My assessment of him as out of character is equally as valid as your assessment of him as in character. The only difference is that I like my assessment better, obviously, and you prefer yours.
Yes, and in principle, I agree with you. We all carry a version of Mulder around with us in our heads. Yours is as valid as mine which is as valid as Tesla's etc., which is why I find the out of character argument so frustrating. As a writer, this isn't exactly how I've written Mulder, but it's probably closer to my version than yours. But more than that, I do try to give a good writer, like Rivkat, like Tesla, some latitude to create the character they want, and I think you do as well, Scully in "Iolokus," being the obvious example of that, but I know there are others. This may be why I'm surprised that you aren't doing that here, giving Tesla some leeway within the context of canon and her plot. Brain trauma, shock, etc., exhaustion, they all offer a complex collection of possibilities which a writer can choose from.
I guess the bottom line is you don't like Tesla's choices here, and you are right, she could easily have chosen differently. As I said earlier, if the story doesn't work for you, it doesn't work, and that's true for every reader, including me. That's irrefutable.
I guess I'm a little sad, too, that the elegance of the story's structure (and of course, my insightful description of it *g*) carries no weight with you. It's been a long time since I've felt this—electrified—by that element, and I had hoped to convey something of that excitement in my analysis. Major Fail on my part, obviously. Maybe I'll do better next time. Onward?
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winterfish
no subject
Date: 2012-02-24 04:16 pm (UTC)My assessment of him as out of character is equally as valid as your assessment of him as in character. The only difference is that I like my assessment better, obviously, and you prefer yours.
Yes, and in principle, I agree with you. We all carry a version of Mulder around with us in our heads. Yours is as valid as mine which is as valid as Tesla's etc., which is why I find the out of character argument so frustrating. As a writer, this isn't exactly how I've written Mulder, but it's probably closer to my version than yours. But more than that, I do try to give a good writer, like Rivkat, like Tesla, some latitude to create the character they want, and I think you do as well, Scully in "Iolokus," being the obvious example of that, but I know there are others. This may be why I'm surprised that you aren't doing that here, giving Tesla some leeway within the context of canon and her plot. Brain trauma, shock, etc., exhaustion, they all offer a complex collection of possibilities which a writer can choose from.
I guess the bottom line is you don't like Tesla's choices here, and you are right, she could easily have chosen differently. As I said earlier, if the story doesn't work for you, it doesn't work, and that's true for every reader, including me. That's irrefutable.
I guess I'm a little sad, too, that the elegance of the story's structure (and of course, my insightful description of it *g*) carries no weight with you. It's been a long time since I've felt this—electrified—by that element, and I had hoped to convey something of that excitement in my analysis. Major Fail on my part, obviously. Maybe I'll do better next time. Onward?