Our fandom has a reality squick. Who knew?

[brainofck]

Well, well, well.

I seem to have tweaked a fandom reality squick.

But I still think RDA seems to be much taller. Or at the very least, camerawork makes Jack much taller.

Considering how much it pisses me off when people make Orli way shorter than Viggo, though, I am actially considering a rewrite.

Which THEN leads me back to my constant wish for a brain-ectomy.

Stupid reality squick.

*glares*

Comments

My research

[brainofck.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you saw the comments on the piece. Nothing hostile. The gentlest criticism!

My reply is here. (http://www.livejournal.com/users/brainofck/64179.html?thread=319667#t319667)

I think there is a fair basis for my belief that Michael Shanks *is* smaller. So it wasn't just a too lazy to research mistake. IMDB shows them being much more similar in height in real life than they appear to be in the show. The blah blah is through the link.

The reason I would consider a revision is thus - it drives me CRAZY when people write Orli shorter than Viggo, even though he's clearly not. I HATE that! :)

Your RPS argument is a good one, though you have to be careful about the people who *know* the trivia. Once you know stuff, deviation from *reality* can be quite distracting.

I was totally bummed when I realized, for instance, how very briefly Beanie was in New Zealand. Several of my own stories don't account for this, and now they bug me.

At this point, I would like to direct you also to my comments above about the need for a brain-ectomy...

:D

Re: My research

[angiepen.livejournal.com]

No, I didn't see any of the comments on your story; I was just looking at your comments above. I guess the bottom line from my POV is that you wrote a good story, the deviation from reality works and supports the story rather than just hanging there like a label someone forgot to cut out of their shirt, and I don't see any reason to change it.

And yeah, there are a lot of little things that fandom in general didn't always know, things that people just made up, things which were assumed and were later discovered to be wrong. It bugs me a bit when I read a story where the guys are living in their trailers -- including the Cuntebago -- when actually they had houses or apartments or whatever. But a "mistake" has to be seriously grievous, and pretty clearly a matter of the writer not paying attention to even the fringes of detail-obsessed fandom, and just sort of stuck in as a mistaken detail, rather than something that supports the story, before I actually get annoyed with it. I guess everyone has a different threshold for this stuff. [shrug] I don't pay very close attention, myself. I mean, I read stories and such, and I've seen a few discussions here and there of what the guys actually did or what they're doing now or whatever, but for the most part it's the fiction that interests me, so I guess I figure that if I know something then it must be pretty widely-known [wry smile] but I don't obsess over what date -- or even what month -- someone arrived in or left New Zealand, or whether Orlando and Viggo lived within walking distance of each other, stuff like that. Is it a good story? If so, then a few mistaken facts don't bother me, and if it's not then getting absolutely everything spot-on perfect won't make me like it.

I like your story. It's well done, it's interesting, I like the characterizations and the interactions between the main characters. I don't think a "mistake" regarding a few inches in height is worth worrying about, is all I meant. But being me, I had to take two fairly longish posts to say so. ;)

Angie

Re: My research

[brainofck.livejournal.com]

I love your rambles. Please feel free whenever! :)