My guess is that the cliches come about and become ingrained because the fan writers are reading each other's work and copying what they like, rather than trusting to the episodes and their own imaginations and interpretations for material. So things tend to become a little ingrown, as fan writers get their ideas from other fan writers and start reusing images and situations. They start thinking of the fannish characterization as a sort of standard and a secondary legend grows: the notion that Ianto was abused as a child, that Jack found him at Torchwood One, and so on.
I think the 'doing it on Jack's desk' (with or without popping buttons) comes about because the show doesn't give us much in the way of venues, and because at the end of "They Keep Killing Suzie" Jack tells Ianto to meet him in his office. If you look at his office, there isn't a lot of comfortable space for sex - guess they think the desk is better than the floor. I think these writers are forgetting that Jack's bedroom is accessed through his office, with, presumably, a serviceable bed in it.
I recently read an old Horatio Hornblower slash story of mine in which I had Pellew (tell Horatio not to call him 'sir' in bed. It wasn't a cliche in that fandom and I didn't hesitate to say it. Now? I cringe to remember.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-02-26 04:06 am (UTC)I think the 'doing it on Jack's desk' (with or without popping buttons) comes about because the show doesn't give us much in the way of venues, and because at the end of "They Keep Killing Suzie" Jack tells Ianto to meet him in his office. If you look at his office, there isn't a lot of comfortable space for sex - guess they think the desk is better than the floor. I think these writers are forgetting that Jack's bedroom is accessed through his office, with, presumably, a serviceable bed in it.
I recently read an old Horatio Hornblower slash story of mine in which I had Pellew (tell Horatio not to call him 'sir' in bed. It wasn't a cliche in that fandom and I didn't hesitate to say it. Now? I cringe to remember.