MWC29: Wrap Up

[mrwubbles]

-cringe- I know, I know. I meant to post daily all the wonderfulness of MWC. In typical MWC, I got sucked into conversations, vids, fic ideas, zines, panels and--what do you mean it's Monday, already?! I'll do my best to do a few followup reports. I wanted to post questions here that popped up during Mediawest because conversation, fanfic and

Comments

[superbadgirl]

I've noticed that online as well to be honest, and I'm getting genuinely exasperated as more and more slash stories keep popping up in my favourite fandoms. It's not that I have anything against slash, or gay couples, but it irritates me when writers make characters that AREN'T a romantic couple and thus ruin/disregard a heartwarming friendship (in most cases). There also seem to be far more stories these days that just have OTT hurt/comfort at the expense of a decent storyline, or even the characters being 'in' character.

Butting in to say "here, here!" I'll admit to sometimes reacting with a humph of dismay when the spnewsletter comes out and again the slash (incest, RPF, all of it) outweighs the gen stories by a great deal. I've nothing against slash at all but my true love will always be a well-plotted gen piece that could fit into the TV schedule without too much squinting.

And a big ditto about the OTT whumping in h/c. I'm an h/c junkie, but it really bugs me when the whole story seems to be based around some pretty unsurvivable hurt. Story? Who needs a plot? It's not the gratuitous hurtin' that makes me love that genre...

[superbadgirl]

Heh. I do slash, but it's definitely a "what-if" and I have to actually see something could be there beyond the friendship. I don't slash for slashing's sake (I can't pair up two hot guys or two hot girls just because they're hot. Homey don't play that.), and I don't think fanon has much to do with canon (unless people somehow impact TPTB about what they want to see).

Overall I wouldn't say that slashing a couple demeans the canonical friendship, but in the case of incest? Yeah, I sorta feel that way - like authors seem to believe that the only true love is one that involves sex and, well, NO.

It's hard not to get into really sticky, possibly-offensive tones in this kind of talk, so I'm gonna stop. ;)

[mrwubbles]

Overall I wouldn't say that slashing a couple demeans the canonical friendship,

Me neither. A few writers tell me it's more of enhancing what they interpret between a couple.

What irks me is that 'friends can't be just friends, but also lovers' definition that was going around in the con and I suspect, online too.

Sigh

Slash and gen co-existed so nicely back then. Writers could be proud being bi-fictional, but these days, it feels like we have to pick a side. I don't wanna pick sides! I have friends on both genres! They're all cool!

[geminigrl11]

Butting in, too, to say I so agree with this: it bugs me no end that some folks just can't seem to accept two guys have a platonic, brotherly, close relationship. Why???

So many times I have read a story in awe, and then get to the sex part and think...wow, this could have been so great if not for that. I've got nothing against slash as a form (although in my main fandom, Supernatural, it sure is a LOT more awkward). But when it becomes the EVERY STORY theme, it just seems lazy, narratively speaking. Especially when the sex is used to breach an emotional gap. It's not even about squick, but just being unrealistic and too easy (even in real life, sex rarely if ever solves problems).

I do wish, sometimes, that there were a few more experiments in gen.

[superbadgirl]

I think I love you.