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cimoreneSo often one reads these historical fusion AUs based on well-known works of film or literature where they swap the female lead into a second male part.
But gendered power dynamics are so central to most het romances and works about heterosexual relationships (even more so in historical settings) that nearly everything that could happen to a character or that that character could do would be vastly different depending on whether the character was [presenting as] male or female.
Of course this could be an excellent foundation for a gender-focused derivative work, if the intent was to examine the gender dynamics by looking at all the changes that would come about due to the protagonist's opposite gender while also intensifying the focus on the relationship between the two characters and their affinity or attraction for each other, with the heteronormative assumptions removed. But that would require making a lot of changes, and it's not usually what happens.
It could be a provocative or exciting basis for a story, but in practice what almost always happens is that the original plot is followed too well and, because of the absent heteronormative context and the different power dynamics, it no longer makes sense. I think the fact that the created problems are left as plot holes rather than any attempt being made to alter details to make things make sense demonstrates clearly enough that a lack of historical knowledge is probably at fault.
But gendered power dynamics are so central to most het romances and works about heterosexual relationships (even more so in historical settings) that nearly everything that could happen to a character or that that character could do would be vastly different depending on whether the character was [presenting as] male or female.
Of course this could be an excellent foundation for a gender-focused derivative work, if the intent was to examine the gender dynamics by looking at all the changes that would come about due to the protagonist's opposite gender while also intensifying the focus on the relationship between the two characters and their affinity or attraction for each other, with the heteronormative assumptions removed. But that would require making a lot of changes, and it's not usually what happens.
It could be a provocative or exciting basis for a story, but in practice what almost always happens is that the original plot is followed too well and, because of the absent heteronormative context and the different power dynamics, it no longer makes sense. I think the fact that the created problems are left as plot holes rather than any attempt being made to alter details to make things make sense demonstrates clearly enough that a lack of historical knowledge is probably at fault.
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Date: 4 Mar 2019 10:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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