gay in the media, slash, and why trek fandom makes me wibble.

[betweenthebliss]

i'm quoting someone on my Dth reading page here, who said "some day i will write a post that's not about star trek, but it is not this day"-- really it's more like, some day i will not spend half my work day thinking about star trek, but it is not this day

Comments

[azurelunatic]

It amazes me that there's so little difference in the portrayal of Kirk (mostly we see him strike out more) and now the fandom is wholeheartedly embracing Jim Kirk, Intergalactic Equal-Opportunity Slut (in the sex-positive interpretation), when the previous incarnation was Jim Kirk, Intergalactic Ladies' Man (plus Spock). The difference is in us, and this makes me happy.

[betweenthebliss]

me too! i've loved trek all my life but never been in any of its fandoms before now, but just from listening to some of the veterans i can tell there's a difference, and i think it's a great one. it just shows how ingrained we are in the culture that tells us gay = bad, to think that i never would have even thought about this issue (a future where being gay isn't any stranger than being blonde) without having an example of it.

and omg, now i need an icon that says jim kirk, intergalactic equal-opportunity slut, lmfao!!

[azurelunatic]

I have a couple subcultures where the joke is that the straight males are the minority, so they occasionally have solidarity moments. So it's not that completely alien to me, but it's great to watch.

I've been watching Harry Potter fanfic too, and I notice that there are three generations and their attitudes portrayed, too: the "but I can't be queer because I like girls (oh god what if I *am*)" in the Marauders-era, the "Oh god what if I'm gay" in Harry's school days, and the "Oh god I'm gay how do I tell my parents"/"How do I tell my parents I'm dating *him* of all boys (girls aren't in the picture because I'm gay)" in the Albus Severus/Scorpius fics.

[betweenthebliss]

yeah, HP was how i got into fandom, actually, it's probably the only fandom (until trek!) that i can say i was really "part of"-- and it's really interesting to see the way authors play with / play around the cultural view of homosexuality in the different generations. i haven't read potterfic in a long time (except a few things posted by people on my regular LJ flist, and possibly hpvalensmut once in a while) so i've never read anything concerning harry's kids' generation-- but i can imagine the good authors do take into account the changing climate in the way the world views gay people

[azurelunatic]

And you get the clash of the wizarding-world-as-1930s ideals vs. the world in which Harry was raised in some Harry/Draco, where Harry has embraced the either-closeted-or-not-closeted worldview, and it collides with Draco merrily having his fling or his long-term arrangement but also being just fine with the wife and kids thing, and you get to watch Harry flail around. I love those when they're done right.

With AS/S, there are some young writers whose first writing-fandom it seems to be, and while it mostly comes out in one or both of the guys having emo hair, sometimes it comes out in over-the-top hysterics from one or both of the boys about their parents being upset about them being gay. Not so much disowned, thrown out of the house, beaten, or killed. Upset. It's amazing.

[betweenthebliss]

yessssss gah. and draco's like "why do we need to talk about it?" and harry's like "HOW DO YOU *NOT* NEED TO TALK ABOUT IT?!" it's funny too 'cus i see that as being inherent to their characters in the series as well, like, that draco would naturally be the one completely uninterested in talking about Stuff, while harry would be the one going BUT WAT DOES IT MEAN. hee.

......one or both of the guys having emo hair... i love you, ahahaha. and yeah-- HP is really cool that way, it can parallel the current experience of people dealing with being gay and out (or not out) in the world today, and dude, i love fic as social commentary-- it's rare to see THAT done right, but when it is, hoo boy. XD

[azurelunatic]

I see Draco as being a cool customer with whoever he's involved with, and the public, but I also subscribe to the idea that his especial friends are sounding boards, and he flails to them, and he makes lists and stays up at night and gets drunk and broods and plots. :D

[betweenthebliss]

omg, yes, this. i always loved fics where the slytherins presented this facade to everybody because it's what everybody had always told them they were supposed to be like, you know, these frosty rich kids who were perfect and emotionless all the time-- but within themselves they're just as much a bunch of flawed, sometimes dorky, sometimes neurotic teenagers/young adults as everybody else-- and closer friends because of it. :D

[azurelunatic]

A friend of mine identifies as Slytherin, and she mentions that it's not just because one's told to be perfect and emotionless, it's also because one doesn't show that sort of thing to someone who might use it against you, and there are all these complex machinations of loyalty and favors. It's lovely, and I don't really always understand it, but it's very fascinating to study. (This is why she says I'm a Ravenclaw.)

[betweenthebliss]

yes, that's also very true. though myself, i don't know how much of that is me belonging in slytherin vs. me being a scorpio, lol, but either way it comes out to about the same thing. :D

and yeah i think the way people sort themselves or identify with certain houses is really interesting too-- like the traits that people see as being the dominant ones to define a member of the house, and how they think that applies to them. it's really neat-- seriously HP fandom could be a topic of so much study, it's crazy.

[azurelunatic]

I'm particularly loving the Kirk vs. Uhura fics, where Kirk strikes out yet again. In canon we see him strike out. One of the great things about fic is that we write the things that we want to see more of that we know canon may not give us, and I find it delightful that what we, what I, want to see more of is Uhura saying no to Kirk. He doesn't even know her first name, that's how good at saying no to him she is.

[catalenamara]

I've been writing Kirk as Jim Kirk, Intergalactic Equal-Opportunity Slut for over 20 years now, and there were quite a number of stories back in the day which show Kirk in a relationship with Gary Mitchell (his BFF in the TOS episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before".