The Rec Center #11
Look, I know we’ve only been doing this newsletter for a few months, but my greatest Rec Center regret BY FAR is the fact that last week I *referenced* a “saccharine-sweet 34-chapter sequel to a 43-chapter Harry/Draco domestic fic”—but didn’t include a link.
TEN PEOPLE wrote to ask for the the link. TEN. So here it is: “My Big Fat Pureblood Wedding” by QueenyMidas, a *great* ultra-fluffy rom-com of sorts, as you can guess from the title. But to further atone for my sins, I’ve done this week’s fic rec list (with help from a few friends): multi-ship Harry Potter fluff and humor. And I promise to never mention a story without linking again. :-) — Elizabeth
new stuff
Okay, so surely the biggest fandom news of the past few weeks has been the controversy surrounding The 100, which we will not specifically discuss here because HUGE SPOILERS, but is nevertheless very important to anyone with an interest in TV fandoms, queer representation, and shipping.
Neither Elizabeth nor I actually watch The 100 (I’m sorry! I’ve been meaning to! The pilot episode was fantastic!), so neither of us have a truly informed opinion on this topic. But I can give you links to some of the most interesting takes on this issue, which turned a TV femslash ship into a worldwide news event. — Gav
“What TV Can Learn From ‘The 100’ Mess” by Maureen Ryan at Variety
A good overview of the current situation, and some broader lessons for creators about fans.
“Elyza Lex™, Riot Grrrl, and Creativity in the Face of Grief: A Fandom Love Letter” by Elizabeth Bridges at The Uncanny Valley
A celebration of some of the creative fandom responses to these events.
“All 143 Dead Lesbian and Bisexual Characters On TV, And How They Died” by Riese at Autostraddle
It’s been widely noted, but you can see, via the URL, that this list started at 65.
Plus check out LGBT Fans Deserve Better, which we’ll certainly be hearing more from in the coming weeks.
And if you need a morale boost after all that, here’s the most important video of the week: Lin Manuel Miranda and Emma Watson sorting the main characters of Hamilton into Hogwarts houses.
old(er) stuff
“The Sobering Reality of Actual Black Nerd Problems” by William Evans at Black Nerd Problems
On being a black cosplayer. “It’s a tough conversation to have. It’s a tougher situation to articulate. It’s toughest though, just trying to live with that doubt in your head.”
tumblr and beyond
A *crucial* deleted scene from the “unreleased 10th anniversary director’s cut” of American Psycho. [Elizabeth has never seen this movie and she cannot stop laughing while she watches this.]
marauders-hp fact-checks a vitally important detail in Harry Potter.
Mark Hamill, sartorial hero.
open call for international harry potter recs
Along with emails asking for Elizabeth to share that Harry/Draco fic, we also got some requests for... well, basically pre-emptive fix-it fic for the problems highlighted in J.K. Rowling’s “History of Magic in North America” series and the upcoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie. (If you, like me, were literally in a cabin in the woods last week and mostly missed out on this issue, here’s the lowdown: Rowling’s take on American history has been widely criticized for being ill-informed and downright racist, which is especially jarring after the anti-bigotry message of the entire HP series.)
We’d love to share some HP fic that explores a wider range of magical cultures and backgrounds compared to the mostly-white British setting of the HP books, and I’m hoping this is something we can crowdsource from the Rec Center readership. So: Do you have any recs for HP fic about non-British magic, or fics that purposefully highlight the imperialist nature of the HP series as British boarding school novels? If so, please send us links and we’ll share them! — Gav
fanfiction
I promised to rec a bunch of “HP fluff,” but I stretched the boundaries a bit: these stories, some pretty fluffy, some less so, fall under the heading of “a general good time for most of the story.” And because if it were all me you’d just get 18 million Remus/Sirius recs (I can do that, if anyone wants it???), I’ve called upon two of my favorite people in the world, Caroline and Flourish, to make the list a little more well-rounded. — Elizabeth
“Then Comes a Mist and a Weeping Rain” by Faith Wood. 21k words, rated explicit.
Ship: Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy; recced by: Elizabeth
Is it lazy to rec the most-read H/D fic on AO3? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I DON’T CARE IT’S GREAT. There’s a literal cloud over Draco’s head that won’t go away. This story is, as I said in an email to Gav, “charming as fuck.” While I’m here, I’ll go ahead and rec her entire H/D back catalog, which has consumed my week. This long, plotty, not-fluffy-at-all fic is A+++.
“There Are Days I Wish I Lived in a Romance Novel (But This Isn't One of Them)” by Anguis. 6,875 words, rated PG-13.
Ship: Neville Longbottom/Millicent Bulstrode; recced by: Flourish
There’s nothing quite so heartwarming as the idea that absolutely everyone who wants a partner can find their perfect match, even Millicent Bulstrode.
“The Dating Disasters of Sirius Black” by KabeyK. Rated R.
Ship: Remus Lupin/Sirius Black; recced by: Elizabeth
I loved this story 100,000 years ago and, after a recent re-read, I continue to love this story to this day. If you enjoy extreme adolescent confusion and shenanigans in the Hogwarts boys’ dormitories—and if you would like many chapters of that—then this is the fic for you.
“Post Tenebras, Lux” by loten. 313k words, rated mature.
Ship: Severus Snape/Hermione Granger; recced by: Caroline
What if Snape didn't die in the Shack? What if, ten years on, he ends up back at Hogwarts, falling in love with his colleague Professor Granger? Against the odds, they combine domestic bliss in the dungeons with Crookshanks with finally coming to terms with what really happened after the Battle of Hogwarts.
“Lily’s Ten Reasons Why Not” by krabapple. 5,461 words, rated teen.
Ship: Lily Evans/James Potter; recced by: Elizabeth
Straight-up Pride & Prejudice-style enemies-to-...not-enemies, and it is a TOTAL DELIGHT. James makes a bet with Lily: if she can come up with ten reasons not to date him, he’ll never ask her out again. Plus background Remus/Sirius (how do you think I found it/anything in the first place lol).
“‘My Journal About My Life and Stephen and Miranda’ by Adela” by kellychambliss. 9,950 words, rated PG-13.
Ship: Severus Snape/Minerva McGonagall; recced by: Flourish
Harriet the Spy meets Harry Potter: a little girl spies on Snape and McGonagall in exile. (Don’t worry! Despite the exile, the story is charmingly fluffy.)
FINAL THOUGHT: On the return of Daredevil
The second season of Daredevil launches today (my mostly spoiler-free review of the first 7 eps can be found here, BTW), and I’m very interested to see how it’s received compared to season 1. I enjoy a lot of aspects of the show (Vanessa and Wilson Fisk last season; Karen’s arc this season, and the intriguing direction of the Punisher’s storyline), but I definitely feel like it’s one of those things that gets too much ~geek culture~ prestige due to being perceived as “serious.”
Daredevil gets a lot of recognition for its fight choreography, production values and ~dark tone, but despite being seen as more sophisticated than most superhero shows, it didn’t really catch on in the Tumblr/fanfic side of MCU fandom. Like, people do watch it, but it only inspired slightly more fanfic than Agent Carter, and comparatively little discussion and fanart within the massively active MCU fandom on Tumblr. I can’t help but interpret this as kind of a gendered thing, because when I see people recommending Daredevil on Reddit/geek sites, the praise focuses on the classic trifecta of mainpain/violence/”serious” genre fiction, completely ignoring the show’s reliance on unoriginal crime drama cliches. Whereas in the fanfic side of MCU fandom, when people talk about why they love CATWS or The Avengers, the tone is more like, “Here’s a deep analysis and/or fanfic about something flawed that I’m passionately obsessed with.”
From what I’ve seen of season 2, I expect this trend to continue. Daredevil still has great production values and fight scenes, and the central three or four characters are complex and interesting. But the underlying structure of the show—urban crime-fighting, moral angst—can only be described as #basic. It just bums me out a little that Daredevil can be perceived as a prestige drama while ignoring flaws like racist subtext and two-dimensional gangster villain subplots, while shows like Supergirl and Agent Carter, which have different strengths and weaknesses, are taken less seriously because they’re more lighthearted and ~feminine. A tale as old as time in this merry old world of Culture, I guess.
On the bright side, Daredevil’s Caravaggio-inspired posters are great? — Gav
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