A bit of fic theory
Feb. 18th, 2004 06:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pauraque_bkI was thinking earlier about how in both of my primary fandoms, the most popular slash pairings are antagonistic, whereas the most popular het pairings are -- what do you call that? -- extended friendships. "Buddy" pairings. You've got Mulder/Scully and Harry/Hermione-Ron/Hermione for het, and Mulder/Krycek and Harry/Draco for slash.
In HP, the most obvious "buddy" slash pairing (Harry/Ron) is relatively neglected[1], and the biggest antagonistic het pairing (Snape/Hermione) is nowhere near as popular as its "buddy" counterparts. The primary antagonistic het pairing in XF is Krycek/Scully, something of a niche interest. It's hard to make a judgment about buddy slash pairings in XF, because there aren't any really obvious ones (unless you count Mulder/Skinner, which doesn't approach the popularity of Mulder/Krycek).
I can think of many examples and counter-examples from other fandoms, so I wouldn't say this is a meta-fandom trend, but might it say something about the tone of a specific fandom? Or its relative attitudes toward slash and het?
[1] Though, of course, the second most obvious buddy slash pairing (Sirius/Remus) is much more popular. There may be other issues in S/R that remove it a few steps from other HP slash pairings -- its association with H/G and R/Hr, and the tendency to feminize Remus.
In HP, the most obvious "buddy" slash pairing (Harry/Ron) is relatively neglected[1], and the biggest antagonistic het pairing (Snape/Hermione) is nowhere near as popular as its "buddy" counterparts. The primary antagonistic het pairing in XF is Krycek/Scully, something of a niche interest. It's hard to make a judgment about buddy slash pairings in XF, because there aren't any really obvious ones (unless you count Mulder/Skinner, which doesn't approach the popularity of Mulder/Krycek).
I can think of many examples and counter-examples from other fandoms, so I wouldn't say this is a meta-fandom trend, but might it say something about the tone of a specific fandom? Or its relative attitudes toward slash and het?
[1] Though, of course, the second most obvious buddy slash pairing (Sirius/Remus) is much more popular. There may be other issues in S/R that remove it a few steps from other HP slash pairings -- its association with H/G and R/Hr, and the tendency to feminize Remus.
Re:
Date: 2004-02-18 10:37 pm (UTC)I doubt that, but on the other hand, there are no hard numbers. I've certainly been left with the impression that Ron/Hermione is the number one het pairing, with Harry/Hermione trailing. It seems to us that Snape/Hermione is very popular since we're both in Snape fandom (and neither of us like the pairing), but I don't want to make the mistake of taking our corner of fandom as representative of the whole, you know?
Re:
*smacks self across the head*
Damn! You're right; I'd completely forgotten that the reason I never see R/Hr is that I only tend to look at archives of Snape-fanfiction.
A moron is I.