Men baring all

[pensnest]

Yes, yes, I'll get to *that* in a minute...

But first, Bun and I went to see The Full Monty this evening, a production by a brave(!) amateur company. The sound was dismayingly bad, it was TOO LOUD and also too muffled, virtually impossible to hear the details. And poor 'Horse' seemed to be wearing a dead poodle on his head. But hey, they did a valiant and praiseworthy job, at times an *excellent* job, which wasn't made any easier by (a) the heat, the heat, or (b) the fact that the fire alarm went off just as poor 'Malcolm' (the Howie character!) was starting his lovely funeral song, and we all had to troop outside for fifteen minutes while somebody made sure the theatre was not, in fact, ablaze. Also, they did the thing with the hats for the 'full monty' at the end, except that one of them threw his hat across the stage at the crucial moment, so extra fun for all the family!

I love that show. So did the whole audience. See it, if you get the chance.

And yes, Lance also bares, if not in quite the same way. Dear, dear boy. I read the first newsbreakings this afternoon, then got gleefully back to my flist as soon as we returned home. You did not disappoint, guys, we are awash with squee, and isn't it nice!

And I must say, I think that so far, it has been presented quite splendidly. I'm all atwitch to see the full article, but the various media which have carried the story seem to have picked really nice quotes and refrained from slanting the story unpleasantly. It's very heartening. I dare say in a few days time there will be tales of Woe and Outrage from devastated fans who had entertained hopes of wedding the poor lad once they, um, met him, or some such nonsense, but for the present, it's sweet to read. I hope the comments Lance gets on his MySpace will be as encouraging as what he'd find in My Little Corner of Fandom, were he to surf this way.

Am finding myself just a leetle bit sorry for Justin (!), who may find himself answering rather more questions than he'd anticipated about one of his former bandmates. (Do we say 'former' now? I feel, regretfully, that we do. Unless this is all part of a carefully co-ordinated effort by all five sparkly ones to reposition themselves for a more adult comeback? No, nopseud, not *that* adult.) I hope Lance got The Talk done in time! (Oh lawd, the plotbunny potential!)

And what of Canon? Are we now to see teenage!dom!Lance cast aside, and a slew of repressed!virgin!Lance fics instead? Will this confirmation make a difference to how and what we write? (I may have to cast aside a Really Neat Story that is so very AU now...damn.) I realise it's a bit soon to start on the 'But How Will This Affect Meeee?' track, but hey, I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow morning to read any more actual news...

I should also like to state for the record that my respect for Joey has multiplied, colour burned, screened (twice) and been topped with a soft light of adoration. You, too, rock, Mr Fatone.

Lance icons tomorrow. Purely by coincidence.

Comments

[nopseud]

And what of Canon? Are we now to see teenage!dom!Lance cast aside, and a slew of repressed!virgin!Lance fics instead? Will this confirmation make a difference to how and what we write?

I'm sure it will make a difference, but not necessarily an overwhelming one. For one thing, there's the question of how much trust you put in the exact details given in an interview by Lance to People. If there's one thing we know about Nsync, it's that they are all absolutely top class liars in interviews. I'm sure he's putting over the story he wants to put over, details coloured as appropriate.

For another...well, how much more AU does it actually make most stories anyway? A story where, say, Lance is sexing it up with the rest of Nsync in the Euro era wasn't any more 'real' last week than it is now.

[pensnest]

Oh, I'm sure we'll all settle down eventually and get back to writing what we want. But I remember comments about the changes in the representations of young Lance when The Reel NSync came along - from fragile little flower to snarksome & self-possessed - so it'll be interesting to see whether anything along the same lines happens now.

[luxshine.livejournal.com]

Re: the canon thing.

I think it's a question of wait and see. What we probably will lose are the stories with Lance having doubts about his sexuality, but that will be it. (Pairings though... Pairings can get a bit changed after this).

But I agree with the thing about Joey. He's the coolest man ever in my book.

[pensnest]

I spose the 'having doubts' ones may be substituted by 'trying to persuade himself he can change' angsty ones? And as nopseud says above, the boys are all accomplished at presenting the right picture - I guess we're free to 'interpret' this piece of canon as we do any other. I've already seen people questioning the apparent timings of the revelations...

[luxshine.livejournal.com]

That's the only reaction that bothers me a little... The idea that Lance would do this just for publicity just feels wrong to me. Sure, he tends to like being on the news, but I don't think he would do something like this just because.

And well... about the fics... Would you believe I'm about to send you for beta one particular chapter where Lance comes out? I swear it was a coincidence (For some reason, I tend to write him straight. Go figure).

I'll have a hard time believing the 'persuade himself he can change' ones after reading the excerpts from the interview. There he looks pretty sure of himself and his beliefs.
(Which goes to say, of course, go him)

[pensnest]

I can imagine writing a fic about a young Lance who's got all kinds of worries about being gay, and who tries hard to work on a relationship with a girl. (Indeed, he said he'd been in love with women, but...) At least, I don't think I'm going to write such a story, but it'd be very workable. And I think it would be a story about him learning to accept himself as he is, not as he thinks he ought to be or other people would want him to be - which is probably a journey he's actually been on.

Actually, I dare say that story has been written already! It'd work perfectly well without our new 'canon'. Hmm. I'm beginning to think that I'd rather write something further away from canon - so maybe I'll get back to that unicorn story now... or write a Lance-is-straight story just to see how that feels.

I'll be pleased to see your new chapter, anyway. :-)

[pensnest]

Oh, i just realised I missed responding to your first paragraph. No, I agree, I don't think at all that this is a 'just for publicity' move. I'm very glad to see that - at least for the moment - reaction from fans and even media, various, is so positive, but there's no way he could have been sure of that happening.

What I meant by 'questioning the apparent timings of the revelations' was not his coming out now, but the idea that his bandmates were in ignorance for such an incredibly long time.

Personally, I'm all for ambiguities in canon - it gives us so much more scope!