Story 111: "Melancholia" by Jeylan

[wendelah1]

"Melancholia" is one of the most unabashedly Romantic stories ever written in this fandom. It seems like it shouldn't work: an old, abandoned house, a graveyard in the rain, Mulder reading Marvell and Shelly and weaving a wreath of flowers for Scully's hair. Her Mulder is mercurial and Byronic, her Scully more earthbound. It's a love story for the ages.

Or is it?

Suggested by estella_c, seconded by me.

By all means, send the author feedback, and then let us know what you think. Suggestions for next time can be made at our nomination post. There is still plenty of time to read and comment on last week's Gutless", too.

"Melancholia"

Comments

Hi, I'm Kind of Offended - 2/2

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

contd...

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."

Re: Hi, I'm Kind of Offended - 2/2

[wendelah1]

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.

I laughed at this. Well. Jeylan writes a very toppy Mulder. She clearly feels that Scully is too bossy, doesn't deserve him, and needs to be put in her place.

The weird thing is the sex itself is really pretty hot, (although the attitudes behind it are not), despite that the characters admittedly don't seem like themselves. Maybe I should not be confessing this but I like the sex scene in "A Bitter Taste on the Tongue", too. It definitely crosses the line into somewhat coercive sex, especially once the handcuffs come out.

Re: Hi, I'm Kind of Offended - 2/2

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

The weird thing is the sex itself is really pretty hot, (although the attitudes behind it are not), despite that the characters admittedly don't seem like themselves.

yes, it is weird. and i do agree, it is pretty hot. presuming i can block out how much i don't like these characterizations and their attitudes, of course. i'll have to reread A Bitter Taste on the Tongue. i remember thinking it was deliciously disturbing when i read it, but for some reason it didn't leave a lasting impression.

It definitely crosses the line into somewhat coercive sex, especially once the handcuffs come out.

coercive sex in (fan)fiction is such a fascinating area, as i see it. i'm the sort of person who has a definite kink for a very specific kind of coercive sex. i suspect that i will find Jane's fic rather suits my tastes. basically both the characters and the writer have to be very clear on the fact that it's coercive - power lines are being stuggled with here and everybody knows it. if a power struggle is happening and both characters are "into" the struggle, absolutely, wow, it can really sizzle. unfortunately, a lot of coercive sex doesn't see itself as coercive sex (my my, how art does immitate life). and as soon as a scene (particularly a first-time scene) becomes "i want this and you don't and i'm trying to convince you that you do want it the way i want it," that's basically repulsive (to me). i definitely got hints of that repulsive kind of coercive in Melancholia, though nothing really substantial in this case.

This fic makes me think that you will always be alone because people cannot understand each-other at all, and only connect but fleetingly.

me too, hlbr, me too. and i really dislike that. if i want to get that kind of depressing realism in which people's relationships are shoddy and the characters would probably be better off alone, then i'll read classic literature. Anna Karenina does the trick nicely. when i read about mulder and scully, however, i want to see them as people who are stronger and whose lives are genuinely better (on the whole, at least) when they're together.

Re: Hi, I'm Kind of Offended - 2/2

[hlbr.livejournal.com]

Actually, that line threw me right off, because that doesn't sound like them at all, and your re-phrasing is terrifically similar to the impression it gave me, too.