Lumos: The Panels Edition

Aug 02, 2006 09:45

(I wish I could have attended more panels, but here's what I did get a chance to attend)

FRIDAY'S PANELS

Slash Versus Het: Fanfiction and the Fandom Divide. (Me, starrysummer, foreward, incognito)
This panel was the brainchild of violet_quill, once upon a time, but she ended up not being able to attend Lumos, so starrysummer took over the modding duties, and the four of us presented a variety of perspectives on the differences (real or imagined) between the worlds of het and slash.

My own focus was story endings, concentrating primarily (but not exclusively) on stories that feature Snape). I read 400 stories (in two weeks *g*) in four categories: slash written by slashers, het written by het writers, slash written by het writers, and het written by slash writers )

I read 100 stories in each category, which honestly wasn't enough to come up with an definite conclusions, but it was sufficient to provide some interesting preliminary stats.

The Archives I used were as follows: Fiction Alley, Fanfiction.net, Restricted Section, Slug and Jiggers (the Snape Rareslash archive), Moonshadow (Snape/Lupin), Walking the Plank (Snape/Harry), Ashwinder (Snape/Hermione), plus the multi-fandom archives: The Archive at the End of the Universe and Skyehawke.

I made use of the Random Search functions, if possible: and for multicharacter-archives, half my searches included Snape and half didn't. Approximately 15% of the stories I read were non-Snape pairings)

I looked at completed Stories only, because I was focusing on the endings, and I didn't include death stories in the final count.

************************

FINDINGS (taking only the endings into account):

Random Het Stories

67 of the 100 - married or the equivalent (ceremonial bonding and the like, i.e., something 'official')
34 of the 100 - married with children
(5 children, but no mention of marriage)
2 of the 100 ended with a break-up (1 amicable, 1 acrimonious)
16 of the 100 ended with a relationship, but no marriage or children.
10 of the 100 were PWP's (i.e., no real relationship focus...just some kind of sexual encounter)

Random Slash Stories

13 - married/bonded
(9 - married with children, 1 mpreg, 8 adoption)
2 - children, with no mention of marriage
5 - ended with a break-up (3 amicable, 2 acrimonious)
68 - relationship, no marriage or children
14 - PWP

Slash Stories by Het Writers

15 - married/bonded
(3- married with children, both mpreg)
0 - children, no mention of marriage)
2 - break-up (amicable)
37 - relationship, no marriage or children
56 - PWP/other non-enduring encounter (33 pwp)

Het Stories by Slash Writers

12 - married/bonded
(1 - married with children, adoption)
6 - children, no marriage
6 - break-up, 3 amicable and 3 acrimonious
33 relationship, no marriage or children
43 PWP/other (35 other)

There were a lot of other differences - many that I didn't list - but I think one of the most interesting differences here is the extremely high number of het stories which end with tradition marriage scenarios (or with marriage and children) compared to the other three groups.

Sirius-ly Celibate? Sexuality and the Adults of HP
Actually, the person scheduled to lead this particular roundtable discussion wasn't able to attend, so the official program was cancelled. As one might imagine, however, we weren't all that willing to give up our opportunity to talk about sex, so we gathered twenty people or so and set up camp in the common room area of the vendor's room, with treewishes playing substitute moderator.

What is despised, God has chosen: Severus Snape as a divine instrument (logospilgrim, with the essay available here)
This wasn't on the official schedule, but instead was the featured paper during the lumos_snape lunch, and it was wonderful. Professor S. has a very interesting style, and no, I'm not referring to the robe-wearing and all that, which is obviously the first thing people notice, but rather her speaking style. She's extremely smart and insightful, but she's not at all aggressive or boisterous, yet the more softly she speaks, the more attentively people listen.

Also interesting is that while she's clearly a deeply spiritual person, those of us who aren't (and we are legion *g*) don't react badly to the spiritual thrust of her message. I know that I, at least, tend to have a rather strong knee-jerk reaction to anything that smacks of proselytizing, but I never feel that way when I listen to her speak.

Note: the second speaker, Savageland, had to cut short her presentation because she was rushing off to give a formal talk elsewhere. This was problematic, because the points she meant to raise about Snape and transgressions in Snape/Hermione fanfiction, weren't presented with enough context to hold the interest of most of the remaining listeners (I shall refrain from giving specifics about the mass exodus of slashers as the second talk was about to start. Ahem.). Also...was this talk identical to one at The Witching Hour? I seem to recall the same stories being used as examples, but I could be wrong.

I Solemnly Swear I Am Up To No Good: the Trickster Archetype in Harry Potter and Beyond (goseaward)
An interesting roundtable discussion, with the focus on the Weasley twins and the Marauders, layering their actions onto the various attributes associated with the Trickster tradition. (And may I just say that I think a U-shaped audience set-up in the room would have worked better than a circle?)

SATURDAY PANELS

Unbreakable Vows and Hiding Places: Canon and Fanon Influences in Snape/Draco fanfiction (femmequixotic, titti, geoviki, and goseaward)
Would I have woken up for this panel if two of the four panelists weren't my roomies? The world will never know (*g*) In the event, however, it was well worth waking up for...and sadly, I now have a Snape/Draco story idea. *sigh*

Teaching Obedience: Dumbledore as Starets to Snape (logospilgrim, with the essay available here)
Yes, it was the Professor S. show again - and another smart essay, this time one which placed Dumbledore so far into the spiritual master camp that he might almost be read as God. (Note: I've never known anyone to choose quotes so well as Professor S does, especially if "so well" means "that are able to make people weep." Both in this talk and the Friday lunch one (Velveteen Rabbit! Waaah!), people were sobbing all over the place...but in a good way.

The Half Blood Prince and the Pampered Little Prince (Dr Karen Kabarle)
Hmm. Some interesting thoughts, but the presentation didn't work for most of the audience members I spoke to, particularly the dismissal of Harry Potter, as if coming to a realization that Snape just might be a good guy meant one had to adopt his negative attitudes toward Harry. I hope this essay is part of the proceedings, because I'd like to read it again and see if there's a difference when read without Kabarle's too-folksy presenting style.

But It's Just Crack: The Role of "Crack" Fiction and Art in Subverting and Contributing to Fanon (emmagrant01, furiosity, geoviki, scarah2)
A fun and smart panel, in a too-small-for-its-popularity and too-cold room (I had to flee before the end because I was shivering). Lots of questions about how to define Crack and what purposes it serves in fandom...and some wonderful readings. Plus, scarah2's crack art (and speaking of which, I need a scanner, because S did a couple of hysterical pieces for me, including a 133t-speaking McGonagall).

Neither Here Nor There (Steve Vander Ark)
Vander Ark is, if you didn't know, the man responsible for the creation of The Harry Potter Lexicon, which is an absolutely invaluable resource for fiction/non-fiction writers in this fandom. The presentation covered a number of things (including the interesting point we're at now as fans, poised at the brink of the end of the series). Apart from Steve's unfortunate inability to recognize that Snape is 'teh seXXorz,' he's extremely knowledgable about the books and as enthusiastic as any human can be without having the word "SQUEEE!" tattooed on his head. This was the first chance I had to see him 'perform,' and I wasn't at all disappointed. Squeee!

lumos, con_reports

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