Hetalia fanon
Aug. 9th, 2010 03:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
transemacabreThere's tons and tons of fanon for Hetalia, some of which is based on history-canon, and some of which is just plain made up. Unfortunately, sometimes its hard to tell what is and isn't canon. With that in mind, I'm trying to document FANON that is commonly mistaken for CANON.
1. America and Russia hate each other. This is pertinant to my interests as a Russia/America shipper, because a common argument against my OTP is that it's 'OOC' because America and Russia allegedly hate each other.
The truth is there's not much in canon to suggest that they DO hate each other. All that Yandere Cold War smut is based on very little -- there's the strip where America and Russia are sending each other boxes of extra-small condoms to psych each other out, which to my mind is hardly the basis to portray them as having a crazed hatred. There's not much evidence to suggest that they're in love, but neither is there much to suggest that they hate each other.
2. Canada being portrayed as delicate or petit. Poor Canada gets stuck with being 'the girl' because of his wallflower personality. He is shown in the manga and anime to be the same approximate height/build as his brother, America.
3. Poland crossdressing. He DOES crossdress a couple of times in the strips, but its a bit of a stretch to portray him as a transvestite. He is, if anything, turned into 'the girl' more than Canada is, which is a shame because he has unique personality traits of his own, such as his shyness, his utter refusal to die, and the fact that he appears to be the only character who isn't afraid of Russia.
4. Russia stole Finland from Sweden. Not touched upon by Himaruya yet, but there's been several fics that portray Russia snatching Finland away from Sweden in 1809. Historically, Finland willingly left Sweden to join Russia. I imagine this upsets shippers who prefer to look at Sweden and Finland as being happily married lovebirds, but I think this has waaaaay more potential for interesting fic than yet another Ebil Rapist Russia keeps Sweden from his True Love Finland scenario.
5. Russia notices Canada. I've seen this in several Russia/Canada fics. Russia straight up sits on top of Canada in one strip, people. Canada is totally invisible to him. It's canon that PRUSSIA notices Canada, not Russia.
6. America is stupid. America is without a doubt self-centered and sometimes an asshole, albeit one with good intentions. But at least some of his idiot/oblivious persona is an act -- if "I'll just pretend I can't read the mood" in WDC World Dancing doesn't convince you, Himaruya has stated that America pretends to be stupider than he is.
7. There's no such thing as state-tans! There are no known personifications for America's states, but other personifications have been shown: Japan's prefectures is an obvious one.
8. Nazi Germany/Nazi Prussia. Himaruya was sensitive enough to sidestep this issue and he doesn't portray Germany or Prussia as being passionate Nazis, even during the WW2 storylines. Its canon that Germany thought Hitler was crazier than a shithouse rat. Because Hitler was his boss he couldn't go against him, and there's not much to suggest that he or Prussia are passionate Nazis. This is a major pet peeve of mine because so many braindead fangirls use this as an excuse to draw 'sexy' pictures of Germany and Prussia in Nazi uniforms, or to cosplay as Nazi Germany and Nazi Prussia and go around seig-heil'ing like idiots at cons.
9. America is a jock/popular kid. I see this one a lot in AU stories, but it crops up in regular fic, too. Canonically, America's only real friends are Lithuania, England, and Japan. Clearly, several other characters such as Canada are important in his life, but this idea that he's super-popular or 'rules the school' or something is totally uncanonical. I think its plain that he bugs the shit out of most of the other characters.
1. America and Russia hate each other. This is pertinant to my interests as a Russia/America shipper, because a common argument against my OTP is that it's 'OOC' because America and Russia allegedly hate each other.
The truth is there's not much in canon to suggest that they DO hate each other. All that Yandere Cold War smut is based on very little -- there's the strip where America and Russia are sending each other boxes of extra-small condoms to psych each other out, which to my mind is hardly the basis to portray them as having a crazed hatred. There's not much evidence to suggest that they're in love, but neither is there much to suggest that they hate each other.
2. Canada being portrayed as delicate or petit. Poor Canada gets stuck with being 'the girl' because of his wallflower personality. He is shown in the manga and anime to be the same approximate height/build as his brother, America.
3. Poland crossdressing. He DOES crossdress a couple of times in the strips, but its a bit of a stretch to portray him as a transvestite. He is, if anything, turned into 'the girl' more than Canada is, which is a shame because he has unique personality traits of his own, such as his shyness, his utter refusal to die, and the fact that he appears to be the only character who isn't afraid of Russia.
4. Russia stole Finland from Sweden. Not touched upon by Himaruya yet, but there's been several fics that portray Russia snatching Finland away from Sweden in 1809. Historically, Finland willingly left Sweden to join Russia. I imagine this upsets shippers who prefer to look at Sweden and Finland as being happily married lovebirds, but I think this has waaaaay more potential for interesting fic than yet another Ebil Rapist Russia keeps Sweden from his True Love Finland scenario.
5. Russia notices Canada. I've seen this in several Russia/Canada fics. Russia straight up sits on top of Canada in one strip, people. Canada is totally invisible to him. It's canon that PRUSSIA notices Canada, not Russia.
6. America is stupid. America is without a doubt self-centered and sometimes an asshole, albeit one with good intentions. But at least some of his idiot/oblivious persona is an act -- if "I'll just pretend I can't read the mood" in WDC World Dancing doesn't convince you, Himaruya has stated that America pretends to be stupider than he is.
7. There's no such thing as state-tans! There are no known personifications for America's states, but other personifications have been shown: Japan's prefectures is an obvious one.
8. Nazi Germany/Nazi Prussia. Himaruya was sensitive enough to sidestep this issue and he doesn't portray Germany or Prussia as being passionate Nazis, even during the WW2 storylines. Its canon that Germany thought Hitler was crazier than a shithouse rat. Because Hitler was his boss he couldn't go against him, and there's not much to suggest that he or Prussia are passionate Nazis. This is a major pet peeve of mine because so many braindead fangirls use this as an excuse to draw 'sexy' pictures of Germany and Prussia in Nazi uniforms, or to cosplay as Nazi Germany and Nazi Prussia and go around seig-heil'ing like idiots at cons.
9. America is a jock/popular kid. I see this one a lot in AU stories, but it crops up in regular fic, too. Canonically, America's only real friends are Lithuania, England, and Japan. Clearly, several other characters such as Canada are important in his life, but this idea that he's super-popular or 'rules the school' or something is totally uncanonical. I think its plain that he bugs the shit out of most of the other characters.
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Date: 2010-08-09 06:22 pm (UTC)A lot of the things that are taken for granted in Hetalia fandom -- the fetishization of rape is one obvious example -- make me VERY uncomfortable. The sort of laissez-faire attitude a lot of the fen have about the possibly offensive subject matter that they're writing disturbs me as well. Yes, Hetalia is a gag comic, but its a gag comic about REAL HISTORY that really affects people the world over every day. You should try to be sensitive to that fact, if for no other reason than because its the humane goddamn thing to do.
When I brought this up on the Hetalia comm, I got a lot of fans who agreed with me, and also a lot of fans who got upset over it. My feeling is that a healthy fandom SHOULD be able to talk about these things, to be able to point out the racism/exploitation/misogyny, etc. in the fandom and say, "That's not right, and I demand a better fandom", rather than getting defensive and butthurt. I don't think that Hetalia fandom rightfully deserves its bad reputation, but if it continues on the way its going, it WILL deserve it, and more.