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

[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!