Comments | jerico_cacaw: Ever heard of 'smarm'?

jerico_cacaw

Ever heard of 'smarm'?

Jul 13, 2009 23:14

If you've never heard of the term 'smarm' (as used in fandom), then you might find the next essay interesting: The Origin, History, and Correct Definition and Use of the Fannish Term "Smarm". If you know all about it and/or have read the essay, well ... re-reading it won't hurt, will it :P? (ETA: please notice it was written many, many years ago ( Read more... )

random: meta & wank, recs: fanfic, fandom: ice age, fandom: ghostbusters, where: dw & lj

Comments 4

reijiro75 July 14 2009, 07:15:24 UTC

Thank you so much for the link to that essay. All this time I thought I was an angst-junkie, turns out I'm actually a smarm-junkie. :D

jerico_cacaw July 15 2009, 03:03:39 UTC

I identify with that warm feeling angst-heavy stories produce too :D. It is like, hurt/comfort taken to the extreme ...

topaz_eyes July 14 2009, 17:21:05 UTC

I think smarm is what we now call pre-slash, or possibly "strong friendship"? I was puzzled at this statement in the essay:

It doesn't matter if the characters hug, or kiss, or even touch each other in ways that can be construed as sexual, so long as the one factor of their intent remains unchanged, focussed outward rather than inward.

She seems to imply that authorial intent must always trump the reader's perception. When I read a shower scene involving 2 male friends, and the author lovingly describes how one washes the other's back, with all sorts of sensual detail--I call that a romantic scene. She seems to want to define smarm here as "romance without sex." Which, er, is IMHO still slash, because as I understand it, slash encompasses romantic as well as sexual relationships.

jerico_cacaw July 15 2009, 03:18:38 UTC

There was at least a post somewhere in the net (don't remember where exactly, must find it) about the wank, if I might call it that, the use of the 'smarm' term produced some time ago. As I alluded in my post, some fans used it as short-hand for 'my lovely favorite characters are not gay, not gay, not gay, no matter how much I like to read/write them sharing a shower/walking in the beach while talking about how they can't live without each other/nursing the other back to good health with some bed-sharing while nude scenes included/kissing but in a friendly way'Yes, friendship fics can be written with those elements ... but some of these stories (especially in The Sentinel fandom) were ridiculously obviously slash for all purposes except to certain fans. Thus, the 'smarm' term fell in disuse, and now is almost forgotten, as 'slash' became more popular ( ... )