When canon resembles bad fanfic RE: Smallville

[Dina Lerret]

Under other circumstances, a reader may consider a whiny, bitchy male
character as being OOC (out of character) in fanfic--with the
exception of Draco Malfoy, who is bitchy in canon. ;-)

{chuckle} Okay, Smallville is *really* reminding me of bad fanfic when
it comes to characterization... and some storylines--though, SV has
had some good moments this season.  I'm hoping the SV writers aren't
patrolling FF.net, thinking 'hey, this is what fans are writing and
must prefer, therefore, we should write like FF.net fanfic'.  LOL! 
God, I'll keep watching Smallville until Michael Rosenbaum (excellent
actor) leaves.

I posted this yesterday on an SV slash group:
"I admit part of the slash appeal for me is... basis but not
probability--though, I still enjoyed HBO Oz's Beecher/Keller where
Keller says he wants unconditional love from his cellmate, Beecher,
and is willing to kill and die for his love *in televised canon*
(bonus points for both guys doing full/frontal nudity) = angst
slasher's wet dream come true.

I've also enjoyed Harry Potter and Severus Snape slash (AKA Snarry)
and they *detest* to downright hate each other.  Some have speculated
the recent sixth HP book may have damaged the 'Snarry' pairing when
Harry tries to perform an Unforgivable Curse on Snape.  However, Snape
does *not* fully retaliate against Harry's attack and basically yells
at Harry 'to look at the bigger picture'.  I think there was an
amazing amount of slashability.

Moving onto Clark Kent and Lex Luthor, Clark is still a teen raised in
a limiting social circle where he hasn't gained enough experience to
look outside of this... 'box'.  I've seen some question why Clark is
so immature and I reflect on the fact he hasn't taken enough time away
to explore and learn more about different aspects of society--I've
heard 'canon' Clark takes years off to learn from A.I. and explores
the world to acquire a better sense of justice?  Like I said, I'm not
really familiar with the comics.

To me, Clark is acting in a fairly predictable manner and I find
moments of irony where I see Smallville's depiction of Clark's
naivete/immaturity and then read fanfic personifying Clark with the
same characteristic, coupled with closed-mindness and selfishness...
Still, based on his environment and Jonathan Kent most likely being
Clark's chosen role model, Clark's development (or lack of) does kind
of make sense.  These flaws in a young Clark Kent help contribute to
the animosity between him and Lex Luthor.  On a level, they're both
selfish individuals, but in the past, Lex has been flexible with
Clark's demands on their relationship and Clark has turned a 'blind
eye' to some of Lex's less than altruistic traits.

It's interesting to note on the upcoming episode, Splinter (I think
that's what it's called), I get the impression Clark wasn't as blind
to the UST between Lex and Lana... Questionable timing that, when
Clark hooked back up with Lana, Lex was shoved out of the picture."


>From a second message in the discussion but almost redundant to the above:
"I think some of us have this picture of an older and more
*experienced* Clark Kent and we tend to frown on these... mistakes a
young *teen* Clark makes when he's been, at times, forced into, um,
'isolating' himself from part of the typical rituals of growing up,
which could've helped him acquire a wider range of knowledge on
society.  This is on top of the limited 'small town' views Jonathan
Kent may impart on Clark.  However, I'm not saying Jonathan is
necessarily a bad parent just because he implants his ideals onto his
child.

Part of what made some Smallville episodes interesting was how they
tried to offer basis for some of Clark's later characteristics (e.g.
awkward persona) and it would've been interesting if the writers
could've used Clark's *human*--ironically, what Clark's wanted or more
like a want impressed upon him by his surroundings--failings as a
reasonable vehicle for the deterioration between Clark and Lex.  Plus,
by including flaws in Clark, it's also possible to sympathize with Lex
and provide support that 'destiny' (i.e. his role as Clark's nemesis)
isn't always random.

However, with the awkwardness of *both* Clark and Lex's
characterization (jumps forward and then back), I'm of the belief this
wasn't the reasoning for the script choices."

Dina