Slash rant

[dangermousie]

I hate the main idea of slash. I really do.

Nope, not homophobic. I exclude from my loathing of slash stories about same sex couples where it is merely continuing canon. All the fic in the world writing about Renault's Alexander and Hephaistion, or the two female leads of Deepa Mehta's "Fire" or even something where you could concievably read in a lover's relationship (e.g. Sirius and Remus. I don't see it, but I can see how one would) does not bother me one whit.

I mean all these stories where there is NO indication the canon characters are anything other than straight (and/or violently hate each other). Aragorn has faithfully loved Arwen for 60 years? Too bad, as in fanfic he is paired with Legolas. Harry Potter likes girls? Too bad. In fanfic he is Draco Malfoy's love slave (even though there is nothing redeemable about Draco in canon and the boys loathe each other. Harry/Neville would even be more plausible). Anakin is obsessive about Padme, and went to the Dark Side for her? But what do you know, fanon Anakin is too busy boinking Obi-Wan to care. Apparently, so many men are gay that it's amazing that the human race is managing to reproduce at all.

Basically, I find the notion that one cannot be really good friends (or even have a strong emotion like hatred) with a person of the same gender without wanting their naughty bits in one's mouth utterly revolting and a horrible (not to mention oversexed) view of the human nature.

I am very close to my best friend, who is female. We have been friends for almost a decade, talk on the phone every day, and share a hive mind on a lot of books, movies and other minutia. We help each other through problems and are hopefully there for each other. Yet, somehow we managed to avoid an unbridled lesbian orgy. I certainly don't think men are any different.

Hey, teenybopper girls who revel in slash between characters whose only claim to slashiness is that they are friends. How would you feel if everyone assumed you had sex with all your girlfriends merely because you hung out with them and were good friends? See? Absurd.

/rant

Flame away.

Comments

Re: Slash Apologia

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yes, but for most people, sexual orientation is not a matter of a "different interpetation." Unless you are bisexual, you are not going to wake up next to a man and say "I think I want to fall for a girl next" and after a few weeks of it, switch back.

There is a difference between AU and out-of-character. The Ring can tempt anyone (and does). In the movie at least, Aragorn is clearly tempted. I could see having a plausible AU where he slowly gets seduced by the Ring and goes evil. It is quite different to have him switch sexual orientation. Most people don't just flip theirs on/off at will. It strikes me just as OOC for Aragorn to fancy a man as if there was a fanfic that portrayed Aragorn as evil from childhood.

this is how it could have happened and wouldn't it be cool if it did.

I am (as katranna correctly pointed out) a canon Nazi. But I can buy AU as long as it's logical. However, when it goes explicitly against the original author's writing and/or world-view, it gets truly problematic. To leave slash out of the picture, I would find it really annoying to read a Potter fic where Draco is a misunderstood sweet thing, Potter is a bully, and Voldemort is right about Muggle-elimination.

I know a large number of annoying men who think just that about me and my girlfriends.

Well, then their minds are just as much in the gutter as the teenybopper slashers'. I still think both are ridiculous.

the idea of women creating their own fantasies and dare-I-say-it porn is still kind of transgressive

I suppose. I happen not to care for NC-17 fic myself, whether slash, het, conon or not, because I like to keep private things private, but whatever rocks the author's boat. However, one can write plenty of het and slash NC-17 explicitness without completely subverting the original story. Heck, all the LOTR slashers are welcome to play with the Silmarillion as there is a lot more plausible slashy stuff there than in LOTR.

But it's the underlying assumption that there is no such thing as friendship. Only lust, that bugs me. It's the same way as if someone started writing Chiana/Crichton fanfic based on nothing more but the fact they are really great friends, despite the indubitable Crichton/Aeryn. Not everything is about sex, after all.

Re: Slash Apologia

[linaerys.livejournal.com]

Well, and I would probably say that there is some basis for Chiana/Crichton in some situation because there is some heavy flirting and induendo at various points.

I'm not sure if the underlying assumption is that there is no such thing as friendship but that friendship is not the only possible relationship between men, just as romance is not the only possible relationship between a man and a woman.

But as you say, your enjoyment of fanfic hinges on it being very true to canon, including the way the character's sexual orientation is represented. That's not everyone's basis for enjoying fanfic. I don't actually read as much true-to-canon fanfic because I've already seen/read/consumed the canon, I don't need a rehash of it. I'd rather see what didn't happen in canon, like a different sexual orientation. I agree with whomever below if it presented as falling in love with someone or being bisexual it is much more realistic than if it's OMG-didn't-you-know-they-were-always-gay. According to Kinsey most people are on the continuum between gay and straight, rather than strictly one or the other, and I don't mind seeing that reflected in fic.

All this is more in the abstract, though. Communities where the posters spend all their time saying, wow they are such good friends they must be sleeping together lose my interest pretty quickly, because--as you say, oversexed and unrealistic. Probably explains why my participation in fandom is spotty and I tend to leave quickly.

Re: Slash Apologia

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I would probably say that there is some basis for Chiana/Crichton in some situation because there is some heavy flirting and induendo at various points.


Oh, of course. A good J/C fic could probably be written. E.g. it's early S2 and Aeryn leaves and J/C slowly get together. Or whatever.

I was talking about the fic where there is no explanation, no attempt to reconcile fanon and canon. Something like a (hypothetical) post-PKW fic, where a dreadfully OOC Aeryn turns into a raving evil bitch, kills the Baby, runs off with Rygel. And miraculously un-caring John hops in the sack with Chiana.

Basically, there are ways to make uncanon pairings more realistic. But a lot of fic writers don't bother.

I don't actually read as much true-to-canon fanfic because I've already seen/read/consumed the canon, I don't need a rehash of it. I'd rather see what didn't happen in canon, like a different sexual orientation.

Of course, everyone gets different things out of fandom. For me, I don't like AU stuff because I am a fan of this work because I *like* canon. If I want something different I'll read an original work.

wow they are such good friends they must be sleeping together

Yup, those are the ones that bug me.