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| | | Subject: As a point of contention
Posted Jul 16, 2006 by strongplacebo
| | Posting
1
 | | There's a lot in this article I find to be inaccurate. Be prepared: I have a lot to say 
A forewarning: I am a slasher. Yes, I am. Run! Hide from the sexual deviant!
First sentence, perfect, no disagreement here. Kinda went downhill though.
"an excuse to write torrid sex scenes featuring the unlikliest of pairings"
I respectfully disagree. NOT ALL FAN FICTION IS EXPLICIT. Even slash (which you seem to be mixed up on). Someone has already mentioned pre-slash (which is one of my personal favourite sub-genres) but even in a slashfic where the pairing is clearly defined, the characters don't have to have sex. Kissing is sexy. And isn't it better to choose for yourself what happened rather than have to go along with what the writer thinks anyway? Fan fic writers KNOW this. They know their readers (they're all readers themselves). We know what's happening, we don't need to be treated like idiots.
Even if the sex is mentioned, it isn't always described in intimate detail (obviously it is sometimes as you’ve mentioned, but you ignore everything else which isn’t as tacky as the few you’ve been so unfortunate as to come across)
I make no comment on the choices of "most prominent fandoms" purely because it's so obviously out of date. ff.net though? Really, you couldn't have found a better example of an archive? Since so many genres are under-represented and some not at all (since RPS got ousted). Also, just 'cause about 99% of what's on there isn't worth the bandwidth it took to load the page.
Most of my problems with the article lie with the definitions. So wrong, so many.
"intimate, graphic or outright pornographic relations between characters of opposite gender"
I think you do fan fiction a disservice by always leaning towards the sexual, even in the definition of het. Fan fiction is full of stories without sex. Especially in the case of the more socially acceptable hetfics, where maybe burning USTs never become RSTs, or blushing sosecret! first kisses are written by 12-year-old girls who have never been kissed. OMG they used TONGUE! That's so DIRTY!
"Mary Sues … are consequently popular for 'badfics'"
I am confused by this. It's my general belief that people don't write Mary Sues on purpose, and why would anyone want to write a badfic? Strangly unnecessary addendum to the Mary Sue definition.
"Soft core fan fiction (slash or gen) without pretence at story."
Um, I think the point of PWPs are that they're HARDCORE. If they're not, wouldn't they come under the header "fluff"?
"RP (Real People) Fic - A form of fanfic in which the author writes using real people - usually actors (actorfic) or other celebrities - as characters. Often considered a grotesque infringment of personal dignity, especially in the case of RPS (Real People Slash) or Actorslash, and an open invitation for the featured real people to sue the author for defamation of character."
This is where I have my biggest problem. Problems, really, since I have something to say about pretty much everything you've written here. I in no way consider RPS to be a "grotesque infringement of personal dignity". I think many fanfics can give the characters more dignity than they are afforded by their publicists, or sometimes even themselves. I'm going to use the example here of Orlando Bloom. General conception here (one I mostly share) is that he's pretty-but-dim. Fanfic authors make me see past that. They pull out the parts of him that aren't seen through his "um, you know, like" bumbling interviews, like the adoration he has for his father who did great things and died when Orlando was four. Or the strength and courage it took for him to walk out of hospital two weeks after breaking his back and being told he'd be paralysed for life. I think we give him more dignity than the average person on the street.
Or do you mean writing about him sodomising (or being sodomised by) his best mates? I think a few million gay men might not think that undignified. But I digress to your seeming homophobia. We're talking about sex. Sex is not dignified. Sex is grunting and sweating and on your back (or not) and weird noises and bizarres facial expressions and sticky, messy bodily fluids. Surely all sex is undignified, whether we're writing about it or not.
I'll come back to the "infringment" part later.
"especially in the case of RPS (Real People Slash)"
What the hell? Because it's two blokes? It happens; get over it. Why is it more offensive to read about two guys than a guy and a girl? I don’t see that at all.
"an open invitation for the featured real people to sue the author for defamation of character"
You're actually quite wrong about this. Because all RPS writers are aware that they're writing about real people, they include disclaimers, almost without exception. Disclaimers which say "this isn't real, I don't know these people, this never happened". This actually means that the law favours them over FPSers. Whatever you may say, you are always ALWAYS infringing on copyright. You can NEVER get around that. And while I've heard of FPSers getting Cease & Desist notices, I've never heard the same about RPS (am I wrong here?)
As another note, most stars of RPS fics are aware that they're being written about. They don't seem to care much. Compare Anne Rice and her ego-inflated views on fanfic to Elijah Wood, Serena McKellan and Karl Urban stating EXPLICITLY that they do not object to people writing fiction about them. I know the people in my fandom (which you may or may not have guessed by now is Lotrips) know about it, since they talk quite frequently on talk shows, at conventions etc about people giving them hardcore photo manipulations of themselves and other actors (something which I do think is crossing the line. They know it's there - they probably don't wanna see that stuff).
As far as "infringment" goes, I respectfully disagree. Actors are always acting; whenever we see them they are playing the part. Example (again from my fandom; it's what I know best) of Elijah Wood. Elijah Wood, when Lord of the Rings came out, was marketed as "child star makes good". His story in New Zealand was a coming-of-age, emphasised by magazine articles like this one (http://www.premiere.com/article.asp..._id=6&article_id=1378&page_number=9) in Premiere. Poor baby Elijah is in New Zealand, far from his home, with scary English guys who have this weird thing called "taking the piss" and Elijah-baby doesn't know what to make of them. And you think it's a coincidence that there are so many innocent!virgin!Elijah fics out there? I personally don't believe a word of it. I think he was out there getting plastered every weekend and sleeping with a different bird every night, like any other normal 19-year-old guy, but the "character" that we associate with Elijah Wood wouldn't do that.
When RPSers write, they write about the character the actor has chosen to portray themselves as. I don't see it as any different to writing about Frodo and Sam having contortionist monkey sex on the slopes of Mount Doom while lava flows down around them and eagles watch from a distance (except it's probably more realistic). The actors have given us permission to see the characters they present, but not themselves, and that's who we play with.
Moving on...
"Fan fiction incorporating intimate/sexual encounters between characters who do not have, and never have had, such a relationship in the canon material."
This is not a definition of slash, kthnx. It's a definition of non-canon fic of any variety. If I write about Legolas and Arwen getting it on, it's a fic about sexual encouters between characters who do not have, and never have had, such a relationship in the canon material, but it ain't slash (Arwen, she's got boobs).
Also, slash isn't exclusively by women. Some gay guys write it too.
Again, the description of "intimate/sexual encounters" and your claim that most slash is PWP severely undersells the genre. While it tells me you haven't dabbled much yourself, you could be putting others off, which is most ungenerous of you, sir.
As others have pointed out, your definition of gen fic is so wholly wrong, I can't even quote bits. It's just all wrong. Gen, while indeed short for "general" means NO PAIRING AT ALL. I think it only confuses you because you have your definitions mixed up somewhat.
"the purely sexual connotations of slash"
Shut up. No, really, it's annoying now. IT'S NOT ABOUT THE SEX. We want to see men forming a relationship and being intimate without women, usually the "sensitive" ones, being there to force them into it. It's our way of kidding ourselves that guys can be involved without us having to bludgeon them into it.
"fan fiction sex scenes are almost always excruciatingly painful to read...rarely either erotic or moving"
Again, I respectfully disagree. While it's true that a lot of fics are, as I once saw it aptly described, the author living out her own fantasies on paper, others are much more than that. Sex can tell you a lot about the relationship. People have sex all the time in real life, so if we want to write stories which are accurate and realistic, sex has to be a part of that.
Lastly, "Or indeed a/b/c/d/e/f/g/hatstand; slash fiction is not noted for its reserve."
Hahahahaha, this made me laugh only because I read a fic the other day which featured seven men all at the same time (physically impossible, I’m sure) and if the author could have got the hatstand in, I’m sure she would have. (See, I know not all slash is good!)
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| | | Subject: As a point of contention
Posted Jul 16, 2006 by strongplacebo
This is a reply to this Posting
| | Posting
3
 | | Yes, I realise it is rather tl; dr. Still, I read the original article despite the fact that it was written by someone whose views are so wildly different to my own, and some of his statements were bigoted and offensive.
But yes, I do think RPS is okay to read and write. I've read arguements for and against, but I still don't see that it's groteesque or evil. Some people don't see a problem with fictional 'cest fics, or chan (something not even mentioned in the original article - I feel sorry for the poor person who clicks on that link without having been forewarned). Different strokes for different folks.
Nice to know you think that one opinion invalidates everything else I say though.
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