Criticism of a Passage

[alia_cat]

I was reading a fanfic on Teaspoon, called “Broken Faith.” It is written by Marcus S Lazarus. I would like to make it clear from the start that I have no issue with the author personally, nor am I criticizing the overall quality of the author’s writing or his ‘ship’ of choice (Ten/Martha). The writing quality of this fic is very good- it is clear,

Comments

[jenny_gwen]

I completley agree with your thoughts on this passage. The fanfic itself seems well written, but I feel there are flaws in the fic. People, well, Rose-lovers anyway, will naturally react to something like...

"Rose had never displayed any real sign of growth during her time with him; if anything had grown, it was her dependence on him, to the extent that, in the end, she seemed to rely on him..."

....That clearly, to people who have watched the new series episodes with Rose from start to finish, isn't true.

[spiletta42]

Wow, you're not having a good time, are you?

I'll admit I skimmed, because I lack energy, but I'll say this to you. Being right isn't always worth the energy. You'll be much happier if you avoid fics where the pairing is not to your taste, because even the best writers will use shady justifications when they need to reinvent canon for their purposes.

I adore Rose, I also adore Martha, and for that matter I also adore Donna. I'm not a big shipper in Who, but if I had to pick I would go with Ten/Rose, which is the canon. I find it upsetting to read negative and inaccurate things about characters, too, but it's the kind of thing you just have to learn to avoid.

That being said, this is your journal, so if it makes you feel better, have at it. I've seen these theories applied to the whole Nine-Loved-Rose-But-Ten-Belongs-With-Martha debate before, and you're making the right points against them.

[alia_cat]

I know, and I fully admit it was not worht the energy! I also admit that I do usually manage to steer clear of fics that portray characters I like in a negative way, or at least manage to keep my opinion for myself. This time I failed, so I wrote this to try and get it out of my system. Thank you for listening. :)

[persiflage_1]

As it happens, although I am a huge Martha fan, I agree with you that Marcus isn't being wholly fair to Rose in the latest chapter. I also thought of the S2 Ood story when he mentioned Rose not showing any initiative.

I don’t think that even after the trauma of the Time War he would be vulnerable enough to simply latch onto someone without having any genuine feelings for them.Sorry, but I'd disagree with you there. (I'm not saying this as a Martha fan, but as a long-time fan of Doctor Who, just to be clear - and I'm not attacking you either, so please hear me out

[alia_cat]

Since it's not really possible to see into Nine's head at that moment, we're left to interpret things ourselves, and I suppose we both know we're going to interpret them differntly. I still think Nine's attatchment to Rose was influenced, but could not be totally caused by his vulnerability since the Time War.

Thank you for hearing me out, and also for disagreeing with me respectfully instead of turning this into a flame war. :)

[persiflage_1]

Actually, I think if you asked 50 Doctor Who fans about that, they'd all interpret things slightly differently based on how familiar they are with the show across all the years, as well as their personal prejudices! :D

And no flames - not interested in flame wars. Intelligent conversations that admit those personal prejudices but don't pretend that only one intepretation is right, yes, I'll have those. I do have Rose fans on my FList - some of them quite as "rabid" as I am about Martha. When it comes down to it, I subscribe to the 'He loves them all' idea - that while the Doctor may have particularly close relationships with certain of his companions, he does love them all, no matter how obnoxious some of them might be!