My Fandom is All Genres
I don't have much to say about the current slash appropriation brouhaha going on at metafandom. Oh I have thoughts on it. But I'm not a slasher or a gay man so I have no bone in that one so my thoughts are largely irrelevant.
But the topic has spawned a few tangential posts that have caught my interest. This post by miera_c got some wheels turning. Then this one by the ever-sensible rahirah kinda crystallized my thoughts.
Let me roll some disclaimers here:
1. I'm a queer woman. *flashes cred*
2. I don't consider myself a slasher, though I have written slash (though with characters who have ambiguous sexuality in the canon). I write first and foremost for the canon, not for a genre. I've written het, gen, femslash, and male slash. I've often found the practice of identifying oneself by the genre one writes to be odd. I consider myself a Buffy fic writer. I write about the series, Buffy. I explore the canon, the characters, the relationships through fic. This fic will cover various genres and pairings (though my OTP is het).
3. I suppose the closest I've come to being a "slasher" is with my completely non-canon femslash series about Willow/Cordy. But again, that's me having fun and exploring canon through the femslash genre. I just happen to be doing it with a very unconventional couple.
4. I've read a lot about slash. Mainly because I keep up with metafandom and they have a heavy focus on slash. I also read some slash (though not a large amount) and, again, have written some (mainly Spike/Andrew).
Okay, I think that establishes where I'm coming from. I have a lot of thoughts rolling around and I'm not sure how best to present them. Let's start with...
Women
Specifically, female characters. I love them. I love to watch them. I love to read about them. I love to write them. I get bored easily with men doing all the fun stuff. I don't watch much TV because men tend to do all the fun stuff. So I stick to canons that give me rich and interesting female characters.
I've read some theories about "why we ('we' meaning 'slash fandom') slash" that have to do with the lack of interesting female characters and how slashers will subvert the paradigm by pairing together two men.
I'm not sure how this solves the problem of lacking interesting female characters. I honestly don't. It seems to me that it would be a whole lot more feminist and transgressive to grab those 2-dimensional female characters and give them life in fic. Give them histories and exciting stories. Quirky traits. Make them people the way they aren't in the actual show.
Here in the BtVS fandom, the First Slayer is a fairly flat character. Hell, you could argue that she falls under the "Magic Negro" category. stormwreath took her character and gave her a history in Hiywan's Story. Gave her a name and a voice and a family and friends and dreams and hopes and worries and all the stuff that makes people people.
I know BtVS is far and above better than most shows in regards to female characters. That's why I watch it. I know that the big fandoms right now apparently don't have as awesome female characters as BtVS (Guessing based on what I've read. I don't watch them). Why not take the characters that are in those shows and make them awesome? Instead of focusing on the men...as has happened throughout history.
How transgressive would that be? Us saying, "We don't need the men. We're gonna take these little scraps you're giving us and we're gonna make them awesome women."
It'd be a pretty clear message: This is how you write female characters.
Instead of the message that seems to come from slash which is: It's okay if you can't/won't give us awesome female characters. We'll make do with the men.
Right, but this is also about relationships. Which brings me to my next thought...
Heteronormativity
Another reason I see as to "why slashers slash" is that the het relationships are too traditional and boring and slash relationships introduce a different, more equal dynamic.
Fair enough. But...het relationships don't have to be traditional, you know.
My OTP is Spike/Buffy. Love them or hate them, it's hard to deny that they aren't in the least traditional or heteronormative. When I write about them, I'm exploring one hell of a complex and subversive relationship. When I read about them, I'm reading about a relationship that I can't get anywhere else outside of fandom.
Course, again, this is with a canon that helps a lot. Buffy/Spike in canon is very non-traditional.
But we're fandom. Why not make a het couple subversive? That's what we do, right?
I wrote a Warren/Faith drabble once. Warren in the series is a geeky misogynist and Faith is a sexually adventurous Slayer. The drabble is from Warren's POV and totally turns his misogyny on its head.
Is it het? Yep. Is it boring and traditional? I'd say no.
Is there a lot of het out there that does follow those old tropes and fits the characters into icky gender roles and such? Of course. There's bad het. There's bad slash. There's bad gen. There's bad femslash.
But I've read plenty of het in this fandom and in my previous fandoms that broke the mold. That took the characters and made them buck the trends.
It doesn't have to be slash to be subversive or transgressive. Het writers are subverting up the wazoo. And making a het relationship transgressive can be an interesting challenge depending on what couple you're working with. Plus, we get to keep those female characters in the picture, and I'm all for more visibility for them.
Femslash and gen have the same opportunities for subversion and transgression. And they're often more forgotten than het. Yet gen is often the best way to explore the canon. And femslash? Well, if one female character is cool, then two female characters is awesome.
Wrap it up!
Okay, okay. I'm just spilling out thoughts here about how awesome the non-slash parts of fandom can be. I don't feel that gets recognized very much.
I'm not saying: Stop writing slash or that slash is bad or that slashers are icky poopy-heads or anything of the like. I'm not interested in regulating other people's writing habits. I'm just throwing out some food for thought. Things that have made me think.
I have such a love for my little corner of fandom. My corner which encompasses het and gen and slash and femslash. My corner which transgresses and produces such interesting works the likes of which I'd never find out in the mainstream. I believe you don't have to be "a slasher" to be unconventional.
In fact, I think that there are a lot of opportunities in other genres to explore and break boundaries in different ways. If I had a spare few hours, I'd try to list all the non-slash fics I love so I can point out how subversive they are.
But I don't have to do that, because they're widely available and easy to find. They're labeled het or gen or femslash or multi or "other". And they're brilliant. Equally as brilliant as what you might find in the slash genre.
And...I'm done. :)
But the topic has spawned a few tangential posts that have caught my interest. This post by miera_c got some wheels turning. Then this one by the ever-sensible rahirah kinda crystallized my thoughts.
Let me roll some disclaimers here:
1. I'm a queer woman. *flashes cred*
2. I don't consider myself a slasher, though I have written slash (though with characters who have ambiguous sexuality in the canon). I write first and foremost for the canon, not for a genre. I've written het, gen, femslash, and male slash. I've often found the practice of identifying oneself by the genre one writes to be odd. I consider myself a Buffy fic writer. I write about the series, Buffy. I explore the canon, the characters, the relationships through fic. This fic will cover various genres and pairings (though my OTP is het).
3. I suppose the closest I've come to being a "slasher" is with my completely non-canon femslash series about Willow/Cordy. But again, that's me having fun and exploring canon through the femslash genre. I just happen to be doing it with a very unconventional couple.
4. I've read a lot about slash. Mainly because I keep up with metafandom and they have a heavy focus on slash. I also read some slash (though not a large amount) and, again, have written some (mainly Spike/Andrew).
Okay, I think that establishes where I'm coming from. I have a lot of thoughts rolling around and I'm not sure how best to present them. Let's start with...
Women
Specifically, female characters. I love them. I love to watch them. I love to read about them. I love to write them. I get bored easily with men doing all the fun stuff. I don't watch much TV because men tend to do all the fun stuff. So I stick to canons that give me rich and interesting female characters.
I've read some theories about "why we ('we' meaning 'slash fandom') slash" that have to do with the lack of interesting female characters and how slashers will subvert the paradigm by pairing together two men.
I'm not sure how this solves the problem of lacking interesting female characters. I honestly don't. It seems to me that it would be a whole lot more feminist and transgressive to grab those 2-dimensional female characters and give them life in fic. Give them histories and exciting stories. Quirky traits. Make them people the way they aren't in the actual show.
Here in the BtVS fandom, the First Slayer is a fairly flat character. Hell, you could argue that she falls under the "Magic Negro" category. stormwreath took her character and gave her a history in Hiywan's Story. Gave her a name and a voice and a family and friends and dreams and hopes and worries and all the stuff that makes people people.
I know BtVS is far and above better than most shows in regards to female characters. That's why I watch it. I know that the big fandoms right now apparently don't have as awesome female characters as BtVS (Guessing based on what I've read. I don't watch them). Why not take the characters that are in those shows and make them awesome? Instead of focusing on the men...as has happened throughout history.
How transgressive would that be? Us saying, "We don't need the men. We're gonna take these little scraps you're giving us and we're gonna make them awesome women."
It'd be a pretty clear message: This is how you write female characters.
Instead of the message that seems to come from slash which is: It's okay if you can't/won't give us awesome female characters. We'll make do with the men.
Right, but this is also about relationships. Which brings me to my next thought...
Heteronormativity
Another reason I see as to "why slashers slash" is that the het relationships are too traditional and boring and slash relationships introduce a different, more equal dynamic.
Fair enough. But...het relationships don't have to be traditional, you know.
My OTP is Spike/Buffy. Love them or hate them, it's hard to deny that they aren't in the least traditional or heteronormative. When I write about them, I'm exploring one hell of a complex and subversive relationship. When I read about them, I'm reading about a relationship that I can't get anywhere else outside of fandom.
Course, again, this is with a canon that helps a lot. Buffy/Spike in canon is very non-traditional.
But we're fandom. Why not make a het couple subversive? That's what we do, right?
I wrote a Warren/Faith drabble once. Warren in the series is a geeky misogynist and Faith is a sexually adventurous Slayer. The drabble is from Warren's POV and totally turns his misogyny on its head.
Is it het? Yep. Is it boring and traditional? I'd say no.
Is there a lot of het out there that does follow those old tropes and fits the characters into icky gender roles and such? Of course. There's bad het. There's bad slash. There's bad gen. There's bad femslash.
But I've read plenty of het in this fandom and in my previous fandoms that broke the mold. That took the characters and made them buck the trends.
It doesn't have to be slash to be subversive or transgressive. Het writers are subverting up the wazoo. And making a het relationship transgressive can be an interesting challenge depending on what couple you're working with. Plus, we get to keep those female characters in the picture, and I'm all for more visibility for them.
Femslash and gen have the same opportunities for subversion and transgression. And they're often more forgotten than het. Yet gen is often the best way to explore the canon. And femslash? Well, if one female character is cool, then two female characters is awesome.
Wrap it up!
Okay, okay. I'm just spilling out thoughts here about how awesome the non-slash parts of fandom can be. I don't feel that gets recognized very much.
I'm not saying: Stop writing slash or that slash is bad or that slashers are icky poopy-heads or anything of the like. I'm not interested in regulating other people's writing habits. I'm just throwing out some food for thought. Things that have made me think.
I have such a love for my little corner of fandom. My corner which encompasses het and gen and slash and femslash. My corner which transgresses and produces such interesting works the likes of which I'd never find out in the mainstream. I believe you don't have to be "a slasher" to be unconventional.
In fact, I think that there are a lot of opportunities in other genres to explore and break boundaries in different ways. If I had a spare few hours, I'd try to list all the non-slash fics I love so I can point out how subversive they are.
But I don't have to do that, because they're widely available and easy to find. They're labeled het or gen or femslash or multi or "other". And they're brilliant. Equally as brilliant as what you might find in the slash genre.
And...I'm done. :)