Fraser: Saint or Dark Manipulator?

[morgandawn]

I used to host panels at conventions, something I still miss. But as my health grew more...complicated, I stopped doing panels. Below are the notes from one of the last panels I held. I think it was at Bascon in the early 2000s. It was a Due South panel and at the time, few fans were willing to step into the gaping wound left behind by the Ray Wars to hold public discussions. That's is when my co-panelist (Mary E) and I came up with the (not so original) idea of using Fraser as the bridge between the two pairing sides. Because, really who does not love Fraser?

Although after the panel, I am not certain everyone was as comfortable with Fraser. The title of the panel was: "Fraser: Saint or Dark Manipulator. Does Fraser live in a delusion that he somehow shares with those around him? Does being friends with Fraser mean falling sway to this delusion or Is he actually the only completely sane person In a nasty, greedy world? (This discussion will be Ray-Ray neutral!) "

Panel notes are below, if you click on them several times you should get to a readable copy.

Comments

[brynwulf]

That sounds like a panel I would have really enjoyed. I always loved exploring Fraser's dark side, and you know he had one.

[princessofgeeks]

That would have been fascinating. I came very late to Due South and I totally fell in love with it; am still in that totally happy place about that canon and the fanfiction.

[thirdblindmouse]

Looks like an enjoyable panel. I find the part where Fraser is willing to risk others an unusual and interesting part of Due South, and not entirely a bad thing about his character. Current popular fiction likes to tell stories about heroes who never risk others for their own principles, stories in which holding a gun to the hero's head is useless to the villain, but holding a gun to someone else's head is the ultimate trump card. And that's not entirely realistic, and there's even something disturbing about the way one can only be a hero in those narratives by being lucky (if the choice is posed between saving your friends or the world, saving your friend ends up saving the world anyway) or by being an island unconnected to the net of human interdependencies, exactly the way libertarians imagine everyone to be.

(Plus, when I'm up to my eyeballs in fic where characters are overprotective to the point of not trusting each other to do the jobs they do in canon, it's soothing to know I can turn to Due South and find Fraser callously/trustingly risking the Rays for the sake of justice, same as ever.)

[aethel]

reminds me of the vid "Better Off" by kuwdora.

I love any and all Frasers.

[starwatcher]

.
I tend not to be analytical of TV/fiction, although meta like this is making me notice, sometimes. I hadn't even noticed that Fraser has a dark side; this was quite an eye-opener and food for thought. Thank you.
.

[ride_4ever]

I would have <3'ed this panel soooooo hard. Alas, it was before I came into fandom. TYK for posting the panel notes!