Random thought of the day: is comic fanfic less interesting than angst?

[teasel]

There's a terrific children's book by James Thurber called The Thirteen Clocks, unfortunately now long out of print, which includes among its many wonders a character whose tears turn into jewels. A useful and valuable trait, and one that would make the production of angst fics such a vital contribution to the gross national product that fanfic

Comments

[teawith]

I'm a terrible angst bunny as well. I love reading comedy but can't write it to save my life. Even when I try for a lighter fluffier fic it still tends to end up darker than I intend. Hell, just recently I've been writing what I would call an LotR supernatural horror fic (and god knows where that came from :) which is not exactly what you'd call light... I don't know

[sistermagpie]

You're right, that's an interesting type of humor, and obviously The Office is probably the best example. But I actually feel like The Office does encourage you to empathize, especially with its most cringe-worthy character. If I felt like it was mean-spirited I don't think I'd be able to stand the show, but I feel like ultimately David is the hero

[teawith]

Yeah, I know what you mean - put down humour irritates me too. But I think that is part of the problem with embarrassment humour - put down humour IMO being a genre of same. It's that people are being *stupid* and we are meant to laugh at their stupidity. Perhaps I do empathise too much but that's why it hurts, I think. I can see too much real life in that. People are stupid, but you have to love them anyway, and I'm not sure shows that use that kind of humour are loving their characters enough. I sympathise with what Ricky Gervaise says but I'm not sure it's true. I *couldn't* like David. I just couldn't. Even if I wanted to.

And absurdist humour rocks. A show I love even though they don't exactly treat their characters well is The League of Gentlemen. Has that made it over there? I think you can take a step back from the cruelty of the humour in that because it's so surreal...

[sistermagpie]

I have seen that--and yeah, that's a totally different thing. Actually, now I'm fondly remember the last time I saw it, which I think was on an airplane. God, it was hysterical

[mrkinch]

My short answer is that I'd take good comedy over angst but the key word is good. Short is also key. Good comedy tends to be short because good comedy is damned hard to sustain, harder than angst. I love to laugh until I cry, and I'm more than happy to grin continuously for as long as you can make me do so. Joy is my favorite thing in fanfic, but it's rare.

Thus my not-very-profound opinion is that comedy is short changed because it tends to be hit and run, quick jolts of joy, but it takes an exceptional writer because its insights, and I believe comedy can every bit as insightful as angst, cannot be heavyhanded. Angst is easier to sustain and thus gets a reputation for several kinds weight.

"Dying is easy; comedy is hard." A different art form, but true nonetheless.

[teasel]

good comedy is damned hard to sustain, harder than angstYou know, I think that's true -- at least of the kind of comedy you're talking about, which is I suppose one with enough insight into the human condition to make it only a step or two away from empathy. Some kinds of comedy worry me, though, because they are so clearly forms of aggression, and I wonder at times whether some tiny distant echo of that aggression lurks even at the heart of those moments in art or in life that people call joyful

[capra_maritimus]

If most people had to choose between drama and comedy in their fanfic, would they go for something 'deeper'?

I suspect they would.

And yet my funny stories get far more feedback than my 'angsty' ones. :D

Seriously, your post has given me lots of food for thought, especially the part about comedy not working unless there's a certain amount of suspension of empathy. Never occurred to me before, especially since I prefer forms of humour (like word play) which do not require someone being humiliated/hurt/whatever.

(Though I look at the last comedy thing I wrote and, yeah, I'm kind of mean to Legolas and Gimli. And the Head Nazgul, and Merry, and Eowyn, and....Ok, moving on now.)

Perspective on our problems is a good thing to have. But at the end of the day, is comedy just a corrective? Should we, as people, be after bigger game -- connecting with each other instead of shutting each other out? Too much angst can be just as much of a catalyst to shutting one's self off. Comedy can help mitigate that so that the angst is at tolerable

[teasel]

And yet my funny stories get far more feedback than my 'angsty' ones. :D

The feedback issue is an interesting one. My funny stories get a little more FB when they first come out, but the impression I get is that people tend to remember the angsty ones a bit better. Based on what I've seen, I think that extremely funny stories and extremely angsty ones get more feedback than, say, a drama with moments of both. This is one of the things that interests me about angst as a fanfic genre -- I don't think there's much of an equivalent for it outside of fanfic, and it's clearly something that people come to fanfic for. It's as if people are looking for their sorrow in more or less pure form.

Too much angst can be just as much of a catalyst to shutting one's self off. Comedy can help mitigate that so that the angst is at tolerable levels.This is an interesting point. Several posters on the thread have pointed out that angst can lead to solipsism, and I think that's interesting -- because angst fics don't ostensibly ask reader's to

[mordelhin]

I just love your esays - they really make me think. Unfotunately, it's a bit early in the morning for coherent thought so I don't know how much sense this will make

[teasel]

I think defining comedy as something that pokes fun and therefore is somewhat "heartless" is too narrow.

I think you're right; I think that when I said that I was thinking a bit too much about my worries as a writer rather than my experience as a reader. The experience of writing humor happens more slowly than reading it -- erm, obviously, but that has an effect on the emotions involved. Most comedy, certainly not mine, isn't pure heartlessness -- it alternates between moments of distance and moments of empathy (and the contrast between those moments both makes the humor work -- it's unexpected, taking the reader by surprise -- and also saves the humor from pure heartlessness.) In the reading experience this alternation goes by very fast; in the writing experience, of course, you spend a lot of time on each moment, and thus spend a lot of time doing the point-and-mock thing at your own characters. It can feel -- hmmmm. As if bad things are happening to your karma.

On the other hand, a big yes to this --

Her comedy is heavy

[teasel]

Eeeee! *hugs* I'm at work and won't be able to attend to the comments on this thread properly for an hour or so, but I did want to assure you that this post didn't have anything to do with our conversation last night! I've been mulling over the status of comedy for a long time -- how other people feel about it, sure, but also how I feel about it myself. Really, truly -- you didn't hurt my feelings, though you did remind me of a question that has bothered me off and on for as long as I've been thinking about stories as things that people choose to write rather than things that just descend from the skies.

*hugs hugs hugs* The rest of your comment is fascinating and I'll be back later to talk about that. Right now duty calls. <3