~ I am GENERALISING. I am not suggesting that YOU you special little individual Huddy fã feel or act this way.
~ I have not seen the Luddy are episodes. I am basing this theory on fã REACTIONS that I have read on FANPOP. Thus, I am not anaysing the Luddy arc, I am analysing the fã REACTIONS to the Luddy arc.
~ Please not that I am not composição literária this to convince ANYONE that their views are wrong. I am ENCOURAGING ALL fãs to think critically, not only about the show, but about how they conduct their fandom.
~ I realise that some people here are already pissed off with me because of the position that I have taken on the Luddy issue. I would like to point out that I AM a Huddy fã and I don't care if anyone thinks that I am not one simply because I choose to ship differently than the majority of fans. So any comments about me not understanding because I'm not a "hardcore" Huddy fã will either be ignored or ripped to shreds, depending on my mood. PLEASE do not impose your views about what it means to be a "hardcore" Huddy shipper onto me, and I won't impose my shipping values onto you.
I already wrote an artigo about spoilers and bashing the writers and so on, so I'm not going to repeat myself too much here, but it is all interlinked.
The Luddy arc has perhaps been the biggest upset to Huddy fãs so far. Here, based on my observation of the fans, are some reasons why:
1) Lucas is a viable threat to the Huddy relationship. Although I'm sure many of you would disagree, but I think it is fairly seguro to say that he is warm, kind and caring. Compared to what we have seen of House/Cuddy, Lucas offers a kind of safety and comfort that House does not. That is not to say that the Lucas/Cuddy relationship is better: It says that the two relationships are DIFFERENT and Cuddy gets different things out of each of them. RIGHT NOW, she is settling into her familiy life with her baby, so kindness, comfort and understanding are qualities that she can really appreciate. These are qualities that House does have, but he has not demonstrated them effectively to Cuddy AT THIS POINT.
2) This arc has been building since early in season 5 when Lucas declared that he liked Cuddy and then offered to race House to her. So, my impression from fãs is that people are suspicious of him, because a) he is a sneaky private investigator, and b) he specifically tried to undercut House to win Cuddy over. Thus, fãs seem to have ascribed sneaky, amoral attributes to him.
3) fãs seem to think that Cuddy is a "whore" for having a relationship beyond House. As we have seen over the years, House has had a lot of sex (with prostitutes and Stacy and so on). It seems that we accept this because we know that that is who House is. We let him get away with it because we know that he is damaged, so we expect him "rebel" against traditional heterosexual relationships. Cuddy, on the otherhand, does not have that free pass. We do not know a hell of a lot about her and we have only met one anterior encontro, data (Eastern Lube!). So in the fãs eyes, Cuddy is only sexually available for House (except of course for those of us who also amor Wuddy and other ships that involve Cuddy, but you know what I mean). Thus, when she deliberate contradicts that por having a traditional heterosexual relationship with someone other than House, fãs believe that she is a "bitch", a "whore" and a "slut", because she is has been specifically assigned to the role of "House's woman". So the fã reaction beneath the cries of "slut" is actually saying "how dare she meet her emotional and sexual needs with someone other than House?!?!" Now, I could go on all dia long about the gender issues buried at the coração of this, but it is probably pretty damn clear (well, at least it should be). But I think, in a nutshell, fãs are saying that as long as House still loves Cuddy deep in his heart, he can have as much sex as he wants because he is damaged and confused and he will eventually find his way to Cuddy, BUT Cuddy must try and help House discover his amor for her and if she doesn't do that, then she is a bad person.
PERSONALLY, I have a HUGE problem with that kind of construction of the characters because 1) I am a feminist (as a sidenot, please ask me about my feminism, please don't just assume that you know what a "feminist" is)
and 2) I find it hard to be involved in fandom that
uncritically accepts such constructions of the characters and story arcs. For me, being critical about the show is not accepting everything that the show hands us as the be all and end all. The good side of this whole issue/debate is that at least some people are engaging in intelligent debate about the show. Unfortunately those debates are getting buried underneath the less intelligent forms of debate such as calling Cuddy a "whore", bashing the writers and producers, and attacking fãs who don't share the same (or at least similar) views.
I totally get that many Huddy fãs do not like Lucas or the Luddy story arc. And I am perfectly willing to listen to and appreciate intelligent dicussions as to why you don't like the direction of the show. What lets this fandom down, is its immaturity and its staunchly held belief that "Huddy is right" and that Huddy fãs have the right to stomp on anything that gets in Huddy's way. That is when I am no longer a Huddy. I amor THE HOUSE/CUDDY RELATIONSHIP, but right now and pretty much for the whole of season 5 too, I am not a fã of Huddy FANDOM. The absolute intolerance for anything that opposes Huddy is not something that I am comfortable being a part of, and I am not the only one, por the way.
Some of you will have noticed numbers dwindling here on Fanpop, specifically in the House MD Spot and the Huddy Spot. There are a number of factors that are impacting this drop in fandom, including people not liking this storyline, but the overwhelmingly common feature in people's decision to leave these spots and fanpop as a whole is people's dissatisfaction with the way that people are responding to story arcs, characters and spoilers that they don't like. So, for the most part, it is the FANDOM, not the show that is pushing people away. Case in point, people have been saying that they hate those of us who participate in the Luddy Spot because we are happy right now. Firstly, I personally, as a shipper of Luddy since the arc started in season 5, would have been happy if nothing had ever eventuated between them. Of course, I am even happier right now, but I do find it disturbing that people are actually pissed off at other people's happiness that in no way infringes upon them. Well, my Luddy happiness is infilrating this spot right now, but only after seeing a number of people get angry about someone else's happiness. I know that it has happened to Huddy fãs when Huddy has been going well, so this is definitely a symptom of the whole of House MD fandom being sick. If only House could cure it...
I guess I would like to end my rantings and ravings with a little Huddy hope (like I did in the Hameron Spot and Huddy fãs still shat on it. Lets hope that that doesn't happen here...):
I don't understand why Huddy fãs aren't seeing that this storyline can also lead to dramatic developments in the Huddy relationship. I.E. House tells Cuddy he loves her and they run away together and live happily ever after with sunshine and gumdrops and smoochy kisses. Why is there an insistance to look on the dark side all the time when it comes to story arcs that perhaps don't sit well with us? Why do we always jump to the conclusion that the writers are out to get us?
At the end of the day, the writers need us fãs to keep the show going. They are not deliberately trying to piss everyone off. 99% of the Huddy relationship is the tension of 'will they/won't they'. As soon as they gives us Huddy they will either have to take it away again (halluncination sex anyone?) or they will have to end the show. And if people stop watching because they are having a tantrum about a storyline, raposa will just cancelar the show (ok, a melodramatic but not unrealistic situation).
So please, lets try thinking about the show and reactions to it. Don't lose the emotion, but instead funnel it into intelligent debate or artwork or writing. We need to protect our show and our fandom, not ruin it from within.
