Man/Beast: the Transformative Experience

Meta
Title:	Man/Beast: the Transformative Experience
Creator:	Ki
Date(s):	April 1, 2000
Medium:	online
Fandom:
Topic:	Fanfiction, werewolves, Star Wars: TPM
External Links:	Man/Beast: the Transformative Experience/WebCite
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Man/Beast: the Transformative Experience is an essay by Ki.

It is part of the Fanfic Symposium series.

Excerpts

I confess. I like lycanthropy. I like watching werewolf flicks like "The Howling" (ignore its horrible sequels), "An American Werewolf in London" and "In the Company of Wolves". I am so into werewolves that I have been playing White Wolf's "Werewolf: The Apocalyse", a RPG with the werewolf as protagonist. Heck, I even enjoyed watching "Manimal". Even my fanfiction bears the hairy stamp of my obsession.

Why do I write about lycanthropy? In my own fanfiction? Am I a sick twisted individual who takes a character from canon and literally rips him into shred? Yes, I do ask myself these questions. I have friends who ask me about the transformative process/experience. Is it about change? Am I writing out my own transformation?

The answer: yes. I am putting down into words my own change/transformation. No, I do not think I am a wolf. <g>

I enjoy writing about my main character (Qui-Gon Jinn) who becomes infected/afflicted with lycanthropy. At first, the changes in him are sudden and they take him (and Obi-Wan) by surprise. Shocked and terrified, Qui-Gon begins to meditate, chasing the Beast back and putting It under mental lock and key. The idea of a Jedi Master, a man known for his serenity and his noble stature, being afflicted with lycanthropy, is deeply seductive. Qui-Gon is known to be calm and tranquil, the very picture of a Jedi. Yet the Beast in him is different. Rampant, attuned to basic instincts, the Beast represents the antithesis of Jedi beliefs. The Beast is not Dark, just something totally different from the normative Jedi practices.