![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Baffled by Bad Slash
Behind the tag, you can find a short essay (sort of) about what baffles me most in the unlikely and ungrounded slash pairings I sometimes come across while reading fanfiction. Don't look if you're easily insulted on behalf of your OTP.
It never ceases to amaze me what unlikely "pairings" people can come up with, just because they want two actors/characters/whatever to do the horizontal mambo. My very first such experience was an original!Trek website called "Little Russian Bedtime Stories", in which everyone and their uncle wanted to get into Chekov's pants. Chekov's! No offence to Walter Koenig, but only Kirk was ever less attractive than Chekov. At least for me. And while I liked Spock as a character, I could never get why would anyone want to "slash" him with anyone else. Firstly - again, no offence to the fantastic Leonard Nimoy - he was anything but attractive. Secondly, he was a Vulcan, for Pete's sake, they only got horny once in seven frigging years, so what was the reason for the whole thing?
Clearly, there must be a subtext in many cases that I simply don't get. I don't get 99 per cent of the LotR slash pairings, either. Especially not the incest or twincest parts. Mot of these "pairings" are so far out of character one couldn't see anything from the original characterization with an electronic microscope or whatnot.
My latest traumatic experience in this area is Sherlock. I mean, I can get Johnlock with some strech of imagination, although personally I prefer them to be friends. But Mycroft/Lestrade? How in seven hells have people come up with that complete insanity? I mean, beside the fact that Lestrade is (un)happily married, what could he possible see in Mycroft, whom he has yet to meet onscreen anyway. Or what could Mycroft possibly see in him?
I'm speaking of the principle of the thing here, not the inanely childish presentation of their so-called "relationship" that reminds one more about giggling schoolgirls than responsible, mature male adults. But again, considering the likely age of the perpetrators who pour all that drivel over our heads, that's probably not so surprising.
The other thing that baffles me to no end is the Mycroft/Sherlock incest. I mean, it doesn't make any sense, nor is there any subtexts, IMO, that would support it. The Holmes boys certainly have a difficult relationship, but I seriously doubt that sex - or any "romantic" feelings - would be part of it. There is, for starters, Sherlock's clearly asexual nature; then there is the sibling rivalry. Not to mention Mycroft's ring that can have a dozen different meanings (especially as Anthea seems to wear a similar one).
I could never understand the fascination with incest anyway. I can shrug it off in the LOTR-fandom, where Elladan/Elrohir twincest seemed to be a very popular feature once, mostly because Elrond's sons have no personality whatsoever in The Books and it would be therefore hard to portray them OOC. But Merry/Pippin stories turn my stomach inside out, and I get homicidal from Forod/Sam. Because yeah, Sam with his 13 children and utter respect for Frodo would only ever wait to get into Frodo's breeches - not!
Subtext is a very delicate thing. It's present in a lot less things than rabid slashers would like to find it. For example: in the "Tour of Duty" fandom, I can totally accept Goldman/Anderson, despite the fact that both characters had ample love interests of the opposite sex. But Goldman/McKay never fails to make me gag with disbelief. Just because two characters can't stand each other and fight all the time, it doesn't always mean a bad case of UST (=unresolved sexual tension for the innocent among us). Sometimes people just can't stand each other, period.
Interestingly enough, I haven't come across any John/Harry Watson incest yet, thank God and all guardian angels. So, why is it that it's always the male siblings that are supposed to do the dirty, even if there's nothing in the original that would support the idea? Why do badfic writers have this irresistible urge to write horrible sex scenes about characters who most likely won't touch each other with a ten-foot pole, either out of respect or out of hatred? Even after ten years on FF.Net, I can't understand this tendency. I really can't.
Which is what makes the Sherlock section on FF.Net such a hard place to find anything worth reading. So, here I'm giving you a few author names that won't disappoint you if you want to read really good stories:
senvenpercent
chappysmom
stillwaters1
And that's basically it, since![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
saki101 doesn't post to FF.Net. All other authors are to be approached with care. You can get nasty surprises when you expect them the least.
It never ceases to amaze me what unlikely "pairings" people can come up with, just because they want two actors/characters/whatever to do the horizontal mambo. My very first such experience was an original!Trek website called "Little Russian Bedtime Stories", in which everyone and their uncle wanted to get into Chekov's pants. Chekov's! No offence to Walter Koenig, but only Kirk was ever less attractive than Chekov. At least for me. And while I liked Spock as a character, I could never get why would anyone want to "slash" him with anyone else. Firstly - again, no offence to the fantastic Leonard Nimoy - he was anything but attractive. Secondly, he was a Vulcan, for Pete's sake, they only got horny once in seven frigging years, so what was the reason for the whole thing?
Clearly, there must be a subtext in many cases that I simply don't get. I don't get 99 per cent of the LotR slash pairings, either. Especially not the incest or twincest parts. Mot of these "pairings" are so far out of character one couldn't see anything from the original characterization with an electronic microscope or whatnot.
My latest traumatic experience in this area is Sherlock. I mean, I can get Johnlock with some strech of imagination, although personally I prefer them to be friends. But Mycroft/Lestrade? How in seven hells have people come up with that complete insanity? I mean, beside the fact that Lestrade is (un)happily married, what could he possible see in Mycroft, whom he has yet to meet onscreen anyway. Or what could Mycroft possibly see in him?
I'm speaking of the principle of the thing here, not the inanely childish presentation of their so-called "relationship" that reminds one more about giggling schoolgirls than responsible, mature male adults. But again, considering the likely age of the perpetrators who pour all that drivel over our heads, that's probably not so surprising.
The other thing that baffles me to no end is the Mycroft/Sherlock incest. I mean, it doesn't make any sense, nor is there any subtexts, IMO, that would support it. The Holmes boys certainly have a difficult relationship, but I seriously doubt that sex - or any "romantic" feelings - would be part of it. There is, for starters, Sherlock's clearly asexual nature; then there is the sibling rivalry. Not to mention Mycroft's ring that can have a dozen different meanings (especially as Anthea seems to wear a similar one).
I could never understand the fascination with incest anyway. I can shrug it off in the LOTR-fandom, where Elladan/Elrohir twincest seemed to be a very popular feature once, mostly because Elrond's sons have no personality whatsoever in The Books and it would be therefore hard to portray them OOC. But Merry/Pippin stories turn my stomach inside out, and I get homicidal from Forod/Sam. Because yeah, Sam with his 13 children and utter respect for Frodo would only ever wait to get into Frodo's breeches - not!
Subtext is a very delicate thing. It's present in a lot less things than rabid slashers would like to find it. For example: in the "Tour of Duty" fandom, I can totally accept Goldman/Anderson, despite the fact that both characters had ample love interests of the opposite sex. But Goldman/McKay never fails to make me gag with disbelief. Just because two characters can't stand each other and fight all the time, it doesn't always mean a bad case of UST (=unresolved sexual tension for the innocent among us). Sometimes people just can't stand each other, period.
Interestingly enough, I haven't come across any John/Harry Watson incest yet, thank God and all guardian angels. So, why is it that it's always the male siblings that are supposed to do the dirty, even if there's nothing in the original that would support the idea? Why do badfic writers have this irresistible urge to write horrible sex scenes about characters who most likely won't touch each other with a ten-foot pole, either out of respect or out of hatred? Even after ten years on FF.Net, I can't understand this tendency. I really can't.
Which is what makes the Sherlock section on FF.Net such a hard place to find anything worth reading. So, here I'm giving you a few author names that won't disappoint you if you want to read really good stories:
senvenpercent
chappysmom
stillwaters1
And that's basically it, since
saki101 doesn't post to FF.Net. All other authors are to be approached with care. You can get nasty surprises when you expect them the least.
no subject
I mostly don't see subtext in canon, but I've found that a lot of the time good writers can convince me of a lot of different pairings... but only for their stories mostly - I don't tend have otps or the like.
I think most people write relationships for really random reasons and don't bother about where the characters are actually like or canon facts...
no subject
no subject
As for LOTR, I blame the actors! *gg* (I know that doesn't explain Elrohir/Elladan, but then I try to stay far away from any incest pairings!)
I don't get Mystrade either - as you said, they haven't even met so far!
[..."Why do badfic writers have this irresistible urge to write horrible sex scenes about characters who most likely won't touch each other with a ten-foot pole, either out of respect or out of hatred? Even after ten years on FF.Net, I can't understand this tendency. I really can't."...]
XD Kudos to everyone who dares to venture into the pit, to be honest! XD (Hail the victorious dead?) It's one of the reasons I don't go there, I don't have time to wade through a bazillion badfics to find one gem...I'll check out your reccs though! :D
If you'd like some more reccs, and don't mind looking elsewhere I can gladly recommend AJHall, especially Riggign Screws, size 1 3/8 inch, galvanised and Lift up Mine Eyes to the Hills, and "The Poster Girl" by stardust_made! ;)
no subject
no subject
And I hate the whole BNF phenomenon! (remember Cassandra Clare? Ugh.)
no subject
Thanks for the Sherlock links, BTW. I took a look, and I don't doubt that they are very well written. But the stories are such an extreme AU, in settings that are very different from the original, as far as I could see, and that's simply not my thing. I prefer my characters in the setting I met them to begin with. That's why I never read any modern-day Merlin AUs, no matter how good they might be, or why I avoid any stories in which, say, SGAs Sheppard and McKay are in the music industry, or any high school fics, which are usually hideous anyway.
I have nothing against a really good AU, but I prefer AUs in which only a small number of circumstances are different. Yes, I'm strange that way, I know.
no subject
no subject
The thing is, I find the friendship between John and Sherlock a very complex thing. Benedict Cumberbatch says somewhere in the audiocomments that these two clearly admire each other, but since they're both British, they do it in an understated way. He calls what's there between them man-love (and the Moff promptly says it should be called MOVE) *g*), but it's very clear that he doesn't mean it in the slash sense of the word. Although he does make a small comment about certain kinds of fanfiction that would be written. If he only knew, the poor thing, what was about to happen!
no subject
I wrote my first Elladan/Elrohir slash story in response to a fan challenge. Plenty of people liked it - and plenty of people didn't. In response I wrote a "why incest in fanfic?" essay, here.
The slash I would have written when I was 16, and the slash I did write in my early 30s, both came from the same place; my heart and mind and the issues I was grappling with. If I had been feeling unlovely or unloved, I might have wanted to write stories where a "non-sexy" character is seen as desirable, worthy of love and erotic transgression. One time, in correspondence with another writer, I made an offhand comment about younger prettier days, and I got back this cry of angry pain from the writer. She had never seen herself as pretty - worse, her family had reinforced this with emotional and psychological abuse. Suddenly, her own slash stories (which were NOT badfic, but had some baffling pairings) made a lot more sense. And I learned to be gentle and make no assumptions in fan correspondence.
I had some people tell me that they were disappointed with my last big fanfiction story, The Question of Pengolod, because of the lack of slash - I wanted to explore what friendship across differences meant, rather than sex - I totally agree with
no subject
What I hate is the random slashing of characters just so that the author can write the umpteenth "insert Character A into Character B" piece of random smuth without anything in canon that would back it. Or if adult male characters are twisted into behaving like idiotic, lovesick schoolgirls, as it way to often happens in a great many of fandoms. Sherlock is a particularly bad example of this, but I had the bad luck to run into inane amounts of rally bad Sheppard/McKay stories in the SGA fandom.
One story in particular still causes me nightmares, although I never got any further than the summary, out of my healthy sense of self-preservation. It was about Rodney McKay, a genius-level astrophysicist, having depressions because he thinks he's fat. And Sheppard, with whom he gets slashed all the time, although I never managed to acquire the particular goggles that would make me see the nonexistent UST between them, has to comfort him lovingly. All this between two men in their mid-30s, one of them a former Black Ops soldier. *gags*
That's why I loved the canon slash relationship in Torchwood before RTD would destroy it in stupid Children of Earth: that Jack and Ianto had a very down-to-earth, problematic relationship, frayed with doubts and betrayal and co-dependence and whatever you want; and that the fact that they were both males was not the deciding point. Of coruse, that had to be sacrificed, so that the Rustoid could shove Gwen-bloody-Cooper down our throats, which was basically the end of Torchwood, but that's another problem entirely.
no subject
no subject
There are two more Sherlock/Whoniverse crossovers in the working, featuring Tosh and Ianto, respectively, but they are very extreme AUs: basically, Whoniverse characters in the Sherlock settings, but completely without the sci-fi background. I hope you'll like them nonetheless.
As for Sherlock, don't fear to look up the authors I recced in my post. They write excellent friendship stuff. Well, Saki does write slash, but in a way that I can buy. Her fic is very interesting.
no subject
Thanks for the recs, I will give them a try.
no subject
no subject
Here is the ff.net link to the lady who writes the enjoyable verses. She captures Holmes and Watson well and their complex friendship.
no subject
no subject
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2328726/
no subject