Fanfics with slash & sex...I don't get it

[Meira B]

"bel" wrote -

>I'm also curious where you got the impression that I'm a guy. <grin>
(At least, I THINK that was the implication in number 3 above.)
Definitely female. Over 40, and happily accepting applications for
romance from any males age 21-60. No age discrimination here. <VBG>

"ER" wrote:
Hey, hope for us semi-oldies yet! Though I suspect the 61-year-olds
are feeling a bit down right now ...

Me:
Just for the record, I'm 22 yo. female.

"Heiditandy" wrote -

>Look, if we required warnings for books, so the reader didn't have
to risk seeing anything upsetting, would we have this for Goblet of
Fire?

>one scene takes place in graveyard, underage character is tied to
tombstone and subjected to bloodletting,

ER wrote:
Well, being tied to a gravestone is a whole lot better than being
super-glued or stapled to a gravestone. And, as I'm sure we all know,
the doctor always says "keep still and it won't hurt", so being
immobile is probably a good thing in this case. If I'd been MC-ing
the graveyard gig, I'd have used a Shatter Charm on his legs. That
would slow the little blighter down and make wand-duelling scenarios
a lot less likely. You can't fault JK's kindness.

Me:
But it is pretty horrible being tied to a tombstone. And in *that* 
particular scenario... *shudders*

>a spider is killed

ER wrote:
A common bathroom scenario, despite earnest female entreaties for
clemency. Would that it weren't, but they're the very devil to catch
(spiders that is).

Me:
No they aren't. The scene where Fake!Moody shows the class the Unforgivable 
curses, he shows how easy it is to kill. (granted, you must have some 
determination, or deeper understanding of death or something for it to work, 
cos if not, the most you'll be likely to do is cause a nosebleed) And I'd 
say that for someone who had a deep fear of spiders, seeing them skidding 
across the table at you must be somewhat unsettling.


>four characters are made unconscious and tied to a rock under a lake

ER wrote:
If one _has_ to be popped into a lake for an hour or so, being
unconscious is a jolly good state to be in. And if they hadn't been
tied to the rocks then, heavens, they might have gone a-bob-bob-
bobbing off to goodness knows where. Probably have bumped into the
giant squid or something equally horrid. Again, you see, JK is being
as merciful as possible.

Me:
If JKR was trying to be as merciful as possible, she wouldn't have killed 
off Cedric or Frank (the gardener), she would have written PoA in such a 
manner that they managed to bring Peter to Hogwarts and Sirius' innocence 
would have been acknowledged, the list runs on and on... She's just being 
realistic (as much as possible, taking into account the major theme of the 
books *g*).

>some alcoholic beverages mentioned and consumed (off page) by horses

WR wrote:
As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make
him drink. Little alternative therefore (coffee generally not
considered suitable for temperamental quadrupeds)

Me:
Well, the fumes of the Horses' concoction does manage to be hazardous when 
handling Blast-Ended Skrewts, because "they needed their wits about them" 
(don't remember if it's an exact quote or not, sorry)

ER wrote:
What is this nonsense leading up to?

Me:
IMO, this is leading up to making a point that every person might find 
something different to get offended by. Personally, I would be very offended 
if JKR would write the Slytherins (any of them) as smokers, or as addicted 
to drugs, or alcoholics. It just doesn't add up. Also, I'd be very offended 
if Millicent would turn up to be just another Crabbe and Goyle style bully. 
And another thing that would offend me is if Blaize turned out to be a girl. 
(there are many other things, but these are just my conceptions of the 
characters, and I would go on reading the series regardless, just cos I like 
it :)).

ER wrote:
My view is that one should warn about the things that are _likely_ to upset 
or offend the _majority_and, rightly or wrongly, quite a lot of people get 
upset by descriptions of homosexual sex. Thus IMHO it makes sense for slash 
stories to carry a prominent warning, but "normal" stories need not.

Me:
And what, pray, do you consider "normal"?
Most of the Slash stories I've read tactfully fade to black at crucial plot 
points, if you catch my drift. Sure, for the homophobes, such a warning 
would be suitable. And, as much as I enjoy a good slash fic, if I were in a 
mood to read a Het fic and would by accident open the link to a slash fic 
cos there are no warnings about the slashy contents, that would upset me a 
bit, but there *is* such a thing as a back button in most browsers... In 
order to never see any page ever again, all you have to do is just go to 
another site. Simple, huh?

ER:
Under age-sex may offend, so it too should be pointed out. Pairings
that parents would object to (teacher/pupil) should be trailed. Then
those that want to read such stories can read them and those that
don't can avoid them.

Me:
I agree. Warnings are in place, to avoid something that ickles you. Nothing 
wrong with that.

ER wrote:
I'd also go further and say that FanFics should follow the spirit of
the original story (it doesn't matter if it's not what would happen
in real-life, the story is the thing).

Me:
They were designed to be read by everyone, age notwithstanding.
A few weeks after GoF came out, I saw sitting in the back of the bus two 
soldiers (I'm in Israel), about 20 years old, methinks, reading the book. I 
happened to see them, and my heart filled with a warm, fuzzy feeling. If any 
adult asks my reccomendation of which book to read, I always point them to 
Harry Potter.

ER wrote:
JK's books are designed to be read by children and I think the "violence" is 
pantomime stuff.

Me:
No it isn't! The violence there is very real. People do get hurt, even the 
Good Guys, and they get hurt badly, and some of them even die. And the bad 
guys sometimes manage to get away without being properly punished. I'm sure 
that by the end of book 7, the good guys will have won, but for now, Peter 
walks away unscathed, to name one example.

ER wrote:
Maybe upsetting to very young children, but otherwise just part of a fairly 
gentle story. Cedric was killed (very cleanly and painlessly as far as the 
reader is concerned), but big deal. Who cared about him? If JK had given 
(say) Ron his ticket to the next-great-adventure the story
might be considered a little darker. But what did we know about
Cedric? What little we did know was (I suspect) popped into GoF just
to make him slightly less of a minor-character when he did get killed.

Me:
*gags, spluttering her tea all over the keyboard*
Excuse me??
"big deal"? "Who cared about him?"???
Maybe the "little we did know was ... popped into GoF just to make him 
slightly less of a minor-character when he did get killed" but he *did* get 
killed. And he was harmless. And his death was pointless and stupid. And 
ruthless.
Tell me, ER, when you read about that high cold voice saying "kill the 
spare", didn't you feel the itsy-bitiest tiny bit of goosebumps and chills 
up your spine? I stared at that particular passage for who-knows-how-long 
before I managed to go on reading. And the suddenness is just... so sudden.
If you feel "big-deal" and "who cares about him" in regards to Cedric, how 
do you feel about the Riddle's Gardener, Frank? was he insubstantial and 
meaningless too?

ER wrote:
I suspect many parents would like their children to go to a school
like Hogwarts.

Me:
No argument here. Would love to send the kids, when I have'em, to Hogwarts 
:). Would have loved to go to such a school too.

ER wrote:
The pupils are all very well behaved (pranks and high-spirits are not bad 
behaviour), they are polite to the teachers, flog dutifully through their 
homework (though it's obviously very interesting homework)

Me:
Maybe except History of Magic ;).

ER wrote:
and the teachers seem to take good care of their charges and push them 
academically. Even Snape tried his best to stop Harry falling off his broom 
(Snapettes may cheer now).

Me:
That's because of the whole life-debt thing...

ER wrote:
Board and lodgings seem more than adequate.

Me:
I totally agree on this one. The kids are respected as individuals. They are 
not treated like kids, like "clean your room, brush your teeth" parent-y 
behavior.

ER wrote:
There doesn't seem to be any sustained bullying - such contretemps as we see 
are mainly one-on-one and not sustained or grinding like real bullying.

Me:
We have no way of knowing that. What about the Marauders tormenting Snape? 
or Draco and his cronies tormenting Neville?
And Myrtle being laughed at for her glasses? Even the teachers are tormented 
(remember Quirrel being chased by a couple of snowballs specially enchanted 
by our favorite twins?). And don't forget Harry in the muggle school, being 
chased and bullied by Dudley and his gang, and the other kids never wanting 
to befriend Harry because they were scared to Dudley, whom everyone knew 
hated Harry?
As someone who has had a personal acquaintance with bullying, I would have 
been very surprised if the school that JKR described would have had none of 
that. Kids can be very cruel, y'know...


ER:
<a bit of snipping>
It's certainly got me hooked and I shall give a small cheer when Book-V 
turns up!

Me:
Me too! ;).
and when CoS turns up in VCR, and when the PoA movie premiers...
*waves the Ralph Fiennes for Lupin flag*

ER wrote:
Anyway, I think that HP FanFics that deviate markedly from this norm
should also carry a warning - "this ain't what you think it's going
to be"!

Me:
Well, if a slash story would have that warning, well....:
Name of story:...
Name of author:...
rating:...
Disclaimers:...
Warning the first: This is a slash story....
Warning the second (as suggested by ER): "this ain't what you think it's 
going to be"
I don't think it would work, would it? It would confuzzle people greatly. So 
is this a slash story or isn't it?

ER wrote:
I've no objection to people writing non-canon stuff,

Me:
Neither do I *g*.

ER wrote:
but I feel they ought to be polite enough to point it out.

Me:
Well, just the fact that it's *fanfic* makes it non-canon, doesn't it? No 
one but JKR can write exactly what JKR has in mind. Everything else is just 
personal interpretation, even TCTMNBN.

ER wrote:
In this, I suspect, I side with Diana et al, though I'm not going to let 
counter-practice stop me getting a good night's sleep :))

Me:
I never lost a good night's sleep.
errrmmmm....
or rather, the nights' sleep that have been lost were due to staying up all 
night mesmerised, reading the fic till the wee hours of the night, cos I 
just *had* to figure out what happens next, and not because of how upsetting 
the fic was ;)

Meira (Who had a very funny dream concerning the last word of the 7th book, 
that JKR said was "scar". I kept reading and re-reading thos last few 
paragraphs, right now I don't remember much the words, but the one thing I 
*do* remember is the sense that I got that JKR has managed to pair off Harry 
with Neville, and I kept going "Neville??? and Harry???" But now I'm 
determined to write a fic exploring that particular ship *g*)

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