I wanted to share a response I made elsewhere in a discussion of the phenomenon of the OTP "One True Pairing" in Brokeback fan fiction, which of course, refers to Ennis and Jack. Someone made a comment about how personal experience plays a role in one's fan fic preferences, and here is what I responded:
You point out a very important thing, and that is, everyone has brought to Brokeback Mountain, the story and the film, their own lives, loves and heartbreaks, and to them, the loss of Jack means something individual, something personal, something undeniably real and universal and yet quite private and undoubtedly emotional. To many, and I would have to say from the experiences of reading the fan fics and comments here, most here, au fictions that complete the story with Jack alive - provide them with the solace and comfort they need. For others, they are comforted by a future with Ennis alone, sad, and struggling, remembering Jack. And for a third and no less important group (not to say there aren't others, just my observation) there are those who enjoy reading a story about Ennis facing a brighter future, that offers both healing and love. All of these are different ways to deal with our experiences of Brokeback. I maintain there is room for all of those folks and all of their preferences.
For the fics I wrote, I drew on the experience of a close friend who lost his childhood sweetheart to sudden death by cancer, and was so swallowed by the intense grief that he teetered on the edge of suicide long afterward, convinced he would not want to live without his dead mate. And one day, a man who had been a client and friend, reached out to him, and a new love was born on the ashes of his grief. He struggled with the guilt and his own mourning, but over time his relief was palpable, and necessary. As his relationship grew, he realized that his new love was a tribute to the first, a continuation of it -- because he had a need to continue giving that love to a living person, as an expression of his love for the one he could no longer hold. This is a very real phenomenon for some (perhaps not you, perhaps not many), but for those who must go on and love again - it rings true. I say, to each his own.
I will add for the benefit of readers here: What is necessary for one to move on and love again, is the belief, rooted in the original love relationship, that the lost loved one would want good for the survivor, to encourage him to move on, to love again, and to be happy. And this belief is purely a function of the type of relationship the two lovers had before death intervened.
Topic: Taking Chances, by E. L. Van Hine and L.H. Nicoll (Read 3159883 times)