| ![[info - personal]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) schmevil was saying how remixing and plagiarizing are not at all the same thing, and that "in a fannish context, there can only good flows from being remixed. It's possible to compare unfavourably with the new, transformative work, but it's still going to drive new readers your way."
We got to talking about what a shame it is that people feel this social pressure to keep their fannish influences secret, and how there ought to be a meme. I feel strongly that cross-pollination between writers will produce fic of a higher quality. We're all inspired by what we read, sometimes we lift something but use it in a new context, sometimes we like something enough to expand on it, sometimes we realize we actually have an opinion about something when we come across something we disagree with. And when we get a fanwork out of that inspiration, we're probably grateful to the other fans who inspired us. This meme is your chance to let others know they've been an inspiration to you!
I hope that we can create an atmosphere of shared fun and pleasure in creating, and realize that remixing fanworks is an homage just as remixing canon is.
( Meme: Fannish influences on my fic -
Pick a fic you've written, and explain how other fanworks inspired you. )
And I think that's it! Those were the fannish inspirations for my fic.
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| Dear slash fans who consider yourselves allies:
Queer people are distinguished from straight and cis people by our sexuality and/or gender vs. sex. Queer people are not defined by our sexuality and/or gender vs. sex.
As a shipper, I would not enjoy having a pairing I ship, be it het or slash, made canon, because I feel it takes the fun out of looking for subtext, and makes writing canon-compliant fic more difficult, since fic is written in the holes canon doesn't cover. That doesn't mean I don't very much enjoy canon pairings as well, both heterosexual and gay. I was happy when Willow/Tara and Veronica/Logan became canon, and was very entertained by their love stories as a viewer. I don't begrudge you your Jack/Ianto ship, just because I personally am not interested in reading or writing fic about canon pairings.
As a queer, I am hurt and upset that fellow fans who call themselves allies do not understand that it's not about our sex lives or genitals, and representation of us does not equal storylines about love or sex! I am not saying I prefer de-sexed characters like Will from "Will & Grace", I'm saying I prefer queer characters to be written like actual people with actual people motivations and interests, just like straight and cis characters ideally are!
I am cis gendered myself, and don't tend to look very hard for representation of gender queers. My interest in differently gendered or sexed characters is mostly from the exploitative, porn reading side of the fence, so I don't have any recs for you of shows doing it right.
But I can recommend a show which does butch woman right: Glee. I am butch myself (I am exactly as masculine as the completely average man according to the BBC sex id), and I love how Sue is written and acted. I don't know if she's a cis woman who's had a hysterectomy, a mtf trans woman or if she's intersexed, but I do know that she is an awesome, butch woman who is not vilified or mocked for being butch, and whose butchness is not a plot device.
A movie which does gay/bi man right is Blades of Glory. Coach's sexual orientation is completely irrelevant to the plot, and not exploited in any way. He's just an awesome skating coach. And a minor character >_<
I'm trying to think of a TV show I have a fannish interest in which does gay/bi man or woman right, and I can't think of any which didn't either sexually exploit, mock/vilify or problematize homo/bisexuality (we all get VD, we're all exposed to constant gay bashing, we're all sluts who'll die alone because we don't understand true love/partnership, we'll die young, we struggle with shame and self-loathing, etc.) in a crypto-homophobic way. I'm left looking for coded gay/bi characters, who pass for straight in the eyes of the straight viewers. I'm glad the coded gay/bi characters are there (and I'm fucking tired of straight people telling me they aren't), but I'd really, really like for my people to be openly represented on the fiction shows I watch.
In the future, please continue trying to be our allies. I like having you on our side. Try to separate your interest in slash from your demand for equal civil rights and an end to queerphobia. Don't ever, ever say that you don't want a character to be canonically gay/bi/trans if they aren't sexually appealing to you. Don't pretend like gay/bi women don't exist if you're a straight female fan of M/M slash, or like gay/bi men don't exist if you're a straight male fan of F/F slash. Consider carefully if you're writing/reccing a fic with a bi character, or a fic with a straight character whose true and pure love transcends gender in one very special case, but certainly isn't one of those sinful, dirty, icky homosexuals (we're-not-gay-we-just-love-each-other fic). Don't pretend like gender queer people don't exist, or are evil/wrong if they're not gay/bi, or aren't "real" women or men.
In conclusion: real queer people are not like your fictional fap fantasies. Please stop trying to squeeze us into that mold, or punishing us for not fitting in that mold. Please stop thinking that you are in any way helping queers when you campaign for more fan-service. Stop pretending that slash fic is the same as queer fic; some slash fic is also queer fic (all of my fic is), but most isn't. Scolding a slash fic for having male characters who don't act like real life gay/bi men is a misunderstanding. You wouldn't ask for more realistic racial stereotypes, would you? A better response would be to point out when a fic is only a slashy fantasy for straight people, when it is a queer interest fic, and when it's both: a queer slash fic.
I haven't had the time/energy to read any of the fic posted in ![[info - community]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png) queerlygen yet, but I recommend the comm to any slash fans reading this who're confused by my saying that slash isn't about queers, and queer representation isn't about sex and genitals.
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| I am just heart-broken that that skeevy survey turned out to be a skeevy survey, because I actually am fascinated by slash fandom, and by the breadth of human sexuality, and how slash fandom is a comparatively safe space to explore and express our desires.
So, I'm making my own completely unscientific survey. It's not about the breadth of human sexuality, it's just about fans, fandom and fanworks, with an emphasis on shipping.
Please feel free answer without logging in or signing your name.
I log IP-addresses to deter harassment only. I'm not going to reveal any IP-addresses to anyone, or use them in any way to keep tabs on people unless I feel I am being harassed and stalked. I don't consider flames, insults, critique, opinions I disagree with, and so on harassment; if I feel harassed, I will tell you. No one is getting their IP-address reported to abuse without fair warning to stop their behavior. Feel free to answer while logged in. If you answer the poll without logging in, you can't go back and change or delete your answers.
Please answer all the questions
even if all you have to say is that the question is stupid, irrelevant, intrusive, or badly worded. Feel free to ask the question I should have been asking instead, and answer that.
The poll limits answers to 255 characters, feel free to elaborate in comments.
Answers are viewable to all!
I will attempt to write and post a summary, which will also be viewable to all.
( See poll )
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| When I first started out in online fandom, it was a bad idea to admit to not having English as your first language. People would ignore your fic, assuming it to be poorly written, or they would interpret what you wrote in very strange ways, thinking you couldn't mean to say what you actually wrote, since you wouldn't understand what it meant.
After some years fandom had become international enough that a lot of people who had been passing as first language English speakers came out, some subtly by using their .de or .se email addys and website URLs, some boldly stating their first language.
But that's only English language fandom. rodo has posted this interesting poll about different language fandoms, and the language background of fans. Please take part, no essay questions, simple check boxes/radio buttons.
I've been passive in non-English language fandoms, such as Danish, French, German, and Japanese movies and TV shows, followed canon for English language media translated or dubbed, and even read fic and meta in Danish (Norwegian, Swedish), German (Dutch, Afrikaans) and Spanish (French, Portuguese, Italian, Latin).
I could imagine writing fic in Danish for a specifically Danish fandom, but most of the stuff I've felt fannish about has been aimed very squarely at kids, and I would feel weird and out of place writing adult fic in for example Freddy og monstrene. Some has been aimed at adults, and has an international presence, such as Riget and Little Soldier, and while I could write in those fandoms in Danish, that would needlessly restrict my already very small audience.
As for Swedish language fandoms like Alla vi barn i Bullerbyn and Mumintrollen which I've read exclusively in Danish translation, I could write fic in Danish, and other Scandinavians could probably struggle their way through it, but honestly I think English is more likely to be understood and appreciated.
I can't imagine writing a fic in German or Spanish. The few German fandoms I'm into have an international presence, and I'm not into any Spanish language fandoms.
Okay, now I've gotten all interested in Lindgren fic - the fantasy worlds she's created in Mio, min Mio, Bröderna Lejonhjärta and Ronja Rövardotter lend themselves excellently to fic, and don't have the drawbacks of unfamiliarity with the setting like Bullerbyn, Emil, Madicken and Kalle Blomkvist would have for non-Swedes (and young Swedes, maybe). | | comments: 31 comments or Leave a comment |
| I just saw the new Star Trek movie with ximeria. It's great! I feel that this is my Trek, much more so than TNG or any of the other movies ever was. The only fly in the ointment was that there was only one female main character, but what a character she was!
I remarked to Ximeria after we had seen the movie that Uhura seemed like L. A. Graf's Uhura: smart, competent, and with an actual, sensible job description beyond switch board operator.
Then I read this article about a possible sequel, where the script writers explicitly state that they read Trek novels and fanfic for inspiration.
I miss the old Trek novels, back when they were written by fans, and were often gen-ified slash or shipper fic. There was such love, such loyalty to characterization, and such inspirational and fun dedication to Trek as science fiction, as speculative fiction. The copyright owners killed the novel franchise when they started insisting on canon-repercussion free plots and following the party line.
The new Star Trek movie brought back the good old days, and made me want to read and write some fic. I used to be a McCoy/Spock slasher, and I still am, I guess, for time line #1 obviously, but also a tiny bit for tl#2, since they kept the snarky/flirty tone between Spock and McCoy, and McCoy was so quick to stand shoulder to shoulder with Spock when it served the purpose of needling Kirk.
I've never been much of a K/S'er, and this movie hasn't turned me into one. I didn't think new Kirk and Spock had any sexual chemistry at all, but I caught a real spark between new Kirk and old Spock after the mind meld. Not necessarily a sexual spark, but a strong emotional spark - it seemed like Kirk could barely hold himself back from reestablishing physical/mind contact when Spock broke it, and Kirk could still feel his devastation. It was very fine acting from Chris Pine, I think.
Mostly I just really love the Spock/Uhura relationship, and I don't want any slash pairings to mess that up. Kirk can keep hooking up with sexually voracious Orions. (BTW, love the Orion woman being in Star Fleet! Maybe that Orion slave girl was not an actual slave, but a liberated woman who knows what she likes, having a fulfilling BDSM lifestyle? That's a retcon I can get behind.)
Oh, and Chekov! So cute. Sulu, not as handsome as George Takei, but seriously hot with his intelligent face and bad-ass fencing moves.
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|
- Helping you identify users by associating a picture (=face) with a name.
My user icon is an example of this. It's not my face, it's the face of the actress who portrayed the character I named myself after when I had to come up with a pseud in a hurry, but it serves the purpose.
- Helping you filter posts by users who post on many different topics.
Many users have fandom specific icons, icons for stream of consciousness fannnish glee, icons for being thinky and all meta, etc. The best icons have a common thread, such as a particular artistic style or the name of the user written on the icon itself. Most seem to prioritize filtering by fandom over identifying users. That's oddly self-effacing.
- Ad space for pimping or politics.
For example the recent Dreamwidth and OTW campaigns, or the wanky OTP wars in SGA fandom a while ago. It's a useful method for viral distribution of a message, but not very helpful for identifying users. It prioritizes group-identity over individual identity.
- Hindering you from blocking other users' annoying mood themes from your reading page.
Some users have an icon to go with every mood. The only person in my experience to ever do it right is ratcreature, because much as that huge bulbous nose on the ratcreature thingy unsettles me, at least I can tell who she is.
- Displaying the world's most horrible, juvenile, tacky, glittery, bouncy sticker collection.
Yeah, don't do that. It's really annoying.
Dreamwidth layouts seem to take it for granted that no-one uses icons for the sake of helping other people identify them. The user name is on the left (= before the entry), and the user icon is unassociated with it, mere decoration. With some users, this is helpful to me. Seeing the user name in isolation, rather than in a new different combination every time, helps me recognize it as a unique identifier. With other users, the ones who care to use a consistent style of icon, I miss the strong visual coupling of name and pic.
Many of you probably think I'm being extremely silly and nitpicky about this, but that's because you don't understand that I genuinely have difficulty processing "same username + icon 1" and "same username + icon 2" as identical. I am strongly visually oriented, and images always trump words. (Written words form a visual shape too, of course, but the sameness of the font and the typical length of user names make them less obviously distinct that icons.)
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| When I was in Smallville fandom, back in 2001-2002 I used to hang out with some fellow fangirls in an AIM chatroom. We were all slashers, and all pretty open minded about slash pairings, including incestuous slash (Lex/Lionel). However we disagreed very strongly about the character Lana, to the point where we had to stop even trying to discuss her. The general consensus was that Chloe was everything that is awesome (and if anyone disagreed, they didn't dare say so), but Lana was continuously bashed.
( I think there were several reasons for this )
I wanted to look beyond the poor writing and uninspiring acting, suspend my disbelief and just go with who Lana supposedly was, taking it as a challenge to flesh her out, since she was a key figure in Clark's life, and I needed to make her worthy of his love in order to respect Clark, rather than out of any feminist desire to have a realistic girl on TV, but I gave up when my attempts were met with indifference or even rabid fury by other fans. I left Smallville fandom shortly after, and since then I haven't bothered rolling that particular boulder up the hill.
A lot of the women others have mentioned in their celebration of female characters are more or less of the same type as Lana. Their onscreen lives revolve around male characters, they're there to comment on male characters; to be sexual opportunities or challenges for male characters; to show that male characters are so wonderful that they can hang out with women, often two-fers; to be damsels in distress; to be mother-figures; to be the loving child figures without the tension of the expected power-struggle between sons and fathers (because girls never grow into women, at least not until they reach menopause or if they're ugly); they're there to unsettle male characters, lead them into temptation and attack them with their foul sexuality, etc. etc.
Often someone will say to me, isn't so-and-so a kick-ass heroine? I'll probably politely and not very convincingly agree, all the while going "meh" on the inside and feeling disgruntled. I don't want to have to do the leg work on fleshing out those characters! I'm done with that, and I'm done with being satisfied with substandard writing like that. I will not be silenced by a sop like an idealized, beautiful, smart, courageous, bantering kick-ass lust-object for fanboys like the hateful Lady Christina de Souza in Doctor Who. "But, but... she kicks ass?!" All the more to be a good trophy for the Doctor when she begs to accompany him, my friend.
The female characters I'm going to celebrate use their powers of awesomeness for their own good, rather than for the good of a male characters. They are the heroes of their own lives, not the supporting characters in some dude's life. I don't care how smoking hot Zoë Washburne is (very in case you're wondering), she is not the kind of character I want more of. I say that as a bitterly disappointed fangirl who was thrilled about Zoë after watching one episode of Firefly, only to realize the evil bait and switch Joss was playing on female Buffy fans.
Mehitabel Parr
One of three main characters in Sarah Monette's books Melusine, The Virtu and The Mirador. I came for the delicious slashiness, I stayed for the humor, suspense, and vivid characters and settings. The books are narrated from each of the main characters' POV, with very strong and individual voices. They overlap often, leading to interestingly contrasting views of the same events, but each character has their own life and subplot. Mehitabel grew up in a traveling circus, but ran away from home to become a classical actress in a respectable theater. She's good at her job, interested in other people, and in many ways just an ordinary single woman struggling to make ends meet in a stressful world and maybe find some happiness along the way. Because she's one of the main characters in a fantasy novel, of course she has to deal with a lot of challenges along the way, and she proves to be vulnerable, but with an unbendable spirit; unfair and kind of distant to her friends sometimes, but loyal and good when it comes down to it; funny, but kind of mean... she's totally awesome. She has believable flaws, and is no superhero, and when she triumphs or gets in a good zinger, it's impossible not to cheer for her.
Cordelia Naismith
The main character in Lois McMaster Bujold's books Shards of Honor and Barrayar, and an important supporting character in the rest of the Vorkosigan saga. Shards of Honor reads like slash. Cordelia is the captain of a survey ship who crashes on a planet where the only other person is a fearsome warrior from a paternalistic, very traditional culture that has recently been at war with Cordelia's people. In Cordelia's culture, sex and gender are a matter of personal preference, and many different sexual and gender orientations are recognized and celebrated. She happens to be female and a woman, but mainly identifies as a scientist and the leader of her crew in this context, but she is aware that gender roles are rigidly defined by society, not individual preference in Aral Vorkosigan's culture. Now the bookish geek must win the respect of and form an alliance with the aggressive and very physical warrior in order for both of them to survive. It's the perfect union of action adventure and a respect -> like -> love story free of icky gender roles.
To be continued
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| ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ximeria forwarded me a link to a recent discussion about female characters and how some people just don't find them appealing on fandomsecrets.
I love women. In real life almost all my friends are women. Though I'm bisexual, I tend to fall in love with women much more often than with men. I feel a greater emotional connection to women, find them easier to communicate with and get along with, and I tend to respect them more than I do men. In fact, I often have to remind myself not to be such a man-despising sexist, that a person is not his gender, and I should drop the prejudices and get to know a guy and judge him solely on himself.
When it comes to fandom, I prefer male characters and read m/m slash almost exclusively. This is because male characters are written much better than female characters in the sci-fi/action/fantasy genres I prefer, and because I set the bar for male characters *much lower* than I do for female characters — I quite honestly have lower expectations of men, and find it easier to sexually objectify men.
There are a few wonderful exceptions to my male character oriented fandom experience: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Veronica Mars, and The Vorkosigan Saga. I have read several sci-fi/fantasy novels by female writers with enjoyable female protagonists, but none that I have liked strongly enough to inspire me to any fannish activity.
When it comes to my writing, I write women and non-gendered persons. I am far from prolific, in fact I've only written three (3) fics by myself (not counting drabbles):
- One femmeslash fic focused on the friendship between Willow and Anya in BtVS,
- One gen fic focused on the friendship between Lana and Chloe in Smallville, and
- One m/m slash focused on Lex's feelings of frustration when he fails to connect emotionally with the guy he's in love with. Lex is not effeminate in the fic, but the writing style and subject matter are definitely feminine and actively distasteful to my one male test subject. I think the emotions Lex expresses are part of the common human experience, and there are absolutely no explorations of either the specifically male or female experience or gender role, unlike my two fics focused on women and how female friendships can be.
I have never read a slash fic written from a male perspective about the male experience. I have read a few gay porn style fics written in a masculine tone, and feel that they were mislabeled as slash, but even then, had they not been so poorly written, I would say that they were about thoughts and feelings and experiences common to all human beings. (I've also read a few more traditional style slash fics written in a very masculine tone, by writers identifying themselves as male, so please don't take it that I think slash can only be written by and for women!)
To summarize: I am a slasher, but I have no particular interest in men, nor do I dislike women. I use slash to avoid dealing with poorly/offensively/superficially/stereotypically characterized female characters that do not live up to my real life experience of women, and to have guilt-free fun perving on and objectifying characters.
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