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

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

Ugh. The whole "gay fans aren't hurting anyone so just let them have their slash" tone to that article is really gross. Like, we can have our own happy little straight people land and they will go away if we just "allow" them to use their own freaking imaginations?

And yes, I agree that bromance is getting way overdone and I would like to see a movie that has more than one lady at a time in it.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

And here I was assuming that Regina/Emma would never be canon 'cause Foe Yay rarely takes that path. But then, I'm Canadian, where they torture femslashers by having the lesbian get a girlfriend to stand in the way of their OTP.

I am a bit surprised about Mulan and Aurora who were doing the whole Xena/Gabrielle thing.

*points and laughs for having dropped the show ages ago, then returns to whimpering over Betty/Kate*

[meitah.livejournal.com]

Fun fact- DC and Warner Bros have been going back an forth about a Wonder Woman movie. Current feeling is that it'll never happen, because they don't have the balls to do it.

At least we can take solace in the new Sailor Moon series coming out this summer.

[mistaria.livejournal.com]

Here fucking here, Red.

In a fitting coincidence the top secret on fandom secrets today was about someone wishing for another show like Xena. Sometimes I swear the 90s were more progressive than things are now (probably has to do with the economy).

[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

[lady-with-cats.livejournal.com]

ugh yes! and the worst part is people actually equating slash with real representation! no, just, no, no, no. and all that "family friendly" stuff is such bullshit. f/f or m/m is just as family friendly as het romance, wth. if a couple can make out in a "family friendly" show (which certainly has happened; i would argue we've even seen het sex on ouat), i don't see why the gender of the people in question suddenly raises questions about age appropriateness (or whatever "family friendly" means).

and the worst part is when lack of representation comes down to the wire, queer ladies get sent right down to the end of the representation line. :( (and that's not even getting in woc!) why does 1 person who isn't a straight-white-male have to fill a quota? why can't we ask for more. why can't we demand more without being told to pipe down and stop ruining the fun? we should expect more from our media. i don't think it's okay anymore to just accept that things will never change or that talking about this stuff or demanding it won't "do anything". (speaking generally, not at you specifically!)

(wow that turned into a rant, sorry!)

[phemyscira.livejournal.com]

*STANDS UP AND APPLAUDS THIS ENTIRE POST.*

Yes, yes, yes, thank you. It's like everyone's for slash, but only if it's mildly hinted at and excludes all the female characters. I WANT TO SEE REALLY HAPPY GAY COUPLES IN AN AWESOME RELATIONSHIP, WITH AWESOME FEMALE FRIENDS THAT ARE LOVED BY THE COUPLE AND THE SHOW'S WRITERS, WHY IS THAT SO HARD?

[http://users.livejournal.com/brokenrecord__/]

ugh, everything in this post is so perfect and completely spot-on. I'm so constantly incredibly frustrated with people arguing that slash ships count as representation of queer characters and am also frustrated with how sexist it can get, and just... yeah, I really have nothing to add that you didn't say yourself, just wanted to echo your frustration!

[sugar-fey.livejournal.com]

Hi, I got linked here by latenightcuppa and have to say a mighty THIS. Subtext is not representation, and writing/reading slash fic is not activism.

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.

YES, THANK YOU. I'm tired of female characters being bashed, and people who cry that they love slash saying "ew, no" about femslash. I'm always more interested in female characters, and I'm tired of fandom being such a white sausage fest. It particularly angers me when people use feminism (or rather, their warped idea of feminism) to justify erasing or bashing female characters.

I friended you, I hope you don't mind!