Torchwood: The clichés...

[fajrdrako]

From fannish5: Name 5 cliches - from canon or fandom - that you'd like to see disappear.

What's a cliche? I have learned through time that things I think of as appalling and embarrassing clichés that I never want to see again (MPREG, feminization of a hero, little kids in stories, and so on) fit just nicely into other people's kinks and really, it's a genre, not a cliché. Other such ideas often listed as cliché-fic (trapped in an elevator, going undercover to a gay club, etc.) are merely hokey stratagems for sometime-excellent stories.

So - keeping in mind this is my taste - here are the clichés I like to see Torchwood rid of:

1. Stories that refer to the characters as 'the older man/the younger man'
   
2. Ianto making coffee. This just doesn't do much for me. It was cute at first, but wears thin.
   
3. Toshiko being meek and insecure, especially with Owen.
   
4. Zombies.
   
5. References to Captain Jack's paperwork, and how much he hates it.

Comments

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

What if zombie Ianto was making coffee to bribe the older man into doing his paperwork?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I would probably not be enjoying myself very much.

Just, you know, at a random guess.

Unless it were the best story every.

Seems unlikely.

[gypsylady.livejournal.com]

Zombies? I must not be reading the same stories you are because I can only remember one zombie story and it was a long time ago.

Other than that, yeah, the coffee thing is old. He makes good coffee. We get it. Move along, folks. And meek Tosh is so not in keeping with the woman who is so confident with a gun and in facing the monsters. There's a difference between discreet & diffident and insecure. The paperwork thing doesn't bother me in general, although making it the central point does. The older/younger thing, otoh, IS overused and enough is enough already. Who's older than Jack, anyway?

The one cliche I don't ever want to see again is sweet, innocent Ianto. He never was. Really, how did he ever go from petty shoplifting to hiding a cyberwoman in the bowels of the hub, no matter WHY he did that, and stay sweet and innocent?

Wait, I lied. There's another one. I don't ever EVER want to see Ianto being treated like "the girl" in his relationship with Jack. Virtually every gay man I know (even the drag queens, when they're out of drag) likes to be treated like a man. And for the most part, you can't woo a man (gay, straight, whatever) with flowers and chocolate. (Exceptions for drag queens in drag. I'm betting JB's drag persona likes gardenias.) Every time I read about Jack bringing Ianto flowers it makes me snort. And I have bad sinuses. Snorting is a BAD thing.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I haven't actually met a lot of zombies in Torchwood fic - where they would actually be warranted. But I live in fear.

The coffee thing was cute at first but I think it's gone wherever it can go. Not that I don't like Ianto serving coffee, mind, especially to Jack. I just... don't see it as a major point. It's like handing Jack his coat.

Meek Tosh bugs me. Look at the terrible things the woman's been through - she can cope.

Who's older than Jack, anyway?

Death, in Neil Gaiman's writings. I can't think of many others! Even the Doctor is younger than Jack at this point, though up until "Exit Wounds", he wasn't.

Ianto can't be innocent, though he can be sweet. He is... complex. I think he is innately good.

And no, I don't want to see Ianto treated like a girl, either. Though I like to think the flowers on his desk in "End of Days" were from Jack.

I'm betting JB's drag persona likes gardenias.

Yes! Big ones!

Every time I read about Jack bringing Ianto flowers it makes me snort.

I tend to avoid stories where that happens. Partly because I'm not big on Jack/Ianto (largely because of that sort of thing) and partly because it's a little too domestic. And way out of character. Except for the date in KKBB, Jack doesn't need to woo Ianto - their relationship is both beyond that (long since) and of a different type entirely.

I have bad sinuses. Snorting is a BAD thing.

Me too!