Replaying FFX-2, Ramble on Homosexuality in Spira, and Story Buglets

[dagas_isa]

Yes, completely and totally replaying FFX-2, not from a New Game Plus (and God knows I've got some uber ones), but from the beginning, with the goal of getting 100% along the way. The Spira story bug is rising, as well as the rant bugs, and my general adoration for Rikku/Paine.

I don't know why I like that pairing. I suppose it just makes sense, at least as much as Rikku/Gippal or Paine/Baralai and it appeals to my inner lesbian. AND in my little imaginary fic universe, I can plot out Rikku and Paine's feelings better as a couple than I can in their straight pairings.

The question of course is in the expression. I can't write fluff; it comes out sounding false, so I usually focus on one characters thoughts or those characters connected to the world.

And thinking about Rikku/Paine in Spira makes me realize that Spira itself is not likely to be homophobic. The game makes the assumption that the vast, vast majority of people on Spira are heterosexual, yet there's nothing in the game that even seeks to condemn homosexuality.

Look at the teachings of Yevon. Nothing is never mentioned about modesty in dress; just look at how some of the followers of the religion are taught. Most of what Wakka-the-religious-fanatic talks about is a hatred of machina, Al Bhed, respecting the temple's authority, and hard work. Sexual morality and conduct doesn't seem to be nearly so big a deal.

I'm sure there are homophobes in Spira, but their revulsion is likely something personal, not something they are taught by authorities. I'm also definitely sure that there are Spirans who do value heterosexual family and production of offspring, Besaid Island, for example. Just look at how eager everyone on Besaid was when Lulu had Vidina. The villiage pretty much is a family, and they welcome new members. Besaiders might look down on someone who chooses not to have a child, or who enters a situation where they cannot have children, but I don't see them condemning anyone outright based on sexual preference.

Then there are people like Cid, who probably doesn't care if most people are gay, but sees such a trait in his children as yet another form of rebellion. Cid values being looked up to and leading people, but he's made some pretty unpopular/bad decisions regarding the Al Bhed and his children. Not to mention with the rise in social status of the Al Bhed in Post-Sin Spira, they no longer have the need to band together. Rin's dream of making his own home, the fact that the predominately Al Bhed machine faction is now one of Spira's largest employers of former Yevonites shows this. In the end, I can see him dreaming to see at least one of his children married well to someone of the opposite sex and giving him a grandchild who will look up to him, even though that's an improbability.

So, while there are some problems that go along with Rikku and Paine being together romantically, I don't consider it to be the point where it has to be the center of a long drawn out plot about how the world rejects them and their kind of love (not to mention, I find those sorts stories about gays and lesbians to be really, really tiring), just those lingering side problems, like how to deal with her father, and the annoyance of people who don't know better automatically assuming heterosexuality.

A personal note: I read/write shoujo-ai to explore my own confused feelings, and thus I write what interests me. Love between women interests me. Portrayals of persecution does the opposite, especially because most are terribly one sided.


So, to sum up the entirety of that rant, I feel this urge to write an extended Rikku/Paine story, but don't want to make it exclusively Rikku/Paine. Which means I need a plot. I've got a couple vague themes, but they definitely need fleshing out and somehow put together in a coherent story.

1. A lack of Sin and a growing reliance on technology is making the 'magical' phenomena of Spira disappear.
   
2. Rikku and Paine become sphere recorders looking for lost memories among the ruins of Zanarkand
   
3. Someone seeks to create a world for Aeons and dying magic.
   
4. A faction-neutral sphere library being set up somewhere.
   

Anyway, it's late, and I'm tired, so I'm gonna finish watching the Hana Kagari video (song is seriously catchy), and then go join Muu for the the sleeps.

Comments

[ourdailymask.livejournal.com]

here via ff_press

I'm going to disagree with you about most of this. Spira has spent a thousand years living with Sin, which kills a huge proportion of the population. The only way for communities to survive is to have a lot of babies. I can't see Yevon condoning any kind of relationship that doesn't result in reproduction. I'm not saying that Yevon would persecute people in same-sex relationships, because they have bigger things to deal with. Also, they only need one group to persecute at a time, really, and the Al Bhed make a better target than scattered same-sex couples. I think that Yevon would definitely disapprove of same-sex couples, though.

It's true that the games don't mention it in any way, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't have some opinion. Yevon doesn't talk about how it hates bandits, either, but I would assume that it isn't all in favor of stealing other people's stuff. The only prohibitions the game does talk about are those necessary to the storyline: machina, non-guardians in the chamber of the fayth, and murder.

I'd be wary of assuming that sexual morality is a unified body that can be transplanted from culture to culture without change. For example, plenty of cultures think that marrying twelve-year-old girls to thirty-year-old men is totally moral. Many Americans would disagree, and yet share the same nudity taboos.

That said, Spira is definitely a place where you can have same-sex relationships without "the world does not accept us!" angst. Dislike, distrust, and even a little hate don't always translate into discomfort and weirdness as easily as they do into shunning and hate. You can write Spira like New York (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/07/nyregion/07marriage.html) as well as Laramie, Wyoming (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard). (As an added bonus, you can do "I am attracted to a woman" without "I must be a lesbian and will never sleep with men again!" if you want to. Our culture is weird about sexuality.)

Really, what I'm saying is that homophobia doesn't always mean threats of violence and people spitting at you in the streets. It can be a lot like the world you're describing. Some people don't care all that much, and some people are slightly revolted by it. (Personally, I think that such revulsion is almost always culturally influenced.) Cid's mostly okay with it, except that he kind of wants Rikku to settle down with a nice boy and start a family. It doesn't require persecution.

[dagas-isa.livejournal.com]

While it's true that the game doesn't go into details not relevant to the main storyline, I think there's an issue of what Yevon-ism is compared to mainstream religions in this world.

Yevonism isn't a complete religion. It's created by Yunalesca solely as a set of behaviors regarding Sin. Summoners and the pilgrimages, the Aeons and their temples, machina and atonement. Nothing else seems to matter. Since all the murders dealt with in FFX were those of high-ranking clergy members, I keep wondering whether it's the murder that's forbidden, or just the murder of high-ranking Yevonites. So I can very easily see little things like theft and homosexuality not even being mentioned in the teachings, if they don't have anything to do with atonment or defeating Sin.

I definitely agree though about the "I am attracted to a woman" without "I must be a lesbian and will never sleep with men again!" idea, as well as the idea that homophobia isn't just violence and persecution. Adding room for subtlety in both of these areas makes things that much more interesting.

[prettygothgirl.livejournal.com]

here also through ff_press About Yevon as a religion. I would like to disagree on the fact that it's 'incomplete.' Over a thousand years a religion gets many opinions and legalist addendums to it by other people, mainly priests, missionaries, secular leaders...

I hate to use Christianity, but it is the religion I am most familiar with it's history and customs. For instance, Roman Catholicism has told their followers for years that it is against God's will for them to use birth control, read the Bible, intercede with their sins to God without a priest, and that they can get to heaven through works and not by grace, plus the existence of purgatory. The Catholics are some of the worst offenders that I can think of and Christainity as a religion has been around for 2000 years. Baptists are a close second, they are against drinking, dancing and cards and some are against sex within marriage and I always laugh at those who say sex is for reproductive purposes only. *eye roll*

And btw, things such as homosexuality, pedophilia, having sex with animals, human sacrifice and such are not even listed in the bible as offenses against God. This is because the Jewish faith and people would never even consider doing such things. The problem came when 'heathens' were introduced into the the heretical sect of the Jewish faith in the very beginning (which yes, is Christianity) and they did these things and the Jews had to sit them down and teach them that these things were considered wrong in God's eyes and eventually it was written into a document called the Didakte (which I'm sure the spelling is wrong here but I'm going phonetically, forgive me) which means Teachings in Latin, yet this document was not included into the canonical Bible (be it Catholic or Protestant). My point is that not everything involved in a religion ends up in a written document or comes from the canonical religious text (if there is any). The things that are generally considered morally wrong are in the Bible and indeed most religious text, such as prohibitions against murder, stealing, and lieing. These appear to be general unconcious traits that humanity doesn't enjoy. Now, in religious texts you also get the idea of holy war and genocide that is approved and applauded by the god and yes even God.

Along with the respect for Summoners and the few prohibiitions we learn about there is a great deal of respect and reverence for one's ancestors and a worship of the sea and water (through which the pyreflies move and so does Sin). I'm not a great Yevonite scholar and my High Priest has signed off before I could ask.

As for homosexuality, remember you are taking a real life issue and placing it into a fantasy setting. It would be much more pertinent to talk about the dangers of inter-specie breeding (or inter-racial breeding if you prefer) between human/al bhed and human/guado. There is a large cultural gap between all three species/races that has been fostered 1000 years, since this was addressed in the game through Seymour Guado and Yuna.

Yet, if you are going to discuss homosexuality in Spira and it's not addressed it really could go either way. All you have is the responses and characters you interact with through the course of the game, though I would like to point out that all the 'romantic' relationships that are seen in the game are heterosexual. But argument for arguments sake, homosexuality could be accepted because of either an overpopulation of males or an overpopulation of females and an overabundance of orphans that need families and who better to raise a child than two people who cannot have them themselves and have the excess income than a heterosexual couple that has two or three and can't afford it?

I think I've taken up quite a bit of your time and spouted off. I believe now, I shall bow out. Thank you for your time.

[dagas-isa.livejournal.com]

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

I still maintain that the religion is incomplete, not for a lack of time, but for the fact that pre-Calm Spirans were an incredbly stagnant bunch. More has changed in Spira in the two years since the Calm than it has since Zanarkand lost the war 1000 years before. And in those two years, the temples are all but abandoned. Absolutely none of them are used for a religous purpose. I believe one of the Aurochs does the prayer motion to Yuna, but that's more a habit and a sign of respect than a prayer.

A complete religion shouldn't lose every single follower it has in two years, regardless of what happens, at least not without a bit of angst among a lot of the population. It's not that people lost faith, it's that the faith was no longer relevant, and there was nothing in Yevon-ism to fall back on.

This world isn't stagnant, and things have changed a lot, and yet many people still find relevance in Christianity and other mainstream religions. 'Christianity' in my mind is complete because it encompasses a set of beliefs bigger than any time or place.

As for the discussion of homosexuality in Spira, it's something I'd rather have as a few threads in a tapestry. I don't necessarily want to go into a deep relevant discussion of alternate sexuality in Spira, or mixed-group pairings. This is more for getting handle on the issues now, and then just let it subtlely show.

Finally it's true that every relationship in Spira is portrayed as heterosexual, but there's a few other reasons beyond simply cultural disapproval. First, they have to sell this game in places where homosexuality isn't approved of. It's simply better sales for a mainstream game to not take a stance on a controversial issue than to try and make a statement. Also it's the right-handed syndrome played out for heterosexuality. The majority of people are right handed, so the game designers will have just about everyone fight right handed, unless handedness is somehow important or symbolic. So it is with heterosexuality. Most people are heterosexual, so the game designers will program everyone as being a heterosexual (or just non-romantic) unless a character's homosexuality is relevant.

That's about it. Now back to staying up way too late.

[prettygothgirl.livejournal.com]

If a culture stagnates, it dies. A culture has to move in some way for it to remain a viable culture and not be absorbed into another nearby culture. Spira was regressing. They were forgetting how to use technology, engines were replaced with chocobos, the religion of Yevon had control on the mainland and the chaos of Sin was wiping out towns and villages on a regular basis. Spira was losing its sense of history and had come to revolve around this one aspect of the Summoners traveling from Temple to Temple and giving them a time of peace that lasts, for maybe ten years until someone goes and does it again. Spira had become as Auron said a ‘spiral of death.’ This was the Roman Empire regressing to the Middle Ages without lots of Kings and with the Roman Catholic Church having the final say in everything (now that’s a scary thought, cause really they did just not as obviously.)

Spira was suffering. I have to agree with Seymour there and it was time for it to stop. You can only go so far before someone or something has to give. I don’t agree with his method, controlling Sin to destroy the world is taking it a bit far and rather arrogant for him to believe that he could control Sin when we later find out that it is very clear that Sin will control you eventually no matter how strong your control is (there is something very Judeo-Christian in that.)

The way it was explained to me in a comparative religion course was to have a ‘complete’ religion it needed to start with the phrase “In the beginning there was (fill in the blank here with god, no god, many gods, I’m not sure).” In Spira however, we don’t have their ‘creation’ story to work with so I’m gonna have to resort to a list of something all religions appear to have in common. Yevonism has deities of Aeons, Former Summoners and the Element of Water. Yevonism has an evil force that acts against them in the Form of Sin, which as we learn are an aeon and a Summoner. And lastly but not leastly, Yevonism has a great hero/savior figure in the High Summoner who ascends and becomes a deity to be worshiped. Despite the fact for over a 1000 years Sin never completely went away. Yevonism also had hope that if the followers of Yevon followed the teachings and prayed for forgiveness that Sin would eventually go away. Thus there also was a plan for atonement (utterly and completely false of course, but it was there, I give credit where credit is due). And they had a place of ‘paradise’ in the Farplane where their souls could rest of eternity once ‘sent’ there.

Also, I’d like to point out that Yevon had the judge and trial system with a pretty nasty punishment in the form of Via Purifico because How did they know that no one ever survived, if they didn’t throw people in there before? To have a judge and trial system they have to have something with which to back them up other than “I am a Maester of Yevon and because I said so.” This is a like a parent telling a teenager “because I said so” without any clear reasoning. Just like a teenager, the defendant is going to laugh their way out of the courtroom. I don’t care if they have a book or oral tradition or leftover laws from 1000 years ago, they have to have something to make it work, to back up that government even if it is something as simple as “I am might, might makes right thus I am right,” (which is rather stupid logic but it has worked in the past.) Spira, at this point and time, is a theocracy of sorts. The traditional theocracy being a rule by god himself and his actions are carried out through his servants, the priests, prophets and hand chosen leaders. Spira was ruled by its religious leaders. They had a trial system that had to be used for more than just treason and their priests, soldiers and Crusaders were everywhere. Excommunication was something to be greatly feared, what would happen to your soul? You would turn into a fiend!

...continued in next response...

[dagas-isa.livejournal.com]

On that stagnation thing; I believe that was the true danger of Spira, not Sin. Sin caused the stagnation by having people too afraid to act and making people react to it, rather than taking the offensive. Notice it's only when people who haven't known fear of Sin show up that the spiral finally ends.

If memory serves from a history of Spira post/document I have, Yunalesca created Yevon-ism after Zanarkand was destroyed and Sin arrived. As a bargain to keep Bevelle safe and to show how to defeat Sin temporarily, Yunalesca had them worshipping Yu Yevon, the being who ultimately controls Sin (I have my own theories on Sin and Tidus's Zanarkand, but I don't know if that's relevant here). Things about atonement and the pilgrimage are ways to give people hope through an impossible future, but perhaps also a way to keep them obedient.

While I doubt the "I am a maester of Yevon and I said so" would fly, I do think the Yevonites believed deeply enough in Yevon's authority that even a flimsy excuse would be accepted. There's more to power than just reason. I'm sure a person would want to laugh out of the courtroom, but could you do that with a gun at your back ready to shoot point blank if you defy them. This, I hope, is different than a parent, who cannot really shoot you point blank if you leave the room laughing at their authority.

Yevon's strategy for authority is to destroy anything that threatens their power, and to assimilate what they can't destroy. That's how the Crusaders became part of the church and how the hymn of the fayth became popular. As for the people already under their authority, it seems to be rule them, keep them ignorant of the churches use and abuse of power, but don't rile them enough they they'll risk underminding them and find their own way to beat Sin.

[prettygothgirl.livejournal.com]

Yevonism also had a grip upon the school system. They were the ones that taught children and what better way to indoctrinate someone than to get them while they are young. America has been doing it for years, as has Japan, Palestinians etc and so forth. Even if they were just teaching the children how to read, write and do arithmetic, some indoctrination of the religion is going to seep through and teach the children their morals (revere your elders and ancestors, don’t murder, don’t steal, it’s all right for Summoners to die in the fight against Sin…) Yevon also did marriages. They were there, cradle to the grave. Plus, they gained new converts through the Guado and the Ronso. There had to be something there for entire cultures to shift over to it en masse.

And by no means did Yevonism die out after Yuna destroyed Sin, in fact that was a major part of the problem. They got a new name (not a very creative new name), new leaders and a new creed, but deep down they were still the same Yevon. It’s hard for a coeurl to change its stripes just by adding New to the title. The new goal of New Yevon was to help those who were scared and frightened after the defeat of Sin and the discovery of the fact of how corrupt Yevon had been. Deep down, they still had the same goal, control of Spira, which was why the Youth League was formed. New Yevon refused to share the history collected by sphere hunters and (spoiler alert) if you make your way to the bottom of Via Infinito and talk to Trema (the Leader before Baralai) you’ll discover that he has actually destroyed the history spheres because he believes the only way Spira can go into the future is to erase the past! He decided to do it quickly rather than over hundreds of years. (end of spoiler)

You say that the temples were deserted and abandoned. You’re thinking of Djose, which is rather off the beaten path (and I think we had some map cut there too). I wouldn’t be surprised if people stopped coming there. The Guado were in Macalania woods and the Humans were rushing to get to the Moonflow. Of the other temples that were deserted, most were already empty in the first place, Baaj (in the middle of the ocean), Remiem (hidden, cut off by an avalanche), Zanarkand (now a tourist attraction), Cavern of the Stolen Fayth (also a tourist attraction) and Macalania (fallen into the lake, such a pity). The other temples were still in use, which was another major problem. Besaid had a Priest on duty and people still visited, as it was right in the middle of ‘town’. Killika Temple was a refuge for the New Yevonites who couldn’t bear to leave in a Youth League dominated town and Bevelle was the headquarters for New Yevon and needed to be protected because their stewardship of Vegnagun was not complete. And Djose technically wasn’t abandoned. It just had new owners that’s all, Al Bhed being the opportunistic people that they are. Because there were people in these temples and around these temple it was important to go in and fight the ‘heretical’ aeons controlling the fiends so people weren’t hurt. If these temples had been abandoned then this wouldn’t matter! The fiends could have kept pouring out of them until the encroached on cities and towns and must be destroyed and people wouldn’t even know until they went looking for the source of the problem!

You seem very focused on one aspect of the game. There was a lot more out there that was developed than 120 hours you play through.

I hope I made my points a little clearer and didn’t come off as a prig.

[dagas-isa.livejournal.com]

Not at all. I don't think we'll ever quite agree on the issue, if only because we interpret evidence differently, but you state your points intelligently and I can see where you're headed.

New Yevon might share a name with Yevon, the priests might still be called priests, and they might use some of the temples as headquarters, but I still believe New Yevon is a political faction, not a religious faction.

The way Spira is set up in FFX-2, people react differently to the changes brought about by the Calm. New Yevon is the faction for those who are unnerved by the change. Their motto is 'One thing at a time' which promises some changes, but slowly. They're sort of the force of stability in Spira, while the others are forces for change.

The Youth League is founded as an opposition to New Yevon. Where the first faction maintains the central authority found in the first game, the Youth League stands for bringing authority back to the people. The spheres are central to this debate, as they represent a lost knowledge, even truth, and whoever has that essentially has a source of power.

I've seen the Trema cutscenes, although I don't think what Trema says represents what the current leaders of the New Yevon party believe. The idea Trema presents is the theme of FFX-2 taken to extremes. If what he says is true, Yuna needs to give up everything in her past, including Tidus, in order to shape her future in the best way possible.

His destruction of the spheres might have really stemmed from that belief, but it's also a strategic decision on the part of New Yevon. If knowledge is the main currency of power, at least right now, destroying spheres will make sure that their enemies don't get it. It's never mentioned in the game, but if someone in New Yevon watched those spheres before they were destroyed, they'd have a double advantage on the Youth League, as far as knowledge is concerned.

As for the temples, the ones that are still being used are used for non-religious purposes. The Al Bhed aren't worshipping Ixion (although I'm sure they have no qualms using the natural electronic energy there). New Yevon doesn't use the temples to worship; rather, it's a practical decision to use ready made buildings, already controlled by supporters than to build their own, or take over a non-supported structure. In Besaid, Beclem has no qualms with burning down the temples to get rid of the fiends, and though the rest of the people aren't so eager as he to see it burn, they would have still accepted it if it were a necessary end. Had it burned, would there have been other temple rebuilt there, or would something else have taken it's place?

I don't know about the Ronso, but the Guado converted for one reason: Jyscal became a Yevonite. I don't know if anything exists to say why he did, but once Jyscal became a Yevon convert, the rest of the Guado followed his lead. One of the things about the Guado shown in FFX and X-2, is that they are a very obedient people, who absolutely depend on their leaders to guide them. They willingly followed Seymour into genocide and in the first part of FFX-2, they are utterly unwilling to take action to protect themselves or keep Guadosalam.

I admit I don't have access to anything like a translated Ultimania Guide or the fortitude to translate the one I do have, so a lot of this is based on my own conjecture with what was shown in the acutal game. I simply imagine Spira being a certain way because that's how the FFX canon makes sense to me.

Otherwise, I'm enjoying this discussion, and I hope you are too, and not just trying to correct some incorrigable retard. =D

[desertcoffin.livejournal.com]

Please don't write any more fanfic. FFX-2 fanfic is bad enough without people like you over analizing and bringing real world fanatics into play. If you want to make a fluff hook up with Rikku and Paine, don't disect the psyche of the people of Spira's view towards homosexuality since it's not even an issue. It's fanfic and your trying to make it realistic. It's a hook up fic, sweetie, not a Pulitzer Prize winning novel. Theres lesbians in it, thereby going with the code set down from the Trekkie slash that it will just be porn, and you don't read porn for the quality of the scene or the historical significance.

And before you spout of that Yevon is incomplete, get a clue and find the Ultimania and read several pages about Yevon, and how it is complete.

Finally, you can't get 100% on the first run through. You have to play it at least twice. Sorry to burst your bubble.

[dagas-isa.livejournal.com]

lol.

Thanks for the laugh. Don't be too offended that I find this to be humor fodder and little else.

kthxbai

[desertcoffin.livejournal.com]

It was fodder that won, since you took the time to respond. Terrible writers never take criticism because they don't like their ideas and/or egos crushed. Its fine if you want to continue to rant and inflat a videogame's world to the point where it become idiocy, and I'm sorry your life is so completely boring that all you have to do on your LJ is rant and bitch about things that aren't at all important.

I'll file your LJ under the Emo-express train. Or, crappy ass fanfic. Take your pic.

Meanwhile, its a game. Make Yevon what you want since its a hookup that has been picked to death. If you want to write about your confusing feelings about you being bi/lesbian, I suggest you use your own characters, it's easy to self reflect that way. Other than that, don't raise dead arguments or raise unimportant issues that make people feel sick to their stomach about being associated to certain fandoms.

[dagas-isa.livejournal.com]

Crappy ass fanfic please. k thx. =D

[(Anonymous)]

Will do.

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

Heh. GOD HAS SPOKEN.

(The Ultimania guide contradicts the game on certain details -- contradictions one absolutely can't reconcile. Yes, one can indeed get 100% on the first run through. Many folks have done so.
Isn't it cute when people come in playing know-it-all in order to stomp on others?)


One minor thought cluster in all of this discussion:

Homosexuality doesn't exclude children, unless a) you assume exclusive homosexuality, which is acutally fairly rare in most cultures (whereas bisexuality is rather widespread), and b) you exclude adoption.

Considering the number of orphans in Spira, I could see adoptions and unusual family structures popping up. Obviously, Mom/Dad/Kids would be a longed-for ideal in a place where single-parent families seem common. It looks to me like the culture has adapted to deal with the reality that most children don't have parents -- just look at all the children in the temples. Besaid rallying around Lulu and Wakka demonstrated the "it takes a village to raise a child" approach, and Yuna being lodged there by her father is more evidence that one judged a settlement as a potential parent, in case individuals were lost. In other words, there were highly-visible and viable alternate child rearing mechanisms in place which didn't rely on or assume a heterosexual family unit.

A thought about characterization: In FFX, Rikku expressed a keen wish to Tidus to be a mom and have kids, because she was wistful about having lost her mother and only having one sibling. I can vouch that being a lesbian in no way negates such wishes: my ex is a veritable mother goddess. But Paine doesn't strike me as family-oriented. I'm not sure if that would pop up in the story you're pondering.

[desertcoffin.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I find it extremely doubtful to get a 100% on the first round, isn't there some sort of split event that occurs in Chapter 4 or something? I don't recall, since X-2 was a hack of a game.

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

You can't get 100% if you go one way on the split, but you can, if you go the other way.

I don't like X-2, but I respect that some folks have found Paine and various aspects of the game worth salvaging.

I'd be offended by your remarks above except that I find them fairly laughable.

I will tell you a secret. There's this thing called speculative fiction. You take a world, a myth, a premise, and then explore issues with it. You can use even a crappy premise like Pokeman for it (though you're liable to get a rather young caliber of readers). You may do it seriously, or for fun. You may do it for self-indulgence, or to ponder the social issues surrounding it in a classic Trek way: transplanting real world stuff to a fictional setting can let you get a grip on it from a different angle. In fact, Dagas made it quite clear that she wasn't interested in exploring the problem of homophobia, fand in fact is trying to create a fanfiction story with a plot that has nothing to do with that. However, if she puts Rikku and Paine together, something the game itself toyed with, she can't turn a blind eye to the fact that she'll have to figure out how homosexuality would exist in this world. She could, of course, write it the way she thinks it should be based on real-life experience, for titillation or self-reflection, but that was not her goal here --contrary to your ranting -- rather, she's trying to write a fanfiction story that takes into account the fictional world's culture, so she has to ponder it before she can write it.

It's really puzzling to me why some people see the word "homosexuality" like a red flag and feel they have to butt in and mock someone's sexuality and life. It's only fanfiction, it's only a hobby, and should not automatically qualify an author for personal attacks by strangers.

I was drawn here ONLY because I find dagas' writing unusual and better-crafted fanfic than a lot of the the illiterate crap I've seen out there. I recently discovered her writing, posted a rec in my journal, and friends laughed at me for "discovering" a well-known author and said, "oh yes, she's one of the good ones." So "Crappy ass fanfic" is in the eye of the beholder. Except, of course, when people pre-judge. It makes you look foolish.

But everyone has different tastes. If you don't happen to approve of one writer's method for making sure hers isn't crappy-ass fic, by thinking and planning before she begins writing, and would prefer people just blurt out half-assed stream-of-consciousness fanfic that doesn't require any effort or work on the part of reader or writer -- that's your opinion, all right? You don't have to read it. The rest of us will look forward to it.