Interstices & Liminal Spaces

Also available at the A03.

( They were in a maze of twisty passages all alike. )

I'm running out the door in a second for caffeine before an early lunch with my mom, but I'm posting this here while I think about it. And the Friday Five is for anyone who feels like answering it... ::shoos hints off into the ether only slightly less vigorously than chickens off a porch::

Today's Fannish 5:
You are given the opportunity to erase from existence five episodes, scenes, or lines of dialogue from canon. Which five get the axe?

Okay, now I'm answering these... (And changing the icon to fit.) ( Because this got a little long, I'm cut-tagging it. )

Anyone else, feel free to grab this and post it in your own LJ so it'll spread.

ETA: Comments now contain SGA season 3 spoilers. Read at your own risk.

I bought an extra set of headphones to wear at the gym, because I can't stand the iPod earbuds and sweaty earphones = eeew. However, while cutting these out of the packaging, I ran into their disclaimer: "Design and specifications subject to change without notice." Er, guys? If you've built headphones that can morph on me, without notice, then a. your R&D guys are gods, and b. $10 was not a high enough price.

::shaking head:: Design and specifications of a pre-packaged, physical, no-software-required device are subject to change without notice? I think the universe is telling me to get more caffeine.

Gacked from calligrafiti:
( Quizzes, my precious! (Well. One anyway. Taken twice.) )

ETA: Apparently, I am a sheep. I took the LJ Purity Test.
( Huh. Well, I doubt these results will really surprise anyone.... )

Written to an anonymous and indistinct 'you' since even I don't know who I mean this for, and reduced to three points although much more could be said (and has, frequently better).

1 -- A neutral way of beginning the discussion on 'Why slash?' might be, I'm sorry, I just don't see them ending up in that kind of relationship. Could you give me some examples from canon that you're basing that pairing/story off of, so that I can go look?

(Not my phrasing, by the way. I was asked that at Dragoncon the first summer I'd started writing and posting fic, not two months after my first slash piece had gone up on the Web.)

2 -- Asking people why they like slash is like asking why they like historical fiction, bodice rippers, true crime, or raspberry double chocolate ice cream. It's a preference. No, I can't tell you why I love raspberry chocolate ice cream, beyond the obvious fact that I make embarrassingly audible purring/whimpering moans while eating it. That pretty well explains why my husband buys it for me. Me, I just like that flavor. A lot. No coherent, verbal reason, just taste buds. (Butter Pecan? Nope. Don't even mention Pistachio.) Tastes in reading are much the same.

3 -- Asking people why they're turned on by slash, or any other kind of erotica, is, bluntly, a very personal question. At that point, you're asking about their sexual preferences. For one, a person's tastes in fantasy do not necessarily have jackshit to do with their tastes in reality. And for the other, if you have to ask them on Live Journal or any other public forum, it's probably none of your business.

(Yes, I know I was going to make it three. I changed my mind.)

4 -- Ask the question you want answered. If you want to know how someone can justify Spike/Xander fic, or Duncan/Methos, or Faith/Buffy, ask that. If you want to know why women write m/m slash, ask that. And if what you're saying is, 'I know these characters are straight, because they were never seen on a same sex date on the show, and I want you to prove they're not," well, honestly, you're in the wrong place.

Asking someone to explain their justifications is an objective question. It should produce factual data, that you may or may not agree with, but at least you'll have a common point of reference.

Asking a writer why they write what they do is about as subjective as you get, and the answers are going to vary, wildly, depending on the writers. You're asking about people's obsessions. By definition, an obsession isn't necessarily a rational choice. It's just what they're drawn to. The more introspective and/or analytical folks can probably give answers. Some of the answers I've seen, and heard, are: because they like it, because the characters tell them that's the way it happened, or because they want to make a point. Not having a coherent answer, however, is not a crime, and it's not a reasonable expectation that everyone should. Not all stories, or writers, are interested in the meta process. Some just want to tell the story and go on. It's up there with liking, or not, chocolate ice cream.

As to the 'prove they're gay' -- well, can you prove they're straight? It may be canon that the character has been in heterosexual relationships, but you're not likely to be able to preclude the possibility that the character is bisexual. Hollywood isn't likely to show it in the current environment, although it's getting better. And it cuts both ways, after all. If they're not gay because there's no canon proof of a same sex relationship, then they're also not straight because there's no proof against it. Few slashers try to claim the character is gay, anyway. More often, they go with 'bi' or 'interested in X.'

Also, it's fiction. Fiction requires a suspension of disbelief. Hopefully the writer will convince you, for the duration of the story at least, if not longer. If, to paraphrase Harlan Ellison, they don't want to suspend your disbelief but hang it by the neck until dead, bail out. However, don't assume that one bad story means the entire concept of a possible relationship between the two (or more) characters is flawed. Also, don't assume that you're going to be interested in every story and type of story out there. You won't be. They weren't all written for one audience, and you may be reading the wrong story for your tastes/the writer's interests, in which case I suggest using the delete key or back button. The warnings and labels on stories may well be guideposts and/or friends.

From my point of view, one of the most wonderful things about the Web is the sheer variety of people and viewpoints and experience bases. Take that, add in the fact that the act of observation changes both the observed and the observer, and what you get is a multiplicity of focuses and reactions to the same thing, because none of us saw quite the same thing. We can't. We're not the same people, and we don't have the same filter of perception. That doesn't mean either of us is wrong, and it's not at all a bad thing. If we didn't have different people, with different opinions, the only fanfic we'd have would be the same eight or ten stories/plots, repeated ad nauseam. Instead we get a variety of stories, and a variety of reactions to them.

For the love of any and all gods, though, please don't assume that your take on something is the One True Path. Just ask the Shipper/No Romo fights in XF, or the whole 'Which Ray' argument in dS, or... well, every fandom has them, I think. Just don't do it, okay? Unless Someone died and made you God, you may be sure, but you're not likely to be right.

Right. Having reached the tail of my argument, or maybe just my patience, I will now quit beating the dead horse. Off to get coffee for my headache, or a nap. I'm not sure which. (Why do I have this overwhelming urge to go hunt up some het pairing I find absurd and ask them to show me canon that should keep me from thinking they're nuts? Right. If I'm getting that bitchy, clearly the correct responses are Excedrine and nap.)

* Yes, I know everyone else spells it kerfuffle, but in my mind, I hear it with the extra 'l' so that's how I'm spelling it.