Underneath the Underneath: Slash Fic

[bonomanic]

I've wanted to do any kind of meta post about either writing or fandom for a while now but what made sit down and try were quite a few metas I read recently (kudos especially to meiface and canttakeabreath ). We'll see how this turns out.

Most of the K-pop fic out there is undeniably slash and why not? Fanservice and boy band craziness and the tight friendships make

Comments

this is so long it needed two comments, pt 1

[canttakeabreath]

I absolutely didn't mean to say you were implying XYZ by the way! Just that I inferred XYZ from your statement, which, imo, is different--it has to do with the way i think and nothing at all about the way you write so I really don't necessarily know if everyone would read what I read into that, or whether it was just me. Regardless, it's a great starting place, and I'm glad you wrote this.

I think I want to focus on a point I really liked about your reply? I mean I also want to talk about that "sliding board of creativity" (but even if it's totally OOC and Heechul is actually a 50 year old woman living in Siberia...there's a reason it's "Kim Heechul" and not "Randomly Named Lady"--you're not totally creating something, and the point of the fandom connection is the connection I make between the characters you reference and my understandings of them. You do not start from scratch, basically. Ever) but I really, really want to get to a few lines so, bullet points:

1. Even if you're trolling in a form of writing that is more borrowed than original, it still makes it trolling, right?

Well, does it? Because if you're trolling but everyone sees that you're trolling and how obscenely horrific your stated racism is, for example, isn't that metacommentary on the nature of material you might not have originally catagorized as potentially racist? Where do we draw the line between trolling and satire?

2. If I find a voice for gay acceptance, couldn't a lot of the bad kind of fic also cause me to romanticize rape? The point being that even though we slash, it's not only gay acceptance but potentially a lot of negative things like stereotypes.

You're right, of course. And I still think it's important to play in a playground knowing that you are playing because you might learn some great things out in that sandbox or on those swings, but those life lessons do not necessarily translate into real life. The experiences and feelings might, but not the facts. So maybe we should write more emotionally empelling stories instead of more factually correct ones. So maybe Heechul doesn't grab a condom that one time. Maybe Geng should feel a wince of disgust/upset at Heechul lack of regard for personal safety. Maybe lampshading the problem within the story is a way to lampshade the entire playground. Or maybe we need to go further. These boys share the names and some physical characteristics with a bunch of guys in a band called Super Junior in Korea. These boys are obviously not those boys.

Stereotypes are a real problem. I have absolutely nothing to say about that. Again, I find it deeply troubling that I cannot decide if writing homosexuality into k-pop is a step forward or back. That really is troubling.

don't worry, i do that all the time ;~;

[bonomanic]

I guess it's a give and take in these instances. :) If I had managed to be clearer in my formulation, what you got out of it would've been different. (And this is the point where you remember how you learned about communication in college and realize that everything is true, lol.)

True that. :) I concede my point.

I see your point and while I think that metacommentary on trolling is good because it points out that hello, this IS trolling, idiot, I don't think that makes the trolling itself any better. I know that it is a learning process and you need to give people some leeway and hey, I probably said enough stupid things to last me a lifetime, but I'd just like people to at some point realize that it indeed was stupid and then try to stay away from it. :) And the thing about trolling and satire - that's a hard question and I love that you put it out there. (I'm assuming it was rhetorical in this context? ^^) With things like that there never is a definite answer because it has too many nuances, but it doesn't mean that you can't try to go for clarification with individual cases.

I really like your points here. :) And I think that's really the problem with a lot of the meta - we can't help but generalize even though we try not to. But if you don't, then how can you write meta on something as big and diverse as fandom and fanfic? That's where the problem comes in that fanfic can be both a step forward or a step backward, or possibly both at the same time and then you need to think in a million directions at once. Not working, sadly. The good thing about the diversity is, though, that you can always find amazing things to praise even if there is enough bad stuff you get annoyed about. So I guess in the end we can generalize all we want and never get anywhere because it doesn't reflect the way things are at all. But I love it that people go meta about fanfic and fandom because that shows that despite some people's idea that fanfic is worthless trash, it shows that no, there are deeper concerns here, no matter if good or bad, and hey, let's point them out for you. :)