Karamel - Tumblr Posts
Friendly reminder to all
FUCKING TAG THINGS CORRECTLY ASSHOLES!!!! I DON'T CARE IF YOU HAVE EVERY VALID REASON TO HATE SOMETHING! YOU DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO RUIN THE FUN FOR SOMEONE ELSE! The Anti tags are for hate. If you dislike something, tag it. If you do like something and tag it with the Anti tag, FUCK OFF. If you don't tag something as hate, don't hate and don't put shipper tags in the hate. This applies to all fandoms! I say fandoms because if we're talking about politics, then everything is hate and it's scary. Fandoms, you have been warned, STOP BEING FUCKING ASSHOLES!!!!!
Friendship Comes First: What (Good) Fanfiction Can Teach Us About the Romantic Subplot.
I love all forms of storytelling: television, books, movies, you name it. As long as it’s quality, its ripe for the picking.
It’s so easy for me to become engrossed in the lives and psychologies of fictitious characters, to care for them as though they’re people I really know. Which, on some metaphysical level, I suppose is true, but that’s a topic for another essay.
However, in the midst of all my possibly Asperger’s-fueled hyper-fixation and nerdery, there’s one inevitable aspect of seemingly every plot to which I will almost always role my eyes and click the fast-forward button: the goddamned romantic subplot.
So many times have I seen the exact same variation of romantic love between fifty homogeneous couples, and each time, I failed to see the appeal: in books, the smirking, obnoxious male love interest will woo the object of his desire through flagrant disrespect, the same toned bodies will copulate furiously on my television screens (typically at the exact same moment my parents or small siblings will walk into the room), the same vapid, flirtatious stares and generic dialogue will be exchanged.
But where’s the basis for it? Yes, these people are stressed to be attracted to one another to the point of obnoxiousness, but do they even like each other as individuals? Are they even friends? Is there any three-dimensionality to their relationship besides sizing each other up and deciding to bump uglies?
Simply and also sadly, the answer is very rarely. And so, it seemed to me that romance was not my cup of tea, both in the fictitious world and out of it. Or so it seemed.
Because it was then, at approximately seventeen, that I discovered a remarkable phenomenon that would change my life forever: fanfiction.
Never before had I been so enraptured in the relationships of fictional characters, and I was baffled as to why. Yes, I’ve read a tremendous deal of fanfiction that is, in fact, book quality, but as an avid bibliophile, I was perplexed as to why I’d never been so captivated by the romantic endeavors of a published author as I was by the passion-projects of writers not much older than I was.
After a lot of time, careful consideration, and the illuminating words of some of my fellow bloggers, however, I believe I can finally put words as to why.
1. Give your characters a narrative purpose (besides being The Love Interest.)
Do you ever wonder what inspires Supernatural fans to tirelessly churn out fics about their favorite human-on-angel pairing? I have, and this is someone who’s a proud proponent of the stuff.
The sheer magnitude of free literature available, constantly repositing the pair in all manor of situations and walks of life, is absolutely baffling, and undeniably impressive. Indeed, some of the best works of romantic literature – and yes, I do consider fanfiction to be a form of literature – I have ever come across were starring none other than this specific pairing: from the infamous Twist and Shout (which I don’t recommend if you ever want to listen to Elvis Presley music, visit a beach, or feel joy ever again) to the charming Have Love, Will Travel (probably my personal favorite), some truly beautiful love stories have blossomed from a pairing that has never even been confirmed onscreen to have romantic connotations.
Perhaps just as baffling is the other end of the spectrum: Lisa Braeden. Lisa, for those unfamiliar, is basically posited as the love of Dean’s life, with whom he lived for a year before being forced to give up his dream of a family life and return to full-time demon busting. They’ve canonically kissed, had sex, shared a bed, and everything typically associated with an onscreen couple.
Yet comparatively no fanworks exist about them. When Lisa does appear in a fic, she is usual Castiel’s rival for Dean’s affections, or simply a hapless bystander.
Why is this? Well, a disillusioned observer might point to straight women’s apparent predilection towards fetishizing male homosexuality (I, for the record, am not straight myself; I’m a proud bisexual who, thus far, has only dated women.) I’m inclined to retort that this isn’t giving female fans nearly enough credit.
For starters, remove all context from each relationship and examine them with a critical eye: on the one hand, you have Castiel, Dean’s angelic savior from forty years in perdition. Castiel is clearly fascinated with Dean, appearing in his bedroom, somewhat suggestively (advertently or otherwise) inquiring about his dreams, watching him sleep, routinely invading his personal space, and ultimately rebelling against heaven in accordance with Dean’s wishes.
On the other hand, you have Lisa, a perfectly nice character who’s introduced as “the bendiest weekend of (Dean’s) life” and…well, that’s about it. She’s later shown as a sort of amalgamation of Dean’s subconscious desire for a mother figure and normal life, but she, as a character, remains somewhat underdeveloped and hollow.
You can’t expect fans to hold the two relationships to the same caliber and then cry internalized misogyny and fetishization of gay and bisexual men when they don’t.
The fact of the matter is, onscreen “friendships” are typically much more developed, much more three-dimensional, and much more ideal of what a truly epic romantic plot should be. A character with a clear place in the narrative and three dimensional characterization all their own will almost always be more charismatic than a character who’s introduced as exclusively The Love Interest.
This is not to say that what makes fanfiction so great is that it sexualizes or romanticizes friendship. In fact, I’m inclined to believe it’s the other way around.
Which brings me to my next point…
2. Make sure your characters are friends.
It’s a romance for the ages. A love like no other. They’re soulmates, yin and yang, a match made in the stars.
But do they enjoy each other’s company? Laugh at each other’s jokes? Take part in each other’s interests? Are they even friends?
The sad fact of the matter is, romance and erotica are, as a whole, starved for values of friendship and camaraderie.
This is something I realized only after my love of fanfiction took root, when I tried to return to my normal sources of adult entertainment (romance, erotica, and porn) and found them, by comparison, almost bafflingly lacking in warmth and camaraderie.
What I think makes fanfiction so addictive is the fact that it’s built upon the established relationships of two or more characters (the Onceler and company notwithstanding) who, typically, care for one another as friends and compatriots.
Look at some of the internet’s favorite pairings: Dean Winchester and Castiel remain a classic. Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers are always crowd-pleasers. Kara Denvers and Lena Luthor are seeing a rise in popularity. We all know Sherlock has somewhat fallen from grace, but the union of its two main characters still retains a devoted following.
This is no accident: despite lacking onscreen confirmation, these characters have proven themselves to care for one another as more than objects of their sexual desire. They’re friends, with relationships based in loyalty and warmth that are, unfortunately, sorely lacking in typical fictional romances.
Once you get a taste of this brand of friendship-infused romance, in fanfiction or otherwise, it’s hard to go back.
This isn’t just limited to quote-unquote “fanon” couples, either: couples such as Mulder and Scully, Bones and Booth, Yuuri and Victor, and Ladybug and Chat Noir can all attribute their popularity to this strong basis in friendship, camaraderie, and mutual respect.
This is also the leading cause as to why the formerly booming 50 Shades franchise, and other arguably sexist, abusive dynamics, are struggling at the box office.
Which reminds me…
3. Make sure your characters are equals.
Unless you’re writing a Lolita-esque social commentary, it’s probably your best bet to keep your characters on fairly equal ground.
I mean this in every sense of the word, too: I have a difficult time getting invested in a romance when there’s a pretty blatant power imbalance, which oftentimes occurs due to the implicit sexism of the entertainment industry.
Disproportionately young actresses are assigned as love interests to much older men, such as Emma Watson’s twenty-something-year-old character lusting over a man almost twenty years her senior in Irrational Man.
Physically mediocre or average-looking male characters are frequently pared with stunningly beautiful women who like them because they’re “nice,” fueling the existing mentality of all self-proclaimed “nice guys” who think society owes them a hot girl.
Furthermore, @popculturedetective just released an amazing video explaining the “Born Sexy Yesterday” trope, in which hopelessly naive, beautiful women are seen swooning over their more savvy male lovers. (Found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=0thpEyEwi80)
I love Splash and the Fifth Element as much as anybody, but both films incorporate all these tropes in ample proportions, and it’s frankly ridiculous. (On the topic of Splash, however, I’m greatly looking forward to a subversion of this trope in its remake, starring Channing Tatum as the titular merman and Julianne Belle as his human love interest.)
On the other hand, you have fanfiction. I’ve read numerous essays professing that fanfiction is becoming increasingly popular due to the fact that same-sex relationships tend to be implicitly devoid of these sex-based imbalances, and I’m inclined to agree.
However, I’ve read others stating that male-male pairings tend to be so popular because male characters are typically more well-developed by writers, making it perfectly understandable that fans would be more invested in a possible romance between two characters of equal multidimensionality (see point 1) than one that is sorrowfully underdeveloped. I’m inclined to think that this theory is even more on point.
Because look at some of the successful onscreen relationships I listed prior: we root for Bones and Booth’s inevitable union the same way we swoon over slowburn fanfiction, delighting in Mulder and Scully’s banter and craving their interaction.
These are, in my opinion, some examples of straight couples done right, because they’re portrayed as friends (see the previous point), and just as importantly, as equals.
Last, but certainly not least, the male characters in both pairings are depicted as having nothing but respect for their female compatriots, depending on their intellectual know how and not being ashamed to say so.
A more contemporary example that gets this wrong? Well, not to offend any fans of the pairing, but Mon-El and Kara, a la Supergirl. Mon-El was, at the beginnings of his arc, consistently disrespectful towards Kara, putting her down and insulting her in the very same episodes in which her female compatriot – Lena Luthor – is shown vocally admiring and praising her.
Mon-El has since improved on his behavior, but the damage is done: I still have a difficult time seeing him as a likeable character, much less a suitable love interest for my beloved Kara.
These are just a few recommendations, based on the ways in which my somewhat obsessive love of transformative literature (i.e. good fanfiction) have helped me as a writer and helped me view the implicit problems with mainstream romance with a more discerning and critical eye.
Here, I could provide a counterpoint with the recurring problems I’ve noticed in fanfiction, or I could go into some recomendations for writing explicitly gay and lesbian relationships. Both of these, however, are topics worthy of another essay.
Disclaimer: I am assuming that any and all readers are trying for an enjoyable, healthy romantic subplot with equally charismatic, consenting, and likable characters. Dysfunctionality can be just as interesting from a literary standpoint, but again, this is a topic for another essay.
There will be essays like this published at least once every other week, so be sure to follow my blog and stay tuned for future writing advice and observations!
So, I wanted to know what the number difference between supercorp and karamel fanfiction is. And I knew that supercorp has more but damn...
That's... A Lot...How is supercorp not Canon? Ahhh right... Homophobia...
This breaks my shipper heart…
2x14||3x07 Karamel forehead kissing parallels 😍😍
Dear imra
I never liked u and I could care less if u die or not but Karamel is everything and hopefully u and mon-el get a divorce so bye hoe ,no one will miss you
Ok, I haven't seen the finale yet because it is yet to come up on Prime where I'm from, but I've already gotten enough idea as to what happens with Karamel. I'm still going to wait to watch the final episode to say more but I just still think this needs to be said.
I am not anti-Supercorp, and I love Kara and Lena. I think they have a beautiful friendship and they go very well together. I can see why people ship them and it's only natural to have ships between characters on shows, especially ones that are not canon. To some extent, I can also understand the obsession with them. They could definitely be amazing and a power couple. (Have you seen Katie McGrath? She exudes bi-panic!)
What I don't understand is the hate and toxicity of those stans towards other ships and totally bringing down the other characters and quite literally tearing them apart. That is just absolutely bizarre. Not liking a character is okay, not liking a ship is okay, but rage-hating on them and accusing those fans of false sentiments is just horrible. And it happens a lot.
I am a Karamel shipper. I thought Karamel had great chemistry and it was just amazing and pure and true. Mon-El was not perfect and he lied and he wasn't keen on Kara initially. He wasn't perfect. And honestly, Kara had her flaws. She wasn't any better. But they made each other better and just went so well with each other and they loved each other. Season 2 was one of the best written seasons on there.
And then other fans tore apart Mon-El's character and made him out to be this horrible misogynistic person, which was just so confusing. If it were literally anybody else, don't you think they would've been called enemies to lovers? There have been more intense couples than that, with much more hateful words between each other which were so glorified and loved, but Karamel was toxic?
I read a post once somewhere that if Lena were a man, then the whole dynamic would've changed and she would have absolutely not been tolerated. She would've been called obsessive and creepy. Especially after her whole revenge spiel on finding out about Kara. But it's okay because she's a woman?
Now, I'm not saying that Lena should be hated on. I love Lena and her story, especially this season's redemption arc; but I don't think it's fair that a lot of Supercorp stans go on to call non-shippers homophobic for not shipping them. It's like pulling out the big guns to defend yourselves when there is no threat. The same thing happened with the Snowbarry and WestAllen shippers.
The point is that everyone has their own opinion. Everyone has their own reasons for shipping someone and not shipping someone; liking a character and not liking a character, and it's not always that they're homophobic or racist, and just because you can accuse them of that does not mean you should. Those are serious allegations and they hurt. Words have unimaginable power. Please respect each other.
Don't mind me but I just couldn't help but think of them here.
“Be with someone who will take care of you. Not materialistically, but take care of your soul, your well being, your heart.”
— Unknown
This is my fic that I just started on ao3! Check it out and please feel free to comment what you think about it! :)
by TealaMeyer
“Don’t you dare say anything, I swear to god. I don’t think we’re not in the right place.”
“What do you mean we’re not in the right place, we’re at Dad’s lab.”
“For one, apparently, my mom doesn’t exist here. Congratulations, dickwad, you’re definitely an Allen.”
When two kids suddenly zoom into S.T.A.R. Labs, screaming at each other like they own the place, Barry Allen gets curious and decides to check out what’s happening. And then he freaks out.
Words: 2808, Chapters: 2/2, Language: English
Fandoms: The Flash (TV 2014), Supergirl (TV 2015), Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash - All Media Types, The Flash (Comics), Supergirl (Comics), Green Arrow (Comics)
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Barry Allen, Caitlin Snow, Caitlin Snow-Allen, Kara Danvers, Kara Zor-El, Mon-El (Supergirl TV 2015), Original Kara Danvers/Mon-El Child(ren), Original Barry Allen/Caitlin Snow Child(ren), Iris West, Joe West, Alex Danvers, Kelly Olsen (Supergirl TV 2015), Original Alex Danvers/Kelly Olsen Child(ren), Oliver Queen, Felicity Smoak, Mia Smoak, William Clayton (Arrow TV 2012), Jon Jon'zz, Cisco Ramon, Harrison Wells, Lena Luthor, Winn Schott Jr., Nia Nal, Brainiac-5, Alura In-Ze | Alura Zor-El, Zor-El, Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s)
Relationships: Barry Allen/Caitlin Snow, Kara Danvers/Mon-El, Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak, Alex Danvers/Kelly Olsen, Brainiac-5/Nia Nal, Original Female Character/Original Male Character, Barry Allen/Iris West
Additional Tags: SnowBarry - Freeform, KaraMel, Next Generation, Next-Gen AU, Earth 53, Snowbarry AU, Karamel AU, Earth 1, earth prime, Friends to Enemies, Enemies to Friends to Lovers
This is an old post but this was so on point. Even though the last sentence may not have aged well 😪
What are your thoughts on what Kara said about how she romanticized their relationship? Was she saying that she realized that she wasn't as happy as she thought she was with him or that something along those lines. Or are we just all freaking out over a line to much? Would love to know your thoughts on that.
Honestly, I think that line is more about her bitter disappointment over getting him back, but not really getting him back.
I think during the actual relationship she didn’t overly romanticize the relationship at all. They were two outer space stray puppies who were hella attracted to one another and fell in love while hitting some bumps, but having a lot of fun. She was fully tuned into his faults (he had trouble listening to her, she knew that, they dealt with it) but she also saw his great growth. I don’t think she was wearing rose colored glasses for any if it. When she found out he was the Prince, she broke up with him, she didn’t ignore her feelings about that, she was decisive and she acted.
To me the “romanticizing” is her internalizing how she thought about the relationship during the seven months after they were ripped apart.
We saw her, she was absolutely heartbroken, and I believe she, understandably, started thinking only of what she’d lost. He became her great love whom she parted from in the most tragic of ways and who had to be sacrificed for the greater good, in her mind it was a story of tragic, epic true love.
By the time he returned, Kara hadn’t moved on, she hadn’t even thought about moving on. She was still deeply in love with him and probably thinking she’d never find romantic love again.
And what happened when he appeared? They were in vastly different places, but Kara didn’t expect that.
We see that in 3x07. Kara sees him and you can tell she assumes this is just another epic turn in their great love story, she has her true love back. She’s ecstatic, she thinks they’ll pick up where they left off, because of course they will, why wouldn’t they? They are each other’s epic one true love. There is no doubt in her mind that he is still in the same place that she is…
But he’s not. It’s been seven years for him. He’s married to someone else. He’s distant. His top priority is not her, but fighting for the future’s survival.
So from Kara’s perspective, it feels like she was in the epic fairy tale by herself. He never felt the same way she did. He was able to move on and love someone else, marry someone else. He’s been with this woman probably longer than he knew Kara.
Imagine her anger. (We don’t have to imagine, we saw it) imagine how hurt she is that it feels like they were in completely different relationships.
Then in the ep prior, Mon El reveals that Imra and Brainy had to trick him into coming, because they knew he wouldn’t.
They really didn’t talk about it, but that has to sting. Mon El telling her if presented with a way to go back to her, to see her again, he wouldn’t have taken it?
Ouch. Talk about being in different places.
Now we as the audience see that there are huge, gargantuan extenuating circumstances. We can process objectively that it’s been seven years for Mon El and he was plunged, alone, into a future dystopia. Of course things are different. We know that he emerged a great leader, and that he feels responsible for the future. We know he pined for Kara, that he tried to contact her, and that his marriage was arranged for the greater good and even if there is love and respect, they were never in love. We know he never got over Kara, we know he’s worn her necklace since the moment he left, we know the legion ring he designed was inspired by her eyes, we know his suit was inspired by hers, and we know he founded the legion in her honor and with her ideals.
That is some epic, true love, soul mate stuff right there, but Kara can’t be faulted for not fully seeing it yet. She’s heartbroken, she feels foolish. As far as she knows, he was her great true love, but she wasn’t his. So I think she’s angry at herself for only remembering the good, for elevating the relationship from a real life love story to a flawless fairy tale one, for romanticizing it and him, while she mourned.
So as a way of dealing with her great heartbreak over getting him back, but not getting him back, she’s actively remembering the bad and scolding herself, and him, for forgetting it while he was gone.
When they were dating, she knew exactly who he was, faults and all, and she LOVED him, now I think dredging up who he was and his past transgressions is a way of coping with that loss.
I wish the writers would have had them talk about the real issue, and not have her rage over his antics during his first month on earth, but maybe it was a first step in getting to the real heart of the issue: him being able to move on when she could not. One thing I’m sure of, there should be good stuff ahead.
Do you think Mon-El's relationship with the other Superfriends and family was overlooked a lot? Because I do.
I mean just think about it. In season 2, the relationships that he built with the others; not just Kara, were very important to him too. J'onn, Alex, Winn, maybe even Maggie. He was happy in mid-season 2, with seemingly no problems adjusting to Earth life, almost like he preferred it.
Which, honestly he probably did. Along with Kara, the others also made Mon-El into the responsible future leader he becomes.
Because he wasn't just close with Kara. He was close with Alex too. And J'onn. And I can bet that he admired Eliza more than he could ever his own mother. They were family to him in the shortest amount of time he spent there. Alex was there in the DEO reprimanding him and Winn almost every day, either with the tests they kept doing against orders or with them messing around on the job, like she was his elder sister too. J'onn, we all know was a father figure to him. The vulnerability he showed to him, he's probably never even shown to Kara. And J'onn was there for him too, always, with guidance. That's saying more than literally anyone on Daxam was to him. I think in all the hate that went against Mon-El simply for the fact that he was with Kara, it was overlooked how Mon-El as an individual character was with the other characters and how he quickly made at home on Earth, despite Kara. (They could've done a lot with that.)
Then Rhea came, and surprise surprise, there wasn't even the slightest look of relief or happiness that they were alive. After being surrounded by so much love, for even the shortest amount of time, he obviously couldn't go back to his lonely, ignorant lifestyle.
Yet that's exactly what happened. In a different way though, so it's all okay. It's not the same thing. He's in the future, with strangers all around him. And he spent years trying to go back. Before he gave up and decided to be what they would've want him to be; what they were hoping he would be alongside them- a leader; a hero. However, without them, you can't tell me that in being so, he lost himself too for the sake of duty.
He wasn't happy in the future. He became a lonely, melancholic man, who probably worked himself to the bone with no time to spare for his own. He even married for work. Though I do believe that once Winn went back with him, it must've added life to him. Give him some heart back, to have someone with him from then. That's how much that time meant to him. Then came Ayla and Mary by extension and he finally had something important to him in that time that he could look forward to; that he could be happy with, no matter how small it was.
His whole family was back there though. For Winn, he would only miss his friends, albeit painfully. But he already had an established life that he had made peace with once his parents died. So it was like moving away for a new job. But to Mon-El, these people broke him down and built him from the ground up. They showed him how life truly should be and not how he was taught on Daxam. They opened his eyes from the manipulation he was put through his parents and helped him be his own man; made him into a leader. That wasn't just Kara. That was all of them- Alex, J'onn, Maggie, Winn, James, Eliza.
Which again brings me to the stupid finale. You're telling me that Alex and Mon-El are strangers and that she insists on Winn coming to the wedding but doesn't say anything to Mon-El? We might not have gotten much screentime between the two, but you don't just go on double dates and seek support from someone you don't like. Mon-El was an important part of their lives too. He impacted their lives too. Alex and J'onn at the very least, I feel.
And I know that Kara asked him but I'm just pointing out the bad writing. It didn't make sense to let him go so easily. But are we surprised? No. They never cared about Mon-El anyway so why bother.
All I'm saying is when I imagine Mon-El in the future, I see him working to the bone and never sparing a second to himself; because if he did, his mind would only go back to the one place he was ever happy; the one place he ever felt safe and loved; to his family- knowing he can't ever go back there, not truly. And that place is not Daxam.
Because if he thinks about it, he'll only be reminded of how alone he is (in more ways than one); of how in he doesn't share even share the same reality as, not only her, but them.
Because he knows better than that. He was taught better than that; shown better than that. He leads by example. By the example of the people he looked up to and he loved. So no matter what the cost he would also do what is only right. (Like someone else we know.)
KARAMEL – packs
── 𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙪𝙨𝙚: 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚/𝙧𝙚𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙜
── don’t clame as your own.
©: @. caotichuman
(𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓)