No Homo (Subtext Is Not Representation)

[redbrunja]

So, a couple of things showed up at the same time in my fannish life that I want to talk about. First, I learned about Ginnifer Goodwin's comment that Swan Queen was never going to happen because Once Upon A Time is a "family show", I was listening to femmeslash for fans show on Subtext 101,

and then I read this article, Why Embracing Slash Is Good For Everybody.

Let me bottom line it.

SUBTEXT IS NOT FUCKING REPRESENTATION.

ABC is not going to write Swan Queen (or ANY homosexual romance in their show about true love and blood family) because they are not going to risk offending viewers.

RDJ's Sherlock Holmes was never going to make out with John Watson because the studio isn't going to risk offending viewers.

Trust me, studios are already "embracing slash" in their 100% mercenary way, which is by showing deep, complex, meaningful and nuanced relationships between TWO WHITE DUDES without ever having to commit to actually writing homosexual characters.

That's what all those buddy cop shows and bromance movies are all about.

And the result of this, the part that really HITS ME WHERE I LIVE, is that "embracing slash" MEANS THROWING THE FUCKING FEMALE CHARACTERS THAT I LOVE UNDER THE BUS.

Do you know what it looks like when a show feeds the slashers? It looks like fucking Supernatural, where every goddamn awesome good/neutral/evil lady winds up dead.

The reason that there is not a gay Avenger is because MARVEL STUDIOS DIDN'T HAVE THE BALLS TO WRITE ANY OF THE AVENGERS AS GAY.

DO YOU KNOW WHY THERE ISN'T A BLACK WIDOW MOVIE ALREADY IN PRE-PRODUCTION? BECAUSE HOLLYWOOD DOESN'T THINK A WOMAN CAN HEADLINE A MOVIE.

And none of that is fucking okay.

The mainstream media is throwing scraps of representation at the audience and some people are pretending that it's enough. It's fucking not, and honestly, to me personally, it feels like a slap in the face.

Stop pretending to be inclusive of homosexuality and fucking be inclusive of homosexuality.

Realize that audiences can handle and fucking love movies with female/poc/homosexual (or all of the above) leads and film them.

Comments

[qualapec.livejournal.com]

Amen.

That article was written by people who clearly don't understand the slash community, primarily that most slash is written by straight girls and it's dominated 99% by straight white dudes. While that does say some interesting things about how female sexuality expresses itself in the subculture, I don't think that counts as representation in the slightest, since it ultimately doesn't matter for those people one way or another, because they're pretty much promised that their sexuality (presumed hetero) is always going to be represented in mass media. It won't always be represented well, but the fact remains that media is full of straight people. As I said above, I think it's the prerogative of queer people to find representation within that subculture, but it's not anywhere near good enough. Saying people should settle for subtext is like relegating them to Tantalus-status which is not okay.

And the result of this, the part that really HITS ME WHERE I LIVE, is that "embracing slash" MEANS THROWING THE FUCKING FEMALE CHARACTERS THAT I LOVE UNDER THE BUS.

Exactly. Because there's so much misogyny in bromanceish shows, slashers reflect the misogyny, which in turn is reflected in the show when they look at what they think fans want. It's A VICIOUS CYCLE.

And it's the same basic mentality where they think women should just be happy to have a female supporting character that does things and doesn't die, the idea that women actually want women to be the hero of the story doesn't ever fucking occur to them, because they think throwing us a bone is enough. Same goes for POC.

I also found this interesting a nice and fairly balanced meta on why women get so much hate in fandom (http://aiffe.tumblr.com/post/43660300604/for-all-the-women-i-have-loved-who-were-dragged-through). I'll admit, I liked this one especially because it addressed that there's more than one cause for the trend, which is something I've felt for a long time

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Because there's so much misogyny in bromanceish shows, slashers reflect the misogyny, which in turn is reflected in the show when they look at what they think fans want. It's A VICIOUS CYCLE.

It really is.

And it's the same basic mentality where they think women should just be happy to have a female supporting character that does things and doesn't die, the idea that women actually want women to be the hero of the story doesn't ever fucking occur to them, because they think throwing us a bone is enough. Same goes for POC.

Preach.

I also found this interesting a nice and fairly balanced meta on why women get so much hate in fandom. I'll admit, I liked this one especially because it addressed that there's more than one cause for the trend, which is something I've felt for a long time

Oh, the meta is A+.