Animation Source Forums

Ok,everyone THINKS they may know what this wole mating thing is. They might THINK mating means animals falling in love and marrying using an animal term,but it really means something COMPLETELY different. Mating is the term for sexual reproduction,or having pups. In real life,animals do not know love. Seriously,only humans do that. As some of us know,the strongest male and strongest female in the pack are the ones who mate and reproduce,thus having pups. The male may not the female,and the male might not like or love the female. The only thing that is true for every part of mating is this: Only the strongest wolves or the animal you like mate. In some packs other females and males mate,but this doesn't happen often. So,going on,the animals DO NOT mate for love(ulike us humans,the term for us is marry though). Many people on site MISUSE this animal term for FALLING IN LOVE,not sexual reproduction. If you are to write an accurate story about them,using the term MATE PROPERLY,then I would use it for a more realistic story. If you wish to write about animal love as many writers do,here are some other terms for marrying:
Lifelong partner
Soul Mate
Love of his/her life
Forever love
OK,I hope now people get it.
Note: This is all true! If you don't believe me,look up mating on wikipedia!
Also,the Balto movies do NOT say Balto is Jenna's mate,so I wouldn't call them mates,cuz it's not the proper term for them.

This is probably a very controversial topic. I personally like to use the term "mate" because Balto and Jenna "getting married" just doesn't sound right. XD And as for Balto and Jenna being mates: Well, they did have pups, didn't they? (Really, they didn't need to have pups to be a "family", but I'll get to that later.)


Many people prefer the term "mates" for their characters because, well, we are human, and therefore like to attach our own meanings to the animal world (keeping in mind that these are CARTOON dogs we're talking about); i.e. A dog love story just wouldn't work if the two alphas hated each other. My fanfic The Way We Were (that I'm currently writing) discusses "matehood" as two dogs falling in love and making the decision to start a family together; a family technically can be a husband and wife (or whatever doggy terms you prefer) without any children. Do you see what I'm saying?


So, although you are technically correct, we are talking about cartoon animals here, and for another thing, in dog fanfiction (at least on BS) the dogs have the intelligence and perception of humans; shouldn't they have the same conception of and capacity for love?



Hope I gave you something to think about.



-Iditarod

Yeah,I know it's cartoon dogs but people that don't know the term could end up thinking it means falling in love and 'marrying'. OK,I hope now you see the problem here.

While discussing the exact terminology and meaning of mate and mateship might help confused writers, it seems to me that everyone should be able to interpret the word as they wish in their writing. This is, after all, fanfiction.

Also, if you would still like to have a pole on people's favorite site from the list you have, I suggest you make a new topic in the Balto Links forum section.

That being said, I am locking this topic. I don't want to sound like a jerk, but I think that while mate may have a set definition, it should be left up to each writer's interpretation in the realm of fanfiction.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please PM me. I will be glad to talk.

Cheers.
-LWf