smut, if so inclined, though futurefic is preferable due to impending doom.

Oh, no, I would just run right at the lying and controlling subtext of Rochester and use it to up the sexiness factor.

(http://s190.photobucket.com/user/redbrunja/media/stocktumblr_m5y1unFQwr1qfy2kdo1_500copy.gif.html)

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

Well, there's the fact that -- ah, screw being vague. RANDOM PEOPLE READING THIS WHO DON'T WANT SPOILERS STOP NOW if they go with Rochester offering to let her be his mistress after finding out he's married it comes across differently if they've had sex prior to the offer. Huh, there's another factor that probably lead to the lack of smut -- fandom in general loves Jane and just wants to wrap her in a fuzzy blanket and give her tea, and would want to avoid a fic development that would just lead to her feeling even more horrible once the truth came out.

BTW, the bonus videos they did for the kickstarter have been specified to not be canon, effectively official crackfic. Which, oddly, seems to have given some authors more freedom in writing about them, so you could do something interesting with the kickstarterverse drunk!Jane with her copy of 50 Shades of Grey.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

fandom in general loves Jane and just wants to wrap her in a fuzzy blanket and give her tea, and would want to avoid a fic development that would just lead to her feeling even more horrible once the truth came out.


Clearly, they're nicer than I am.