UNICORNS OF LOVE
Sep. 4th, 2009 10:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swatkatDear flist, I may have neglected to mention this, but I have, over the past few weeks, fallen head over heels in love with Merlin. All my conversations with zorana84 - before she left on her world tour and I came home - have been like this:
'Unicorns!'
'Er, where?'
'In Camelot, of course.'
'Go jump off a cliff.'
'SO SHINY.'
'I DON'T CARE... WATCH ME NOT CARING... AT ALL.'
'DRAWS SPARKLY HEARTS AROUND IT.'
'ET TU... SOBS INTO PILLOW.'
(It should be obvious that she disapproves of the show. BUT I DON'T CARE AND SHE IS A KRIS/ADAM TINHAT SO SHE IS DISQUALIFIED FROM COMMENTING ON MY SHALLOWNESS. FOREVER. Ahem.)
I'm not sure when this happened, really. All I know is that I desperately needed something to cheer me up after TSCC, and there wasn't enough Leverage; I'd watched a little bit of Merlin in the past, enjoyed the cheese, and promptly forgotten all about it. So I turned to the show in the hour of my need, and it provided me with GREAT JOY AND COMFORT. GREAT JOY. WITH UNICORNS AND SLASH DRAGONS. CAN YOU BLAME ME FOR THAT?
Besides, look at them.
(Morgana gets an extra one because she is Morgana.)
And if this was not enough, there's him:
It's like - as I toldcaesir the other day, when she asked me if the show was any good - they wrote a high school AU and decided to cast it with kittens, and a beautiful big cat in the form of Tony Head. I AM POWERLESS BEFORE IT.
On a more serious note: once you learn to embrace the cheese and the crack, it actually gets to be pretty good. How, you ask? Is it deep and complex television, with fabulous storytelling and award-worthy acting? No, not really - you're probably thinking of The Sarah Connor Chronicles. But what it does have is an adorable cast doing a good job with adorable characters, and behind it the weight of legend. One could have issues with its deviations from 'canon', but then I'd point you toicarusancalion's very illuminating thoughts on the matter (she says: If you're going to depart from the legend, you'd better know what you're doing. And they do.). And coming back to the characters - oh, the characters! The ships!
In Which I Write An Essay on the Awesomeness of the Characters and the Ships of Merlin
The characters are so fabulous, flist! I did not know I would love them so much, but I do! Arthur is adorable (and a prat), Gwen is made of more awesome than everyone else combined, Merlin is at once lovable and a little scary, and Morgana - well, I just want to pet her and feed her and help her gain control of her magic so that she can have a good night's sleep.
Merlin will be, in another year or so, one of those Legendary Boyslash Fandoms, and with good reason: everyone in the show ships Merlin/Arthur, including Merlin's mother and the Dragon underneath Uther's castle. If you have a slasher bone in your body, it's impossible to watch the show and not ship Arthur and Merlin together. Because THEY HAVE A DESTINY. TOGETHER. THEY ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN. Also? They're wonderful together and would DIE FOR EACH OTHER. How much more do you need, flist?
But of course, if the show was just full of boyslash, I wouldn't have been nearly as enthusiastic about it as I am now. But guess what? Gwen and Morgana are about AS SLASHY as Merlin and Arthur - that is to say, very very slashy. There's something delightfully Glinda/Elphaba-ish about their relationship. I mean, if you look at Glinda and Elphaba - Glinda, on the surface, may appear to be the ditzy one whereas Elphaba is the picture of stability. But in reality, it's Elphaba who is the passionate, heedless one who throws herself into action without second thought, whereas Glinda is the stable, solid one, who remains in the background, almost passive, but gets things done. And well, there's no question of surfaces with Gwen and Morgana, because Gwen is the stable one who Gets Things Done and Morgana is passionate and a little crazy. Add to that the differences of their station and the fact that Gwen is Guinevere and Morgana is Morgan Le Fey? INSTA-OTP.
What's more, they provide an interesting parallel with Arthur and Merlin, where Arthur, despite the prat surface, is the stable one, whereas Merlin is in fact the one who rushes into action first. And he is magic and has questionable morals, much like Morgana, whereas Arthur is closer to Gwen, who is pretty much the moral compass of the show. I can't take Arthur/Morgana or Gwen/Merlin very seriously (though I am not averse to fic, obviously), because the first two are adorable in their sibling rivalry (I ♥ small!Arthur and small!Morgana stories) and the latter two are just plain awesome as BFFs. I do, however, love the idea of Arthur/Gwen, because it is awww-inducing, and one day, when Merlin goes off to be Merlin and Morgana goes off to be Morgan Le Fey, they'll have each other to fall back on, and it will be lovely (and then they can have threesomes with Lancelot, of course).
What I love most, though, is OT4 - pr0n or otherwise. I love their friendships. I love that each of them has a distinct dynamic with the other characters. I love that theyfight crime have adventures together. And the fact that they will probably not always remain this happy makes it all the more bittersweet, and you know I can't resist something like that.
PLUS THERE IS UTHER PENDRAGON
Who is played by Giles. And who is stompy and badass and veers between good ruler who loves his subjects and PSYCHOTIC TYRANT WHO HATES MAGIC. Who occasionally swordfights and has scenes where he is shirtless. Who also has very disturbing chemistry with an younger actress (Morgana).
Oh Uther you so dreamy.
(This is not to say I am not aware of the problems that the show has. While I think fandom is a bit too knee-jerk-y in its response to Nimueh and the show's handling of Morgana's magic (illuminating essay here, bysolar_cat), I haven't exactly failed to notice the fact that they kind of flailed about with Gwen's storylines in S1, or that Alexander Siddig's character was an evil, vaguely 'Arab-looking' man, or that they do not mention Christianity AT ALL (although it will be interesting now that they've actually mentioned the Old Religion and shown a candlelight vigil)).
AND OF COURSE THE FANDOM
The fandom is a SHINY place. With AWESOME fic. Which might, on the surface, appear to be only Arthur/Merlin, because that's the stuff that gets recced and boyslashers, as always, are more organised. But once you start looking there's girlslash and het and rarepairs and gen and OT4 goodness. AND? There is very little hate for the female characters. This will change in another series or so, when Arthur/Gwen (and/or Gwen/Lancelot) actually happens and Morgana moves in the direction of becoming Morgan Le Fey (and then there will be 'Oh, but I've never really liked Morgana' and 'I used to love Gwen, but now they've made it all shippy and I don't like her anymore'), but right now, as it is? A very lovely place.
In conclusion: OMG. Why haven't they announced an official date for Series 2 yet?
zorana84 - before she left on her world tour and I came home - have been like this:'Unicorns!'
'Er, where?'
'In Camelot, of course.'
'Go jump off a cliff.'
'SO SHINY.'
'I DON'T CARE... WATCH ME NOT CARING... AT ALL.'
'DRAWS SPARKLY HEARTS AROUND IT.'
'ET TU... SOBS INTO PILLOW.'
(It should be obvious that she disapproves of the show. BUT I DON'T CARE AND SHE IS A KRIS/ADAM TINHAT SO SHE IS DISQUALIFIED FROM COMMENTING ON MY SHALLOWNESS. FOREVER. Ahem.)
I'm not sure when this happened, really. All I know is that I desperately needed something to cheer me up after TSCC, and there wasn't enough Leverage; I'd watched a little bit of Merlin in the past, enjoyed the cheese, and promptly forgotten all about it. So I turned to the show in the hour of my need, and it provided me with GREAT JOY AND COMFORT. GREAT JOY. WITH UNICORNS AND SLASH DRAGONS. CAN YOU BLAME ME FOR THAT?
Besides, look at them.
(Morgana gets an extra one because she is Morgana.)
And if this was not enough, there's him:
It's like - as I told
caesir the other day, when she asked me if the show was any good - they wrote a high school AU and decided to cast it with kittens, and a beautiful big cat in the form of Tony Head. I AM POWERLESS BEFORE IT. On a more serious note: once you learn to embrace the cheese and the crack, it actually gets to be pretty good. How, you ask? Is it deep and complex television, with fabulous storytelling and award-worthy acting? No, not really - you're probably thinking of The Sarah Connor Chronicles. But what it does have is an adorable cast doing a good job with adorable characters, and behind it the weight of legend. One could have issues with its deviations from 'canon', but then I'd point you to
icarusancalion's very illuminating thoughts on the matter (she says: If you're going to depart from the legend, you'd better know what you're doing. And they do.). And coming back to the characters - oh, the characters! The ships! In Which I Write An Essay on the Awesomeness of the Characters and the Ships of Merlin
The characters are so fabulous, flist! I did not know I would love them so much, but I do! Arthur is adorable (and a prat), Gwen is made of more awesome than everyone else combined, Merlin is at once lovable and a little scary, and Morgana - well, I just want to pet her and feed her and help her gain control of her magic so that she can have a good night's sleep.
Merlin will be, in another year or so, one of those Legendary Boyslash Fandoms, and with good reason: everyone in the show ships Merlin/Arthur, including Merlin's mother and the Dragon underneath Uther's castle. If you have a slasher bone in your body, it's impossible to watch the show and not ship Arthur and Merlin together. Because THEY HAVE A DESTINY. TOGETHER. THEY ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN. Also? They're wonderful together and would DIE FOR EACH OTHER. How much more do you need, flist?
But of course, if the show was just full of boyslash, I wouldn't have been nearly as enthusiastic about it as I am now. But guess what? Gwen and Morgana are about AS SLASHY as Merlin and Arthur - that is to say, very very slashy. There's something delightfully Glinda/Elphaba-ish about their relationship. I mean, if you look at Glinda and Elphaba - Glinda, on the surface, may appear to be the ditzy one whereas Elphaba is the picture of stability. But in reality, it's Elphaba who is the passionate, heedless one who throws herself into action without second thought, whereas Glinda is the stable, solid one, who remains in the background, almost passive, but gets things done. And well, there's no question of surfaces with Gwen and Morgana, because Gwen is the stable one who Gets Things Done and Morgana is passionate and a little crazy. Add to that the differences of their station and the fact that Gwen is Guinevere and Morgana is Morgan Le Fey? INSTA-OTP.
What's more, they provide an interesting parallel with Arthur and Merlin, where Arthur, despite the prat surface, is the stable one, whereas Merlin is in fact the one who rushes into action first. And he is magic and has questionable morals, much like Morgana, whereas Arthur is closer to Gwen, who is pretty much the moral compass of the show. I can't take Arthur/Morgana or Gwen/Merlin very seriously (though I am not averse to fic, obviously), because the first two are adorable in their sibling rivalry (I ♥ small!Arthur and small!Morgana stories) and the latter two are just plain awesome as BFFs. I do, however, love the idea of Arthur/Gwen, because it is awww-inducing, and one day, when Merlin goes off to be Merlin and Morgana goes off to be Morgan Le Fey, they'll have each other to fall back on, and it will be lovely (and then they can have threesomes with Lancelot, of course).
What I love most, though, is OT4 - pr0n or otherwise. I love their friendships. I love that each of them has a distinct dynamic with the other characters. I love that they
PLUS THERE IS UTHER PENDRAGON
Who is played by Giles. And who is stompy and badass and veers between good ruler who loves his subjects and PSYCHOTIC TYRANT WHO HATES MAGIC. Who occasionally swordfights and has scenes where he is shirtless. Who also has very disturbing chemistry with an younger actress (Morgana).
(This is not to say I am not aware of the problems that the show has. While I think fandom is a bit too knee-jerk-y in its response to Nimueh and the show's handling of Morgana's magic (illuminating essay here, by
solar_cat), I haven't exactly failed to notice the fact that they kind of flailed about with Gwen's storylines in S1, or that Alexander Siddig's character was an evil, vaguely 'Arab-looking' man, or that they do not mention Christianity AT ALL (although it will be interesting now that they've actually mentioned the Old Religion and shown a candlelight vigil)). AND OF COURSE THE FANDOM
The fandom is a SHINY place. With AWESOME fic. Which might, on the surface, appear to be only Arthur/Merlin, because that's the stuff that gets recced and boyslashers, as always, are more organised. But once you start looking there's girlslash and het and rarepairs and gen and OT4 goodness. AND? There is very little hate for the female characters. This will change in another series or so, when Arthur/Gwen (and/or Gwen/Lancelot) actually happens and Morgana moves in the direction of becoming Morgan Le Fey (and then there will be 'Oh, but I've never really liked Morgana' and 'I used to love Gwen, but now they've made it all shippy and I don't like her anymore'), but right now, as it is? A very lovely place.
In conclusion: OMG. Why haven't they announced an official date for Series 2 yet?
