Thanks, J. I get what you say about Ray and apartheid.
What happened was this: I had just written “Wedding vows” for the “For Richer or Poorer Challenge” on DS-flashfiction – a fic that had turned out reasonably okay, but featured an ‘original’ character that was on the verge, or over the edge, of Mary Sue. I was shocked! I mean … Mary Sue! I instantly resolved to prevent writing any future Mary Sues at all costs.
Then Akite commented on my story, and for reasons that don’t need exploring at this juncture I thought: ‘geil als boter’.
So I had three ingredients for a new fic: sex, butter, and a Dutch saying. I felt the story needed a reference to the Dutch – and not in a good way (see aforementioned resolution). Imagine that I’d written something like Ray getting aroused by the thought of the Dutch … I would have been exiled from the fandom – and rightfully so!
The thing is: ‘Horny as butter’ is as much about power as it is about sex. Not all BF/RK stories picture the guys’ power balance skewed, and those that do don’t all depict it as a problem, but in HaB Ray is fed up with the Mountie having the upper hand; bragging about his knowledge of physics, his grasp of foreign languages, and his resourcefulness.
So when Fraser comes up with that stupid Dutch saying to stress his point, Ray has to come up with something strong against it. After all, using butter as lube *is* disgusting. (I might not be able to conjugate my verbs correctly all the time (flaw is redeemed - thanks), but I do know what ‘disgusting’ means and I used the word fully intentionally.)
Wooden shoes, windmills, and tulips are tacky all right, but they aren’t gross. What is gross? Apartheid is. And the Dutch gave it its name.
Of course, Ray knows that most Dutch live in Europe and that they are just as opposed to apartheid as the rest of the Western world. He knows who Nelson Mandela is and what he did for the constitution of South Africa. Ray isn’t stupid, he just doesn’t want melted butter up his ass – because it’s disgusting and *especially* because it’s one of the Mountie’s brainwaves.
To be honest, I thought it was quite cunning of me to feature sex, butter and apartheid in one fic containing less than 600 words. My crackfic muscles are loose now.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Everything's better with a little bit of butter :)
Date: 2006-04-10 08:16 am (UTC)What happened was this: I had just written “Wedding vows” for the “For Richer or Poorer Challenge” on DS-flashfiction – a fic that had turned out reasonably okay, but featured an ‘original’ character that was on the verge, or over the edge, of Mary Sue. I was shocked! I mean … Mary Sue! I instantly resolved to prevent writing any future Mary Sues at all costs.
Then Akite commented on my story, and for reasons that don’t need exploring at this juncture I thought: ‘geil als boter’.
So I had three ingredients for a new fic: sex, butter, and a Dutch saying. I felt the story needed a reference to the Dutch – and not in a good way (see aforementioned resolution). Imagine that I’d written something like Ray getting aroused by the thought of the Dutch … I would have been exiled from the fandom – and rightfully so!
The thing is: ‘Horny as butter’ is as much about power as it is about sex. Not all BF/RK stories picture the guys’ power balance skewed, and those that do don’t all depict it as a problem, but in HaB Ray is fed up with the Mountie having the upper hand; bragging about his knowledge of physics, his grasp of foreign languages, and his resourcefulness.
So when Fraser comes up with that stupid Dutch saying to stress his point, Ray has to come up with something strong against it. After all, using butter as lube *is* disgusting. (I might not be able to conjugate my verbs correctly all the time (flaw is redeemed - thanks), but I do know what ‘disgusting’ means and I used the word fully intentionally.)
Wooden shoes, windmills, and tulips are tacky all right, but they aren’t gross. What is gross? Apartheid is. And the Dutch gave it its name.
Of course, Ray knows that most Dutch live in Europe and that they are just as opposed to apartheid as the rest of the Western world. He knows who Nelson Mandela is and what he did for the constitution of South Africa. Ray isn’t stupid, he just doesn’t want melted butter up his ass – because it’s disgusting and *especially* because it’s one of the Mountie’s brainwaves.
To be honest, I thought it was quite cunning of me to feature sex, butter and apartheid in one fic containing less than 600 words. My crackfic muscles are loose now.