OPJ Discussion

[boomqueen]

This meta is brought to you by the letters M and F.

M is for Malfoy because this future!fic by cynthia_arrow has me thinking that a particularly nasty and villainous Slytherin might just make the hottest reformed-but-still-snarky bad boy evar. I've never really cared for Malfoy, in the books or films, and now I'm having the smutty type thoughts...

F for Faith because this vid by heresluck has been eating my brain with its amazing angsty and lush deliciousness for weeks now (plus it's to one of my favorite Tegan and Sara songs!).

I didn't like Faith at all at first when I started watching Buffy and now I luuuuuurve her. Just like I didn't like Starbuck at first, or Lex, or Sawyer, or Logan for that matter...or any of the other Obligatory Psychotic Jackasses (OPJs) that I seem to fall for eventually.

Which brings me to a pattern I have noticed over time regarding the characters I gravitate towards in my various fandoms. It goes something like this:

1. Why is ___ so obnoxious/cruel to beloved protagonist ___ ?
They are too loud, too rude, too self-absorbed, too angry, too harsh, too under-handed...
I can't believe they did ___ to ___!
OMG! we hates them!!!

2. Oh, but wait, it is actually driven by teh UST...
Oh, but wait, it is actually covering a mountain of woobie...
Oh, but wait, look at the pretty angst...
Oh, but wait, they are conflicted about their dark side and are trying to atone (even if it's a somewhat erratic path of redemption)...
Oh, but wait, ___ is a royal bad-ass in battle/sheets/smarts/you-name-it...

3. Now that you mention it...___ is pretty hot...
...and they always have snappy come-backs
Yup, I officially want to sex ___

4. OMFG best OPJ ever!!!
And I am now officially obsessed.

You may fill in the above blanks with any of the following (by fandom):

1. Faith - Buffyverse


2. Spike - Buffyverse


3. Lex Luthor - Smallville


4. Logan Echolls - Veronica Mars


5. Sawyer - Lost


6. My current #1: Kara "Starbuck" Thrace - Battlestar Galactica


7. and now presenting: Future!Draco Malfoy - Harry Potter (I'm totally agreeing with this fan-artist's ideas about what Future!Draco would look like)

Now we get to the part where I try to figure out WHY I have developed this pattern. Because at some point in time I developed a major kink for people that are mean/bad/wrong but in a sexy and potentially redeemable way.

Bad and/or broken girls and boys are hot? Evil is hot?
Villains get the best dialogue/snark?
I'm a sucker for angst? (though, to be more specific, I don't just want angst. I want snarky angst, not non-stop wailing/crying/moping emo angst.)
Morally dubious characters are more likely to be written as flirty/slutty/sexually charged?
I have a pathological need to mother/fix everyone including fictional characters?
I never quite got over that crush on bad-boys Axl Rose, River Phoenix and Johnny Depp when I was 12?
My brain is broken and I just need help?
All of the above?

And does this explain my relationship to other shows: maybe part of why I haven't truly bonded with Heroes is the lack of hot, snarky OPJ's? (In addition to Heroes' lack of overall character development...) Or why I loved Firefly but never had one character in the ensemble that I really felt uber-invested in?

Now my brain's all fuzzy. Now I kinda want to do a bigger J's Bad Girls and Boys of Fandom picspam... Well, here's hoping this meta has left you as thoroughly horny and conflicted as me :)

What about you guys? Any pathological fandom and/or attraction patterns you've noticed in yourselves?

Comments

[mariannesquee.livejournal.com]

This scares me, we must be some psycological 'type' here. Ya know, Jungian or Freud?

Faith, Spike and teh Starbucks? Okay 3 out of 7, that doesn't mean much right?
But what you said about Heroes and Firefly!? Whoa. Took the words right outta my BRAIN!

[boom-queen.livejournal.com]

Haha, I'd have a serious laugh if there were already an official psychological type for this condition :)

3 out 7 ain't bad--especially since the Buffyverse was my very first fandom and probably still has the biggest pull on my heart.

How much do I love that the current character arc in the season 8 comics is all about Faith!?!

[cynthia-arrow.livejournal.com]

BWAHAHA! Victory! Srsly, I love it when I can pawn my sudden wacky obsessions off on people. Especially when it's something as inexplicable as me suddenly wanting to read/write the Malfoy.

But I normally go for bad boys only when they're properly woobified. (Which is why I didn't deal with canon Draco. And why Spike, especially in season five, owns a piece of my soul.) I'm typically into good guys (like Jack on Lost and Sam on SPN). I call them my Big Dumb Boys. BSG provides me a unique problem on that front: I've never had four BDBs on one show before. It's hard to protect them all at once!

But when I like OPJs (like Logan and Lex), all those reasons you listed--totally true! Snark + Emo + Slutty = ♥

[boom-queen.livejournal.com]

You have plenty of crowing to do for all the random pairings you have opened me up to. You are officially the Queen of "hmmmm...I hadn't thought of them before but now that you mention it..."

I definitely have a soft spot for Big Dumb Boys, especially when they are so lovely while woobified (like Sam on SPN and Sam on BSG), but they don't quite have the same womb-clenching effect for me as the bad boys/girls.

So the BDBs on BSG are Anders, Helo, Chief and ...Lee?

[cynthia-arrow.livejournal.com]

So the BDBs on BSG are Anders, Helo, Chief and ...Lee?

Yep. I can see how you'd hesitate on Lee, though. There are BDB's that require supervision and defense (both my Sams) and those that I actually tend to yell at more than protect, like Lee and Jack Shephard.

That second group often makes me cranky, but probably because I hold them to a (sometimes unjustifiably) higher standard. I think they're a little too close to my own worldview (or I want them to be), and when they deviate, I give them hell. :)

[lunar47.livejournal.com]

I refuse to psychoanalyze myself anymore and will just accept the fact that I will fall hard for people like the ones you mentioned. Since I have been doing a big damn rewatch of Buffy, Spike has now imbedded himself in my brain again and Faith makes me sigh for missing her.

[boom-queen.livejournal.com]

I've been doing a kind of continual Buffy rewatch (season 5 most recently) and that left me all gushy for Spike all over again.

And the Faith arc in the season 8 comics has been sooooo happymaking. I totally miss her.

Funny side story for you since you have teh mad grafix skillz: Last Saturday I thought to myself, maybe it's time I learned how to use Photoshop, so the Mr and I started playing around with some caps from Faith's dancing scene in Ats 1.18 (Five by Five) to make a wallpaper or header or something...and eight hours later it kinda sorta looked okayish. So, I have renewed lurve and respect for you for all of your Photoshoppy creative endeavors. That shit is hard work!

[dragonchariot.livejournal.com]

I think that you just like naughty/rebel boys. As Allison said in Cry-Baby, "I'm so tired of being good."

[dragonchariot.livejournal.com]

and girls for that matter

[boom-queen.livejournal.com]

Hehe, I fear you are right on both counts... :D