SLASH/SHIP/FF: ships, slash FF in general, yaoi anime

[Alex Corvus]

No: HPFGUIDX 11723

Hey there,

I am indeed on FCA-L, so taking part of this conversation over there would
work. It could get increasingly OT. Although I see there has been some other
interest expressed here, and I do think it might have some bearing on HP
fanfiction - a couple months ago I was emailing another HP fan offlist about
what we saw as an anime/slash division in the way HP slash stories were
written, and Simon's also brought up the effect it has on HP fanart (Me:
"Who's that girl with Harry? Is that Fleur?" Heh.), so it might be somewhat
relevant. It's almost like two different literary traditions, and I'd be
interested to see other people's take on it and discuss what the roots of it
are. It'd be interesting to get a broader perspective too, though, and someone
on FCA-L might have something to add to the discussion. Parallel discussions,
perhaps, and pull away from it here if it gets too OT?

>>I do definitely recall a long, long discussion about yaoi vs. slash in
amla>>

amla?

I've never had a chance to really discuss yaoi vs. slash, and I'd love to do
it.

>>Actually, the fact that so many HP slash fans are also interested in yaoi is
in itself quite interesting. >>

You mention the Rice fans, as well, which I hadn't realized. Perhaps it's
something to do with being attracted to or used to working with written source
material instead of visual material like TV or movies? The literary sources
allow more of an individual visual interpretation.

What's surprised me is the *age* of the HP fanbase. It's much younger than any
other slash fandom I've seen . People who are interested in yaoi may also be
so common in HP because anime/manga has given them exposure to m/m at an age
when a lot of slashers had no idea that we weren't the only ones with these
strange inclinations. Looking back, I realized I slashed characters in my head
long before I knew what slash was, I just couldn't figure out why I was so
irritated with Jane coming between Will and Bran in The Dark Is Rising series.
I had no media tradition of same-sex relationships or concept of slash back
then to place my feelings in context.

Me:
>> holding down the Ron/Draco fort
>> (Harry? Who's that?)

little Alex:
>That's very interesting, 'cause Harry is, by far, my favorite character, but
>I do like the idea of Ron/Draco much better than Ron/Harry or the ship of my
>professed interest, Harry/Draco.

I have a tendency to develop what I've labeled my "Eh, to The Hero" complex,
and it spans fandoms and shows up in interesting ways in my preferred slash
pairings. It's not that I don't like The Hero, but I have a fascination for
supporting or secondary characters. And to pull this back on topic, I think in
some ways Draco and Ron could complement each other better than Draco and
Harry. I shouldn't have been surprised when my first HP story, which I'm in
the middle of writing, turned out to be R/D. I'm developing this dynamic
between them that makes Draco the external maintenance person - he protects
the relationship from outside threat, all his nastiness and snappishness gets
turned outward on people he sees as threatening their relationship or
belittling it in some way - and Ron is the internal maintenance person - he
protects the relationship from *Draco*, his innate stubbornness means that he
*holds on* and won't let go when Draco tries to push him away. There's also
Ron's insecurities, which I think could mesh well with what I see as a need to
possess from Draco. Ron ends up needing to belong to someone, and Draco is
fiercely protective of what he sees as belonging to him. It's taking forever
to write, because it's set post-Hogwarts, looking back, and that means I've
got to deal somehow with VWII, and I hate writing plot, but the relationship
itself is bound up in the fight against Voldemort.

Alexa


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