Why Hurt/Comfort
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| Title: | Why Hurt/Comfort |
| Creator: | Kay Stagg |
| Date(s): | 1992 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Star Trek |
| Topic: | hurt/comfort, whump, suffer beautifully |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Why Hurt/Comfort is an essay by Kay Stagg.
It was printed in IDIC #23.
Excerpts
Why indeed? A lot of people, friends and fans alike, have asked why I love Kirk to suffer. I admit freely I love reading it and I enjoy writing it and the response to the latter proves I am not the only one. Kirk is my hero and has everything I need in a hero - looks, body, charisma in abundance, sex appeal, a delicious smile, arrogance, pride... in fact, probably every male chauvinistic trait going. This, after all, is fantasy and anything goes. It bears no resemblance to real life and so I can love the pride, the arrogance, the commanding walk, the domination of women (and yes. I love even the episodes where Kirk gets the woman) and I can also enjoy the element of hurt/comfort, because none of this is real... it is all fantasy.
For me the attraction of the original series, apart from the obvious attraction of one James T Kirk, was the caring and love between the main characters and it was particularly noticeable whenever either one of them was hurt. For example, the look on Spock's face when Kirk is unconscious in The Empath; likewise Kirk's face when Spock is injured in Private Little War: Kirk's reaction when Spock is injured protecting his Captain; Spock's concern for Kirk is admittedly unjustified) in Bread and Circuses: Spock's when he believes he has killed Kirk in Amok Time - and who does Kirk ask for after being stabbed in Journey to Babel"? Certainly not Sickbay. This is all what I call good hurt/comfort.
That element in the series made it extra special. Now I could say it is the maternal instinct, a sadistic instinct, the wish to help with the nursing and many other valid suggestions, but it comes back to the basics, I agree totally with Ginna La Croix (my most favourite writer of fan fiction) that Kirk is beautiful when he is dirty, bloody and exhausted.
Of course, I don't expect everyone and in particular any male reader to agree or understand, but then I believe hurt/comfort is a form of fiction which appeals uniquely to certain women. So perhaps it is the maternal instinct after all. On the other hand. I believe with fantasy that anything goes... there is after all no real pain, no real suffering - it is 'safe.'
So all right, this is a personal opinion, one I suspect Janet Quarton and other H/C fans agree with, but what I would like to know is, why shouldn't we like it? Is there a ruling somewhere that says what kind of fiction we should like?