Either I've hit the nail on the head or I've just sliced my Achilles tendon

[edelweiss]

On the subject of Merlin and Arthur
which can be taken as 'on the subject of the sexualization of fandom'

This has been bothering me, and some of you (probably most of you) may disagree with me on this, but it really has been irking me and I think someone needed to write it down and get it out there so here goes.

I don’t want a romantic/sexualized relationship with Merlin and Arthur on screen. I want the love they have for each other to show on screen, but I don’t want romance. But that’s a contradiction! No, no it isn’t. Someone once said that every story is a love story, and it’s true. Look at any book or film and try to find some sort of love in there. Love of violence, love of family, love of another, love of oneself, love of nature, love of art, love of sport…it’s there.

And here’s the thing, what I think Merlin and Arthur has is…it’s deeper than a romantic relationship. They don’t have to snog each other senseless to get the point across that they trust one another unconditionally. I think the fact that both of them would risk their lives for another goes to show how inexplicably they are tied to one another. The idea that they really shouldn’t trust one another (but do), or die for one another (but would) is just another reason why what they have is something most married couples or even historical/fictional characters don’t have.

Merlin is destined to help make Arthur a great King. Arthur is fated to place unconditional trust in Merlin, a sorcerer who has so much power but only uses it to protect. Regardless of whether this is spoken or prophesied it happens…and it happens on an epic scale but also a human one, and that is what makes it so powerful. I don't think any sort of romantic relationship adds to this, perhaps because there's something so wonderful about that level of love. I also don't follow Freud's belief that everything is about sex (major over-simplification, but still).

They have the kind of connection, bond, whatever you want to call it, that brothers have. Except it’s not quite that, because they’re not exactly family. They don’t come from a similar background, and they don’t have similar skills. They’ve grown up under different conditions, in different walks of life, and the way they operate around one another isn’t over-coming social class to live happily ever after. That would be too easy. Arthurian legend or anything involving a derivation of Merlin or Arthur or Guinevere or Lancelot is anything but simple or easy. That’s why it’s so brilliant. Some of the greatest moments are obviously the ones that can be quoted and screen-capped and elaborated on, but some of the even more brilliant ones are what happen in between dialogue.

I’m going to say quite honestly that if they did kiss I would be extremely disappointed in the BBC. Some people may say they won't because it’s a family program but I think it just isn’t in the story that’s being told. You can’t make characters do something that they wouldn’t normally do, and I just don’t think the characters we see on screen or read about in books will do this.

Granted, I do read the fan fiction and I do love it to bits…but as to what’s seen on screen…I just don’t think that it should happen and I really don’t want it to happen. Contrary to Freud not everything is about sex.

I'd love to see other's opinions.

Comments

[burningqueen.livejournal.com]

This is totally coming from that post on merlinxarthur isn't it? I've been stalking those comments myself the past couple minutes.

We've discussed this before and I have to say I agree with you. As much as I love them and sort of do nothing all day but read fanfic about them, I in no way expect their canon relationship to grow into anything more romantic than it is right now. It would be very weird and out of place, I think.

And as much as I love all the fanfic, it kind of annoys me that this is being seen as a slasher's jackpot. Because, really, slashers annoy me sometimes. It is possible for two men to be really good friends without them secretly going off to shag (it's also possible for men and women to be really close without wanting more than that, but that's another story). That being said, the subtext in Merlin is so overt that I would be surprised if they weren't doing it on purpose. But that doesn't mean they're going to go any farther than that. I also think Heroes does all the Nathan/Peter stuff on purpose (and Michael Rosenbaum and Tom Welling have basically admitted to thinking it was all hilarious and playing it up) but obviously Nathan and Peter are never going to hook up in canon, so.

That being said Merlin/Arthur is still all kinds of gay love in my personal canon. But there is totally a line between personal canon and actual canon.

[letsey-x.livejournal.com]

Oh, I TOTALLY agree. I love Arthur/Merlin, but I just can't read any fic about them, because their relation just doesn't seem sexual to me. They love each other, and I do love the homo-eroticism, but I'd never want them to be a couple in canon. And I'm sure it's never going to happen either.

[himhilien.livejournal.com]

Most of my favorite fictional relationships in fiction is between individuals who are essentially soul mates except for the romantic angle. I have a number of intense friendships in which some people who see us may mistake us for couples but we're not sexually attracted to one another. This makes me kind of sad because it's obvious a lot of people don't seem to have that type of bond. It also annoys me.

Yeah, I'm a slasher in heart, and ship some people together (het and slash) based off of their individual canon relationships but there's a line between what's going on in my head and what's actually on-screen.

[codeofaimee.livejournal.com]

i agree. it's also the same with the hp fandom and sirius and remus. you're on the dot with the fact that love doesn't have to be about sex or romantic relations. there's no doubt that arthur and merlin love each other, but i don't think a romantic relationship would ever stem from it.

and i'm not angry, but that's the only merlin icon i have at the moment, and i want to be part of the party XD

[worldatomic.livejournal.com]

i actually have never watched this show, although my sister swears she's going to get me to some day (XD). i get where you're coming from, though, because one of my favorite series of novels ever has a pair of characters who at first greatly, greatly dislike each other but still need each other, and eventually they are so dependent upon each other that when one of them dies the other doesn't--quite know what to do with himself. there's just so much between them, but neither of them are anything but canonically heterosexual (both are males, ftr), and while i would totally love to watch them bang each other it just wouldn't quite fit their characters. they shouldn't love each other, but they do, and it's beyond anything like brothers or family or lovers.

...tl;dr: I GET YOU. |D

[casettes.livejournal.com]

I don’t want a romantic/sexualized relationship with Merlin and Arthur on screen. I want the love they have for each other to show on screen, but I don’t want romance. But that’s a contradiction! No, no it isn’t. Someone once said that every story is a love story, and it’s true. Look at any book or film and try to find some sort of love in there. Love of violence, love of family, love of another, love of oneself, love of nature, love of art, love of sport…it’s there.

This, this, this, this, this times a million! They do have love. Of a brotherly and friendly nature. Why does all love have to be sexualized and taken in the most literal way?

There has been no indication, regardless of what the staunch shippers think, of them having a romantic love for one another. I see trust, friendship, and brotherly love. Both would die for one another. And that kind of friendship is hard to find. That goes deeper than romantic love. That's a whole other level.

[syrosis.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree with you! Although, I do admit, I DO like the sex. LOL. But I like my sex in FANON. I like the sexual romance in FANON.

I guess what happens with fans, is that their ideas/ideals about a pairing starts to bleed into the canon relationship. And I'm of a mind that there's canon relationships and then there's fanon relationships. And while they are the same, they are also different.

And I've just blabbered on about something that really has nothing to do with your original post! I'm sorry!

[vermontypython.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU. Thank you for writing this! I absolutely love reading Arthur/Merlin fic (say what you want, but our writers here on LJ are fantastic), but there's about a 99.9% chance of that ever actually happening in the show, unless as someone said, Russell T Davis takes over. :P

And I'm absolutely fine with that. The fact that they didn't make any serious steps towards the romantic relationships in the first season is wonderful, and it shows that the characters don't need to be shagging each other to be amazing. It's refreshing, and sweet.

[firstillusion.livejournal.com]

if they did kiss I would be extremely disappointed in the BBC
Me too. I understand what you mean, although I'm not sure if I feel as strongly about it as you do. (That might be because I'm not involved in fandom at all.) I don't mind any subtext at all though, I think it only adds to the characters and the story. I'm not involved in fandom because I think it could easily destroy everything I like about the show just watching it and having my own thoughts with it.

I'm not against slashing, not at all, but here, it just doesn't need to happen.

[b-hallward.livejournal.com]

I agree with a great deal of what you say here. I like the homoeroticism of the show, but only as subtext. I'm slasher but I view slash as an exercise in reading against the text, as a complex game we all play with each other. I wouldn't even call the canon bond between Merlin and Arthur brotherly--because I think they are fascinated with each other and deeply attracted, just not in a way that's necessarily sexual or romantic. But our culture doesn't have many models for this sort of intense love that aren't sexual/romantic/OneTrueLove.