Orthodoxy vs. Exploration

About 6 1/2 years ago, I had a run-in with an author of Neph-Jed fics. I'll admit it was my fault; I commented on one of her fics in a public forum, pointing out that there is absolutely no evidence in either the anime ("Useless Jadeite...") or the manga for the pairing, and that the manner in which she breaks up a canon couple, Nephrite and Naru, in her fic in order to promote the non-canon pairing is degrading to the integrity of Sailor Moon. Her response was rather irate, understandably so, I guess, but buried in it was a very good question: "Isn't fanfiction supposed to be about exploring the possibilities?"

Yes, fanfiction is about exploring the possibilities. Within reason. We fanfiction authors are not creating our own characters and our own worlds; we are using characters and stories and ideas that were created by someone else. We owe the original creators the courtesy of treating their creations with care and respect; it's their garden we're playing in, as uninvited but tolerated guests.

Allow me to take the point of view of the original creators for a few moments. In addition to fanfiction, I also write original fiction, fantasy novels which take place in an imaginary world which I've developed in fairly extensive detail. I don't care so much about the plots of my novels; there are so many possible variations on each plot, and I can only choose one plot per story. It wouldn't really bother me if someone who admired one of my stories decided to explore these other plot variations. (In my dreams...)

What I don't want people messing with is the world I've created and, especially, the characters. I put a lot of work and care and thought into my characters. They come to be like real people to me, and whether they are sympathetic or unsympathetic, I care about them very much. The way they are written is the way I want them to be. Some details are open to interpretation, mostly things that don't really matter to the story, but the things that are really important, such as appearance, general personality, good/evil alignment, and, of relevance to the previously-mentioned discussion, sexual preference and romantic interest, are not going to be left up to guesswork on the reader's part. One story I've written involves a journey taken by a male wanderer, a young woman he has searched for years to find, her two brothers, and her fiance. The romantic interest is between the young woman and one of the men she is not related to. I don't want anyone making a forced interpretation of a bit of dialogue between the man in this pairing and one of the other men in the story and saying that *they* should be the lovers. It ain't that way. If I wanted them to be lovers, I would have written them that way.

By changing the characters this way, you're no longer writing about the actual character. By forcing Nephrite into a relationship for which there is no evidence in either the anime or the manga, you may be writing about a character named "Nephrite" who may (or, in some cases, may not) look like the Nephrite from Sailor Moon, but it isn't the real Nephrite you're writing about. I understand that there is a fic in existence in which a green-eyed Nephrite rapes a blue-eyed Zoisite. The characters may be named "Nephrite" and "Zoisite," but that isn't who the fic is about. That isn't Nephrite in the story; I've never seen the slightest bit of evidence that Nephrite would want to have any physical contact whatsoever with Zoisite. And Nephrite has blue eyes. B - L - U - E. Blue, not green. By the same token, Zoisite without his green eyes just isn't Zoisite.

The same goes for the Nephrite-Jadeite pairing. Yes, as the author I clashed with pointed out, in the manga, Nephrite vows to avenge Jadeite's death, but then Zoisite vows to avenge Nephrite's death. These guys are soldiers together, and it's well-known by anyone who pays any attention to history and human nature that men who serve together as soldiers often form very close bonds and would die to protect each other or to avenge one another's deaths. There is nothing the least bit romantic or sexual about it; it comes of facing danger and hardship together. The other point that this author was ignoring (or was ignorant of) was that up until Jadeite's death, Nephrite seems to take every opportunity to criticize Jadeite's work and says that Queen Beryl should give him Jadeite's job. By portraying Nephrite as madly in lust/love with a character for whom he only shows contempt and by making the surly, cruel Jadeite into his sweet little love-puppy, the Neph-Jed authors and artists are distorting the characters far beyond the original creators' intent. They may look like Nephrite and Jadeite, and they may be named "Nephrite" and "Jadeite," but that isn't who they really are. People who would say that these are the real characters are pulling up carrots from the Sailor Moon garden and trying to convince the reader that they're eggplants.

Now, before anyone starts shouting "homophobic!" at me, let me say that I would feel the same way about Nephrite being paired with any of the Senshi (except for Jupiter; after all, there's The Picture, a single picture in one of the manga... anyway, that's a whole different rant), but, thank goodness, there doesn't really seem to be any of that around. I do feel the same way about the Malachite+Serena pairing that pops up sometimes. It's just plain wrong, folks. Serena belongs with Darien and Malachite/Kunzite belongs with Zoisite, male or female (unless you're doing the manga thing, in which case it's Kunzite and Mina. Again, that's a whole 'nother rant).

The one exception I can think of to all of this is "Circles." "Circles" gets away with a lot because the author makes it very clear from the beginning that Malcolm, Nathan, Jared, and Zoe are very different characters from the Generals. The members of Wayfarer do eventually manage to integrate to some extent with their other selves (well, all except for Jared and Jadeite), but the characters created by NaruMolly remain dominant. In this way, Malcolm/Malachite can end up with someone other than Zoe/Zoisite without it seeming wrong. By the time everyone's fate is decided, it's clear that Malcolm and Zoe, whatever the relationship was between their alter egos, don't want to be romantically involved and they shouldn't be romantically involved -- given the relationship between the dominant characters, Malcolm and Zoe, a romantic relationship would be almost incestuous. Thus the canon couple is broken up without cruelty to the characters or distortion of the original Sailor Moon characters.

We owe it to the original creators of Sailor Moon (I'm refering to both Naoko Takeuchi and Toei Animation, since the manga and anime are so different) to show some respect for their creation, especially the worldview and the characters. That is why you will never see a green-eyed Nephrite, a black-haired Naru, an evil Queen Serenity, a wife-beating Zoisite, or Usagi and Mamoru paired with anyone but each other on my website. The same principle applies to anything we like well enough to pay homage to by writing fanfiction. When we're playing in someone else's garden, it isn't nice to uproot the plants. Instead, we should treat them carefully while admiring their beauty. And hope to heck we don't get sued for being there.

(May 2001; edited 7/07 due to the mellowing passage of time :) )