[HPFGU-OTChatter] A Thought or Two on Slash (long...)

[John Walton]

puddlemereunited at yahoo.co.uk wrote:

> the main characters have all exhibited indicators of heterosexuality. All the
> boys and men who react positively to the Veela and Fleur can be assumed to be
> heterosexual, as can the women who react indifferently.

To an extent, yes. It could be purely pheromonal, or magical -- i.e. anyone
with a Y chromosome could be affected. We simply don't know. Moreover, we
have the problem of a limited sample -- Arthur (married), Percy (with
girlfriend), Fred (with...Angelina), George (with...Katie), Ron (who "likes"
Hermione) and Harry (who likes Cho).

Let me nix the Yule Ball argument (which many people make) as well --
despite being gay, I usually attend balls with female friends. That doesn't
make me straight, any more than the fact that I enjoy Radio 4 does; neither
does the fact that many straight people enjoy So Graham Norton (or Queer As
Folk) make them gay. :D

> Of course, some percentage of the Hogwarts students would be gay, or
> bisexual.  

If it's the same proportion as the UK population in general, somewhere
between 1 in 10 and 1 in 8.

> But Slash stories would have you believe that every character who is popular
> is also gay, or willing to "go all gay" at least for a day or so.

I will ignore the whopping generalisation here about "Slash stories". Many
slash stories include characters who are unpopular in canon -- Draco,
Neville, Percy come to mind. Sure, there are some slash stories in which
everyone and their uncle turns out to be "gay for a day". Similarly, there
are stories where Hermione turns out to be a skanky whore, Neville turns
into a beefy Auror, Ron dies (yay!), Ginny has Harry's lovechild, Draco is
redeemed, and Lucius Malfoy plays in a band called "Lucius and the Death
Eaters". All these events are to a greater or lesser extent possibilites.

Thus is the crux of fanfiction. Fanfic offers the answer to the question
"What if...?". 

The beginning writers' fanfic usually asks cliched questions, and even if
the question is original, the execution of plot and characterisation is
lacking: What if an American Exchange Student came to Hogwarts and Harry
fell in love with her and so did Draco but they got mad when she got better
grades than them? What if Pansy professed her undying, bodice-ripping,
shirt-blowing-in-wind amour for Hermione? What if we saw an everyday view of
Gryffindor tower without any conflict or nastiness?

Intelligently-written fanfic asks questions like the following -- and plots
them out in answer: What if Draco and Harry Polyjuiced into each others'
bodies? What if Draco and Ginny fell in love? What if there was a reason
Harry was so powerful? What if Ginny were a Slayer? What if Harry were the
Dragon Reborn? What if the Great Pumpkin descended on Hogwarts?

What if Harry/Draco/Neville/Percy/Oliver/Hermione/Ginny were gay? How would
their friends react? Their teachers? Would they find it easy to come out of
the closet? Would they just stay in the Astronomy Tower and bonk until the
owls come home? All possibilities.

> This is as ridiculous as assuming that a gay man, if propositioned by a woman,
> would happily become intimate with her.

Are you categorically stating that this has *never* happened? Even to gay
men under the influence of alcohol? How about if he were stoned? Could it
never ever happen? See, it's not so clear-cut in the Muggle world...think
about throwing magic in there. What if Draco cast a love spell on Neville,
his secret love? How about if it were Hermione and Harry?

> This is hard to believe - it makes the world no more complex than the world of
> porn films, where people are compelled to copulate by the appearance of a
> stray earlobe.

This is a vast over-simplification IMO. Porn films are pure smut, yes...but
lack the "What if...?" factor to any extent more than "What if Dirk Hardslab
walked in on Bambi Bustiere and Kitten LaChatte making out on the sofa?"

> But I admit that one could easily make a case for a character being gay, and
> if this is dealt with sensitively I have absolutely no problem with it.

Me neither. Half of me hopes that JKR writes a gay character in just to say
"look, these people exist and are normal and won't warp your kids". The
other half of me hopes she won't, because the nutters who are trying to ban
the books would have a *field day* -- the first-most-requested-to-be-banned
book is about gay people. The second is HP. Combine those and you have a
real problem.

> It is only when characters are written in such a way as to be engines of
> pansexuality that I am disturbed, and more importantly bored.

In all honesty, PWPs and fluff bore me as well, unless they happen to be
amusing, cute, or involving Sean Biggerstaff and a bowl of whipped cream. :D

> Secondly, there is the problem of using characters just to fulfill
> sexual desires.  This is more of a problem in my eyes.  Consider this
> quote from a previous post to this group:
> 
> I think Justin's written as gay because we don't know what else to do
> with him...he's like Seamus, lovely decoration but rarely contributes
> to the plot.

Heidi's response to this is excellent; I was going to use PoU's Justin as an
example as well.

> This is what I dislike most in Slash: characters as "decoration", who
> serve the same purpose as scantily-clad women dancing around boxing
> rings.  One cannot make a case that such characterisations do
> anything to further character development, plot, or even add color to
> a work.  

Really? Surely they do add color -- fanfiction is creating what is basically
an alternate universe. To distinguish it from JKR's (if that is indeed one's
intent -- to write a "What if...?" fanfic) universe, we must make little
changes. If I were to include Remus Lupin with his boyfriend Andy in a fic,
how would Joe or Jane Reader react? How does it change their mental image of
Lupin and of my alternate world as a whole? Not all that much, really...but
if I want to show that my world holds being openly gay as acceptable, it's
an important step.

> They are there simply because someone has decided it would be "hot" to see
> them make out.  

What, truly, is wrong with that?

> This commits the double sin of being both distasteful and dull.

*For you.* You find it distasteful and dull. Others might not. Some people
might get a thrill out of it. Don't be so judgmental.

> As a young gay woman, I find it insulting to see characters forced to
> conform to a sexual preference so that they might titillate a
> reader/author.  

That's fine. As a young gay man, I don't. I also don't feel that titillation
is necessarily a part of all slash writing (or even most) -- the writer may
just be trying to explore feelings in hish own self using the medium of HP
characters.

> I wouldn't want Seamus and Cedric made gay any more than I would want to see
> two straight girls forced to engage in lesbianism to impress a man.

Again, let me remind you that we're in the realm of "What If...?". These are
fictional characters and nobody is going to

> I know bisexuality has become trendy lately in pop culture but I am sick of
> people who think "gay is cute".  It isn't; such an attitude is patronising and
> demeaning.

You're right -- if I were bisexual I would find that comment *incredibly*
insulting. In fact, there is an *excellent* passage in Snitch! which deals
with the negative view of bisexuality -- from both the straight (eww! Gay
people!) and gay (Greedy/can't choose/unwilling to choose/can't decide)
communities.

> Being a girl isn't cute, and neither is being gay.

Being Sean Biggerstaff is cute though. Oh yes. And surely writing characters
who have romantic involvement can be cute as well? You know...the giving of
chocolate, the giving of kisses, the giving of...ahem. Anyway.

> Making a character gay does not make using them as a sex object any more
> laudable.  NO MORE "DECORATIONS".

I don't really think anyone is arguing that gay characters are more
legitimate as sex objects than straight characters.

> Again, before I am accused of over-generalising, these complaints do not apply
> to all Slash stories.  But if you take a sampling of ten random Slash stories
> that you have not read before, you might see that more than half commit one or
> more of these crimes.

Why would I want to take a random sampling of slash stories? Why would I not
just get recommendations for slash stories from people whose opinions I know
and trust? For a start, try the fics mentioned in the file at
http://www.hpfgu.org.uk/shorthand -- then try the Bookmarks (it may be
called Links) section of the YahooGroups site
(http://www.hpfgu.org.uk/mainlist) -- or just hop over to the Portkey -- or
pop over to our friend lists HP_Paradise, or ParadigmOfUncertainty, or
HP_Psych, or HP_Fanfiction.

The FanFicFAQ is available in the Admin Files
(http://www.hpfgu.org.uk/admin) -- I don't know if it's up at the FAQ page
yet.

Hope this helps. I love most slash, but like you, PWP and fluff does little
for me. That doesn't mean I think it's inherently bad -- just that it
doesn't do much for *me*. So I avoid it and go for the stuff with great
characterisation, decent plot, witty dialogue...

--John

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"People see you sneaking out of my bedroom at 2am, they might get the wrong
idea."
"Thanks," said Harry, and took the cloak.
"On the other hand, it could only enhance my reputation as a major stud,"
added Draco cheerfully.
--Draco Veritas, Chapter 3, by Cassandra Claire, at www.fictionalley.org

John Walton -- john at walton.vu
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