Fanfic/Writing: Kara as Dyke and OTPs
There was a post linked to in metafandom about "slashers writing het", which had in it the statement somewhere that "slash writers thought more about queer relationships than het writers do" as though this were the deepest wisdom and my thought was well, duh.
Speaking of slash and BSG - the fannish squee about Starbuck-as-bi-or-dyke hits one of my sore spots. For crying out loud, people, why the hell can't a gal be tough and independent and strong and standardly-gender-oriented? Why does a set of good biceps and a swagger in her stride automatically have to equal lesbian?
Do you people really *not* know any gals who've thrown haybales all summer? Any actual gals who've worn the uniform? Any gals who drive trucks for a living?
*crickets chirp* Okay, fine. Just me, then. *sigh*
***
While I'm thinking about it - TXF and FS and BSG - this makes three, so I'm calling it a pattern. What the hell is it about a more-or-less canon het 'ship that makes writers shut down on all the other options?
I'm not objecting to good angsty Lee/Kara - the same as I had no problem with angsty John/Aeryn, and the same as I liked ever so much of the angsty Mulder/Scully. But inbetween times, I've read Angel and Buffy and LoTR and half-a-score others, and seriously? It's not that the best fic is necessarily the slash stuff (the best LoTR, imo, is consistently gen) but that - both quality and quanity - the good fic only starts coming to the yard when there are multiple slash pairings competing for the writers' attention.
A single het canon ship (like, say, Buffy season 1) seems to shut down people's brains.
IMO, YMMV, and I'm willing to be argued out of this pov.
Speaking of slash and BSG - the fannish squee about Starbuck-as-bi-or-dyke hits one of my sore spots. For crying out loud, people, why the hell can't a gal be tough and independent and strong and standardly-gender-oriented? Why does a set of good biceps and a swagger in her stride automatically have to equal lesbian?
Do you people really *not* know any gals who've thrown haybales all summer? Any actual gals who've worn the uniform? Any gals who drive trucks for a living?
*crickets chirp* Okay, fine. Just me, then. *sigh*
***
While I'm thinking about it - TXF and FS and BSG - this makes three, so I'm calling it a pattern. What the hell is it about a more-or-less canon het 'ship that makes writers shut down on all the other options?
I'm not objecting to good angsty Lee/Kara - the same as I had no problem with angsty John/Aeryn, and the same as I liked ever so much of the angsty Mulder/Scully. But inbetween times, I've read Angel and Buffy and LoTR and half-a-score others, and seriously? It's not that the best fic is necessarily the slash stuff (the best LoTR, imo, is consistently gen) but that - both quality and quanity - the good fic only starts coming to the yard when there are multiple slash pairings competing for the writers' attention.
A single het canon ship (like, say, Buffy season 1) seems to shut down people's brains.
IMO, YMMV, and I'm willing to be argued out of this pov.