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: 2004-02-19 12:17 am (UTC)As is always the case, there aren't hard numbers on the relative popularity of pairings. It's possible that I see M/Sk as being less popular because I don't care for it.
Schoolboy rivalry like Harry and Draco's can be sparky and neither of them seem as entirely het as Ron does.
It *is* hard to read Ron as queer, though I never really thought of characters' actual straightness as being an obstacle to slashers. It didn't stop me from slashing Ron (though it did give me pause), but maybe some of that comes from my own queerness -- I do tend to find straight guys appealing, maybe in the same "ooh, different!" way that female slashers find queer guys interesting.
I think there are less antagonistic het pairings because the protagonist is normally a man and his antagonist is normally his shadow self, and thus, another man.
Very good point. Above I mentioned Harry/Neville, which I enjoy as another kind of "shadow self" relationship, though not necessarily an antagonistic one.
Thanks for letting yourself ramble; your response was very interesting.
Re:
Date: 2004-02-19 07:28 am (UTC)Yes, that's a good point. Hmm. And I have slashed Ron myself, though two times out of three, he was still definitely straight.
OK, maybe it's more the relationship, not just the matter of inequality that I mentioned before, but the complexity of the relationship. I love Ron with a surpassing love, but there really isn't anything about Harry and Ron's friendship that I find all that interesting. They're kids at school, they're mates, they have disagreements sometimes, and that seems to be about it, though I have hope that book six will show some growth in that area.
I'm going to have to think about this some more.