The Question of MPREG
Remember this post, mentioned in my last post? Well, somebody asked me "why MPREG" and my answer got really long, so here I am again. This a topic I've been wanting to write on for a long time, but have been procrastinating over for just as long, so thanks to cgwriting for her wonderful inspirational questions (shown small and in italics) which I'm using as a scaffolding for this post.
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Ok, I've just got to know: where did you find the good MPREGs? Every single one I've ever read, in my quest to understand this fictional phenomenon, reduces me either to hysterical laughter or curling up in the corner, whimpering.
First off, I read a lot of fanfic in a lot of fandoms and, you might say, when you kiss enough frogs, eventually you're gonna find yourself a prince. Or, in this case, a good MPREG story. I haven't found such a story in the Buffy-verse yet. Some that I enjoyed, yes, but nothing that I could point out to a MPREG non-believer and say "here, this will make you understand". There is a MPREG Archive, and there are one or two wonderful gems there, but far too many are ... forgettable. Note: MPREG Archive URL corrected/updated.
Here (off the top of my head and I may be forgetting some) are some of the best MPREG that I've read:
How do you get past the utter physiological impossiblity? Doesn't that wreak having on your suspension of disbelief?
Why *I* like MPREG. Hmmm... That's a hard question, up there with "why do you like slash" or "why do you like (insert particular pairing)". There are reasons, which I'll try to give here, but there's also a certain point at which language fails in in the task of explaining. That's the point where I fall back on "it's a kink". (A "fic!kink" as distinct from a "sex!kink", meaning that it doesn't arouse me sexually, I just enjoy it.) Just like sometimes we have to fall back on "it's a squick" to explain why we *don't* like this or that.
So ... reasons that I can articulate...
Of course, one has to approach a MPREG story with a bit of an open mind to begin with. Starting to read with a prima facie attitude of "this is impossible" just makes that suspension of disblief all the more difficult. But if you start off from a "okay, I'm willing to be convinced" and the author does his/her job properly, then it shouldn't be too big a problem. That said, the following "plot devices" can satisfactorily deal with questions of physiology:
Then there's classical mythology, rife with examples in many pantheons. MPREG is part of the collective unconscious, our cultural zeitgeist.
And then there's seahorses. Though the female produces ovum and the male fertilizes it with sperm, the male then *carries* the fertilized eggs through gestation and the birth process. If seahorses can do it naturally, surely a mad scientist with an artificial womb design and some cool cloning tips can duplicate it.
A good author, a well-written story, should address all those questions regarding the physiology of reproduction, ovums and wombs and all the fiddly details. The stories I list above all have some kind of answer that works for me, for example, as well as Mary Shelley's explanations of Frankenstein's monster. I guess what it all comes down to is that *I* just don't understand why the suspension of disbelief is so much more difficult for MPREG than for many of the other plot points we obsessively write/read about in fandom.
Vampires and teenage girls who're vampire-slayes ... demons and hellgods ... a man who can bend steel with his bare hands, see through walls and light fires with his eyes, and even eventually *fly* ... ancient alien technology that allows near-instantaneous travel between planets ... a secret race of Immortals locked in constant struggle for a mysterious Prize ... 27 different alien races all fighting over who gets to colonize Earth ... etc etc etc.
Now, the stories I pass over, the ones I won't finish, are the ones that don't at least raise these questions (even if the answer is "this is beyond our present level of knowledge", cop-out though that can be). Part of what makes the story interesting is how the author will answer these questions, how the characters will deal with this extreme situation.
Huh. Once again I'm all written out. Questions? Comments? Anybody offering pie?
Edited at 5:20pm to add: Oops! I forgot to say, a lot of MPREG is substandard: overly sentimentalized, abysmally characterized (excellent examples of the old "feminizing the character" argument), and written without beta intervention of any kind -- and it deserves the general scorn the subgenre receives. And I tend to pass over/not finish those, also. *BUT* it's a huge mistake to dismiss the entire subgenre due to the flaws of a part. Ya know, like, just as with any other subgenre!
Edited again at 8:35pm to correct some fiddly stylistic and technical errors, though I'm sure I've still missed some.
Edited 2/18/04, 9:45pm ... belatedly added title/author/link to Stargate story listed above, thanks to ladyclio16
_____________________
Ok, I've just got to know: where did you find the good MPREGs? Every single one I've ever read, in my quest to understand this fictional phenomenon, reduces me either to hysterical laughter or curling up in the corner, whimpering.
First off, I read a lot of fanfic in a lot of fandoms and, you might say, when you kiss enough frogs, eventually you're gonna find yourself a prince. Or, in this case, a good MPREG story. I haven't found such a story in the Buffy-verse yet. Some that I enjoyed, yes, but nothing that I could point out to a MPREG non-believer and say "here, this will make you understand". There is a MPREG Archive, and there are one or two wonderful gems there, but far too many are ... forgettable. Note: MPREG Archive URL corrected/updated.
Here (off the top of my head and I may be forgetting some) are some of the best MPREG that I've read:
- "Misconceptions" by Diana Williams (Highlander: Duncan/Methos)
- "Family, Friendship, and Love" by Henry Jones, Jr (Smallville: Clark/Lex)
- "Time and Chance" by Dayspring (Smallville: Clark/Lex)
- "The Long and Winding Road" by Kassandra (X-Files: Mulder/Krycek)
- "A Life More Ordinary" by Lexin (Harry Potter: Harry/Snape)
- The Altar Series by Nessessitee (Stargate SG-1: Jack/Daniel)
- some Hercules/Xena-verse stories that I'd have to search for
How do you get past the utter physiological impossiblity? Doesn't that wreak having on your suspension of disbelief?
Why *I* like MPREG. Hmmm... That's a hard question, up there with "why do you like slash" or "why do you like (insert particular pairing)". There are reasons, which I'll try to give here, but there's also a certain point at which language fails in in the task of explaining. That's the point where I fall back on "it's a kink". (A "fic!kink" as distinct from a "sex!kink", meaning that it doesn't arouse me sexually, I just enjoy it.) Just like sometimes we have to fall back on "it's a squick" to explain why we *don't* like this or that.
So ... reasons that I can articulate...
- Maybe it's a cliche, but when two people share the experience of going through a pregnancy, it can be a deeply bonding experience. Since I like slash more for the continuation/deepening of the buddy relationship, rather than for complex issues of gender and/or queer politics (and that's another essay for another time), such a bonding experience is appealing.
- Pregnancy, whether it's MPREG or just "everyday ordinary" RegPreg (adopting cgwriting's term), is an "extreme situation". I like stories where the characters are put in extreme situations and learn to cope/triumph over the circumstances. And there's nothing that brings out the quirks and foibles of a character more than an extreme situation.
- Another extreme situation style of fic is the "hurt/comfort" story. One partner is injured/incapacitated and the other takes on a nurturing role. This just hits my buttons. And, again, whether MPREG or RegPreg, pregnancy can fit that description as well. Yes, a RegPreg is a natural state and modern Western medicines tendency to treat it as pathology is totally wrong-headed, but *some* RegPregs are high-risk and I'd think that *any* MPREG would be classified as high-risk.
- I made the decision back when I counted my age in single digits that I never wanted to have kids and I've never regretted it for a moment. Because of this, I can't really identify with RegPreg all that much. One of the reasons my introverted, shy, semi-housebound self reads/watches fiction is to vicariously experience stuff that I'll never experience in real life. And I can identify much more easily with a man, who NEVER EVER expected to find himself in this situation, finding himself pregnant.
- Carrying on from the previous point, I'm not much of a kid person. Only child of an only child, don't want kids of my own, don't have much experience of 'em. Now, I don't wish them harm, but to me they're an alien lifeform that I don't understand and I'd rather wait until they turn into humans that you can talk to (about age 10-13) before I even try interacting with them. But fictional kids, just like Other People's Children, exist at a safe distance, but fictional kids are, well, fictional, and so it's much easier to enjoy them than having to deal with the real thing.
- And then there's the ooey-gooey sentimentalist in me that gets all sappy about "man with baby", a phenomenon particularly easy to observe in me with Smallville babyfic featuring Lex-and-baby. ::melts::
- I like the gender-switch perspective, when all the stuff that you take for granted (cliche or not) suddenly becomes a new issue because it's being seen from such a different angle.
- Pregnancy is perhaps the only medical issue that is uniquely a female concern *first*. The distance that MPREG gives to it allows me to enjoy the story in a way that the "it's a bit too close for comfort" sense of RegPreg doesn't.
Of course, one has to approach a MPREG story with a bit of an open mind to begin with. Starting to read with a prima facie attitude of "this is impossible" just makes that suspension of disblief all the more difficult. But if you start off from a "okay, I'm willing to be convinced" and the author does his/her job properly, then it shouldn't be too big a problem. That said, the following "plot devices" can satisfactorily deal with questions of physiology:
- advanced science (often artificial wombs in combination with cloning)
- magic
- act of a god/goddess (which is really just specialized magic in this context)
- "alien" physiology, whether space alien, demonic, god, etc
- functional hermaphrodite (via magic, science, even by birth)
Then there's classical mythology, rife with examples in many pantheons. MPREG is part of the collective unconscious, our cultural zeitgeist.
And then there's seahorses. Though the female produces ovum and the male fertilizes it with sperm, the male then *carries* the fertilized eggs through gestation and the birth process. If seahorses can do it naturally, surely a mad scientist with an artificial womb design and some cool cloning tips can duplicate it.
A good author, a well-written story, should address all those questions regarding the physiology of reproduction, ovums and wombs and all the fiddly details. The stories I list above all have some kind of answer that works for me, for example, as well as Mary Shelley's explanations of Frankenstein's monster. I guess what it all comes down to is that *I* just don't understand why the suspension of disbelief is so much more difficult for MPREG than for many of the other plot points we obsessively write/read about in fandom.
Vampires and teenage girls who're vampire-slayes ... demons and hellgods ... a man who can bend steel with his bare hands, see through walls and light fires with his eyes, and even eventually *fly* ... ancient alien technology that allows near-instantaneous travel between planets ... a secret race of Immortals locked in constant struggle for a mysterious Prize ... 27 different alien races all fighting over who gets to colonize Earth ... etc etc etc.
Now, the stories I pass over, the ones I won't finish, are the ones that don't at least raise these questions (even if the answer is "this is beyond our present level of knowledge", cop-out though that can be). Part of what makes the story interesting is how the author will answer these questions, how the characters will deal with this extreme situation.
Huh. Once again I'm all written out. Questions? Comments? Anybody offering pie?
Edited at 5:20pm to add: Oops! I forgot to say, a lot of MPREG is substandard: overly sentimentalized, abysmally characterized (excellent examples of the old "feminizing the character" argument), and written without beta intervention of any kind -- and it deserves the general scorn the subgenre receives. And I tend to pass over/not finish those, also. *BUT* it's a huge mistake to dismiss the entire subgenre due to the flaws of a part. Ya know, like, just as with any other subgenre!
Edited again at 8:35pm to correct some fiddly stylistic and technical errors, though I'm sure I've still missed some.
Edited 2/18/04, 9:45pm ... belatedly added title/author/link to Stargate story listed above, thanks to ladyclio16