the entire time i was reading the fic, my sense of the "wrongness" of the mulder/scully dynamic grew. for the first half i was decidedly on the fic's side. the writing is pretty and unique. that goes a long way with me. and when mulder is by himself, or when he's only thinking about how beautiful scully is, his characterizations really works. but i was already not feeling very great about the fic's tone, when suddenly...--the sexy tiems started:
He was going to take this woman. Now. *Now.* He was going to fuck her, make love to her, make her cry out, make her toes curl and her head toss. He was going to bury himself in her warmth, and her wetness, and let his whole soul revel in it, in this shuddery on-ness, and awakeness, and aliveness -- this fleeting instant, this incalculable, extraordinary, fugitive fragment of LIFE -- stolen as it was out of the jaws of the earthen ponderous inertia of Time. This fragment of heaven -- This --
"Stop!" she said again, more distinctly.
Mulder slowed. He breathed a shaky breath.
"I don't want to stop," he said stubbornly.
hi, i'm OFFENDED. first of all, i am offended by this characterization of mulder - a mulder who thinks "I am going to take this woman and give her perfect sex". i don't have a problem with sex scenes in which the characters become voracious, half-unstrung. in fact, wow, hot. but this is not to be mistaken with that. here mulder isn't voraciously caught up in his passionate hunger. no, he wants to establish his sexual prowess. he wants to MAKE her enjoy it. it's not about them being together, it's about what he can do to MAKE it good for them. he wants to MAKE the moment perfect. her pleasure is about vindicating him. but secondly, i am offended by this fic's chauvinistic rubbish that has the nerve to disguise its mulder as some kind of "altruistic sexual and spiritual messiah".
"Happy, Scully? You like that?" He searched her eyes.
"You -- you have no idea," she whispered. "I -- I -- Mulder, I --"
Tenderly he touched her lips; rediscovered himself in her eyes. Amazed himself with touching her like this, and looking into her eyes like this.
"You trying to tell me you love me, Scully?"
She nodded.
wow, that middle line would be really gorgeous and intimate in the context of a different fic with different characterizations. but has anyone noticed that the translation of this scene is as follows?:
Mulder: i strongly suspect i am a sex god.
Scully: mulder, you are a sex god! also, i-- i--
Mulder: i know intimacy is hard for you, scully, so let me just force you to your point, which is that you love me, right? good, that's what i thought.
if the context of the fic were different i might find it plausible that mulder was simply trying to make the situation easier for scully by taking the pressure off of her. in The Cannibal King and the Dusty Maid by Pan Gamble and Slippin' Mickeys, mulder says, "I love you," and then he looks at scully and she looks back and he says calmly, "you love me to." And it's gorgeous.
But this is Melancholia. the tone of this fic is, "oh scully, you can stop stammering now, i know you love me."
which i suppose ought to be unsurprising, considering that the underlying message of the fic up until that point seems to be, "Oh scully, you can stop ____ anytime. i love you."
Hi, I'm Kind of Offended - 2/2
the entire time i was reading the fic, my sense of the "wrongness" of the mulder/scully dynamic grew. for the first half i was decidedly on the fic's side. the writing is pretty and unique. that goes a long way with me. and when mulder is by himself, or when he's only thinking about how beautiful scully is, his characterizations really works. but i was already not feeling very great about the fic's tone, when suddenly...--the sexy tiems started:
He was going to take this woman. Now. *Now.* He was going to fuck her, make love to her, make her cry out, make her toes curl and her head toss. He was going to bury himself in her warmth, and her wetness, and let his whole soul revel in it, in this shuddery on-ness, and awakeness, and aliveness -- this fleeting instant, this incalculable, extraordinary, fugitive fragment of LIFE -- stolen as it was out of the jaws of the earthen ponderous inertia of Time. This fragment of heaven -- This --
"Stop!" she said again, more distinctly.
Mulder slowed. He breathed a shaky breath.
"I don't want to stop," he said stubbornly.
hi, i'm OFFENDED. first of all, i am offended by this characterization of mulder - a mulder who thinks "I am going to take this woman and give her perfect sex". i don't have a problem with sex scenes in which the characters become voracious, half-unstrung. in fact, wow, hot. but this is not to be mistaken with that. here mulder isn't voraciously caught up in his passionate hunger. no, he wants to establish his sexual prowess. he wants to MAKE her enjoy it. it's not about them being together, it's about what he can do to MAKE it good for them. he wants to MAKE the moment perfect. her pleasure is about vindicating him. but secondly, i am offended by this fic's chauvinistic rubbish that has the nerve to disguise its mulder as some kind of "altruistic sexual and spiritual messiah".
"Happy, Scully? You like that?" He searched her eyes.
"You -- you have no idea," she whispered. "I -- I -- Mulder,
I --"
Tenderly he touched her lips; rediscovered himself in her eyes.
Amazed himself with touching her like this, and looking into her
eyes like this.
"You trying to tell me you love me, Scully?"
She nodded.
wow, that middle line would be really gorgeous and intimate in the context of a different fic with different characterizations. but has anyone noticed that the translation of this scene is as follows?:
Mulder: i strongly suspect i am a sex god.
Scully: mulder, you are a sex god! also, i-- i--
Mulder: i know intimacy is hard for you, scully, so let me just force you to your point, which is that you love me, right? good, that's what i thought.
if the context of the fic were different i might find it plausible that mulder was simply trying to make the situation easier for scully by taking the pressure off of her. in The Cannibal King and the Dusty Maid by Pan Gamble and Slippin' Mickeys, mulder says, "I love you," and then he looks at scully and she looks back and he says calmly, "you love me to." And it's gorgeous.
But this is Melancholia. the tone of this fic is, "oh scully, you can stop stammering now, i know you love me."
which i suppose ought to be unsurprising, considering that the underlying message of the fic up until that point seems to be, "Oh scully, you can stop ____ anytime. i love you."