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Threesome vs OT3
I am about to state an extremely unpopular opinion.
Your OT3? OT4? OT6?
It's lazy.
I am getting really tired of threesomes, foursomes, moresomes. Not as an idea. It's hot! Hey, if Character A and B and C all feel like having sex, or if A and B decide to have a thing with C, okay! Fine. That's great.
But there's a difference between being sexually open and being in a relationship with multiple people.
I've vented about this before -- I don't like OT3, I'm sorry. It's not because I hate Kairi lolol or I don't like teh ghei. It's because I only feel two sides of the pairing. Sora/Kairi, yes. Sora/Riku, yes. But I don't really go for Kairi/Riku. But that's not why I'm writing this rant, because I don't like your pairing -- no.
While ficcers earnestly write OT3, I find that often, it seems like they only feel one side of the pairing.
How often have I seen something like this: "Pairing is Sora/Riku and Sora/Riku/Kairi"? Or even "Sora/Kairi, SoRiKai implied"? Answer: way too often. But that means your fic doesn't have a threesome. Your fic has a pairing, and you threw a gratuitous reference to a third person in there, or hints that maybe A and B are going to go home and cuddle with Character C.
But C was hardly in your fic. Why did you say this fic was A/B/C?
Laziness.
This is what it sounds like to me. I had this thought earlier today, when I was talking about FFXII -- I used to be very enthusiastic about Larsa/Penelo, until I discovered everyone likes it, and then it became less cool. :( Now I like Larsa/Penelo and Vaan/Penelo about the same amount. And then OT3 came into the discussion.
This is the mentality that I think makes a lot of people get into OT3: three characters are friends, and there's visible tension between Character A and Character B, and Character B and Character C. Ergo, OT3!
That's the lazy way out of a love triangle. Why decide which pairing you like better? Why hurt a character you like, or leave them out? Why should anyone have to not get what they want? Just throw them all in bed together and you can call it a day!
Is there any reason that fic was A/B/C, when it was clearly about A/B? Why not just make it a fic about A/B?
I'm not accusing these shippers of being hypocrites -- if anything, I think they're too well-intentioned. It's not easy to represent three people in a relationship: instead they try and present a facet. Almost every time I have seen all people in an "OT3" interact, it's been forced, stretched. Like, "Character C giggles knowingly while Character A and B have sexual tension," or, "Gee, isn't it great how all three of us fit one another perfectly." These are shallow depictions of real relationships. (Although to be fair, fiction is pretty terrible at presenting real relationships, period. No one ever argues in fanfic, no one ever gets divorced later on in life, no one ever makes mistakes in judgment...)
I like threesomes. But I haven't yet read or heard about an OT3 that I find even remotely believable. Yes, Sora and Riku and Kairi have wonderful relationships with one another. This is why I find it so improbably convenient when they all hook up with one another and become a perfect trio. People have lots of wonderful relationships that don't involve sex. But, I mean, why depict two people in a relationship and one person who is a mutual friend just having fun together?
There is this unspoken rule in the media, in the portrayal of fiction of all genres, that you cannot have a meaningful relationship with C when you're having sex with B. A threesome is the lazy attempt to solve this dichotomy: well, then all three of them are having sex, and no one is less important.
Except usually, someone is. Even if it's just me, the reader, asked to swallow platitudes of polygamous perfection.
Edit: I just want to make clear to everyone the working definitions that are applied to this rant and all comments thereon. A threesome is a fun sexual adventure. An OT3 -- and the subject of my ire -- is when three people are all in true love with each other and would (if they could) all get married to one another in the most extremely liberal ceremony I can think of not involving a goat.
Your OT3? OT4? OT6?
It's lazy.
I am getting really tired of threesomes, foursomes, moresomes. Not as an idea. It's hot! Hey, if Character A and B and C all feel like having sex, or if A and B decide to have a thing with C, okay! Fine. That's great.
But there's a difference between being sexually open and being in a relationship with multiple people.
I've vented about this before -- I don't like OT3, I'm sorry. It's not because I hate Kairi lolol or I don't like teh ghei. It's because I only feel two sides of the pairing. Sora/Kairi, yes. Sora/Riku, yes. But I don't really go for Kairi/Riku. But that's not why I'm writing this rant, because I don't like your pairing -- no.
While ficcers earnestly write OT3, I find that often, it seems like they only feel one side of the pairing.
How often have I seen something like this: "Pairing is Sora/Riku and Sora/Riku/Kairi"? Or even "Sora/Kairi, SoRiKai implied"? Answer: way too often. But that means your fic doesn't have a threesome. Your fic has a pairing, and you threw a gratuitous reference to a third person in there, or hints that maybe A and B are going to go home and cuddle with Character C.
But C was hardly in your fic. Why did you say this fic was A/B/C?
Laziness.
This is what it sounds like to me. I had this thought earlier today, when I was talking about FFXII -- I used to be very enthusiastic about Larsa/Penelo, until I discovered everyone likes it, and then it became less cool. :( Now I like Larsa/Penelo and Vaan/Penelo about the same amount. And then OT3 came into the discussion.
This is the mentality that I think makes a lot of people get into OT3: three characters are friends, and there's visible tension between Character A and Character B, and Character B and Character C. Ergo, OT3!
That's the lazy way out of a love triangle. Why decide which pairing you like better? Why hurt a character you like, or leave them out? Why should anyone have to not get what they want? Just throw them all in bed together and you can call it a day!
Is there any reason that fic was A/B/C, when it was clearly about A/B? Why not just make it a fic about A/B?
I'm not accusing these shippers of being hypocrites -- if anything, I think they're too well-intentioned. It's not easy to represent three people in a relationship: instead they try and present a facet. Almost every time I have seen all people in an "OT3" interact, it's been forced, stretched. Like, "Character C giggles knowingly while Character A and B have sexual tension," or, "Gee, isn't it great how all three of us fit one another perfectly." These are shallow depictions of real relationships. (Although to be fair, fiction is pretty terrible at presenting real relationships, period. No one ever argues in fanfic, no one ever gets divorced later on in life, no one ever makes mistakes in judgment...)
I like threesomes. But I haven't yet read or heard about an OT3 that I find even remotely believable. Yes, Sora and Riku and Kairi have wonderful relationships with one another. This is why I find it so improbably convenient when they all hook up with one another and become a perfect trio. People have lots of wonderful relationships that don't involve sex. But, I mean, why depict two people in a relationship and one person who is a mutual friend just having fun together?
There is this unspoken rule in the media, in the portrayal of fiction of all genres, that you cannot have a meaningful relationship with C when you're having sex with B. A threesome is the lazy attempt to solve this dichotomy: well, then all three of them are having sex, and no one is less important.
Except usually, someone is. Even if it's just me, the reader, asked to swallow platitudes of polygamous perfection.
Edit: I just want to make clear to everyone the working definitions that are applied to this rant and all comments thereon. A threesome is a fun sexual adventure. An OT3 -- and the subject of my ire -- is when three people are all in true love with each other and would (if they could) all get married to one another in the most extremely liberal ceremony I can think of not involving a goat.