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So this is a contemplation following some asks I’ve gotten which I wanted to address in a separate post because it’s kind of a general fandom musing with regard to how fandom views creatives’ dedication to a particular piece of media and why this is particularly important to fandoms.
Because creatives are professionals. They’re going to take jobs they like and jobs they don’t like as much. There’s a lot of records of actors criticizing shows they’ve been on (see for instance Jenna Ortega about Wednesday, or various Glee alums). Do you like actors less if they show themselves less than excited about a creative project you are a fan of? And if so, why? I feel like the “labor of love” idea is an expectation which is foisted all too often on creative professions especially, and it feels like in fandoms in particular this is something that fans like to hold onto very strongly, that the creatives on the team are fans of the show themselves. Like on the one hand it legitimizes and strengthens your own love of this piece of media if the creatives involved love it just as much, and on the other hand you feel a connection to the actors because they, like you, are a fan, right? If they’re fans of the show themselves, it means they’re just as passionate as we are. And this is a very seductive notion, I think, but it becomes problematic when this becomes an expectation. It’s statistically unlikely for any creative to be a huge fan of every project they work on. And that should be okay? This is still a job to them, something they do for a paycheck, and in acting especially it’s not like you can create your own dream role; you are limited to responding to what roles are available to you at any given moment. And this is where I feel like fans really should interrogate why they feel so attached the idea of an actor feeling particularly passionate about a project. I know why I’m a fan of the media that I love, and that’s enough for me.
And don’t get me wrong: creatives are a passionate bunch, from writers to actors to set designers. You don’t go into a business like this unless you really love what you’re doing. But you can be passionate about the process of television writing, about the process of acting, about the process of directing or whatever else, without feeling equally passionate about every project you’re on. And that should be okay. I don’t feel the need to ascertain that some actor felt super passionate about a piece of media I loved, to feel validated about why I love it. Nor do I appreciate an actor or creative more or less based on how publically passionate they are about a project. I appreciate them for what they, professionally, contributed to the project. If they’re good at their job, that contribution will be good regardless of how strongly they personally feel about this. And of course, I won’t deny that it can add a little extra to the fandom experience, knowing that the creatives are particularly passionate about this project, but it shouldn’t become a fandom expectation that this will always be the case. It’s not a measure of a project’s superiority if it is the case, or a measure of inferiority if it isn’t. I know why I’m a fan and that’s enough for me. And it is something I often see in fandom culture where the assumed passion of the cast and crew for the project becomes a measure of how justified you are in loving something yourself. It becomes a measure of how strongly you appreciate an actor to know how passionate that actor is about playing a character you love. Fandom seems to want to know that there is something there in this particular project for the creatives above and beyond their professional obligation. But that’s where it gets blurry for me, and where I think we should investigate our expectations. Because this is not something I want to expect as a given thing. I know why I love a piece of media. I’m interested in listening to the creatives involved to the extent that they feel interested in talking about it, but I have no expectations in that regard. I do not need to know that they feel passionate about a project beyond their professional obligations. I understand why knowing that the cast and crew were particularly excited about a project might enhance one’s fandom experience, but on the flipside not necessarily having that knowledge does not diminish my fandom experience either. It’s not a necessity for me. I understand the impulse, but because I understand the attraction I feel the need to warn about blurry lines here. Creatives are professionals first and foremost. And that should be okay.
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she tweets!
ugh i love her, i’m so glad she knows this fandom has her back
that’s our warrior nun!
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The OCS Newsletter exclusive Warrior Nun Stunt Team BTS footage - Alba becoming Ava
Did someone say more Alba stunt training videos?
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avatrice au fic recommendations:
i don't think there is a single avatrice au fic that i haven't read so here are some my favorites. i tried to find ones that weren't as popular, so hopefully there are couple here you haven't read.
I want to believe by puppybusby @yashastrongarms - x files au - basically 23k of avatrice flirting while being incredibly reckless with alien shit. unfortunately, it is only a one shot that doesn't delve into their relationship, but it is so worth it. and the tension. woof.
Truly a Steadfast Love by StoicLastStand - medieval au - they have a whole series of ficlets, but this is one of my favorites. there's a tournament to win ava's hand in marriage, ava goes undercover to fight for her freedom, but she ends up falling for the very knight who everybody wants to win. i also love their lucifer au, Greater Sacrifices.
a lover, or something of mine by Smokestarrules - reincarnation au - each chapter is a different life with a different story, and i promise you, if you have anything that even resembles a heart, you will cry. i keep going back and rereading chapter 4 because apparently i love to hurt myself. i also love the world is just illusion (trying to change you) by them, it's a road trip au.
i should love you (and i swear i do) by Noteveryonefitsintothebadbitchgenre - harry potter au (fuck jk rowling) - its that trope where they're married and they talk about each other constantly but nobody actually knows they're married. their students all think that professor silva and professor young have a friendly rivalry, but there are a couple of moments that don't add up.
purple by sxftmelody - hitman au - technically, but really it's just sad, i always cry at the end. beatrice helps ava run away after a job, and slowly they open themselves up and start to fall in love. tw: major character death. also love turning page by the same author, mercenary/princess au.
in our corner of the world by definitelynotthere - roommate au - i know, i know, there's a thousand roommate aus, why would i recommend a fic that isn't even finished and will probably never get finished? i don't know, i just really love this one, and if you're like me, you'll go "ooh, two cakes" and read it anyway.
The last hero of Ogygia by jessnope - percy jackson au - specifically calypso au, ava is calypso and beatrice is the flirty hunter that washed up on her shore. it's super cute.
stay there, 'cause i'll be coming over (while our blood's still young) by britishngay - spiderman au - ava's character voice is actually designed to be spiderman, and bea is the perfect doctor lady that patches spidey up when she gets hurt. plus beatrice telling lilith to "shut up and sit down" will never not be iconic.
sunday people (sunday shines for you) by gilligankane - another roommates au - jealous ava is back again and out for blood, specifically jenn-with-two-ns blood.
this is my prayer (I'm in love with you) by nyxtyka - my best friend's wedding/spies au - i'll be honest, this fic went to my marked for laters to die. i don't know if it'll ever be finished, but it is one of my favorite aus, i promise it'll be worth the pain.
spellbound by onomofication - witch au - beatrice is the witch in the woods that ava goes to to finally find a way to explore the world like she has always wanted to. but as she gets to know the surprisingly kind, serious, kinda-sorta witch, she discovers that maybe the world was smaller than she had once imagined. i also love another fic by this author, hit me with you best shot, which is basically a cupid au, where ava runs around trying to stop jc, a cupid, from shooting the love of her life, beatrice.
the celestial glow is blinding by understreetlights - firewatch au - did i think ava and beatrice sitting around, looking at trees, and falling love with each other through walkie talkies was going to be interesting? no, but the world loves to prove me wrong.
too cold, it's withdrawal by KatieQgle - captain america au - give this one a chance, even if you don't like marvel. beatrice is hot as fuck as bucky and honestly the winter soldier plot line needed a little sapphic yearning. come on, avatrice in the army in the 1940s, being badass and fighting nazis together? who wouldn't love that?
i have a ton more, reach out if you want them!
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When do you believe Ava became fully aware of her feelings for Bea? I mean their night at the bar, that look she gives her as they dance, it's full of love and lust or somewhere in between, and she had to be aware of that on some level?
I hope you'll forgive me for rambling a bit here anon, because as it so happens my view on this appears to be a bit of an outlier, so I always feel the need to be effusive to justify my position.
On the one hand it's not a question that keeps me up at night. The "deep moment of realization" is a romance trope and it's one eagerly utilized, but I don't think it always happens that way. I think sometimes there really isn't one great moment of realization, it's just a gradual process and by the time you're fully aware, it's not a shock to you.
As for the scene that made everyone realize Avatrice was happening, the popular interpretation does appear to be that this was Ava's moment of realization too. I, however, am a fan of slowburn on all levels. I think Ava was a lil' drunk in that moment, and she was admiring Beatrice being so free and so happy and so beautiful and I honestly don't think there were any thoughts in her head in that moment, nor do I think there was necessarily any follow-through either. It was a moment of longing, surely, but I've interpreted it more as a signal to the audience that Ava was feeling some type of way than as an indicator that she herself realized she was feeling some type of way. Which, incidentally, I feel somewhat justified saying because in the next episode Ava feels jealous for the first time and clearly struggles with it, which is something that wouldn't be the case if she had a firm grasp of her feelings at that point because if she realized her feelings she would understand that she was feeling jealous be maybe a little less reactive. (There are some interviews with Sarah Walker and one of the writers which corroborates this interpretation too.) And, yes, of course, Ava and Beatrice are very different people who would deal with jealousy differently on account of their personalities, but I also think it is a matter of Beatrice understanding where her jealous feelings are coming from, therefore she knows how to (not) respond to them in a way that Ava doesn't yet.
I have not interpreted the dancing scene and the longing Ava look sexually, though I understand why you could, because frankly I've been hankering for this type of slowburn in a wlw ship where the romantic tension precedes any sexual tension, and I honestly haven't seen much sexual tension between Avatrice as of yet. Romantic tension, yes, but this means the desire to be in a romantic relationship precedes the desire for sex. And sure, this may just be your local demisexual projecting onto this relationship, but it's one of the few onscreen wlw relationships where I actually can, so I'm gonna.
My personal headcanon is that Ava didn't realize her feelings until later in the season, with the hotel fall scene as a hinge point where I think Ava realized she wanted to kiss Beatrice. And at that point I don't think it came as a surprise to her, she just accepted those feelings because they had been building so steadily. (Plus, Ava is not the type to panic over something like this. She embraces life, and she would embrace an emotion as beautiful as romantic love.) Even there, though, the specific moment matters less to me than the context of the situation. Because it's easy to romanticize their two months in Switzerland as the time they fell in love, but they were also kind of condemned to each other there; they literally had no one else to trust, so developing romantic feelings in a context with no other trustworthy attachments, may be interpreted as less than healthy. So to me the idea that Ava only realized her feelings later, when they were surrounded by friends and family, people she did trust, people she could turn to other than Beatrice, is kind of a healthier interpretation of that relationship because it means that whatever feelings may have developed during their Swiss holiday wasn't just this romantic bubble that floated up due to a specific set of conditions and then burst when the real world came back in; the feelings were real. So that's kind of how I interpreted that, and why I prefer the thought of Ava only realizing her feelings later in the season.
I also love the slowburn. Did I mention that? Thanks for the ask!
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Wednesday's and Enid's relationship is the best representation of "extroverted golden retriever friend and their introverted black cat friend who got unwillingly adopted" energy in the history of media and you can't convince me otherwise.
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Am I dreaming?! Is this real life?!!!! Did..did we finally get a win!
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