thoughts on yaoi

[carmen_lj]

Because procrastination is an art, and keeping in practice is terribly important in art, I spent a ridiculous amount of time today making my journal pretty (not, y'know, actually writing any css meself, oh no, I browsed through layout comms, browsed like a wee procrastinating procrastinator.) It is now less pink and more purple. And now has what is surely the most eloquent use of the English language ever committed to celluloid emblazoned across the top of the page. Also there's like a whole new quote on my profile, and by new, I mean even older. And a pic of Babs. Babs is awesome. Sometimes I forget how awesome and then I see her in action and she is just splendid.

And apparently some dude has, yet again, discovered slash and come up with some eye-rollingly patronising bunkem as to why women slash. So here are my thoughts on yaoi: it entertains me. Sometimes it's sexy, sometimes it's lolarious, sometimes touching, or dramatic or cool or clever or any of the bajillion other things that fiction can be. I've never been short of female characters I love, or that I love to write about, and I've never seen slash as something subversive, but rather another way to tell stories and explore characters and it seems rather daft to me to limit the way one can explore characters in fic by sticking to a single type of relationship. Thus whether it's slash/het/femslash/gen is almost always of secondary importance for me compared to the quality of writing and the characters involved (in that, if I love those characters and they're written well, I have no particular preference over whether their relationship is being written as friendship or sexual or romantic.)

I think I'm going to see the new Star Trek tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it rather ridiculously because of the Uhura spoilers I've heard. I love Uhura. And I love the teeny wee arc at the beginning of TOS - back when we got the feeling that everyone on the crew was a real person and not just the Big Three - of Uhura/Spock flirtiness, with her trying to get him to flirt with her in The Man Trap, and then him playing the lyre while she sang (and teased him awfully) in Charlie X and he couldn't help smiling and it was adorable and awesome and I ship Uhura/Spock a wee bit and am a bit excited about what new Trek is going to do there, yo.

And, embarrasingly, I thought all the Maine support on the flist was to do with baseball or something. Ahrrrm. (If you're as oblivious as I, it's not, rather Maine and New Hampshire have both passed gay marriage legislation, well done them.)

Comments

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

My answer to why we slash has become shorter and shorter as the years go by... it now consists of three words. Because We Can.

[jigglykat.livejournal.com]

I love how giant 'SPURIOUS MORALITY' is. It'll be permanently burned into my brain with its giantness.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

Tis a phrase suitable for use in all conversations!

[stunt-muppet.livejournal.com]

Oh, I do hate it when old male academics discover slash. Not that I wouldn't love for there to be more academic investigation of fandom in general, but discussions like these always turn into "women read about sex! and write about it! I am shocked, shocked and appalled I tell you" with a side order of "let me tell you why you write and read what you do, because I am an Educated Man who understands these things better than silly womens do" and I go all twitchy. Do not presume to dictate my preferences to me, good sir.

[alicamel.livejournal.com]

"I discovered it! Me! In my tall ship and my tricorn hat, sword at my side! Ahoy!"

*collapses into hysterical giggles*

[arefadedaway.livejournal.com]

and it seems rather daft to me to limit the way one can explore characters in fic by sticking to a single type of relationship. Thus whether it's slash/het/femslash/gen is almost always of secondary importance for me compared to the quality of writing and the characters involved

Word.

I ship Uhura/Spock a wee bit and am a bit excited about what new Trek is going to do there, yo.

Double word!

And I love your new layout, yes. So purple and pretty!

[tree_and_leaf]

I never liked the bit in 'The Man Trap', because it seems to make Uhura desperate and unprofessional (as opposed to the scene in Charlie X, which is adorable), but... if we read it in the context of some sort of previous liason or flirtation, even if not a full relationship, and Uhura winding Spock up, while Spock is determinedly 'not now, I'm on duty' ... Hm. That might actually work.

[oltha_heri.livejournal.com]

When it comes to het in TOS I like Spock/Chapel largely because in among overly cliched crap fic, I saw a handful of quite good ones (angst obviously). I agree though, that lyre/singing scene is amazing, I love that scene for Uhura's flirtiness.

As for the slash thing, oh god get over being surprised/offended that we objectify you just like you objectify us. I mean lesbians have been being joked about as the ideal object of male fantasy for years, why can't we like the same? (Of course I don't even like slash, I'm the only person I know who doesn't. I mean yeah I think Merlin/Arthur is completely valid but that doesn't mean I want to read about it.)

[elliptic-eye.livejournal.com]

Thank you for that link and the much-needed lols it provided.

[tgjerusalem.livejournal.com]

Why can't we get more actual fans writing academic stuff on fandom?

We have so many geeks! We must have many academic type geeks!

[hafren.livejournal.com]

Well, quite a few do (like ithiliana for instance). And loads of them used to come to the Slash Study Days at de Montfort and talk about it!

[daiseechain.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the 'discovered slash' link. Very infuriating/entertaining.

[nevacaruso.livejournal.com]

Here are my thoughts on your thoughts on yaoi:

WORD.

[fyrdrakken]

Some time ago I came up with a hypothesis for slash: Women are given the coded message in female-intended media that the Soulmate (and hopefully eventually Spouse) is meant to be the most important person in their life, give meaning to their existence, etc. Men are given the "bros before hos" message, that women may come and go (though, granted, sometimes one runs across a really special one it's harder to replace) but buddies and partners are the most important and enduring relationship. Women trained to spot the Most Important Person to their fave character and expect coupledom to ensue watch media intended for a male audience and conclude that the male partner is the really important figure and the revolving door of women indicates the futile search for the person who is Right Beside Them the Whole Time.

Also of course there's the hot guy-on-guy action. And pretty pretty mens. And being able to "have" both of them at once. But I like the idea that it's a subversion of gender-coded double messages in our media.