Slash. There's something for everyone!

[brown_betty]

Various breeds of slash which I'm searching for a terminology for. (Someone else has probably already had this discussion, so if someone can link me to it?) I'm not suggesting that any of these are superior to any other. I don't mean to suggest anything need hew to only one of these categories. I enjoy all of these types, and don't think any of

Comments

[brown_betty]

Certainly it's the least dependent on a textual interpretation. I think it's… something that could only arise within the context of a community.

[ratcreature]

Hm, the first I've usually seen called buddy slash, the second is partly enemy slash, though in our list are non-enemies as well. Is that what you mean?

[brown_betty]

I guess? I think I was looking less at their role in the story, and more at the chemistry… something. Bah. This is what happens when I try to organize my thoughts neatly.

[alixtii]

Hmm. I'm not sure that the homoeroticism which has been inserted into literary texts since time immemorable is truly that frequently a case of implicit homosexuality. I think most relationships are slashy without being gay. Of course, that depends on which source text we're discussing--I'm not familiar with the ones you cite, so I'm perfectly willing to grant that the clues might be so obvious as to render any other reading perverse--and decisions as to which reading represents the least hyothesis interpretation of the source text never end with a clear winner

[brown_betty]

You'll just have to take it on faith that The Sentinel is indeed so gay as to stun an ox at fifty paces. I've probably phrased the argument badly, though, since I myself don't subscribe to it. I didn't mean that the producers/directors/writers/actors were intending it be read that way, (although in the case of the Sentinel? Some were.) It's often said that television shows depict relationships where, if one member were female, they would be assumed to be involved. This is more or less what I was attempting, in my own feeble way, to refer to.

[alixtii]

Well, I'm perfectly willing to believe that the writers without realizing it could have incorporated evidence pointing to a gay relationship, and I'm willing to believe that The Sentinel is such a show. A lot of times when writers do do things on purpose, furthermore, they only insert what I would call slashiness--that is homoerotic subtext--and not evidence that a homosexual relationship is sekritly canon.

Part of the problem is that only fans and fundamentalists approach a source text as a body of evidence about the state of a possible world. From a more aesthetic approach, Ockham's Razor simply doesn't apply.

[brown_betty]

I don't think there is such a thing as secret canon… I'm a little turned about and not sure where you're going with this. My point was about as deep as “they sure look damn gay,” and I'm afraid it wasn't mean to withstand rigorous enquiry.