10 Unpopular Fandom Opinions

[kangeiko]

Stolen shamelessly from likeadeuce. I went for a slight twist on this, as I have been navel-gazing more and more recently.

10 Unpopular Fannish Fandom Opinions

1. Having two male characters decide that they want a baby is enough justification for an MPREG fic. There's the issue of - well, it's not physically possible. Why is people wanting something seen

Comments

[10littlebullets]

This is a really unpopular opinion, at least if the majority of the slash in my fandom is anything to judge by... but I think that in many cases, #4 applies to slash as well. Like it or not, if the characters are in a society where homosexuality is taboo (or even in a mostly heteronormative society), and they haven't previously come to grips with their own sexual orientation, it's ridiculous to have them just jump into bed with someone of the same sex without even a "whoa, what am I doing?" moment. I mean, there are exceptions--someone either incredibly innocent or incredibly secure in their own sexuality might not have that reaction, and pure smut is under less obligation to be realistic--but on the whole, I don't think this is dealt with nearly as often as it ought to be.

Especially in historical fandoms, which is where I am at the moment. None of the fanfic seems to acknowledge that a taboo is being broken, or if it does, the treatment of the issue is trite and stereotypical. In fandoms set in the modern day, silence on this subject is understandable depending on the characters; in the 19th century, not even acknowledging that that sort of thing Just Isn't Done is unforgivable.

[anna_wing]

Here from metafandom.

I would highly recommend galadhir's fic, which is Pirates of the Caribbean and deals principally with Norrington/Gillette. She is very realistic about the serious legal, social and psychological difficulties that such a relationship would entail at that period (up to and including execution).

And as a writer of Silmarillion gen, I thank kangeiko for opinion 5.

[bimo]

(Stumbled across this discussion via metafandom as well ;-))

Word on the general quality and enjoyableness of galadhir's stories.

I'm mostly a reader of mature, well-written gen, for the very reasons already mentioned under point 5; and quite often I feel that I need to take a look at a writer's gen fiction first, before deciding whether or not to follow them into slash country.

Clearly an act of general skepticism on my behalf, an "are you good enough to make me buy and enjoy the fictional world evolving around your pairing?"

The first piece I ever read from galadhir, Mutiny on the Dauntless was a very well-written gen novella with a breathtaking plot and very endearing, psychologically believable and multi-faceted characterisations. So I also tried a few galadhir's slashier stories. It's a decision I have not regretted, because the stuff is just as good and convincing as her gen ;-)

[cressida0201]

(Also here from metafandom.)

*perks up* Silmarillion gen? Where where where? I'd love to read some good Sil-fic, but I'm not a slasher and the ubiquity of the slash has mostly scared me away from wading into it.

[anna_wing]

I haven't written much, but most of it is up at the Henneth Annun Story Archive under the name Anna Wing (or, possibly, AWing). They can also be found in my LJ entries, together with assorted ficlets.

[kangeiko]

Thanks for the recs - I shall check them out!

[tonko]

::delurks::

I think one reason a lot of authors might skip or leave out the societal repurcussions/personal angst thing is that, if the characters are being slashed in a fic, and it's not totally about the angst of breaking that taboo, it's a foregone conclusion that they'll get over it, so why rehash what's been repeated ad infinitum in fic already. There're only so many ways to write "well, I though I was straight but I'm not" or "I'm not supposed to be gay/bi/whatever because the military/society/my family says it's wrong/evil/not allowed.

Not saying that the turmoil about all that should be skipped, and of course many authors handle it smoothly in a way that isn't clunky or repetitive, instead of writing it like it's a quick hurdle to be jumped or sidestepped. I just think that for some its a case of familiarity with that plot point breeding contempt, or at least disinterest.

I dunno, my experience with m/m pairings is mostly in SGA and Naruto, and both those fandoms suffer from attacks of the "everyone's gay!" virus, too, so there's the entire spectrum of ways to handle the homosexuality taboo, from homophobia and dire angst to the entire cast of characters being perfectly okay with it.

Plus slash is a fantasy, written by people who like guys together, so it's par for the course that the couple might not meet with much resistance.

[kangeiko]

I think one reason a lot of authors might skip or leave out the societal repurcussions/personal angst thing is that, if the characters are being slashed in a fic, and it's not totally about the angst of breaking that taboo, it's a foregone conclusion that they'll get over it, so why rehash what's been repeated ad infinitum in fic already.

That's an interesting point, and I can appreciate it, but there's a fine line between weighing a fic in favour of post-realisation elements and skipping over them entirely. As a reader, I feel cheated somehow - it's a legitimate hurdle, and if they devote so much time to strawberry- or chocolate-flavoured lube, I'd expect at least a cursory nod in the direction of legalities and 'the real world'. That said, I'm a big stickler for real world details while others might not care about them at all.

There're only so many ways to write "well, I though I was straight but I'm not" or "I'm not supposed to be gay/bi/whatever because the military/society/my family says it's wrong/evil/not allowed.

Yes, indeed, but that's not the only thing that will come from setting the fic in such a world. I'm not talking about the internal discussions that a character has with themselves - which, I agree, do run the risk of sounding repetitive - but of the practical implications - for instance, there have been cases where I've seen someone bring their male dates with them to formal occasions. Um, all very well and good in the twenty-first century - less so in the nineteenth.

I dunno, my experience with m/m pairings is mostly in SGA and Naruto, and both those fandoms suffer from attacks of the "everyone's gay!" virus, too, so there's the entire spectrum of ways to handle the homosexuality taboo, from homophobia and dire angst to the entire cast of characters being perfectly okay with it.

Yes, I take your point - the fandom structure itself might have a lot to do with how well the subject is approached.

[kaesydian]

That's almost as bad as setting a fic in a timeframe or culture where it *wasn't/isn't* taboo but treating it like it was/is. What I mean to say is: would it *kill* people to do a bit of research before projecting modern cultural expectations onto a story that take place in a time/place where those expectations may have never existed?

[kangeiko]

*giggle* I haven't come across that - but I can just imagine! It wouldn't have anything to do with, say, Troy, would it? Oh noes, teh forbidden love - that was actually not really that forbidden at all...

[kangeiko]

None of the fanfic seems to acknowledge that a taboo is being broken, or if it does, the treatment of the issue is trite and stereotypical. In fandoms set in the modern day, silence on this subject is understandable depending on the characters; in the 19th century, not even acknowledging that that sort of thing Just Isn't Done is unforgivable.

Yes, exactly. That's my issue with a lot of the historical fic I've come across, especially the ones that seem to culminate in an Army-wide orgy... (they never covered that in my history classes...)