Two-Bit, Court Jester of the Fanfic World

[maxiekat]

LOL about the Mickey Mouse on TV. When I was a kid, we only had five or six TV stations (my parents are stubborn - they still only have about five). There's no way Mickey would be on every time someone turned on the TV. Mickey on TV is usually a deal breaker when it comes to continuing on with reading a story, especially if the rest of the story was littered with the usual checklist of Outsiders fanfic standards.

I love writing Two-Bit. His sense of humor is terrific, but I think there is always a thought behind it. I write him a lot with Johnny and use him as sort of a way to alleviate Johnny's uneasiness about his life and the way things turned out.

[fairlane]

In canon he is actually a smart and perceptive guy, Ponyboy makes that pretty clear but it seems to be forgotton by a lot of writers.

In saying that, it can be hard to portray a clever wit like Two Bit has in writing. So maybe writers just make him act like an idiot and hope that will suffice for a sense of humor. I know I find it hard to write humorous moments, I even have had reviewers asking "was that a joke?" lol.

[latch22]

To be a good comedian--to actually be funny--you must be smart. Two-Bit's humor strikes me as the intelligent kind--not slapstick and cheap laughs.

That arbitrary, dumb humor is what a lot of (younger) people find funny these days; they swear by it and they're proud of it, and it mostly consists of you-had-to-be-there, inside jokes. And when they take the characters and fit them into their own values, they also shape their sense of humor... especially since they don't seem to be able to come up with better jokes.

I only responded to number four because the rest annoy me too much. I just don't know about those.

Cheers!

[fosterchild]

bigtownavenue said:

This is just a little thing that grates on my nerves. It might be a little off topic, but sorry, so be it.

Whenever anybody in a story raises an eyebrow, the description is usually followed by some comparison to Two-Bit and his trademark cocked eyebrow.

Really. Everybody is allowed to cock an eyebrow. Two-Bit may be the best and most animated at it, but he does not have a copyright over the raised eyebrow.

It's a petty thing, but it never fails to bug me.

Thank you for bringing that up! I agree wholeheartedly on that one! Everyone with their Two-Bit eyebrow cocking! It's just a bit excessive.

I believe Two-Bit is a smart guy. He has a much wisdom. He uses humor to smooth over tension and justs sees humor in the world around him. That's not a bad way to be. Life throws some pretty nasty stuff at you sometimes and what else can you do? You gotta laugh!

[fosterchild]

marsonfire said:

I personally like to write him having a bit of low self esteem - the guy that always keeps a smile on his face because people have come to expect it. He's likely the guy that has the hardest time finding an ear to bend when he needs one, because no one would expect he does. He puts up a good front of being easygoing, so I like having him with insecurities and things that he covers up with smart humour.

Right on! When you do write him you show all that and it works.

[BlindedxxFalcon]

I never really noticed this before, but in every fanfic I've read Two-Bit has not eaten anything but chocolate cake, driken anything but beer and watched anything but Mickey. He never even watched Mickey in the book, and he only watched it ONCE! I only recall him having chocolate cake once in the moveie, and beer two or three times.

[Ryker]

marsonfire said:

1)

I personally like to write him having a bit of low self esteem - the guy that always keeps a smile on his face because people have come to expect it. He's likely the guy that has the hardest time finding an ear to bend when he needs one, because no one would expect he does. He puts up a good front of being easygoing, so I like having him with insecurities and things that he covers up with smart humour.

Ding ding ding! I always saw him with being a tad bit insecure, and the only way he covered them up was being the funny guy, the guy with personality.

I think he's one of the smartest ones in the book. I hate it when Two-Bit is portrayed as a dumbass. It pisses me off.

I love Two-Bit, he's one of my fave's.

[zevie]

I think he might put on the dumb face, once in awhile. I don't like seeing him dumbed down, but acting goofy every once in awhile to lead people astray seems in his character. Protection, by dumbing himself down. I'm not phrasing it right...

I love slapstick. I'm definitely guilty of putting Two-Bit hand in hand with a slapstick joke - although he usually is the straight man and the victim is someone like Dally or Steve or Soda. Instead of slipping on the banana peel, he'd be the one who left it there, and snapped a pic when Steve went flying, that sort of thing. But, that's my sense of humour. It's hard to write Two-Bit if you don't love the funnies, same as anything else. Doesn't really excuse poor characterization though.

[latch22]

Oh, I like slapstick--Three Stooges, anyone? John Ritter?--but it's taken too far a lot of the time.

You know what routine I think of when I think of Two-Bit? Who's on First? No doubt it helps a bit that it's my all-time favorite, but I can see him doing his own adaptation of that so well. Anyone else?

[dramaholic74]

Hm......I +could imagine him doing his own little version of Wjo's On First! I DO remember Ponyboy saying that he was a smart guy in the book. He doesn't always act like an idiot.

[Tensleep]

Ah Two-Bit, my leading man! Well, not really, but lately I am really drawing parallels between his character and, well, myself. Makes him easy to write, let me tell ya.

Two-Bit is so insecure in my mind. I mean, his dad left, so what's to stop his friends from doing the same? So he throws on his smile and he acts like the funny friend, the one who is always keeping your mind on anything else than your problems. And because he can do that, he's worth keeping around. Sure he's smart - it often takes someone brilliant to pull off the dumb/goof act so flawlessly. In the novel we only hear about his serious side once or twice and I figure this was more of who Two-Bit was underneath the constant joking. The thing is, he's too afraid his pals won't like what's there to drop it.

Makes you wonder what his friends would do if he had a bad day or bad week or something. That is one thing I love about fan fiction. His friends always come through for him, help him through his rough patch, and welcome back the jokes and effectively pick on him mercilessly like nothing had changed. That's something great about guys, especially these ones who know what it is like to lose their friends.

Ok, getting a little chick-flicky there. Night all!

[murderofcrows]

Jul 19, 2007 20:29:47 GMT -5 fairlane said:

In canon he is actually a smart and perceptive guy, Ponyboy makes that pretty clear but it seems to be forgotton by a lot of writers.

quoted for truth. two-bit is one of my favorite characters and it bugs me when people just write him off as being stupid.

[missmouse]

Two-Bit is an iffy character for me. I cannot get him down at all for around the time the book takes place, but I can imagine him perfectly 3 years in the future. Can't get his humour- I look at my old attempts and cringe.

I don't know what to say about him, really. There's a lot more to him than cheesy jokes and chocolate cake.

[offencetaken]

Ah, Two-Bit, my favourite character.

I think him as, like you all say insecure, I think he uses humour to cover up everything that is bad (and I badly explained that). I literrally hate it how people portray him as Mickey/beer/chocolate cake-lovin' type and only that type of guy. And yes, Ponyboy even says that he's actually a smart guy. He's more street-smart than book-smart I say. But it is also very hard to portray him too, can't find the right jokes and stuff.

[byebyebirdie]

I've been lurking here for ages. I thought I should come out of the woodwork now.

Two-Bit strikes me as the Outsiders' equivalent of a Shakespearean fool. That is to say, not a fool at all. Parroting what's already been said, I definitely see Two-Bit as extremely smart, which is where the trouble with writing him comes in. Two-Bit is a perceptive character who can turn a bad situation into something funny, but he's also the character who no one takes seriously.

If Two-Bit is insecure, then I wonder how much of his insecurities stem from not being taken seriously and combating that insecurity with wit, thus creating a kind of conundrum.

I hope that makes sense. I'm hopped up on cold medication and I've been asleep for most of the day, so intelligence is not my strong suit right now.