Two more slash questions

[thrihyrne]

I'm going to be revising my slash article and would like people's thoughts on a couple of things: One is the very definition of slash. Is it still slash if the characters canonically are already gay or bi? Say writing Queer As Folk fanfic. Is it slash or just fic about canonically gay characters?

The other is chan. Perhaps even more than incest, chan is controversial in the slash world. Thoughts?

Spread the word! I'd also like to put together a side bar of 'top slash pairings' in some large fandoms. The ones for HP are pretty obvious, but I'd also like to include Tolkien, Star Trek reboot, Merlin (though that's pretty much a one-hit wonder as far as I know)... Would people concur that the top three HP pairings are Harry/Draco, Harry/Snape and Remus/Sirius, as far as sheer fanfic volume over the past several years? What other fandoms are buzzing these days that have a high slash content?

Comments

[haldoor.livejournal.com]

Personally, I still think of gay characters as slash, although I suppose technically they're not. It's just this is the place to read about them and it's easier to group 'slash reading' and 'original fic' reading or 'novel reading' under those three headings, and that seems like enough for me!

Chan, I didn't even know what it was so had to look it up! I'm definitely not interested in underage sex if it gets too graphic. Really, I think it's probably just that so many people are so easily influenced and no one should be getting sexual before they need to IMO, although obviously some kids are ready for it before others. I don't object to writing characters who are underage so in theory shouldn't mind reading them, but I prefer them not to be overtly sexual. I tend not to read slash with characters that are too young as slash to me is all about the men, not the boys!

Incest I have no issues with at all because my understanding of it being squick is due to the issues with offspring... and in slash: no women, no babies, therefore incest seems fair game in my little world!


Top slash pairings? I don't know HP, so will give you what I would consider the more popular ones from the places I frequent. I used to be more into LOTR and definitely the major one was Aragorn/Legolas (and the RPS Viggo/Orlando) although who knows now? Personally, I'm a follower of Lost wherein the main pairing with the biggest following was Jack/Sawyer (my own favourites would be Sawyer/Sayid and Jack/Boone), although for some reason (not my thing at all) in the most recent series, Jacob/Man in Black (or Esau or Samuel or Smoke Monster, varying since no one ever seems to agree on his name). I'd agree on House (House/Wilson) and Torchwood (Jack/Ianto) and add True Blood to the mix, where Eric/Bill may find it's way near the top of the pile, though there are certainly plenty of nice-looking choices (personally I'm a Bill/Sam girl). I can't think of any others with major happenings, though these are probably not huge in the grand scheme of things!

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's the rub: if they're already inclined toward the same sex, it's not really slash, which by its nature is about changing canon/adding in subtext to make straight characters fall for each other. But it's a bit fuzzy. As you say, we look for our m/m under the category of slash even if the characters are already gay or bi, so now there's grey area for sure.

I think the issue of chan comes up mostly in HP where the canonical characters for many of the books are underage, and authors definitely learned to warn for it. But some people love it.

I need to talk with some True Blood afficianados about any homoerotic content that could probably be traced to producers knowing about women's desire to see that on screen due to the widespread emergence of slash. It's conjecture, but probably accurate.

[snottygrrl.livejournal.com]

i think the meaning of slash has changed. the original meaning was two supposedly straight characters in canon being put together, but i think the definition has morphed into merely m/m or f/f romance. i think the torchwood fandom would consider m/m as slash even though the pairings work in canon [*shrugs*]

and i'd say as/s is the third most popular slash pair these days, not r/s. i see the most activity around them (bar hp/ss and hp/dm since canon closed).

also, are you including girl slash? or only boys? there is a fair amount of gwen/morgana, morgana/morgause in merlin, but if you're only doing boys arthur/merlin far outweighs arthur/leon, merlin/uther, merlin/will. the show just doesn't have many side characters to pair anyone with. it's pretty much only about merlin, arthur, gwen, morgana, gaius, uther and guest-star-of-the-week. series 3 has just started and it looks like we're going to get more of morgause and king cen(d)red, and as well as (perhaps) another knight with an actual name (so far only sir leon has had a 'role' other than standing around in a cape).

and chan to me implies one child and one adult and i have issues with it and tend not to get anywhere near it.

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

Well, perhaps slash is a more nebulous term anymore thanks to shows like Queer as Folk and Torchwood. I think I'll posit that as an element to the article. For the article I was only including m/m slash. And chan seems to be underaged, not necessarily a child and an adult, though I think that's what people find most controversial. I've read a couple of fics that I considered chan because both characters were underaged, and wikipedia seems to agree with that. But I think what most people are looking for warnings in regards to chan is the child/adult stories.

Thanks for your input!

[haldoor.livejournal.com]

I think you may be right about the producers of TB. Certainly, the dream sequence featuring Bill/Sam seemed to serve no plot purpose, but it certainly fulfilled a few wishes in the audience! ;-)

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

Ooooh! A dream sequence that was probably related to the producers knowing about their fan base? Do you think I'd find that on youtube? I'd love to mention that in particular. I'm just now getting the beginning of True Blood via netflix.

[haldoor.livejournal.com]

Oh yes! Here tis:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqTqhet3ZuU

It's completely awesome, although they stop before it gets really good, if you know what I mean. And it certainly didn't have any relevance to the plot at this point, nor has it been referred to again!

[haldoor.livejournal.com]

There's also a pretty hot scene between Eric/Talbot, just before... well, that would be giving away the plot. ;-P But in case it furthers your article, here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnbE89jWXbc

And the character Lafayette (as per my icon) gets a boyfriend, Jesus, and they get some nice scenes - more loving perhaps than just sexual - too.