I hope you’re happy, Fandom. You’ve finally completely broken my brain.
So have you noticed how the internet community - and fandom especially - has a way of infiltrating one’s subconscious?
That without ever intending to do so, one winds up …knowing things, almost by osmosis? Or being reminded of things …that you’ve never actually seen/experienced first hand? But it’s such a common reaction/response on your flist that it has somehow come to be something YOU think of as well?
Surely that sort of thing has happened to other people besides me?
The latest (and most extreme!) example:
Last night I went to see a Shakespeare play.
Shortly after intermission something twigged one of those little subconscious triggers and out of the blue I was suddenly struck by the thought of how some fanfic writers might subtext this particular scene in a slash fic.
THEN I was wondering - are there Shakespeare slashers out there? There must be.
Someone out there is all about the Brutus/Cassius. I know it.
(or the Romeo/Mercutio or the Valentine/Proteus or the Sebastian/Antonio ...no, wait, now that I type it out, I think I remember actually seeing that one mentioned somewhere. - See what I mean?)
Rule #34 of the internet modified for fandom - If two characters occupy the same area of space at any point in time, someone, somewhere, will slash/ship them.
You have to understand, I am not a slasher. I am not even a shipper. (Except in a few select cases, and even then it’s pretty much limited to canonical ships that, well, basically everyone supports.) I am a hardcore gen / friendshipper fan. I know we're a rare breed on the internet, but there you are.
I enjoy my shows and the character interactions without attributing any romantic interest or relationship behind it.
In fact, it took me a long time to figure out what people kept seeing as “hoyay” or slash. I recognize the chemistry, clearly, but 99.99% of the time I don’t see as it anything sexual.
Now that I do realize what qualifies as “slashiness” I occasionally enjoy spotting extremely blatant elements because it amuses me to think how interpreting that will get certain portions of fandom all worked up.
And, all of a sudden, that’s what watching the second act turned into for me.
It really is astonishing how almost every line or stage direction took on a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT MEANING when you looked at it through slash-tinted goggles.
(Especially since this particular scene was full of lines that easily translated into a lover’s quarrel - “Do not presume too much upon my love” “When thou didst hate him worst, thou lovedst him better Than ever thou lovedst [me].”)
I was sitting there, struggling not to giggle, because a) it’s Julius Caesar, not exactly intended as comedy b) I am NOT going to explain to the group of people I’m with that I’m imagining people on the internet - who, by the way, I’m not even sure really exist - planning to write fanfiction (and most likely pornographic fanfiction, at that) about these characters c) oh geeze, and now that last bit of dialogue suddenly prompted a vision of someone’s diehard Brutus/Portia/Cassius OT3 fandom d) I seriously need help
I blame you.
All of you.
That without ever intending to do so, one winds up …knowing things, almost by osmosis? Or being reminded of things …that you’ve never actually seen/experienced first hand? But it’s such a common reaction/response on your flist that it has somehow come to be something YOU think of as well?
Surely that sort of thing has happened to other people besides me?
The latest (and most extreme!) example:
Last night I went to see a Shakespeare play.
Shortly after intermission something twigged one of those little subconscious triggers and out of the blue I was suddenly struck by the thought of how some fanfic writers might subtext this particular scene in a slash fic.
THEN I was wondering - are there Shakespeare slashers out there? There must be.
Someone out there is all about the Brutus/Cassius. I know it.
(or the Romeo/Mercutio or the Valentine/Proteus or the Sebastian/Antonio ...no, wait, now that I type it out, I think I remember actually seeing that one mentioned somewhere. - See what I mean?)
Rule #34 of the internet modified for fandom - If two characters occupy the same area of space at any point in time, someone, somewhere, will slash/ship them.
You have to understand, I am not a slasher. I am not even a shipper. (Except in a few select cases, and even then it’s pretty much limited to canonical ships that, well, basically everyone supports.) I am a hardcore gen / friendshipper fan. I know we're a rare breed on the internet, but there you are.
I enjoy my shows and the character interactions without attributing any romantic interest or relationship behind it.
In fact, it took me a long time to figure out what people kept seeing as “hoyay” or slash. I recognize the chemistry, clearly, but 99.99% of the time I don’t see as it anything sexual.
Now that I do realize what qualifies as “slashiness” I occasionally enjoy spotting extremely blatant elements because it amuses me to think how interpreting that will get certain portions of fandom all worked up.
And, all of a sudden, that’s what watching the second act turned into for me.
It really is astonishing how almost every line or stage direction took on a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT MEANING when you looked at it through slash-tinted goggles.
(Especially since this particular scene was full of lines that easily translated into a lover’s quarrel - “Do not presume too much upon my love” “When thou didst hate him worst, thou lovedst him better Than ever thou lovedst [me].”)
I was sitting there, struggling not to giggle, because a) it’s Julius Caesar, not exactly intended as comedy b) I am NOT going to explain to the group of people I’m with that I’m imagining people on the internet - who, by the way, I’m not even sure really exist - planning to write fanfiction (and most likely pornographic fanfiction, at that) about these characters c) oh geeze, and now that last bit of dialogue suddenly prompted a vision of someone’s diehard Brutus/Portia/Cassius OT3 fandom d) I seriously need help
I blame you.
All of you.