apparently I missed something.
I went out to dinner [family birthdays and such], watched Queer Eye, came to my computer and everyone is talking about the kerfufflizing.
Huh?
Must have missed it. Maybe I have the wrong friends list.
It's not still about slash, is it? Because, damn.
I'm not what you would technically call a slasher. I keep my hetlove first and formost; it's close to my heart. I've said who and why many times. And I love my femmeslash. MmmBuffy/Faith. I have my Darla kink. [Pair her with anyone, really.] I also love my manly slash. Spike/Angel[us] is the best, most twisted thing to ever happen to the world of slash [IMHO, of course]. And I say it's canon. You don't have to agree with me, but hoo boy. Just watch sisabet's "Closer".
I cannot get into S/X. I love Xander, don't get me wrong. I really do. But he's not a sexual character to me. Neither is Willow, for that matter. I can love and adore the Xander/Anya and the Willow/Oz, but I have never actually read fics describing those ships in a sexual nature.
[Caveats to the above statement: Bohemian!Xander in the beginning of "Choices" is the most fuckable he's ever been. As a human, that is. Because Vamp!Willow and Vamp!Xander are a whole. different. story. Guh.]
Spike/Oz would actually be my slash ship of choice. But I really haven't seen much of that around, so I'll leave that discussion to another time.
I don't think any of these manly slash ships would ever work out onscreen. Even Spike/Angel, because logically speaking, they have a GIGANTIC truckload of issues to work out and doing so would take up all season, turning Angel into a turgid soap opera again. And dude, Spike's a ghost. No sex for him.
The only one I could think of actually working is Angel/Wes. Why I do is a long story, concluded after much pondering.
And that's not the point. It's not the point at all.
Fanfiction doesn't have to stick to canonical ships. Hell, it doesn't have to stick to canon. That's why the new trend [oh bleagh, there's that word and its negative connotation again] in AU human fics is so fascinating. My motto is: "Do what you want, but only if you can make it work." These authors can make their stories -- that completely blow canon into bits -- convincing and extremely enjoyable. And that's brilliant!
Fanfiction to me is about expanding on the original story. That can range from "what was Sydney thinking when she saw the ring on Vaughn's hand" to "what if Wesley had run away with Lilah in Habeus Corpses" to "what if Xander and Spike were sailors under the good Captain Jack Sparrow?" [Oh god. I said "under the good Captain Jack Sparrow." Eep.]
As long as you can make it work.
So there wasn't any episode you missed when Spike 'went gay'. He's just a vampire with a twisted view on love and sex and a very intriguing, subtextual history with Angel[us], not to mention Drusilla and Darla as well. And writers like to expand on that. Explore it.
And look at my manlyslash of choice! Spike/Oz? I think they had all of one scene together, ever. If that. But to me, they have a great deal in common, have the potential to be very interesting together, and in case I forgot to mention, fucking HOT as hell. The trick is for the author to create a situation in which Spike and Oz meet and shag/fall in love/what-have-you.
The same thing with femmeslash. And non-canonical hetships. Buffy and Wesley are not a canon couple. In the slightest. But again, I find it extremely fascinating to read about them together and how their two very different personalities interact. Again, there's an added plus of the H-O-T.
And it's sad to me that there is much less ruckus against un-canonical het ships than there is towards un-canonical slash ships. I have rarely seen such furor against couples like Spike/Tara or Faith/Riley. [You knew I was going to bring in F/R somehow. Please people, if you see it, tell me!]
So it's not so much about authors 'turning characters gay,' or 'needing' to do so. It's about exploring what could have been, were the circumstances different. And if you haven't noticed, all of the Jossverse characters [especially the males] are very slashable. As netweight will declare, the subtext is EVERYWHERE.
In conclusion, I think about fandom too much. And I think we all need to calm down a bit. And tiashome needs to come back. She finally got scared away today.
Remember kids, your hate makes Kurt cry. It really does.
As a final note, I'll leave you with a little anecdote. During S4 of BtVS, my mother was not [very] familiar with any of the characters. But she walked by when I watched "Hush," during the Spike & Xander basement scene. She gave me a look, and asked, "Are they gay?"
Huh?
Must have missed it. Maybe I have the wrong friends list.
It's not still about slash, is it? Because, damn.
I'm not what you would technically call a slasher. I keep my hetlove first and formost; it's close to my heart. I've said who and why many times. And I love my femmeslash. MmmBuffy/Faith. I have my Darla kink. [Pair her with anyone, really.] I also love my manly slash. Spike/Angel[us] is the best, most twisted thing to ever happen to the world of slash [IMHO, of course]. And I say it's canon. You don't have to agree with me, but hoo boy. Just watch sisabet's "Closer".
I cannot get into S/X. I love Xander, don't get me wrong. I really do. But he's not a sexual character to me. Neither is Willow, for that matter. I can love and adore the Xander/Anya and the Willow/Oz, but I have never actually read fics describing those ships in a sexual nature.
[Caveats to the above statement: Bohemian!Xander in the beginning of "Choices" is the most fuckable he's ever been. As a human, that is. Because Vamp!Willow and Vamp!Xander are a whole. different. story. Guh.]
Spike/Oz would actually be my slash ship of choice. But I really haven't seen much of that around, so I'll leave that discussion to another time.
I don't think any of these manly slash ships would ever work out onscreen. Even Spike/Angel, because logically speaking, they have a GIGANTIC truckload of issues to work out and doing so would take up all season, turning Angel into a turgid soap opera again. And dude, Spike's a ghost. No sex for him.
The only one I could think of actually working is Angel/Wes. Why I do is a long story, concluded after much pondering.
And that's not the point. It's not the point at all.
Fanfiction doesn't have to stick to canonical ships. Hell, it doesn't have to stick to canon. That's why the new trend [oh bleagh, there's that word and its negative connotation again] in AU human fics is so fascinating. My motto is: "Do what you want, but only if you can make it work." These authors can make their stories -- that completely blow canon into bits -- convincing and extremely enjoyable. And that's brilliant!
Fanfiction to me is about expanding on the original story. That can range from "what was Sydney thinking when she saw the ring on Vaughn's hand" to "what if Wesley had run away with Lilah in Habeus Corpses" to "what if Xander and Spike were sailors under the good Captain Jack Sparrow?" [Oh god. I said "under the good Captain Jack Sparrow." Eep.]
As long as you can make it work.
So there wasn't any episode you missed when Spike 'went gay'. He's just a vampire with a twisted view on love and sex and a very intriguing, subtextual history with Angel[us], not to mention Drusilla and Darla as well. And writers like to expand on that. Explore it.
And look at my manlyslash of choice! Spike/Oz? I think they had all of one scene together, ever. If that. But to me, they have a great deal in common, have the potential to be very interesting together, and in case I forgot to mention, fucking HOT as hell. The trick is for the author to create a situation in which Spike and Oz meet and shag/fall in love/what-have-you.
The same thing with femmeslash. And non-canonical hetships. Buffy and Wesley are not a canon couple. In the slightest. But again, I find it extremely fascinating to read about them together and how their two very different personalities interact. Again, there's an added plus of the H-O-T.
And it's sad to me that there is much less ruckus against un-canonical het ships than there is towards un-canonical slash ships. I have rarely seen such furor against couples like Spike/Tara or Faith/Riley. [You knew I was going to bring in F/R somehow. Please people, if you see it, tell me!]
So it's not so much about authors 'turning characters gay,' or 'needing' to do so. It's about exploring what could have been, were the circumstances different. And if you haven't noticed, all of the Jossverse characters [especially the males] are very slashable. As netweight will declare, the subtext is EVERYWHERE.
In conclusion, I think about fandom too much. And I think we all need to calm down a bit. And tiashome needs to come back. She finally got scared away today.
Remember kids, your hate makes Kurt cry. It really does.
As a final note, I'll leave you with a little anecdote. During S4 of BtVS, my mother was not [very] familiar with any of the characters. But she walked by when I watched "Hush," during the Spike & Xander basement scene. She gave me a look, and asked, "Are they gay?"