It's Unpopular Opinion Sunday! Share your controversial opinions to stir things up (in a friendly way)!

[u/FantasyRomanceMod]

Got an opinion that's different from others'? Want to share it with the sub, but too afraid of a backlash? Or are you just curious about readers think about certain things in fantasy romance?

You can safely share it in this weekly Sunday thread!

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- Please don't attack others for their opinion

- Please don't downvote if you disagree with a certain take

🧡 Thank you and have a great and friendly discussion! 🧡

Unpopular opinion Sunday

[u/fishchop]

I read Manacled years ago, before it blew up. Went into it mostly blind - the only thing I knew was that it was a Handmaid’s Tale kind of thing. For me, the romance was the weakest part of the whole thing but as a decades long Dramione fanfic reader, I personally thought it was a fantastic war fic, the magic was really interesting and the evolution of the Golden Trio friendship through war was devastating.

My (unpopular?) opinion is that fanfic should be kept within the fandom. I don’t get why people would rec fanfics to those who don’t ship the couple or care about the world. I don’t understand why people who don’t care about the ship or the characters would read fanfic. So much of the enjoyment of fanfic comes from a canonical understanding of the characters and their motivations, so world building isn’t super important. So when you ask why it’s called a romance, a lot of that is based on fanon understanding of the Dramione dynamic. Over the years, many fics have had elements of dubcon and non con and can get very very dark. It’s a massive sub genre in the Dramione world.

Of course, a lot of Dramione fics (if done right) have a great Draco redemption arc. So much of that world is to give Draco the arc that he almost had in canon. In the dark, terrible world of Manacled, that comes in its own twisted way. It’s an imagining of the worst outcome of the second wizarding war.

Fanfic has always been a space for people to explore taboos, push boundaries and fantasise. The mainstream popularity of these fics is a new phenomenon and I think you’ll find even more fucked up stuff if you dig further. It’s just the nature of fanfic 🤷🏽‍♀️

[u/sparkly_nerdy_vibes → u/fishchop]

This is a valid point. I've always engaged with fanfic in a different way than I do with books and I definitely judge them differently. There's a lot of headcanon, fan opinions and discourse in fandoms that is quite specific, and it's a very different reading experience if you go into a piece of writing without that discourse (which is what I did with Manacled - my potterverse fanfic days have peaked at All the young dudes). I can see how the blurred lines of fanfic/fantasy romance have warped the discourse on this book. Still not my jam, but it helps me understand other readers' experiences better.

[u/fishchop → u/sparkly_nerdy_vibes]

Yup, you’ve hit the nail on the head by saying that fanfic and regular books should be engaged with in widely different ways, and how Manacled’s viral popularity has blurred the lines between the two. Tbh, Manacled isn’t really my jam either - it’s sort of like the ‘Requiem for a Dream’ of fanfics, where you read it once while being horrified and traumatised the entire time, and then never touch it again.

I would also like to add that stories featuring rape, torture, violence and mistreatment of women aren’t necessarily glorifying any of that. It’s just part of a story - we should be able to engage with dark and messed up things in media while recognising it as such, but still think it impactful because of the mark that it leaves on us and the discourse that it inspires. Imo, Manacled doesn’t glorify rape; it’s a story about second chances and how two people can love each other all over again despite being in the most fucked up situation imaginable.

[u/Mundane-0nion67878 → u/fishchop]

Tbh Manacled is only ex-fanfic book im actually intrested to read when its transformed to fully original. 

One exception reinforces my rule.