Slash rant
Jun. 16th, 2005 02:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieI 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.
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.
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no subject
Date: 2005-06-16 09:08 pm (UTC)As a femmeslash writer, I certainly share your disgust with the way some characters are mangled by fanfic writers to force them into gay/lesbian relationships.
But as a lesbian myself who has known quite a few bisexuals, I do feel it is possible to write characters who are open to both genders in a romantic way without killing characterization. You mentioned there being no indication of a character being gay. What if there is no indication of a character being straight or gay? What makes us imagine that, since nothing has been said, they are automatically straight? Because straight is the predominant culture in our lives. Several of the characters I slash (Laura Roslin, Minerva McGonagall, etc.) have no sexual preference indicated in canon at all. And if I can write a story that shows them as open-minded and bisexual, why shouldn't I, as long as the characterization is right?
I think the biggest problem you've listed in your rant is not slash relationships, per se, but horrifically mangled characterizations by fanfic writers who apparently have never actually read the book/seen the show/watched the movie! And with that, I can totally agree!
no subject
Date: 2005-06-16 09:21 pm (UTC)Precisely. Which I why I listed Remus/Sirius as a slash ship that (as long as it's well written, of course) does not bother me in the least. There is no indication in canon they are straight, and all sorts of events that one can percieve as "indicators" if one is so inclined, so if the author wants to write a ship fic with them, then I have no problem with it.
What makes us imagine that, since nothing has been said, they are automatically straight? Because straight is the predominant culture in our lives. Several of the characters I slash (Laura Roslin, Minerva McGonagall, etc.) have no sexual preference indicated in canon at all. And if I can write a story that shows them as open-minded and bisexual, why shouldn't I, as long as the characterization is right?
I really enjoyed your "pre-slash" Laura/Starbuck fic, the one from Laura's POV. Because it's true. We know nothing of Laura's (or McGonagall's) sexual preferences. Thus, as long as everything else is IC, whether they prefer men or women will not make them OOC. I think I was rather overbroad in my statement above. Slashing that makes no sense by twisting the characters and making them a couple against canon rules, and for no other reason than "they are pretty" and as your only justification "they are friends" is what makes me see red. If someone writes Sirius/Remus or e.g. McGonagall/Poppy, I have no problem with it whatsoever. I think the slash I have problem with is exemplified by Aragorn/Legolas slash. It is violently anti-canon (as Aragorn is not only straight, he is also madly in love with Arwen in a "mythical, larger-than-life" way, and Legolas like all elves is a bit on the asexual side and a lot of these fics have them humping like bunnies), the only reason they are slashed is because they are "hot" as opposed to anything canon based (heck, slashing Gimli-Legolas makes more sense) and the reason why the author thinks it's OK? Because they are friends. Because, even if everything in canon is against it, the fact that two characters are friends outweighs everything else as sure proof that they are doing it.