Slash and Fanfic (was: Responses to assaults on my parenting)

[gwendolyngrace <gwendolyngrace@yahoo.com>]

Hi, all.

I've been following this discussion of the past several days with 
interest. I posted once, and almost posted again recently, but waited 
as the conversation moved into new depths of strangeness. So forgive 
me if this gets long; I've saved up a bunch to say.

First of all, as I understand it, this started out as one of those 
perennial "Why do people write slash?" conversations we have all the 
time over at FictionAlley. Again, in case you didn't know, I am one 
of the moderators of the slash boards there, and we have at least one 
of these threads going there all the time.

We'll probably never completely resolve why people see slash context 
or choose to write it--at least, never definitively, and never to the 
satisfaction of every person either asking or answering the question. 
The fact is, there are too many different reasons to number. Even the 
slashers cannot agree on why they enjoy it.

But from there, the conversation here on OT chatter took on a 
decidedly different context. Somewhere folks got to talking about 
warning and rating and keeping it away from kids and protecting the 
pristine images they have of the kids in the books.

Well, I have a few questions.

1. If you truly fear that exposure to others' interpretations of 
their HP will sully the image you have of your HP, then why are you 
even reading fanfic? Why are you here on any of the HPFGU lists? 

When I choose to write a fanfic, I'm not forcing you to accept my 
view; I'm sharing it with you. The same could be said for the 
creative teams who worked on the film versions of books one and two--
they are NOT the same as the books, but they are an opportunity to 
see what many *other* people see in the books. There are lots of 
people on the HPFGU group of lists who feel that exposure to the 
films would have too great an impact on their internal pictures--so 
they didn't go see it. 

It seems to me that if your idea of who and what the characters are 
is that fragile, fanfic is not for you.

When I read a work of fanfiction, I am entering someone else's idea 
of that world. It doesn't matter if that vision concerns what 
happened to Draco when he woke up after being hexed on the Hogwarts 
Express, or whether it's where Remus spent his 12 years between 
Voldemort's fall and coming to teach at Hogwarts. As a reader, I'm 
looking for *someone else's* ideas--not my own.

Now, as a writer, it's my job to present my own ideas in such a way 
as to *share* with my readership what I think. But I do it through 
fanfiction in such a way as to suck my readers in to my plot, and I 
hope that I don't get anything to glaringly "wrong" as to turn them 
right off. 

The trouble is, that's a different something for everyone. For 
example, I was doing fine with Barb's "Psychic Serpent" for about 3 
or 4 chapters - then Snape showed up in a pith helmet. I suppose I 
could have forced myself to go along with it for a bit--and I know 
from talking about Barb's fic exactly *why* he's wearing it--but it 
was too OOC for me, and I couldn't continue.

So, if you're reading along and suddenly, someone shows up and 
behaves in what--for you--is an uncanonical way, you, too can use the 
backbutton. 

Am I scarred for life because I saw Snape in my mind wearing safari 
gear? Hardly. Do I appreciate Barb's success less because I disagree 
with her characterization of Snape? No. It's simply not my Snape. But 
it has nothing to do with whether Snape is gay or not, whether he's 
in love with Lily or not. I've read some extremely good Lily-love 
Snape stories, and while I disagree with them, I still acknowledge 
that they're good stories. I've read and written Snape as gay and 
Snape as straight--actually, I think he's unlikely to feel 
romantically toward anyone, but it doesn't matter to me if the 
characterization is still sufficiently Snape-like and substantiated 
by the plot.

So this leads me to question 2:

2. Why is the *orientation* of the characters such a sticking point 
for some people? If nothing else were "altered" except the 
orientation of a character, why should that make a difference? 

Let's say your favourite character is Fred. You love Fred and you 
think he's just gnarly. He makes you laugh, and your big anxiety in 
Order of the Phoenix is whether he and George will be able to make a 
go of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, now that Harry has bankrolled them.

Okay. You love Fred. And let's say that in your vision of HP, Fred 
and Angelina are completely batty over one another. The whole "Wanna 
go to the ball with me?" "Oh, all right, then" exchange in GoF just 
sealed it for you: they've been secretly dating for years.

No problem. But say you open a fic and start reading, and in the very 
first scene, Fred and Angelina have a ripping fight, he storms out, 
gets drunk, and admits, sobbing, to George that things 'never felt 
quite right' with Angelina, anyway.

Well, you might be tempted to put the fic down because the author has 
violated your SHIP. But, for the sake of argument, let's say you're 
not as virulent about SHIPs as some, and you're willing to accept 
that maybe the author has a point: Fred and Angelina have never 
seemed more than convivial, so maybe it's not twoo wuv.

You keep reading. You note as you read that the author is doing a 
really excellent job of keeping Fred otherwise in character. He 
speaks like JKR's Fred; he makes jokes like JKR's Fred; in short, you 
can't really find anything (other than his break-up with Angelina) to 
complain about *in his characterization.*

Then comes the scene where Fred, still doubting his feelings, meets a 
handsome and engaging young man--for the sake of not tarnishing 
anyone else's reputation at the moment, we'll say he's a Hogwarts 
alumnus whom we've never met. (Those of you who would hit the "back" 
button because of an Original Character, bear with me.) They share a 
pint or two, start talking, and really have a great time. 

Our OC, we'll call him Quentin, gets his cloak and says something 
like, "This was great fun. Perhaps we could go out again some time." 
Fred agrees--thinking at this time, that he's found a new chum--and 
not realizing that Quentin thinks it's more.

Well, you can tell where this is going. But here's the meat of the 
question: If you love Fred as a character, and if you feel that the 
author is doing an (otherwise) perfect job of portraying his 
character, *why* should 'changing' his orientation be such an 
unforgivable sin?

He's still Fred. He's still the same character you love in the books--
assuming, as I am doing, that the author has not made one 
other "error" in her characterization. Why should "suddenly" making 
him gay (or possibly bi) make such a difference to your opinion?

Are you telling me, are you honestly telling me, that you would love 
these characters *less* if they turned out to be gay?

I'm still firmly in agreement that people have the right to read what 
they like as well as the right to not read what they don't like. And 
not liking slash--well, no, that doesn't make you a homophobe. 

But basing your entire decision about whether a character you would 
otherwise love to read about is as likeable just because of the 
author's choice of said character's orientation? Tsk.

I can see it if the author makes the mistake of showing a sudden 
change in demeanour for the character. That is, if Fred were to all 
of a sudden start lisping, or change his walk so that it could be 
described as "mincing" or otherwise turn into a caricature and no 
longer be "Fred." But if the author otherwise preserves the 
character's integrity--why is his orientation the thing you choose to 
fixate on--the thing you are "disgusted" by?

And why on earth would that one change damage your impression of the 
character? 

Again, look at question one: If your impression of canon is so 
fragile that the barest reference to an image of a character that is 
unlike yours would cause irreparable damage, why are you reading any 
fanfic at all? If even a glimpse of the *summary* would tarnish your 
images, then how do you go about picking *any* fic to read without 
risking your mental pictures?


--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Diana <dianasdolls at y...>" 
<dianasdolls at y...> wrote:

> My suggestion was to just sort the stories into gay and het then 
> sort further by pairings and then by explicitness.  Or do it in 
> reverse - whatever works.  

I agree (as do we all at FA) that people should be able to refine 
their searches by several criteria. However, I just want to say here 
that your suggestion strikes me as using a form of "separate-but-
equal" logic that makes me extremely uncomfortable. Orientation is 
not for me, nor has it ever been, a major "sort" category when I deal 
with people--why should it be one for fics? 

I guess I'm still not understanding exactly what you're afraid of 
seeing.

If I sort by primary pairing, as Heidi mentioned, I'm naturally going 
to generate a list that will already tell me whether that pairing is 
het or slash. I'm not sure why you'd need more information--unless, 
as Heidi was trying to find out, you're looking to avoid all mention 
of any homosexual ever, anywhere. And that is simply unlikely to 
happen.

In today's New York Times, there's an article about the closing of a 
major gay bookstore. One of the reasons cited is that increasingly, 
consumers can find what they're looking for online or through the 
major booksellers like Barnes or Borders. Op Ed writer Bruce Bawer 
says this:

"The line between gay and mainstream fiction is blurring. 
Heterosexual writers no longer omit gay characters from their 
universes; authors formerly categorized as gay writers are now 
reaching mainstream readers....And that's not a terrible thing."

Hallelujah.


Diana also said of authors who don't summarize "responsibly":
 
> Some even feel, as I mentioned above, they are doing 
> any "bigoted, gay-bashing, prudes" who accidentally stumbles across 
> their fanfic a favor by opening up their "little close-minded 
> worlds."  This is very wrong because their assumptions are based on 
> their own predjudices against others and only harms acceptance and 
> understanding of others' differences, not create it. 
>  

Well, over on the slash boards, there's a thread called, "How old 
were you when you read your first slash fic?"

Many of the responses cite an encounter at around age 13 or 14. But 
you'd be amazed how many of them say things like, "I didn't 
understand it then," or "I didn't get it," or "I said, Bleah" and 
then go on to say, "but then I tried another one and I liked that 
one" or "but I came back to a different story a couple years later 
and now I'm a slasher!" or "but then I saw the movie and..." or 
similar sentiments. Essentially, these kids are saying that they were 
bigoted, gay-bashing prudes when they first encountered slash, and 
that they credit reading more slash with opening up their closed-
minded little worlds....

Um. If the fans themselves believe that reading slash fics can change 
how tolerant one is toward homosexuality, then who are we to 
contradict them?

Again, hallelujah.


> 
> What I actually found was blurbs written in such a way as to be 
> quite memorable [so you'd want to read the story, obviously] and 
> they were able to bring forth instantaneous unwelcome images.  

Such as....? I've read many a summary with a "distasteful" image, but 
they generally were neither indelible nor sexual in nature. 

I've seen, "Lucius and his pimp cane" mentioned.
I've seen "rent-boy Draco" or similar.
I've seen "pretty-boy Remus" and other such.
I've seen "Slut!Ginny" and so on.

The thing is, these don't necessarily tell you anything other 
than "If this makes you feel queasy, then for heaven's sake, stay 
away." It isn't a full description--but it is the clearest warning 
post you're going to get.

There are many Draco/Ginny fics, for example, in which Ginny acts 
like a complete whore. But sorting the fics by rating "R", 
pairing "Draco/Ginny," and orientation "Het" isn't going to save you 
from seeing that summary in among the others.

If you were looking at FA's blog, what you're seeing are the latest 
uploaded chapters. They're colour-coded by house, so a title in gold 
would tell you straight off the fic is a parody or humour fic. A fic 
in red is a romance--so if it mentions "Draco and Harry" your odds 
are that it's about the two of them in some sort of romantic 
situation.


Now, Slut!Ginny does happen to make my stomach queasy. I just don't 
think she'd suddenly turn all sexpot on us. But neither does it fill 
my head with an unclean, foul-looking image of the Ginster that I 
feel would taint my impressions of her every time I read the scene 
where she stumbles down to the breakfast table in her nightgown, eeps 
in surprise to see Harry, and runs back out. If anything, the image 
is so incompatible with what I think to be the case that I simply 
don't connect them.

So again, I ask:

1. If you truly fear that exposure to others' interpretations of 
their HP will sully the image you have of your HP, then why are you 
even reading fanfic? 

2. If nothing else were "altered" except the orientation of a 
character, why should that make such a difference? Are you telling 
me, are you honestly telling me, that you would love these characters 
*less* if they turned out to be gay?


Gwen