02 November 2012 @ 06:56 pm
All The Things Friday: Popular Culture  
Welcome to another All The Things Friday! Popular culture is usually something that people discuss in terms of Steve or Thor, specifically their lack of recent pop culture knowledge, but I find it interesting that when it comes to Clint and Natasha every fic I’ve read seems to have a different take.

For example, there are fics where the Avengers have film nights and Natasha doesn’t recognise the films, or she likes black and white movies, or she likes to correct the moves in martial arts films, or she likes musicals, or… When it comes to Clint and music we’ve had great discussions over what music he likes and if he can play the guitar, but then sometimes Natasha recognises the music, sometimes she doesn’t, sometimes she likes it, and sometimes she prefers classical. And so on.

What books, films, television shows, music, etc. do you think our Master Assassins like? Does Natasha like American pop culture, Russian pop culture, or hate pop culture, or hate aspects of pop culture? Was she familiar with American pop culture from her early training, or did she miss out as a kid and she doesn’t care, or she missed out and Clint teaches her? Is she more international in her pop culture tastes? Does she even see the point of pop culture?

What about Clint? If there’s any pattern that I’ve seen it’s that Clint is the more knowledgeable of the two about American pop culture at least, but at the same time SHIELD is often depicted as sending him all over the globe. Has he picked up on international pop culture himself? Has he missed out on pop culture whilst he’s been busy at SHIELD or whilst he may have been out of the country in the Armed Forces or what have you in the past? Does he care about pop culture, or not care, or care about some aspects in particular?

I have a lot of questions, folks, and no answers, just lots of ideas, because I love that all of these and more can be true considering the little that we know about Clint and Natasha from the films. So bring your thinky thoughts, your recs of creative things in which pop culture is a thing, your graphics, new fics or fic ideas, all of the things! Or just grab a drink, settle in, and have a happy Friday :D
 
 
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[identity profile] frea-o.livejournal.com on November 2nd, 2012 09:18 pm (UTC)
Heh, I'm writing a fic about this right now (the Clint version of a Natasha story I recently posted where Clint has a secret hobby) that mainly deals with how they view literature in particular, so this topic is very timely. I see Natasha as liking the Russian greats, but having eclectic taste in books. Clint, for some reason, I see liking Cormac McCarthy quite a bit, possibly because he would have traveled through a lot of the south, west, and midwest in his circus days. But that's a tiny headcanon I have of him from my Crosshairs series. That, and he listens to audiobooks occasionally when he's up in the sniper's nest.

For other stuff, I don't see either of them as a pop-culture junkie, or that they check TMZ all the time. They probably view pop culture as trivial. That said, they probably have interesting holes in their pop culture knowledge. Like, there's probably an ongoing thing where they've caught some really, really random stuff on hotel TV sets and given their own skillsets, have near photographic memories about retaining that sort of thing. Or they've caught a lot of avant-garde cinema because a good place to make drops are cheap, dollar movie theaters. I love details like those.

One fic has Natasha having a secret passion for Spanish telenovas, which amuses me greatly.
[identity profile] hufflepuffsneak.livejournal.com on November 2nd, 2012 10:07 pm (UTC)
Or they've caught a lot of avant-garde cinema because a good place to make drops are cheap, dollar movie theaters. I love details like those.

That would be an interesting fic. Five things Natasha or Clint picked up while making drops.
[identity profile] frea-o.livejournal.com on November 2nd, 2012 10:15 pm (UTC)
Ooh, where else could they make drops? A carnival, obviously, which would be fun for Natasha because of Clint's history/knowing the ropes there. So, carnival, old cinema, where are the other three places?

I like this idea. I like this idea a lot.
[identity profile] hufflepuffsneak.livejournal.com on November 2nd, 2012 10:22 pm (UTC)
A toy shop, buying something for a niece? That might give Natasha or Clint thinky thoughts about their own childhood, the possibility of children or some such. Have to be AFK for a few minutes. Will come back with thinky thoughts- promise! :)
[identity profile] hufflepuffsneak.livejournal.com on November 2nd, 2012 10:41 pm (UTC)
I also like the idea of Natasha in a toystore with Avengers swag being torn between happy there is no Black Widow merch ("At least I'm still semi-covert") and pissed ("I'm five times as awesome as Tony Stark, where the hell is my action figure?!").

Other places, a bookstore (either of their reactions to Shades of Grey- rofl, or on a positive note, either of them discovering Harry Potter and immediately sorting the people in their lives). Even a pop-up ad on their way navigating to an online drop (maybe a shared email account where their informant saves the info in drafts?).
[identity profile] frea-o.livejournal.com on November 2nd, 2012 10:48 pm (UTC)
If it's at a toy store (I'm trying to imagine them in FAO Schwartz), she could buy a tiny Captain America or something to tick Clint off because she should be buying, you know, Hawkeye merchandise. Either that, or she gets him a toy bow and arrows with the arrows having little plungers on them.

He then uses them to annoy Tony at the next team briefing because of course he's as accurate with them as he is with the regular ones.

Be neat to see them go to like, Diwali, or the Festival of Colors, but that's more culture than pop culture, I suppose. Or they could try and come up with crazier and crazier places to visit (drop in the middle of the Running of the Bulls/Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling and wake) and they realize they're basically using these meet-ups to get to play tourist and be normal for a little while?

If they read Harry Potter, they'd basically talk about the interesting ways you could use these spells to kill people.
[identity profile] hufflepuffsneak.livejournal.com on November 2nd, 2012 10:54 pm (UTC)
If they read Harry Potter, they'd basically talk about the interesting ways you could use these spells to kill people.

Probs.

Five times Natasha and Clint played tourist should be its own fic methinks.

Other possible places, a play/ dance (again, veering into culture culture), a comic book store (a nice opportunity for meta/ fourth wall breakage), a newsstand (Natasha discovering celebrity gossip - "is so and so pregnant?" "Who cares?").
[identity profile] frea-o.livejournal.com on November 2nd, 2012 11:00 pm (UTC)
Hehe, I'll write one if you write the other. :) Nanowhatmo?

As an aside, can you imagine how Natasha would react to a flash mob? I mean, you have these people gathered in a public place trying to look normal, which means they would look suspicious as all get out to Natasha. So she's getting ready to go for her gun, thinking that they're about to come after her and kill her...and then they all burst into song.

Clint would laugh for weeks.
[identity profile] hufflepuffsneak.livejournal.com on November 2nd, 2012 11:03 pm (UTC)
Flashmob = brilliant idea! We should definitely write this, or one of us write and the other beta.

Oh Nano, I'm still hovering around 2200 words. *goes to write*
[identity profile] frea-o.livejournal.com on November 2nd, 2012 11:06 pm (UTC)
Well, it's 5 times + 1, right? So that leaves three situations for each of us. I'm game if you are. :)
[identity profile] hufflepuffsneak.livejournal.com on November 2nd, 2012 11:21 pm (UTC)
Deal. What's our +1?
[identity profile] frea-o.livejournal.com on November 2nd, 2012 11:34 pm (UTC)
Five Times Clint or Natasha Encountered Pop Culture on a Drop...And One Time There Was No Drop?
[identity profile] hufflepuffsneak.livejournal.com on November 2nd, 2012 11:37 pm (UTC)
Hmmmm. That could work. Or Five Times Natasha (Clint) Encountered Pop Culture on a Drop, and one time Clint (Natasha) did?
[identity profile] frea-o.livejournal.com on November 2nd, 2012 11:42 pm (UTC)
Ooh, I like that. Who do you like writing more?
[identity profile] hufflepuffsneak.livejournal.com on November 2nd, 2012 11:44 pm (UTC)
Natasha, because I feel we've seen more of her than Clint, but I can do either.
[identity profile] frea-o.livejournal.com on November 2nd, 2012 11:45 pm (UTC)
Same. Let's write about her! :) You wanna start or should I?
[identity profile] hufflepuffsneak.livejournal.com on November 2nd, 2012 11:46 pm (UTC)
We should probably come up with an outline/ progression and come back when we both have something written. Should we take this to PM?
inkvoices: avengers:master assassins[personal profile] inkvoices on November 2nd, 2012 11:35 pm (UTC)
If they read Harry Potter, they'd basically talk about the interesting ways you could use these spells to kill people.

Would they think that AK was cheating or expedient, do you think? *grins*
[identity profile] frea-o.livejournal.com on November 2nd, 2012 11:41 pm (UTC)
Clint: It's totally cheating.

Natasha: It's efficient. Between that and Apparation, I would be home in time for Dancing with the Stars.

Clint: But only Muggles watch Dancing With the Stars. And Avada Kedavra—there's no style there.

Natasha: Dead is dead, Barton.

Clint: Spoken like a lazy person.

Natasha: Whatever, enjoy your six hour duel and jelly legs jinx or whatever, I'm going to go watch celebrities lose all dignity for a little publicity and hope one of them trips while doing the foxtrot.

Clint: We need better hobbies.
[identity profile] hufflepuffsneak.livejournal.com on November 2nd, 2012 11:45 pm (UTC)
Rofl. Okay, so you're definitely taking the bookstore/ Harry Potter one.
[identity profile] shenshen77.livejournal.com on November 2nd, 2012 11:46 pm (UTC)
Laughing so hard, it is not even funny anymore ;D Perfect dialogue is perfect!
inkvoices: avengers:lol[personal profile] inkvoices on November 2nd, 2012 11:47 pm (UTC)
And someone absolutely overheard them at some point and thought they were talking about a bow and arrow vs a gun ;D
inkvoices: avengers:shameless enabler[personal profile] inkvoices on November 2nd, 2012 11:33 pm (UTC)
I WILL READ THIS :D
[identity profile] hufflepuffsneak.livejournal.com on November 2nd, 2012 11:38 pm (UTC)
Noted :)

Accurate icon is accurate.