080123 - It's Not Funny

[koilungfish]

5/1/08 - 970 words on It's Not Funny
6/1/08 - 795 words on It's Not Funny
7/1/08 - Ill
8/1/08 - Ill
9/1/08 - 806 words on It's Not Funny
10/1/08 - Ill
11/1/08 - Ill
12/1/08 - 660 words on Ark Visit
13/1/08 - Day Off
14/1/08 - Ill
15/1/08 - Ill
16/1/08 - 1487 words on untitled TF ficbit
17/1/08 - 969 words on It's Not Funny
18/1/08 - 612 words on Omicron Rising
19/1/08 - 811 words on Blood & Diesel
20/1/08 - Day Off
21/1/08 - 627 words on The Other God of Charr
22/1/08 - Ill

23/1/08 - New Fic
It's Not Funny [TF:G1, season 2, slash-ish]
A domestic abuse charity ask Jazz to help them reach out to Starscream.

Comments

*relocates to fishy LJ*

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

..yeah, Koi, I think you just put me off my lunch. Not cool.

And I was enjoying that sandwich, too.

Re: *relocates to fishy LJ*

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

Having gone to class and come back and perhaps gotten my thoughts in order a bit, I'll give you a slightly less edible criticism.

First off, the entire premise is illogical. Fangirl theory (and consequently, fandom in-jokes) may hold that Starscream is in a domestic abuse situation, but that's because they see his interactions with Megatron outside of the battlefield and don't see reports of Decepticon-caused casualties in the newspaper every other week. It's a lot harder to sympathize with someone who is going around killing actual people instead of badly animated ones, especially if you're the sort of person who'd work at a battered woman's shelter. Most people are going to figure he deserves what he gets and understand Prime's comment about domestic squabbles was a joke. No one who isn't completely batshit insane is going to suggest that the giant death robot be offered a pamphlet on domestic abuse.

Secondly, you're putting the idea of Starscream being thought of as a domestic abuse victim in the same context as Starscream singling out a center for domestic abuse for specific and wiping out large swathes of human-inhabited areas. The first is humorous, the second is atrocious, and while I could deal with either of them in a fic alone (even if the second would make me a little uncomfortable on a general visceral basis), putting them together is definitely pushing it over several lines. It's not that the latter isn't in character for Starscream, it's that it's happening in the course of something that started out funny enough and then just went down a large cliff into tragically disgusting.

Maybe I'm being oversensitive and everyone else is going to disagree with me, but I found this in poor taste.

...and that was a food pun, wasn't it? Gah.

Re: *relocates to fishy LJ*

[velvetg.livejournal.com]

I personally thought the poor taste was intentional. I only skim-read it, but it struck me as... well, not a satire, but a comment on SNAD fics, on Autobot prank-fics. Sort of, if that situation really happened, this would be the outcome. I don't know if that's the case, but that's how it read.

I did think Jazz's 'I thought it would be funny' was heart-achingly poignant. I can't say I liked the fic (as you said, the tonal switch was jarring, and a lot of the premise felt contrived to me), but I found the scenario interesting. A joke gone horribly tragically wrong and there's no undoing the damage.

Re: *relocates to fishy LJ*

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

I saw where Koi was going with the satire, and while I found the premise unrealistic I went with it anyway. It was the...rather distasteful result that I found to be pushing it. Taking the obvious idea of 'and this is what would REALLY happen if someone did this' to an extreme and adding in a bit of subtle soapboxing.

Re: *relocates to fishy LJ*

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

Soapboxing? How so?

Re: *relocates to fishy LJ*

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

Starscream being in a conventional domestic abuse relationship (and, more centrally, being all right with being taken out of it) is a common fan theory. You've satirized such fannish ideas before, and in some cases it's been very amusing/insightful and in some cases it comes across as you trying to make some sort of statement that fan theory X is patently ridiculous. In this case it's the latter.

Re: *relocates to fishy LJ*

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

You mean it isn't ridiculous?

Re: *relocates to fishy LJ*

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

Hm?

Re: *relocates to fishy LJ*

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

It was originally supposed to be mocking the conventions of WAFFy SNADfic, wherein Starscream is a victim who needs to be cosseted, but it rather evolved in the writing. Possibly it's my inability to stay away from explosions and horrible deaths. I'm not sure if I'd call it satire.

Perhaps the change in tone was a bit too strong ...

Re: *relocates to fishy LJ*

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'm not sure it is black humour. The whole point of the story is that it *isn't* funny - that the deaths of thousands isn't funny, that domestic abuse isn't funny.

Re: *relocates to fishy LJ*

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. It's not what I would have called it, but I can see your point there.

Re: *relocates to fishy LJ*

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

You're entirely right in your first point. Yes, most people are going to see things pretty much as they are, and, even if they think there's something going on between Megatron and Starscream, they're going to have absolutely no problem with Starscream getting thumped through a building. But that's *most* people. There are always people who're going to have a slightly skewed perspective on things, be it because they don't have all the information [because they don't watch the TV, or don't trust the newspapers], or because they don't want to believe [because the truth is too terrible, because they want to see the best in everyone], or because they care a bit too much and it's hard for them to see *anyone* in pain, or because domestic violence and abusive relationships are what concern them so much that they see it wherever they can.

Is a few people from one small charity mistakenly seeing someone as suffering from something that concerns them on an every-day basis really that improbable?

Certainly you're the only person so far to really not like the story [Dun agrees with you in the improbability side, but mostly concerning Jazz's actions]. There are two or maybe three points to this story and the biggest one is that it *isn't* funny. The second biggest is that Jazz fucked up by not taking things seriously enough.

Someone summed the whole thing up as "Ha ha, oh fuck!" Yes, the first scene sets you up for the sucker-punch that is the third through fifth scenes. Yes, it's Laugh With Jazz up until the ceiling falls on him, but that's kinda the point. Laughing is the *wrong* thing to do with the situation ... so possibly you're the only person who's reading the story *right* :)

Re: *relocates to fishy LJ*

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

Is a few people from one small charity mistakenly seeing someone as suffering from something that concerns them on an every-day basis really that improbable?

In my opinion? No. Of course this may come from me having a little more faith in people's common sense and understanding of what really isn't appropriate than you do (that one where they kick the Autobots off Earth nonwithstanding as I have no idea what the hell happened there), but I don't think anyone seeing it from an outside perspective, especially just for a few bare moments, is going to see it as along the same lines as a husband beating his wife (or vice versa or so on so forth). Abuse, perhaps, but no stranger than your average army officer abusing and humiliating one of his troops.

Even narrowing it down to just battle scenes, your average human isn't going to have access to seeing the ones that take place in remote areas or other countries and news footage is going to be a bit blurry even at the best of times. It's even a bit unlikely that the microphone on your average newscam would have even picked up Prime's statement.


Someone summed the whole thing up as "Ha ha, oh fuck!" Yes, the first scene sets you up for the sucker-punch that is the third through fifth scenes. Yes, it's Laugh With Jazz up until the ceiling falls on him, but that's kinda the point. Laughing is the *wrong* thing to do with the situation ... so possibly you're the only person who's reading the story *right* :)

That...somehow makes me feel bad, considering your story did indeed put me off my lunch and left me feeling uncomfortable most of the rest of the day. I didn't even find it funny at the beginning, only a growing sense of 'Koi, I'm not entirely sure where you're going with this and I'm not sure I'm going to like it'.

Re: *relocates to fishy LJ*

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

There are people who write to imprisoned serial killers with offers of marriage. It's not just fanbrats who think stone-cold bastards can be reformed with a little love. People don't view the world clearly and cleanly, they view it through a filter of their own priorities.

I don't think it's that improbable that Prime's "domestic squabble" statements could get picked up by someone. He's said it more than once, one time in the middle of a public area.

Well then, yes, you've rather gotten the point before reading the story, so it probably does feel a bit like I've clubbed you with something nasty. Sorry about that.

Re: *relocates to fishy LJ*

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

Yes, but my armchair informs me that those women tend to have a lot of problems of their own. Someone who deals with the results of violence won't tend to feel sympathy for a guy who commits such mass destruction and suffering on a grand scale. These people are sane.

In a conversational tone, in the middle of a battlefield where no human could safely wander. They can't get that close.

Re: *relocates to fishy LJ*

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

Armchair?

People who live with violence get blind to it. It's hard to explain without giving some rather personal examples.

Spike can get that close, and has a habit of overhearing things he shouldn't.

Re: *relocates to fishy LJ*

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

Armchair = armchair psychologist. Making psychology-related statements without a complete study of the subject.

Which is why I'd think women helping save people from such situations would be least likely to make that sort of mistake.

Spike's the Token Human and occasionally plot relevant. He doesn't count.

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

True, Jazz's reaction in the first part kind of gives the readers permission to not take it seriously either, but with a title like "It's Not Funny" and the fact that the story isn't listed as being in the Humor category, do people really expect that it's going to be humorous? I can't really understand how people could be surprised over what Starscream ended up doing.

Has your average ff.net reader ever understood the point?

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

At least three have so far.

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

New record, that.

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

It's been broken. Take a look at the reviews - it's getting faintly scary how much thought is going on out there :)

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

No kidding. Some of them are putting their thoughts more eloquently than I am.

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

Aha! I was wondering if anyone would backtrack and read the whole thing before I finished posting it to ff.net.

I think most people do expect it to be funny because the POV character finds it funny. That's generally how things go, and I admit I've exploited that general rule to get an effect out of it.

Yes, very. Starscream's capable of throwing out a bucketful of firepower if he wants to and isn't very restrained when he's angry.

I'm glad someone sympathizes with Jazz. He really does have a shed load of woe poured over him.

[aragem.livejournal.com]

Wow. Don't know if I can give this a suitable review, but here I go.

After reading the first scene, I wondered if you lost a bet and had to write this or you were in a silly mood when you wrote this.

The idea of women believing that StarScream was trapped in an abusive relation was silly and it made me dislike the women first hand because they sound stubborn on top of stupid.

Of course, Jazz being Jazz finds this funny and is more than happy to do his part by handing StarScream a domestic abuse leaflet.

I expected more silliness to ensue, but then you yet again shocked me.

I DID NOT see the destruction and the angst coming and it was taken bitterly by me.

I now see why this fic deserves its title. It really WASN'T funny and it may have made people who laughed in the beginning and at StarScream's initial reaction feel guilt along with Jazz when they and he realize the consequences of taunting a hairtripper Starscream.

Now I may make some people mad or people disagree with me, but I think you made Starscream a bit too powerful than he was in this fic. I understand that Starscream can cause a lot of damage when he puts his mind to it and even more when he looses control, but I don't think he would have been able to bring such destruction to the city and cause Megatron so many injuries on top of that by himself.

Either way, I liked the writing style and your descriptions, they are always in top form. I like the effect you had on me with the story, I can't say that I LOVE it, I like it, but I don't love it.

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

The amount of feedback I'm getting on this one is astounding :) I don't think I've ever had so many reviews for one fic, especially without having to chase for them.

It started out as an idea to mock the fandom trope - Starscream the abuse victim - and evolved, as my ideas tend to, into something bigger and more violent.

Yeah, that's pretty much the point of the story - that Jazz made fun out of something he really shouldn't have. The change from humour to horror is intentional, although perhaps sharper than I wanted it to be, to bring the reader along with Jazz's mood.

Starscream's pulled all sorts of weapons in the cartoon - the missile-launchers in his chest from "Fire on the Mountain", the wrist-mounted missile launchers in "Ultimate Doom", the gratuitous display of firepower from "Prime Problem", the null rays that felled Megatron in "Starscream's Brigade". Add to that the fact that his cluster bombs can, according to his tech specs, level a area 10,000 feet square ... I don't think I overstated Starscream's destructive capabilities.

Glad you enjoyed it then :)