yeah, im not really a fan of nonmass AUs in general, because they do tend to be really...bland. i think i know who/what fics youre talking about...they write a ton of AUs now, and their canon world, villain!itachi fics were SO much better.
nonmass AU itachi is actually a pretty boring guy. i see him as a workaholic who spends what free time he allows himself reading or something nonsocial. as horrible as it is to say, without all the psychological trauma, both he and sasuke arent terribly interesting personalities.
but i think its really just a lack of imagination that make AUs so lame, because everything doesnt have to be all domestic and safe. just because the massacre didnt happen doesnt mean there arent a lot of other things to write about. what if the mass didnt happen, but the clan still wants a coup? what if there was another war? i mean, i duuno. they get caught up on the fact "there was no massacre" and forget that the fic actually still needs a plot.
For me, the massacre is SUCH a huge crux of Itachi's character/background that doing away with it would be like 'fic in which Yahiko and Nagato's parents never died and he never became an arch-villain... which okay, I just saw a story on FFN the other day which had THAT premise, too, but to my mind, such AU ideas would change the whole character so much that I kind of think, what's the point? I'd probably only write something like that if the whole point of the 'fic were actually to prove an interesting concept about how things could've been different/where they could've gone (like the movie "It's a Wonderful Life", kind of).
What I don't like is when the massacre is done away with just so the pretty Itachi shell can be there without having to deal with his actual problems and the repercussions of his actions. I guess to me, it feels like a cop-out, and besides, Itachi is interesting mostly BECAUSE of his fucked up choices/life issues/dilemmas, and such things. But I guess if someone absolutely had to write non-massacre AU, it'd be nicer if they went the way you suggested and considered other options that still involved the problems a shinobi might otherwise face.
I'm not big on AUs, myself. Like, alternate timelines? Diverging from canon at some point? Okay, that's the whole idea behind most fanfic, but completely changing the character by doing away with some crucial event that MAKES the character who they are? Yeah, not my cuppa.
What I don't like is when the massacre is done away with just so the pretty Itachi shell can be there without having to deal with his actual problems and the repercussions of his actions.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2009-06-01 04:20 pm (UTC)nonmass AU itachi is actually a pretty boring guy. i see him as a workaholic who spends what free time he allows himself reading or something nonsocial. as horrible as it is to say, without all the psychological trauma, both he and sasuke arent terribly interesting personalities.
but i think its really just a lack of imagination that make AUs so lame, because everything doesnt have to be all domestic and safe. just because the massacre didnt happen doesnt mean there arent a lot of other things to write about. what if the mass didnt happen, but the clan still wants a coup? what if there was another war? i mean, i duuno. they get caught up on the fact "there was no massacre" and forget that the fic actually still needs a plot.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-01 05:29 pm (UTC)What I don't like is when the massacre is done away with just so the pretty Itachi shell can be there without having to deal with his actual problems and the repercussions of his actions. I guess to me, it feels like a cop-out, and besides, Itachi is interesting mostly BECAUSE of his fucked up choices/life issues/dilemmas, and such things. But I guess if someone absolutely had to write non-massacre AU, it'd be nicer if they went the way you suggested and considered other options that still involved the problems a shinobi might otherwise face.
I'm not big on AUs, myself. Like, alternate timelines? Diverging from canon at some point? Okay, that's the whole idea behind most fanfic, but completely changing the character by doing away with some crucial event that MAKES the character who they are? Yeah, not my cuppa.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-02 03:13 am (UTC)Yes. This. Exactly.