*climbs on soapbox*

[magneticwave]

Okay, so I'm home alone today (minor food poisoning; might I recommend that none of you get the crispy honey chicken should you grace P.F. Chang's with your presence?) and taking a break from studying for the physics final I may or may not fail tomorrow, I go online and scan through

Comments

There's a lot on your mind

[lanternicity]

This reminds me of a really, really, really long conversation about incest from the old scans_daily. Alas, I would link to it, but it has been lost in the realms of the livejournal servers. Basically, people equated a balanced incestuous relationship between two consenting adults as hopelessly manipulative and damaging, with no possibility of something healthy. It seems unusual to think of any incestuous relationship as healthy, but stranger things have happened, I guess

Re: There's a lot on your mind

[magneticwave]

I agree with the don't-read-if-you-don't-want-squick philosophy, but I still think it's the sort of question that we should consider regardless.

As for the compromising--what I mean is, I've read fics and seen journals of fangirls who defend their devotion of slash pairings by saying that it's not real and it's horrible but they love it anyway. It's like saying homosexual relationships are rocky road ice cream--tolerable in small doses. But like I said, whole other can of worms. A can I'd like to run over with an eighteen-wheeler.

Holy long comment, batman. 0_0

[moirariordan]

Well, thank you for your kind words, first of all. Big time 'aww.' :)

Secondly, I think you have a very good point. There are those I know in fandom, or otherwise, that are all gung-ho about certain 'kinks' such as incest/slash/insert-weird-obsession-here in fandom, but then balk at them in real life. I think there's always going to be that aspect to it - it's not real, therefore it's okay to indulge since they're fictional characters, anyway. In the case of Justin/Alex - I was initially interested in the ship mostly because I found it interesting how Disney does nothing to dissuade the obvious chemistry between the two actors playing siblings. Just sayin' - if they really didn't want people writing fanfiction for a brother/sister couple, then they wouldn't focus the show around them AND let them be seen in public together all the time AND take promo photos with them hanging all over each other AND write weird episodes in which they do not act like siblings in any way, shape, or form. So in that sense, I don't really think of them as

Re: Holy long comment, batman. 0_0

[magneticwave]

For your first point--yeah, I can definitely see where you're coming from on that front. The episode that I saw was 'Justin's Little Sister,' and the fact that Alex wasn't entirely disturbed by being told by her parents that she and Justin would make a good couple kind of made me open my mind to the possibilities. Even then, though, I think if your fic wasn't the first one I read, I might've been turned off the pairing simply by virtue of the people who deal with the pairing as though it is any other relationship and completely ignore that yes, they are siblings and sometimes that poses a bit of a problem.

As for the separation between fiction and real life--here's where I get torn: on the one hand, I hate the fangirls who are homophobic in real life yet support slash pairings, but at the same time I cannot stand the total wankers who bosh on Justin/Alex in fic where it makes sense, or at least is a vital part of the narrative. I wonder if part of it is because I can understand people having moral concerns about incest but

part 2.

[moirariordan]

And yes, there are exceptions - those who just don't get it and write just to write shit. Twilight, for instance, isn't exactly packed full of deeper meaning. It is what it is, and I'm comfortable drawing creepy conclusions about its author because I have read it, and I know that there's nothing much to offer, past what's on the surface. Or Flowers in the Attic, your example - yeah, I wouldn't want to walk into her attic, wow. But on the whole, I think that most authors, who know who to write correctly and are writing for a larger purpose than to just churn out their teenaged fantasies to the public at large, are usually saying something a little deeper than 'hey, incest is dirty and hot

Re: part 2.

[magneticwave]

Exactly! THANK YOU. *points* That! Right there!

But on the whole, I think that most authors, who know who to write correctly and are writing for a larger purpose than to just churn out their teenaged fantasies to the public at large, are usually saying something a little deeper than 'hey, incest is dirty and hot.'

Okay, that was basically what I was driving towards. I find that fandom, and the numerous and varied opinions that come with it, is a hard beast to muddle through. But what's probably the hardest is people who are confident judging the morals of others via their writing (and often miss the point entirely).