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 IN DEFENSE OF OSCAR
 July 07, 2005

Now, before anyone goes and tells me how much of a stupid person I will be for doing this editorial, let me remind you that this is just my own opinion, and you have the right to agree or disagree with you if you want. However, I think that I do have to point out my opinions about what I think about this subject.

In case you are not aware of who I'm talking about, Oscar was one of the more interesting Sailor Moon fanfiction writers that one could come across. His 15 minutes of fame came from a fanfiction named Artemis Lover, a fanfiction in which set off all kinds of controversy. The story was a self insertion Hentai (Japanese Anime Pornography that some people refer to as a "lemon") fanfiction in which he, Oscar, ends up committing bestiality with the male cat character from the show, Artemis. The fic was blasted as not only being the worst fanfiction of 1997 (the year it was released), but also one of the most ego-driven ones ever in the fandom. It has been subject to many forms of satire, including MSTings (if you don't know what that means, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSTing for more information on what I mean by that). He claimed to be a real-life hermaphrodite (someone who has both male and female reproductive organs), and made no bones in hiding it. A few other fics came our way from him, of similar fashion, but not Hentai nor were they in the same fandom. He disappeared shortly thereafter.

Now, one has to be wondering just why one would even want to defend this guy. One would have to be thinking that it's a damn shame that such a contrived work of literature was even brought up, or even be defended. And yeah, I'm taking a big risk, but why should I even write opinions if I'm not going to push a few buttons. Plus, SOMEONE has to be the "defense attorney", right? And since no one else is going to, why not let it be me.

Yeah, AL was, for lack of a better term, controversial. And neither am I saying that it was well-written. However, at the same time, one has to see that it was a sort of different thing. Before that time, not a single person had ever took such a risk. One thing that I have always said is that one must be unique to be interesting. And he certainly found one way to be those two said things. But let's examine this somewhat further.

I have found out that there are, no joking at all about this, real hermaphrodites do exist, both in the human race and in different species of animals. In humans, a very small percentage of the population are such, but this is telling that they do exist (I'm trying to find a good article on this matter, once I locate one, I'll post it). And because of this, what Oscar had said about himself could be very much believable. In any case, though, it's got to be very embarassing to admit about that kind of condition, much less be thankful of such, but he did it, and I believe that could take guts.

But all thoughts about character aside, let's discuss the fic that got him into a sort of hall, fame or shame up for debate, AL. Now, Lover has to be the most daring of all SM fanfiction, and we've seen alot of cookie-cutter fics out there. This one actually broke from the mold, something we don't often see. That in itself gives it a sort of point. Secondly, doing a beastiality fic? Call it what you will, but we don't usually see such an issue being brought to the table. Though we can all say what we want about that issue, but bottom line is that people got to talking, and pushing buttons is one way to get noticed.

And plus, it got people reading the fanfiction. Like it or not, we all ended up reading it through and through, which meant there was something about it that kept us wanting to read it all the way through. Regardless of what the element was that did it, Oscar, somehow, got us interested in such fanfiction. AL, whether or not it was the worst, maybe it was by design.

And something that I think we have never really examined before is the MSTing behind it all. Now, elsewhere on fanfiction sites, I have expressed my distaste for such things, but I digress. To all of the MST writers out there: Do you really think that if Oscar had never released AL, you would have as much exposure as you do now? Sure, the movie that such work is based upon gives you some foundation and whatnot, and other fics are out there, but if Oscar never wrote something like Lover, would MSTing be as trendy? I don't think it would be as a big thing. Sure, the MSting of Oscar fics has gotten old, but what if he never wrote those fanfictions? Would you be in a sort of driver's seat today?

Simpily put, it's not the fic itself that we should be looking at, it's the effect it created, and how much controversy can sell. We see it all the time in the entertainment world, from movies and TV shows being button-pushing to tak-radio show hosts doing whatever it takes to piss people off. Oscar was an author that dared to create the controversy. He wanted for people to end up talking, to get rowed up about it. Maybe that was his intention. AL was a firm example of what can happen when someone pushed the envelope a little or alot. Oscar got us to read, talk about, and discuss the fanfiction that he created. He exposed beastiality and "hermies" for what it was worth.

He also gave MSTers the foundation that basically made them.

But most of all, he was UNIQUE. This is something that I have been stressing. Be original, unique, and DIFFERENT. Don't be afraid to do something new, something no-one has ever seen before. Why people still want to put out cookie-cutter fics is beyond me. Oscar gave us something DIFFERENT, regardless of what it ended up doing.

Now let the flaming start now. This is just my opinion, though.

Good night, and good luck.