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crack_van2005-07-04 11:56 am
norabombay.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2005-07-04 11:56 am
Not as Smart as You Require by Synecdochic (PG)
Not as Smart as You Require by Synecdochic (PG)
POPSLASH
Pairing: Britney/Justin, Chris/Justin. It's het on a technicality.
Author on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
synecdochic
Author Website: http://www.kekkai.org/synecdochic/main.html/
Why this must be read: Because PopSlash is not as shallow as you think it is.
The theme this week is personal transformation. And in this one? Well, sometimes transformation is obvious. Oops, woke up a girl? Oops, I'm a Zombie?. Sometimes it can be a lot more subtle.
This story is short, and thematic. You don't always get what you want. Some times what you want is not even there. This piece features Chris and Britney. And it's all about Justin. It's always about Justin.
The Britney characterization is brilliant. Even if you hate Britney. Which I find difficult. She's got the worst position in the stories, as Justin Timberlake/Britney Spears is cannon. Cold hard cannon. She usually gets the short end of the stick, to be ignored or passed over to get to the slash. She's dismissed as the bimbo her marketing sells her as. In this story? She may not be as smart as you require, but she's smart enough to know her place in the universe. Because she really does live in the best of all possible worlds.
An excerpt:
A few years ago, she'd decided that she was tired of people calling her stupid just because she had her GED and wasn't the most articulate person in the world. Sometimes, late at night when she's the only one still awake, she thinks that it bothers her so much because she's always been worried that they might be right.
She made the decision two years ago and told Fe to go out and get her a list or two of the books that everyone agrees are "the classics". The stuff that she would have had to read in high school, if she'd gone to high school. The stuff that reasonable, educated people were supposed to have read. She took the list when she got it and marked off a half-dozen at random, handing it back. "Get me these ones," she'd said.
One every two months, brought along with her from stadium to stadium, forcing herself through chapters as she goes. Twenty minutes a day, come hell or high water, no matter where she is or what she's doing, and sometimes she wishes beyond all belief that she could throw the book across the room and go and pick up a People magazine instead. But she can't; she'd promised herself. She doesn't understand half the language and she can't keep half the characters straight and she doesn't know why half of them are supposed to be such great books, but she's never backed down in her entire life and she's not going to stop now, not until she can point at the 100 Greatest Books list that Fe found her and say that she's read all of them.
"You're so smart," Justin says, whenever he catches her frowning at One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich or Madame Bovary or Jane Eyre, hating every second of it but forcing herself through it anyway. He kisses her on the forehead, and goes off whistling to play basketball, and sometimes she wants to scream.
He says it in interviews, too. She wishes that he wouldn't. It only makes it worse.
Given her rapid downfall from America’s Underage Jailbait of choice, to a piece of tabloid fodder, sometimes it’s good to check back on Britney.
Britney, Justin,and Chris, circa 99?
Britney and Kevin last Summer in Malibu. I actually like Kevin Federline. I get the appeal. Mainly that his motives are refreshingly uncomplicated. Kevin’s not subtle. Kevin’s not in love with anybody else. Kevin may not even be in love with her.
And of course:
Hell, he’s an asshole. But he’s a asshole with a non compete clause. And sometimes? That’s enough. She seems to have gotten what she wanted.
Not As Smart as You Require
POPSLASH
Pairing: Britney/Justin, Chris/Justin. It's het on a technicality.
Author on LJ:
synecdochicAuthor Website: http://www.kekkai.org/synecdochic/main.html/
Why this must be read: Because PopSlash is not as shallow as you think it is.
The theme this week is personal transformation. And in this one? Well, sometimes transformation is obvious. Oops, woke up a girl? Oops, I'm a Zombie?. Sometimes it can be a lot more subtle.
This story is short, and thematic. You don't always get what you want. Some times what you want is not even there. This piece features Chris and Britney. And it's all about Justin. It's always about Justin.
The Britney characterization is brilliant. Even if you hate Britney. Which I find difficult. She's got the worst position in the stories, as Justin Timberlake/Britney Spears is cannon. Cold hard cannon. She usually gets the short end of the stick, to be ignored or passed over to get to the slash. She's dismissed as the bimbo her marketing sells her as. In this story? She may not be as smart as you require, but she's smart enough to know her place in the universe. Because she really does live in the best of all possible worlds.
An excerpt:
A few years ago, she'd decided that she was tired of people calling her stupid just because she had her GED and wasn't the most articulate person in the world. Sometimes, late at night when she's the only one still awake, she thinks that it bothers her so much because she's always been worried that they might be right.
She made the decision two years ago and told Fe to go out and get her a list or two of the books that everyone agrees are "the classics". The stuff that she would have had to read in high school, if she'd gone to high school. The stuff that reasonable, educated people were supposed to have read. She took the list when she got it and marked off a half-dozen at random, handing it back. "Get me these ones," she'd said.
One every two months, brought along with her from stadium to stadium, forcing herself through chapters as she goes. Twenty minutes a day, come hell or high water, no matter where she is or what she's doing, and sometimes she wishes beyond all belief that she could throw the book across the room and go and pick up a People magazine instead. But she can't; she'd promised herself. She doesn't understand half the language and she can't keep half the characters straight and she doesn't know why half of them are supposed to be such great books, but she's never backed down in her entire life and she's not going to stop now, not until she can point at the 100 Greatest Books list that Fe found her and say that she's read all of them.
"You're so smart," Justin says, whenever he catches her frowning at One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich or Madame Bovary or Jane Eyre, hating every second of it but forcing herself through it anyway. He kisses her on the forehead, and goes off whistling to play basketball, and sometimes she wants to scream.
He says it in interviews, too. She wishes that he wouldn't. It only makes it worse.
Given her rapid downfall from America’s Underage Jailbait of choice, to a piece of tabloid fodder, sometimes it’s good to check back on Britney.
Britney, Justin,and Chris, circa 99?
Britney and Kevin last Summer in Malibu. I actually like Kevin Federline. I get the appeal. Mainly that his motives are refreshingly uncomplicated. Kevin’s not subtle. Kevin’s not in love with anybody else. Kevin may not even be in love with her.
And of course:
Hell, he’s an asshole. But he’s a asshole with a non compete clause. And sometimes? That’s enough. She seems to have gotten what she wanted.
Not As Smart as You Require
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it's one of my favorites. Not a sexy story. Just a fascinating character study, and a look at the other side of the happy slash spectrum.
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I love Britney.
I'm glad you liked.
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(And you will be up again, although Through a Glass Darkly is a lot more obvious as a rec :)
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But I think in a way this rec touches me more, because it's one of the ones I consider really underappreciated. So thank you :)
(Jesus Christ, could I post under the proper account at least once this week, maybe? Mrpfh. Please ignore previous comment :) )
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Smart!Britney. It's just brilliant.
I'm glad you like.
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