(no subject)

[skygiants]

Aside from OTPs, lacewood also asked me for my Top 5 Platonic BFF Pairings, which is an awesome question but tricky because I am going to try not to overlap with any of the BFF pairings I talked about when I did my top five BFF moments. To make narrowing it down easier, I am also very strictly ruling out anyone I think might be even a little bit not entirely platonic. (SORRY KYOKO AND KANAE, but that nosebleed disqualifies you from the running.)


1. Wendy and Lacey, The Middleman



Wendy and Lacey: best roommates ever, or BEST ROOMMATES EVER? Wendy saves the world by battling aliens, vampires, and flying fish zombies! Lacey saves the world via confrontational spoken-word performance art! Wendy bails Lacey out of prison when she needs it; Lacey helps Wendy escape from an evil dystopian AU when she needs it. TRUE FRIENDSHIP.

In other news, The Middleman passed the Bechdel Test pretty much every episode, thanks to Wendy and Lacey's fantastically supportive friendship and its importance to Wendy and to the story. Which is one of the main things that puts it among my top TV shows of all time.

2. Cha Song Joo and Sun Woo Wan, Capital Scandal



I realize this is two Cha Song Joo entries in as many top five posts, but a.) you can never have too much Cha Song Joo! and b.) I feel it's worth giving this BFF relationship a special shout-out given that kdramas are kind of known for their melodramatic tangled love squares in which everyone is in love with everyone, because amazingly Cha Song Joo and Woo Wan are soulmates whose completely platonic love for each other is never questioned. It's amazing! They sit around and bitch about how nice it would be if they had any romantic feelings for each other at all, and instead he's in love with a TINY REVOLUTIONARY and she's in love with an ANGSTY POLICEMAN because clearly they both just like being miserable all the time, ugh, what is their life, what are their choices?

And meanwhile Cha Song Joo cheerfully makes bets on Woo Wan's love life, and Woo Wan comes to crash at her place when he's feeling sulky and rebellious at his family, and they go dancing and hang out and mock each other mercilessly and it's adorable, except when he finds out she's been keeping her secret revolutionary assassin activities secret from him and then it's super sad because soulmates are not supposed to have secrets! But they get over it because that's what BFFs do.

3. Kenny and Lynda, Press Gang



Another completely platonic male-female friendship: Lynda, who rules the newsroom with an iron fist, and Kenny, who has spent most of his life following her around and being sarcastic-yet-soothing in her wake. I love their teamwork, guys! I love it more and more every episode. (For the record, I've now finished season 2 and not yet started season 3; I am looking forward to more, and yet dreading Kenny's inevitable departure, because KENNY.)

Kenny jokes that when Lynda asks his opinion the one she usually wants is "yes," and . . . he's not wrong, but that being said he's one of very few people who can and will give her an honest opinion that isn't a yes that she'll trust. And when he decides to take a break from being a nice-guy editor to be a ROCK STAR for a day, she sneakily supports him 110% without ever actually saying it, because, you know, it'd be bad for her image.

4. Charlotte and Shauna, Bad Machinery



I don't think I've ever talked here about how much I like John Allison's webcomic Bad Machinery! But I really like Bad Machinery? Scary Go Round was one of the few webcomics I was able to semi-keep-up-with over the years (rowanberries is to blame for that!) and I enjoyed it, but I actually like Bad Machinery much better and a large part of that is because it is completely grounded in the friendship between two little girls. (Eventually to be three little girls, and I love Mildred too, but we are talking about BFF pairs here so alas Mildred will have to be left out of it for now.)

Anyway, Shauna and Charlotte! They are adorable and they balance each other out really well - Shauna is bright and inquisitive and Charlotte is kind of wacky and TOGETHER THEY FIGHT CRIME. No, really. (Well, solve mysteries, same difference.) And I honestly feel the world needs more stories about wacky, endearing, ordinary, often silly, sometimes suprisingly brilliant schoolgirls fighting crime.

5. Janet and Molly, Pamela Dean's Tam Lin

Guys, Tam Lin was really, really ridiculously formative for me. As a teenager I desperately wanted college to be like it was in this book for Janet, with everyone reciting theater and poetry all the time, and weird magical happenings sort of occurring off around the edges, and - most awesomely of all - a roommate who'd read the same books I had and had the same kind of sense of humor, someone who got it. (I don't mean to play the 'I was a tragic and lonely teenager!' card here, by the way. I was lucky enough to have some awesome friends in high school, many of whom I am lucky enough to still be friends with now. But I didn't have many friends in high school who were geeky the same way I was, and the idea of just sort of walking into my room in college and finding a DESTINED GEEKY BFF SOULMATE was a pretty compelling one at sixteen.)

Honestly, while pretty much every aspect of Tam Lin is a huge wish-fulfillment fantasy for a certain kind of person - and as you can tell, I am clearly that kind of person - I think that Molly and Janet's friendship is one of the most wish-fulfillment-y bits of all. Yes, the dazzlingly attractive fairy dudes and eerily beautiful ladies trying to seduce you with Shakespeare are all great, but the really fantastic bit is having the elephant-daishiki-wearing, shared-obsession-quoting best friend who wants to room with you for all four years of college, who will argue with you about your favorite plays and who traipses along with you when you're camping out in the forest feeling ridiculous about having to pull your boyfriend off a horse.

As always, you are cordially invited to tell me about your own favorite platonic fictional BFFs!

Comments

[veryclevername.livejournal.com]

It looks like I'm going to have to check out Bad Machinery!
I love mysteries and brilliant, wacky, crime fighting schoolgirls. Actually I kind of like mysteries in general and my next step whenever I like almost anything is to go "and then they have wacky crime fighting adventures!" and crave fic.

[skygiants]

It is so much fun! At least for the first three stories; I am behind and haven't read the most recent one yet. But schoolgirls solving supernatural mysteries! \o/ (Schoolboys also solve supernatural mysteries and are reasonably adorable about it too, but the girls are front-and-center.)

[ceitfianna]

I need to find my copy of Tam Lin since that book was really formative for me. I blame it for some of my fascination with Classics because faeries!

I think one of my favorite plantonic friendships is in a mystery series, Inspector Alleyn and Fox, they just work. I know there are others but I have a headache so I may return.

Rain just makes me want to go home and read good books.

[skygiants]

My mom was a Classics major, and I totally made her read Tam Lin just so I could tease her about it. (Then she dropped my copy at the beach and half-destroyed it, which serves me right, I guess.)

TOGETHER THEY FIGHT CRIME is always an excellent place to find partnerships and friendships!

[ceitfianna]

I used to own a copy, I know I did. It was one of the good books I read in a really horrible English class. Where the teacher had a bookshelf full of paperbacks, she was a horrible teacher but many books. Thanks to her I stopped writing creatively for almost a year as she just crushed my esteem about writing.

I read it and then went and found my own copy, which was lost somewhere in the mix of moving and things.

I need to find it and reread it since I love the romance and the friendship, also theater, faeries and Classics! Oh my.

[skygiants]

My copy is really falling apart now, but I love the old cover so much better than the new one that I don't want to replace it! Pamela Dean is very much an id-writer for me.

[ceitfianna]

Yes, my other copy was like that, a sort of tapestry cover and so pretty. I keep meaning to read more of her stuff since I adore Tam Lin so much.

[kindness_says]

I don't know any of these fandoms but wanted to just express my appreciation for friendships, especially best-friendships.

And I hate picking favorites, but the first one that comes to mind right now is Shawn and Gus from Psych. Probably because I've been watching commentary of it the last couple of days, aaaaand it's the show that most often fills me with sunlight and joy re: what it means to have a best friend.

I wasn't sure if I should say it, though, because 1) so many people ship them, plus 2) I went and read your Psych tag and was like, oh dear, I don't think she likes Shawn very much. But then I decided to, because

1) I don't. I mean, (much like their creators) I totally see their homoerotic moments (and laugh at them), and I've read a shippy fic or two that I thought were very well done, but at bottom, I read them as pretty platonic on screen. It's so Westermarck-y!! (This may be related to, I have a childhood best friend, plus two to four other friendships, that would fall under "platonic soulmate" or at least "deeply codependent," and, um, for all of them, same- and opposite-sex, EWWWWWWWWWW. (Although bestie and I do often joke about our relationship; she told me a couple hours ago that last night she had a dream we were dating, and the hilarious part was, it wasn't that different from normal. And she was brushing her teeth before she was like, "Wait...was that...were we...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.) Then again, we've shipped many best-friend pairings in the past, so maybe it has nothing to do with that.)

2) I totally get why Shawn often annoys people, and I love him, but I definitely have moments, too, where I'm like, "............................. *FACEPALM*" but I decided whether he annoyed you personally was really irrelevant because this is the show where I kind of get on my soapbox (in my head) when I read things that are like, "WHAT A JACKASS; WHY WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH THIS PERSON?????" and I'm like, have you people (not you, personally; people who seem to miss the point of their relationship) ever had a real, permanent best friend? Not an 'I talk to you the most currently' best friend, like an, 'I could not talk to you for five years and we would still lie down and die for each other, except maybe not, because what is that situation and how is that practical, exactly, but you see my point; also I have no idea who I would be if you had never been in my life' best friend. It is NOT a transient bond and it is so, so, barely even relevant if that other person annoys you today, or tomorrow, or every other week for the next six months (and believe me, it has happened, haha).

1.5) Oh, it occurs to me that part of why I don't ship them (and a lot of the other BFF pairings that people ship) is, besides basic chemistry, how highly I value feeling This Strongly about someone you don't romantically love. Also, that this relationship exists where all sorts of slightly questionable jackassery goes on but at the end of the day they really, really love and can't imagine their lives without each other. And I feel like being like, "WELL, THEY MUST BE IN LOVE," undercuts that somehow. Only this is a very confusing argument because there are probably pairings where I'm like, BUT THEY ARE IN LOVE! x_x

/questionably argued ramble

Okay, the point was that I love friendship.

[kindness_says]

...Sidebar, I would venture to say that strong platonic friendship is a totally different kind of being in love, actually, but you read my point.

P.S. Unrelatedly, I don't really "side with" Shawn or Henry, per se, (I kind of don't believe in side-taking in those relationships, I think) but I do probably more often go, "Sweetie...what?????" at Shawn's reasons for being bizarrely suspicious.** Henry I just sort of go, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, oh, Henry," even though he is occasionally quite as ridiculous (in a different way). I think it's a little bit like how I feel about the Gilmore family relationships, probably because Lorelai and Shawn have similarly...kind of stunted? relationships with their parents? where they never seem to have evolved into actual adult not-quite-equal-but-far-closer-than-when-I-was-a-teenager relationships?

**I will say, though, I have a lot of sympathy for Shawn and why he is the way he is, a lot of which OF COURSE has to do with Henry (and Madeleine). But I also think (much like my parents, and most parents, imo) Henry has always tried to do what he believes is best for his son. Things just don't always work exactly as you think they should. </3 Poor parents. It's a tough job.

[villainny.livejournal.com]

My whole face has folded up around this question.

[skygiants]

Hahaha, for the record and first off, I am glad you tagged! Because even though Shawn does irritate me most of the time, I DO appreciate Shawn and Gus' friendship when it is adorable (which it often is, whenever Shawn isn't irritating me to death!) and totally understand why people love the show for it; you really can see the depth of their friendship even if I, personally, would not be able to spend a day with Shawn without wishing to throw a mug of coffee in his face.

Yeah, I have conflicted feelings a lot of time about bff-shipping in fandom. . . . which, haha, my previous post about BFF moments probably does sum up well. I do really, really believe in the existence of relationships that don't have to involve sexytimes to be incredibly crucial and important to one's life! And I often wish fiction and fanfic would show more of those friendships, instead of automatically deciding that everybody who cares about each other has to either be related or make kissyfaces (OR BOTH, not to name any specific fandom names . . .)

On the other hand, in some cases I totally sympathize with people's urges to push character's faces together. Which possibly makes me a hypocrite! But OH WELL.

[skygiants]

. . . you make a lot of good points about parental relationships, but man, now I am stuck on the fact that I haven't even seen a lot of Gilmore Girls and now I just want the crossover where Henry and Emily go on a date.

[skygiants]

That is kind of an adorable mental image, I have to say.

(ALSO NNY SPEAKING OF . . . nothing in particular except fiction I guess, there is no good segue here, but! But! The sequel to Fly-By-Night is out!)

[kindness_says]

HAHAHAHAHA. I mean, me too. On hypocrisy and conflicted feelings. For instance, I love Alanna and Jon, as you would know ;D but I also feel great, great fondness for the idea that they could outgrow that/turn out not to be right for each other/become great adult friends. (Okay, not always great; they have their issues; Jon has his...king things...but you know what I mean.) That whole group, really - basket of puppies grown up into important men! (and Alanna!) Also...

I, personally, would not be able to spend a day with Shawn without wishing to throw a mug of coffee in his face.

The close friend I watch Psych with, who adores Shawn and has a bit of a crush on him (more than I do, really; if I had to pick someone in that fandom to have a crush on, it'd be Jules) (and Gus, sometimes, she qualifies - we are in videochat right now - hello, my life), would not be able to stand him if she knew him in real life. (I would probably actually be fine; my life is rife with incredibly annoying people I love. Not sure what this says about me.)

[kindness_says]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

But Emily/Richard!!!! =(

But, omg, LAUGHING FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER, MAYBE I WILL WRITE THAT CROSSOVER AUUUGH HILARIOUS TIMES.

Makes me think of my giant cracked-out AU of doom that I started inventing instead of studying for finals last semester. In which Zoey Bartlet was Shawn's sister because the idea of their very different relationships with their AU-shared father CRACKED ME UP. Also, the flip of Gus-and-Shawn's-sister.

[minkhollow]

Daria and Jane were kinda my formative BFF pair (along with Cimorene and Morwen from the Enchanted Forest Chronicles; SO MUCH AWESOME). Claudia and Artie might be my current favorite; he's very much the nutty uncle.
(But just about any combination of Warehouse 13 characters qualifies for 'platonic BFFs,' so!)

[kindness_says]

omg, omg, when Emily is dating people during that separation period and Henry...............HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, oh man, and Shawn and Lorelai's reactions!!!!!!!!!!

...although, I don't know how we'd get them to meet. I suppose the Gilmores would have to come to Santa Barbara. Henry would never go to Hartford.

[hafl.livejournal.com]

Clearly, the only possible course of action to take at this moment is to read Bad Machinery all in one sitting.

And would you believe that there is not a single library accessible to public that has a copy of Tam Lin in the whole country? This is a undisputably a terrible state of events.

[tempestsarekind.livejournal.com]

*relevant icon is relevant*

There are many days when I think that Molly is actually my favorite character in Tam Lin. Molly Molly Molly. She takes a Shakespeare class and then goes around correcting people who call Shakespeare "old English!" She is clearly my kind of girl.

(Also--mentioned upthread--I bought a new copy of Tam Lin to be my reading copy, because the inside of the book is exactly the same except larger. And that way I don't have to worry about my old copy with the Thomas Canty cover falling apart anymore, because it stays safe on my shelf.)

[bookblather.livejournal.com]

Seconding Cimorene and Morwen, but can we add Kazul into the BFFness? Because they really had this awesome trio of awesome BFFness going on. The badass was strong with those three.

[bookblather.livejournal.com]

Georgia and Shaun, from Feed! Okay, yes, technically they are brother and sister, but they are also BFFs to end all BFFness and generally they are just made of win. Their relationship is so amazingly wonderful. Oh oh oh and Nico Rathe and Istre b'Estorr, from the Point Of... duology! I especially love it when Istre mocks Nico about his boyfriend. Because it's kind of hilarious and awesome.

[minkhollow]

We ABSOLUTELY can! Since the question was pairs, I was thinking in pairs, but Kazul is totally part of the awesome.

[themadpoker.livejournal.com]

FLY BY NIGHT HAS A SEQUEL? /comment hack

[ceitfianna]

Yes and its brilliant. I just finished reading the ARC of it because a friend of mine picked it up at an ALA conference. Everyone must go read it so I can flail at you.

[ceitfianna]

Hopping in to say that's a perfect description of Lorelai and Emily's weird relationship. That's why Lorelai and Rory feels so different, they're more mature with how they treat each other.

Though it does kind of fall apart when Rory turns bratty in the last few seasons, but point still holds. They regress and fix things in a way that Lorelai and Emily never do.