Author Topic: Open Discussion of RPS Stories in Light of Heath's Death  (Read 56136 times)

Offline souxi

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Re: Open Discussion of RPS Stories in Light of Heath's Death
« Reply #140 on: February 03, 2008, 06:34:13 am »
I agree with this. Death has nothing to do with it, if anything it has LESS to do with it now that the person isn't here to read it. (Though the image of Heath sitting down to read his own RPS is hilarious). If you've never liked RPS, fine. What I don't understand is the sudden change people are making because he died. People still write about John Lennon and James Dean and nothing changed. It didn't bring them back or hurt them (or their family) anymore. It's giving RPS authors more credit than needed to assume celebs are going to come on-line and read their stories. But I will say thank you for the compliment of assuming such a thing.  ;)

How can you say that Heaths death has even less to do with it? It,s got even more to do with it now. Can,t you understand that, or is it that you simply don,t want to understand it? I,ll say it again. Writing RPS about Heath and Jake in sexual situations now that Heath is no longer here is disrespectful, IMO. Obviously you still intend to write such things about him, well that, as I said before is your choice and sadly there is nothing I can do about that. I certainly won,t be reading it, or any other RPS that writers write about him. It is disrespctful to his family, his friends and his memory, again, thats MY opinion.

Offline souxi

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Re: Open Discussion of RPS Stories in Light of Heath's Death
« Reply #141 on: February 03, 2008, 06:37:37 am »
So you assume his family comes on-line to read RPS on BBslash??

Well I suppose that is a valid argument given the number of legal action taken against certain authors who only wrote BBM fan fiction. I see your point, you just never know who is watching, be it Focus Features or Michelle herself who reads Brokeback boards and fan sites.

Whether or not Heaths family come on line to read RPS about their son, isn,t the point here. It,s the principal of the thing, which you either can,t or simply refuse to see.

Offline souxi

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Re: Open Discussion of RPS Stories in Light of Heath's Death
« Reply #142 on: February 03, 2008, 07:00:19 am »
And something else that just occured to me. It doesn,t even seem right now, to write RPS about Jake. Odd I know, that,s just how I feel. :-\ I always think of Jake and Heath together, (and I don,t mean in sexual situations either, just generally) and writing about one without the other seems wrong, like there,s a bit missing. Does that make any sense?

Offline malina

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Re: Open Discussion of RPS Stories in Light of Heath's Death
« Reply #143 on: February 03, 2008, 07:07:39 am »
And something else that just occured to me. It doesn,t even seem right now, to write RPS about Jake. Odd I know, that,s just how I feel. :-\ I always think of Jake and Heath together, (and I don,t mean in sexual situations either, just generally) and writing about one without the other seems wrong, like there,s a bit missing. Does that make any sense?

Yes. I wouldn't want read any Jake RPS now, either. Jake is mourning Heath. This has made them real. I mean, they were real already, of course, but when they were both alive and fine and doing well, it was different. We could construct little fantasy versions of them. Right now, they can't be anything but real.

It reminds me of a battle scene in one of the Narnia books, where the ... oh, some kind of magical creatures, dryads or something... were invisible, but when a knife or a sword went through them, they became visible flesh and blood. And that's how they stayed. Sorry if that's a bit morbid.

Offline Berit

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Re: Open Discussion of RPS Stories in Light of Heath's Death
« Reply #144 on: February 03, 2008, 08:16:17 am »
Good Morning Malina
Intersting to read what you have to say. As always well written. I didn't think RPS was anything for me before Heath died, and after....well , now it is even less so. Maybe it has to do with my age, I'm 54 and I have never seen Heath as a "sex symbol", neither Jake. They could both be my sons... :D To me they were two amazing good actors that blew me away with their acting.

I'm not that much for reading BBM Fan Fiction either, the story itself is so beautiful that for me it could be ruined if messed with. The story hasn't a"happy ending" but good stories from "real life" seldom has.

What puzzles me in this debate is the way we see our "celebs". I don't think that an actor, in the beginning of his carer, ever think about giving up a piece of his privacy. At least it's not his main concern. But when fame comes and papz comes and ET comes......and maybe RPS comes.......the private sphere gets smaller and smaller and more important to guard....and the more the actor guards his privacy, the more the papz and so on works to get pics and so on....

I can't bann Tabloids and I can't bann papz and I can't bann RPS...but I can discuss the sanity of it.....

Berit
Ennis.....always Ennis.....

Offline louisev

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Re: Open Discussion of RPS Stories in Light of Heath's Death
« Reply #145 on: February 04, 2008, 12:44:17 pm »
I think what sneaks up on actors is the sudden rush of fame after laboring in relative obscurity.  Percentagewise, very few actors ever become big stars or celebrities, so no one is really prepared for it.  And the loss of privacy, after laboring for recognition and publicity, must be a great shock.
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Offline RouxB

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Re: Open Discussion of RPS Stories in Light of Heath's Death
« Reply #146 on: February 05, 2008, 01:40:12 am »
I have avoided this thread like the plague, have pretty much avoided most threads around here lately. Emotions, mine included, are just too high. I have started and stopped this post a few times and finally figured out what I have to say:

I am a Heathen. While I am not in danger of doing harm to myself, I still cry every single day. I go to bed everynight chanting to myself "tomorrow would be a good day to start Jan. 22nd over". I have made my bargains with every higher power out there, mine and everyone else's. I am sad and depressed and putting on an "everything is ok" face to my world that can't even begin to understand what I'm feeling. I barely understand what I'm feeling (but  I do). The reason for this preambleramble is that I can't imagine anyone having more respect, admiration, appreciation for Heath Ledger than I. He anchors my BbM experience and the hole that is left in my life and my heart has, on occasion, left me in total dispair.

So, to the point, I think we all need to be really really really careful about how we sermonize on the "morality" of RPS (or most anything). To say that RPS is "immoral" in one breath and then turn around and say you aren't calling the writer immoral, and the reader by extention- is pretty sketchy at best and a lot more than sketchy at worst. Being the morality police for others-and I'm talking morality, not legality-is a big job and everyone needs to check their resumes before they apply for it. And, we need to be equally careful about speaking for others. I don't know what Heath thought of fan fiction or any other crap that he didn't mention in an interview. He might have hated it, he might have thought it was
hi-larious, he might not have given 1 giant squat about it. I don't know-and neither do you. The same goes for Jake and Michelle and his parents and Reese's dogs. Every person here who does not have direct knowledge of the opinions/thoughts/wishes/reactions of others are simply projecting their own on to them. That isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as you recognize the truth of that. Empathy is what keeps us human so I respect following that path if you think it is disrespectful. Just know it is you, not necessarily them. 

 Where do I stand on the issue? I don't know. I was a reader of Heath/Jake, my opinion is that it is not disrespectful, and that doesn't make me any more or less "bad" than anyone else. Will I continue to read it now-can't say. My entire BbM world has shifted such that I can't say where I'll be, or if I'll be, in Brokiehood when this fog starts to lift. What I can say is that I respect each reader'/writer's/lurker's/Joker's right to follow his or her own heart. I would no more beg a writer who has chosen to discontinue writing RPS to finish than I would beg one who has chosen to continue writing to stop. I am not God because if I was, there would be no need for this discussion.

Before you condemn anyone, just know it could very easily just be a poor, heart shattered Heathen-like me.

Heathen

Offline blacktears

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Re: Open Discussion of RPS Stories in Light of Heath's Death
« Reply #147 on: February 05, 2008, 02:17:30 am »
So well said. You said it better than I ever could have. It breaks my heart to be called immoral and slandered as a disrespectful person when I too, am just a broken hearted Heathen finding joy and comfort in fictional words. You just never know what is behind a person and its so wrong to assume otherwise.

Thank you. *hugs*
Proud Supporter, Writer, and Reader of RPS

Offline souxi

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Re: Open Discussion of RPS Stories in Light of Heath's Death
« Reply #148 on: February 05, 2008, 03:42:10 am »
For the record Roux, I have NEVER said anyone is immoral for continuing to write RPS about Heath, I have merely said that IMO it is wrong, now that he has died. And yes I do think it,s disrespctful, I,ve said it before and I,ll say it again. We are all entitled to our opinions and mine is that continuing to write RPS about Heath in sexual situations now that he has died is wrong, and it won,t change. No maybe Michelle and Heaths family will never read RPS about their son, maybe they,ve never heard of it, I don,t know. It,s simply the principal of the thing. I can,t stop writers writing about Heath having sex, even though he,s dead now, sadly that is beyond my control, but I sure as hell don,t have to read it and I won,t. I stand by everything I have said, and if some people don,t like it then thats, just too bad I,m afraid.

Offline louisev

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Re: Open Discussion of RPS Stories in Light of Heath's Death
« Reply #149 on: February 05, 2008, 12:45:35 pm »
So well said. You said it better than I ever could have. It breaks my heart to be called immoral and slandered as a disrespectful person when I too, am just a broken hearted Heathen finding joy and comfort in fictional words. You just never know what is behind a person and its so wrong to assume otherwise.

Thank you. *hugs*

there have been no personal attacks made on this forum and no slander has been done.  If you are finding the expression of general opinions regarding the writing of RPS too upsetting then you may wish to avoid this discussion.  For your clarification, the judgement that real person fiction stories are questionable at best and immoral at worst is widely held in publishing circles, and are banned in many fan areas on the internet for this reason.
“Mr. Coyote always gets me good, boy,”  Ellery said, winking.  “Almost forgot what life was like before I got me my own personal coyote.”