I'm realizing that maybe agegap is a key component to the kind of visceral feeling in my head when confronted with these older fanworks, as well as the feeling as though they're probably done by someone who's young. Like, they feel juvenile, and they have an immature understanding and presentation of relationships. It lacks the kind of nuance and complexity someone gets from actually having those kinds of relationships or witnessing them around their person. So the combination of those things is really jarring, because it's presented as "entirely normal" in the older-time fandom sensibility which is devoid of like, really thinking about- and realizing agegap for what it is at all. I think maybe fanworks with similar-aged pairings might have this feeling for me sometimes too, but it's kind of rare. Obviously I don't want to post any art that conjures that sort of feeling because I don't want to make fun of people.

ANYWAY VERY LONG TANGENT. But yes! I think some of the fic I'm coming across is just like, made before the time of thinking about things more darkly. Although I think some of it is new(ish) but just happens to still evoke this energy (and is also written by adults, bafflingly). 32 year old virgin Voldemort. Losing my mind over here.