various thoughts on incest
According to Swedish children's/YA magazine KP, a renowned and ancient publication (first issue 1892), falling in love with your cousin is perfectly fine, as is marrying him/her when you grow older. *grin* Now, KP is famous for declaring everything perfectly fine that's not downright dangerous or abusive, but it's still a rather amusing example of the difference in attitude to cousin marriage between Sweden and the US. Yes, okay, it's not the best idea genetically to marry your cousin. No, one instance isn't going to make your children horribly wrong - not unless the family is pretty genetically whacked to begin with.
The same is pretty much true about siblings, which means it's not completely logical for me to be squicked by happy fluffy siblingcest - but then, it's not really the genetics that bother me, it's the relationship. I don't have a relationship with my cousins; half of them I probably wouldn't recognize if I met them on the street. So for me, cousins or estranged siblings (Luke/Leia) is perfectly fine, while actual relationship-siblings is kind of iffy.
Not that iffy is necessarily wrong, as evidenced by Octavia/Octavian. Octavia was pretty much the last goodie to fall on that show - everyone else had been scheming or murdering or sleeping around for a very long time. By secuding her brother to get information, it's like she took the step to the adults' table (even if Servilia had to coax her into doing it). And it's a delightful twist of deviousness that Octavian saw right through her and did it anyway, proving once again that he's smarter and more calculating than anyone else on the show. The whole thing is wrong and devious, and I love it.
By contrast, I don't get the point with Wincest at all - haven't in fact seen an incest pairing less appealing to me since Faramir/Boromir. Yes, obviously I can see that they're very close, in a way that could definitely ping the slash-o-meter. And they're also very warped by the world and their relationship isn't necessarily very healthy.
Which to me is pretty much why it doesn't work. Add sex, and what do you get besides added sex? Not any added intimacy. Added angst or freakishness seems more overkill than anything else. And if the purpose is to make them dark, it's rather too mild for my tastes - better to have them do something actually evil.
I'm sure I'd feel differently if I could get all cheerfully squeeful about the thought of these two in bed together, without any element of "oh, ew" at all, but since I can't, the whole thing seems a bit like pouring salt on a meal that's already spicy.
Which I suppose could be said about any kind of slash if that's not your thing, but then I've always been less of a subtext girl than a matchmaker girl anyway. (Not so much "how likely is it" as "how interesting would it be".)
The same is pretty much true about siblings, which means it's not completely logical for me to be squicked by happy fluffy siblingcest - but then, it's not really the genetics that bother me, it's the relationship. I don't have a relationship with my cousins; half of them I probably wouldn't recognize if I met them on the street. So for me, cousins or estranged siblings (Luke/Leia) is perfectly fine, while actual relationship-siblings is kind of iffy.
Not that iffy is necessarily wrong, as evidenced by Octavia/Octavian. Octavia was pretty much the last goodie to fall on that show - everyone else had been scheming or murdering or sleeping around for a very long time. By secuding her brother to get information, it's like she took the step to the adults' table (even if Servilia had to coax her into doing it). And it's a delightful twist of deviousness that Octavian saw right through her and did it anyway, proving once again that he's smarter and more calculating than anyone else on the show. The whole thing is wrong and devious, and I love it.
By contrast, I don't get the point with Wincest at all - haven't in fact seen an incest pairing less appealing to me since Faramir/Boromir. Yes, obviously I can see that they're very close, in a way that could definitely ping the slash-o-meter. And they're also very warped by the world and their relationship isn't necessarily very healthy.
Which to me is pretty much why it doesn't work. Add sex, and what do you get besides added sex? Not any added intimacy. Added angst or freakishness seems more overkill than anything else. And if the purpose is to make them dark, it's rather too mild for my tastes - better to have them do something actually evil.
I'm sure I'd feel differently if I could get all cheerfully squeeful about the thought of these two in bed together, without any element of "oh, ew" at all, but since I can't, the whole thing seems a bit like pouring salt on a meal that's already spicy.
Which I suppose could be said about any kind of slash if that's not your thing, but then I've always been less of a subtext girl than a matchmaker girl anyway. (Not so much "how likely is it" as "how interesting would it be".)