It was the horror at slash that seemed homophobic.
Yeah, it's like that old standard "They can do whatever they want in the bedroom, just don't tell me about it!" Well, you know what, being gay isn't just what happens in the bedroom. Slash isn't just about the sex. (Although it can be.)
However, over the years I've read some really amazing stories that are written by awesome writers who love the show and the characters. I've also come across some truely hideous stories, that I've stopped reading in boredom or unhappiness with the bad quality of writing.
And this is true of most writing - most of TV is hideous, most films aren't great. You have to sort through. I just expect a higher quality of writing from Buffy the TV show and lots of fanfic is atypical of characters, etc, etc. But, as you say, there's brilliant stuff out there too.
I love the episodes "The Wish" and "Birthday" which both show us alternate universes for BtVS and AtS, so - for me - good fanfiction it like getting lots of episodes like that.
I stupidly wrote off AU fic in another slash discussion recently only to have "The Wish" thrown back in my face. It's a good point.
My friend pointed out to me that a discussion like the one on Whedonesque is good because it gets people who may not look for gay subtext thinking about the topic - and that's a good thing.
Given how many posts eventually ended up in that thread, I was happy to see it didn't degenerate into a homophobic slanging match - even though there was still a lot of anti-slash feeling, it just felt like people disliked that on the same level some people don't get fic at all or don't see the point of grafting these new angles onto characters. As you say, these characters are very well layered to begin with.
I was so sad the year that both Buffy and Dawson's Creek ended (besides my sadness at Buffy being over) because it meant that 2 shows that had queer characters in major roles were ending. With Will & Grace ending this year, that only leaves a few shows with major characters who are queer.
I'm having trouble thinking of one! Well, apart from "The L Word".
I think I've just realized that it's taking a while for there to be more queer characters in mainstream media (yay indie films!), so in the meantime I've been enjoying queer content where I can find it (eg. my love of the subtext on Smallville and Reba).
I love the fact that "Brokeback" has garnered such a high profile and is even playing in the U.S. red states. It's mainstream now and apparently has spurred Hollywood on to re-evaluate queer scripts that have been sitting in their vaults for a while marked "Won't Play in the Mid-West".
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Yeah, it's like that old standard "They can do whatever they want in the bedroom, just don't tell me about it!" Well, you know what, being gay isn't just what happens in the bedroom. Slash isn't just about the sex. (Although it can be.)
However, over the years I've read some really amazing stories that are written by awesome writers who love the show and the characters. I've also come across some truely hideous stories, that I've stopped reading in boredom or unhappiness with the bad quality of writing.
And this is true of most writing - most of TV is hideous, most films aren't great. You have to sort through. I just expect a higher quality of writing from Buffy the TV show and lots of fanfic is atypical of characters, etc, etc. But, as you say, there's brilliant stuff out there too.
I love the episodes "The Wish" and "Birthday" which both show us alternate universes for BtVS and AtS, so - for me - good fanfiction it like getting lots of episodes like that.
I stupidly wrote off AU fic in another slash discussion recently only to have "The Wish" thrown back in my face. It's a good point.
My friend pointed out to me that a discussion like the one on Whedonesque is good because it gets people who may not look for gay subtext thinking about the topic - and that's a good thing.
Given how many posts eventually ended up in that thread, I was happy to see it didn't degenerate into a homophobic slanging match - even though there was still a lot of anti-slash feeling, it just felt like people disliked that on the same level some people don't get fic at all or don't see the point of grafting these new angles onto characters. As you say, these characters are very well layered to begin with.
I was so sad the year that both Buffy and Dawson's Creek ended (besides my sadness at Buffy being over) because it meant that 2 shows that had queer characters in major roles were ending. With Will & Grace ending this year, that only leaves a few shows with major characters who are queer.
I'm having trouble thinking of one! Well, apart from "The L Word".
I think I've just realized that it's taking a while for there to be more queer characters in mainstream media (yay indie films!), so in the meantime I've been enjoying queer content where I can find it (eg. my love of the subtext on Smallville and Reba).
I love the fact that "Brokeback" has garnered such a high profile and is even playing in the U.S. red states. It's mainstream now and apparently has spurred Hollywood on to re-evaluate queer scripts that have been sitting in their vaults for a while marked "Won't Play in the Mid-West".