I like the way I wank myself / YnM / original fic

[oiran]

Post-finale, it seems that the supposed battles between those who love Lex and the three lurkers who hate him are over at last. Maybe it's just my FL, but just about everyone I've met either here on LJ or back on TWoP has been a Lex fan first and foremost. The Clark-is-best fans are few and far between--and they have not been Lex haters. Rather, they have termed themselves Clark apologists, as it is obvious even to them that Lex is neither evil nor deserving of hatred.

Comics Lex is not 100% evil. I can't imagine that there's a way to make a character 100% anything, except perhaps 100% boring. I suppose there are maladjusted fanboys out there who would argue percentage points on Lex's EQ (evil quotient) and call me ignorant and cite my ovaries as proof, but this is LJ, not a comic book forum board, and the Lex-is-evil camp supposedly has deep, weedy roots in LJ.

I have seen the fact that Lex is not 100% evil in the comics used to support the idea that Smallville Lex will not have to "turn evil" after all. However, comics canon also supports the idea that Clark is going to be Superman, regardless of what viewers of Smallville think of him. That TV canon can fuck mightily with either of these outcomes is theoretically possible, but it's not likely. But you can't cite comics canon to support a wild extrapolation that results in Lex being the ultimate good guy if you're not willing to also acknowledge that same canon does, in fact, support Clark Kent becoming Superman, the embodiment of justice and all that is good. Regardless of whatever sort of fanwank you try to pull on the future roles of Lex and Clark, Clark is still expected to become Superman and Lex is supposed to become "evil," even if "evil" actually means "misunderstood, misguided, and probably quite bitter after all he's been through." And that, to me, is the beauty of the Smallville show.

Just as Lex is clearly not evil at this time, it's also clear that he's probably never going to be truly evil. However, he'll do things that result in a negative outcome, and they'll be perceived--by Clark, at the very least--as having evil intent. It puts an interesting spin on the notion of evil, a variation on the What-if-Hitler-got-into-art-school argument, i.e., wank on a grand scale.

And an imperfect Clark, a Clark who was once an asshole teenage boy, complete with kneejerk reactions, misplaced loyalties, and untimely erections (we don't get those onscreen, of course, but you know they've got to be embarrassing him on a regular basis), is a much more interesting character than a perfect Superman whose spitcurled façade stands stead for a personality. Based on our onscreen Clark, mild-mannered will also be a disguise, a diversionary tactic on a scale equivalent to the primary-colored PJs. There's no reason that I know of to believe that this Clark should somehow be more thoughtful than his peers or his parents, so I'm curious why the anti-Clark SV watchers want him to act and react according to a comic book future that he has yet to live--and which might not ever play out in this particular universe.

I guess I just don't see where the fun is to be had with not looking at events from both Clark's and Lex's respective viewpoints. Rigid thinking strips away all subtleties and makes Lex into a martyr (which I think he'd hate) and Clark into a tedious bully (which he obviously doesn't want to be), and why would anyone want to watch a show about characters like that? Despite their irritation with one another, neither one is ready to let go yet ("This friendship is over!" teenage hissyfits aside). That Lex hasn't kicked Clark-the-Liar to the curb isn't because they're writing it wrong. It's because Lex has reasons to not want to be rid of Clark.

Lex has been made multifaceted, which is a welcome change from the cartoon supervillain persona. However, Clark has also been given additional facets…and they've brought him down to earth, made him a more manageable size. There's really not a lot of room in the mythos to make Clark yet more super, yet more good, more just and more truthful. (Well, I don't see where Clark has ever been all that truthful, but…) Clark and Lex both have been given depth and substance--and they've both been humanized, reduced from their prior extremes.

You don't have to see the slash to recognize the sort of epic tragedy--romance, even--that they're trying to evoke. The relationship between Clark and Lex--however you define it--is going to be the most important one in either of their lives. That it's happening when they're both so very young, so very hurt, and at such odds, is positively swoon-inducing. That "fans" want to reduce that to picking sides is just…boring. And if you try to tell me otherwise, you'll bore me, too.

If I had to pick one, I'd pick Lex…but I don't have to pick one. And I still have yet to see evidence that anyone wants me to do so--other than the folks who insist that Lex wears a halo when the rest of us aren't looking.

Lex would never wear a fucking halo, people.

~~~

Also? Yami no Matsuei is so damn cute. I promised myself I wouldn't get all obsessed with anything new, much less the mere hint of cartoon dick…

~~~

I'm writing original novel segments in my head as my new bedtime story. Yay! Bedtime story! The problem is, they're all taking place in beds in addition to being formulated there. If I'm going to think of it as a novel, I suppose there has to be something happening when the characters are vertically oriented. And, no, it can't be fucking standing up.

Oh, yeah. Did I mention I'm going to try writing a novel again? It probably won't hurt a bit this time around.

Comments

[msdaccxx.livejournal.com]

I give that wank 10 out of 10. I love Lex precisely because he's flawed. He's fucked-up and he screws up. His good intentions come back and bite him in the ass. And sometimes his intentions aren't good - aren't good at all. Also, Woobie!

Likewise, Clark would be plain unbearable if he were just some two-dimensiona goody-goody. But his character is tempered with fear and confusion and occasional monumental self-righteous asshattery (Son o' Bo - it's kinda inevitable), all of which serve, curiously, to make him more likeable.

I'm a sucker for unhappy endings, so I don't fear The Rift, and it wouldn't be an unhappy ending if I didn't love my boys. Nail me to a wall and make me choose and I'll pick Lex, but I suspect that's down to me being a bit older, with more life-experience and disappointments under my belt. Also, he's hotter than a hot thing and has nice clothes. Shallow? Yup!

[happyminion.livejournal.com]

I guess I just don't see where the fun is to be had with not looking at events from both Clark's and Lex's respective viewpoints. Rigid thinking strips away all subtleties and makes Lex into a martyr (which I think he'd hate) and Clark into a tedious bully (which he obviously doesn't want to be), and why would anyone want to watch a show about characters like that?

Perfectly said, and my point all along. If you think that rigidly and strip it down to one side is right and one side is wrong, you're going to miss out on half the show, which is missing out on half the tragedy of what's building here. I just don't see why anyone would do that to themselves as a viewer.

Very well said! This is my favorite part:

Clark and Lex both have been given depth and substance--and they've both been humanized, reduced from their prior extremes.

That's precisely where the greatness of Smallville lies, IMO. It's taken to mythic icons and made them both incredibly flawed, wounded and human.

[mz-bstone.livejournal.com]

Comic book Lex sees himself *as* the hero ... he calls Superman "the Alien" and dislikes his meddling, his agenda because it's a non-human trying to shape human events.

So he's not evil.

In the big picture, he man not even be *wrong*.

B

[cjandre.livejournal.com]

If I had to pick one, I'd pick Lex…but I don't have to pick one. And I still have yet to see evidence that anyone wants me to do so--other than the folks who insist that Lex wears a halo when the rest of us aren't looking.

yes.

Exactly.

I adore Clark.

I am not an apologist - I have nothing to apologize for.

I adore Lex.

He's not perfect.

I don't want him to be.

I like Clark and Lex TOGETHER.

Either one alone just isn't as interesting.

So, no, I don't have to choose. No one should have to choose!

:-)

And to jump off from Brighid's point...

[nematoddity.livejournal.com]

In every version of the saga I've ever read or seen, through the comics, the movies, and now the series, it's always been about Lex trying to define himself. They made it as plain as Kansas flats in the series--Lex didn't set up the Shrine to Clark as a way to understand Clark--or, at least, not entirely. Lex set up the Shrine to understand *himself*--and these are some pretty big questions. Why didn't he die? Why does he have the high white blood cell count? Why does he heal so fast? Why haven't the endless head knocks damaged his ability to reason?

Hells, after Belle Reve, he has another big question to add to that list. Because most people who are hit with voltage that high are nothing more than vegetables who need keepers afterwards. There are documented cases where even mild electroshock 'therapy' damaged the brain beyond repair.

Yet here Lex is, walking, talking, reasoning, without impairment. Some little bit of memory missing, and even that might be faked on Lex's part--buried by subconscious will all the way up to known and acknowledged, just not verbally addressed. And he's curious. Of course he's curious. He wants to know what being in Smallville, and being around all those interesting red and green rocks--and you notice, Lex is researching both strains at this point--is doing to the populace? To Clark? To *himself*?

Take this Lex we have now, metaphorically resting on all other previous curious, self-absorbed Lexes in the past, and catapult him to full adulthood, post-Superman. Now we have someone who's so beyond tired of being in his father's shadow--*born* into his father's shadow--that he's willing to own the world just to have people snarl "That bastard Lex", not "That bastard Luthor's son".

And Superman gets in the way. It's that simple. Everything else is layering of complexities that keep me watching the show, keep me not walking away even when the plot has holes you could drive freight haulers through, even when the dialogue makes me cringe.

Essentially, what makes them enemies in future is what's keeping them friends now--that drive to understand, to want to trust, to want to be trusted--on both sides. Neither of them really understand the life the other's living. Neither one really understands the concrete ton-weight of pressure the other's under. From their perspective, the other guy has it so easy, it makes their teeth clench, yet they rarely say anything about it. They just endure, the best they can, and care, and worry, and get frustrated and annoyed and resentful along the way. Just like any relationship.

Right now, Lex is pulling away from his father in any way he can, but all he has to pull away is the tools his father gave him. No wonder things have gotten so ugly and out-of-hand between them. It's like putting out fires with gasoline.

Meanwhile, Clark is *completely* his adopted father's son, which, sadly, has made him a man who's willing to help a friend out at the drop of a hat, without thinking about it, with no reservations...but is such a rigid, dictatorial, *inflexible* kind of thinker that if he sees any shade of grey, he immediately darkens it to black or lightens it to white, because that's the tool set he's been given.

Technically, by everything AlMiles has said, the season finale of "Smallville" should have ended the show. They should start up next season in Metropolis. I don't know if they're still planning that, but sometime within the next year, I think the show's focus is going to have to shift--and thus end.

And then, I think, the next show is going to be *really* entertaining.

[jfc013.livejournal.com]

Amen, right on, and word, sistah! I like your take on my poor, doomed, obsessed boys! I love them so!

[fleegull.livejournal.com]

Rigid thinking strips away all subtleties and makes Lex into a martyr (which I think he'd hate) and Clark into a tedious bully (which he obviously doesn't want to be), and why would anyone want to watch a show about characters like that?

Lawdy is that ever the bright truth.

Season Three made me fall hard and fast for Clark. That does not mean that I have lost my Lex lurve, just that I can now see Clark as the guy who will save the world - everyday for the rest of his life and get no peace from it. It's almost as tragic a fate as Lex.

Lex would never wear a fucking halo, people.


Ok, so just the teddy bear ears and the angel wings, then?

Snerk

[ex-niciasus652.livejournal.com]

There's no reason that I know of to believe that this Clark should somehow be more thoughtful than his peers or his parents, so I'm curious why the anti-Clark SV watchers want him to act and react according to a comic book future that he has yet to live--and which might not ever play out in this particular universe.

Thank You, Thank You!

This is what makes this universe fun and painful to watch. To see Clark struggle through teenage angst and the stress of discovering he is an alien. To discover the events that made Lex who he is, and how these events will help shape both of their futures as super hero and arch enemy.

I watch Smallville for these reasons, not for the Superman and Lex Luthor of the comics. And then there is the point that Clark is beautiful and Lex is one hell of a sexy man.

[amberwitch.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. Did I mention I'm going to try writing a novel again? It probably won't hurt a bit this time around.

That sounds wonderful!
I read your story with the bees (the one based on the HC Andersen story) again recently, and considering that that is close to your own original writing style, I think that sounds marvelous - although your Smalville slash is great, and I hope you still have time for that too.

[raelan.livejournal.com]

There's no reason that I know of to believe that this Clark should somehow be more thoughtful than his peers or his parents, so I'm curious why the anti-Clark SV watchers want him to act and react according to a comic book future that he has yet to live--and which might not ever play out in this particular universe.
I agree.

Clark should not be prejudged on a future that we as viewers are fully aware of but he isn't, he doesn't know what's in store for and is just stumbling through it the best way he knows how. That's what we are watching, the journey and mistakes that he makes to becoming Superman.

Yes, we know the ending but there really is no point setting these characters up against the standards of who they are meant to be because then we will miss the whole point of the show.

That "fans" want to reduce that to picking sides is just…boring. And if you try to tell me otherwise, you'll bore me, too.
Yeah, can't I just like both of them :)

By the way, excellent post.