thoughts on cisswaps/genderswaps/rule 63
Sep. 26th, 2014 08:25 pmFor some things I feel like cisswaps don't make much difference except as a way to put more girls in the canon -- which, don't get me wrong, I totally love the idea of things i love being exactly the same except with more ladies, but it feels kind of . . . shallow? or something.
And then with other things it makes a HUGE, world-shaking-important difference in my ability to connect with things and enjoy them. Like, take Captain America. Quite plainly, I don't care about the story of Captain America -- I can understand why other people love it, and there's some great fic out there, but overall I am not very invested. But switch Steve for Stella, and suddenly I am ALL OVER it. Because the story of Stella is fundamentally different than the story of Steve, even with every other aspect of her origin story the same.
Just about every aspect of Steve Rogers/Captain America has been analyzed and over-analyzed by people much more invested than me, so I'll leave that where it is. But the story of Stella Rogers/Captain America can go in basically one of two ways: Either you have Stella Rogers waking up into the 21st century and SURPRISE EVERYONE the model of American masculinity was a lady this whole time, or the public face of America's fighting forces in World War 2 is a woman in battle dress. (And either way you have the possibility of super-soldier super-girlfriends, so there's really no angle to lose from.)
... like, i dunno, i'm more interested in stories WITH GENDER STUFF than i am in just stories period. more on this as the story develops.
And then with other things it makes a HUGE, world-shaking-important difference in my ability to connect with things and enjoy them. Like, take Captain America. Quite plainly, I don't care about the story of Captain America -- I can understand why other people love it, and there's some great fic out there, but overall I am not very invested. But switch Steve for Stella, and suddenly I am ALL OVER it. Because the story of Stella is fundamentally different than the story of Steve, even with every other aspect of her origin story the same.
Just about every aspect of Steve Rogers/Captain America has been analyzed and over-analyzed by people much more invested than me, so I'll leave that where it is. But the story of Stella Rogers/Captain America can go in basically one of two ways: Either you have Stella Rogers waking up into the 21st century and SURPRISE EVERYONE the model of American masculinity was a lady this whole time, or the public face of America's fighting forces in World War 2 is a woman in battle dress. (And either way you have the possibility of super-soldier super-girlfriends, so there's really no angle to lose from.)
... like, i dunno, i'm more interested in stories WITH GENDER STUFF than i am in just stories period. more on this as the story develops.