Wow, I have to say I read this with some surprise because, in my opinion, this has already happened. Slash is a recognizable literary tradition of the 20th century with its own history and it has and does affect (and has been affected by) certain strands of pro writing (and will affect more I'm sure.)
I think I'm pretty clueless of most things that are considered traditions. *blushes* I'm glad to know it is!
I also have to confess that I'm fairly taken aback by what seems like your fairly negative view of slash as a genre--if it's feminized/weak then it's slash?
Yipes! No, I didn't mean that to come across that way. I was using those terms because I was thinking how often people sometimes use the term slash negatively, particularly when it's being compared to gay lit. Or just in general--sort of like the way all OCs can be talked about like Mary Sues, so all slash is reduced to whatever charicature the person imagines in the worst fics. So if somebody said (presumably as a criticism) that somebody had taken a gay romance and made it slash, would they be using the term slash to mean feminized and weak? I mean, I've heard slash stories that I loved dimissed with exactly those criticisms--that the male characters have been made feminized and weak. That almost seems like something slashers and writers can unfortunately throw at each other as a Bad Thing they do in their writing.
I assume when people use those words they are describing *something* that is a quality slash has that they are describing negatively. I'm more interesting in asking what people mean when they say the characters are feminized--sometimes it's obviously, of course. If the male character is pregnant, for instance, one can see why the author would be accused of "making him female." But is the author really doing something that simple? I tend not to think so but it seems like that's the thing it's usually accused of.
So really I totally agree with your second paragraph, which seems to go a long way towards explaining how slash can be reacting to something without that something being a specific original text. It seems like there's just a sort of omnipresent text out there in the culture.
That's the beginning of a definition of "slash" for me, anyway, and I absolutely believe that there can be original slash and a slash aesthetic that transcends traditional fandoms.
I'd love to hear more about what you think that aesthetic is--I'm totally fascinated!
no subject
I think I'm pretty clueless of most things that are considered traditions. *blushes* I'm glad to know it is!
I also have to confess that I'm fairly taken aback by what seems like your fairly negative view of slash as a genre--if it's feminized/weak then it's slash?
Yipes! No, I didn't mean that to come across that way. I was using those terms because I was thinking how often people sometimes use the term slash negatively, particularly when it's being compared to gay lit. Or just in general--sort of like the way all OCs can be talked about like Mary Sues, so all slash is reduced to whatever charicature the person imagines in the worst fics. So if somebody said (presumably as a criticism) that somebody had taken a gay romance and made it slash, would they be using the term slash to mean feminized and weak? I mean, I've heard slash stories that I loved dimissed with exactly those criticisms--that the male characters have been made feminized and weak. That almost seems like something slashers and writers can unfortunately throw at each other as a Bad Thing they do in their writing.
I assume when people use those words they are describing *something* that is a quality slash has that they are describing negatively. I'm more interesting in asking what people mean when they say the characters are feminized--sometimes it's obviously, of course. If the male character is pregnant, for instance, one can see why the author would be accused of "making him female." But is the author really doing something that simple? I tend not to think so but it seems like that's the thing it's usually accused of.
So really I totally agree with your second paragraph, which seems to go a long way towards explaining how slash can be reacting to something without that something being a specific original text. It seems like there's just a sort of omnipresent text out there in the culture.
That's the beginning of a definition of "slash" for me, anyway, and I absolutely believe that there can be original slash and a slash aesthetic that transcends traditional fandoms.
I'd love to hear more about what you think that aesthetic is--I'm totally fascinated!