It would be nice to at least write *something*.

[apocalypsos]

I've been starting a post on lovable douchebags and why I love them in my fiction, and fandom and sexism and fic taboos and whatnot, and every time I start it, I delete the bulk of it and feel the urge to go bang my head off the wall, because it quickly degenerates into why I kinda want to throw pies at half of fandom.

The content seems to boil down to:

1. Just because I (and other people) adore lovable douchebags doesn't mean we approve of every little thing they do.

2. Just because I (and other people) adore a ship in which a lovable douchebag hooks up with ... well, anyone, doesn't actually mean we support abusive relationships or marriages we know will self-destruct in a few years or whatever. (See: Chuck/Blair -- I fully expect those two to marry and divorce a couple of times with lots of angry sex in between and a couple of eyerolling kids who keep catching them both in compromising positions when they're supposed to be, like, signing divorce papers or whatever. 'Cause I like trainwrecks. :D)

3. Just because I (and other people) adore a male lovable douchebag doesn't mean we'd hate him as a woman, or vice versa. (Actually, there are some really fabulous female lovable douchebags out there: Faith, Sarah Connor, Starbuck, George Lass, Deb Morgan, etc.)

4. Just because I (and other people) adore a lovable douchebag doesn't mean we would want to have anything to do with him in real life. (I think Dean is hot as fuck. However, if he approached me in a bar, I probably couldn't make a run for it fast enough. He's a smug criminal transient, no matter how good he looks in those jeans.)

5. You might actually adore a lovable douchebag and not even know it. They're sneaky like that. (Jack Harkness is a lovable douchebag. Depending on the season, Buffy Summers and Veronica Mars are both lovable douchebags. Arrested Development is entirely peopled by lovable douchebags.)

I feel like writing a definition of a lovable douchebag, where your character would have to fit four basic rules:

-- They're a hero, at least technically.
-- You love them in fiction.
-- But in real life, you would haaaaaate them and not want anything to do with them.
-- They really wouldn't be bothered by that for the most part.

Is it sad that I'm establishing a claim on asshats we love to hate? Heh.

Comments

[lavenderfrost.livejournal.com]

(I think Dean is hot as fuck. However, if he approached me in a bar, I probably couldn't make a run for it fast enough. He's a smug criminal transient, no matter how good he looks in those jeans.)

Heh. I'd probably stick around just long enough to tap that, but yeah. No long-term commitment possible unless some serious changes happen, and I know better than to think any woman could change him by being in a relationship with him.