hmm.

[mimesere]

Is there a definition of emo that *isn't* pejorative? Or at least gently mocking?

Also, what Jen said.

Son of also: have fic idea that will never get written! One of my all time favorite characters -- ooh, need an icon -- with another all time favorite character! One is a creepy gay serial killing monster! The other is a cranky naval officer! Together they have really creepy conversations and even creepier sex fight crime!

Bride of Son of Also: oh! Lack of homework for the *win*! Maybe I will write that fic and no one will read it, just like the last time!

Revenge of Bride of Son of Also: have figured out, I think, why I don't have trouble reconciling John Sheppard: Affable Slacker with John Sheppard: Dude Who Capped Sixty Guys Without a Qualm. Go me! Of course, it's a slightly *disturbing* having-figured-out, but what are you going to do?

Also V - This Time It's Personal: Have picked up new Jennifer Crusie novel. It has a cranky Green Beret. Jennifer Crusie and Random Guy I've Never Heard Of for the win!

Comments

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

And what is being called "emo-porn," I would just call good fic or effective storytelling.

Or, honestly, a romance novel, but I am mean.

And the reason I ask about the pejorative nature of "emo" is because the mental image *I* get from the word is of some floppy haired boy cutting himself and crying about how no one loves him OMG TEH PAIN. So, regardless of whether "emo" is the descriptive of porn or vice versa, the mental image I have isn't a) working as a descriptor of a fictional phenomenon or b) making me take the original post seriously.

I don't know. The minute a phrase like "the purity of emotion" gets used, I start looking at things askance, not because I'm against emotional catharsis -- which is what "emo-porn" seems to be all about -- but because *of course* there should be emotional catharsis. That's what good storytelling and/or characterization will lead to. That's what it's for.

[marythefan.livejournal.com]

And what is being called "emo-porn," I would just call good fic or effective storytelling.

And I wouldn't, because while some emo-porn is good fic and effective storytelling, some is simply the emotional version of kinkfic and frankly isn't all that objectively good, it just manages to hit the triggers. I think that's a high risk of emo-porn, in fact - hence the self-awareness involved in using the shortened "emo" form. I think "Titanic" is pure emo-porn for many people, but I wouldn't call it good.

Also all emotional catharsis isn't emo-porn any more than all sex is like the sex in actual porn. There's a certain quality to what's being said and to the intensity of response it evokes that makes the sexual response to porn a good analogy, even though it's not a sexual or even romantic response that's (necessarily) being sought.

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

Different strokes, I suppose. Emotional release is emotional release for me whether it is called catharsis or porn.

[marythefan.livejournal.com]

Well, part of the issue may be that I don't use the term merely for the peak or release moment; there are points in many stories that couldn't possibly be called catharsis points that I define as emo-porn because of the way they're written and the emotional triggers they hit for me.