I've been thinking about the oddity that is fandom lately, provoked by being in a novel position in my most recent fandom love, Torchwood/Doctor Who. ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
karaokegal had some interesting thoughts on it, but I'll clutter my own journal with mine, rather than hers.
karaokegal had some interesting thoughts on it, but I'll clutter my own journal with mine, rather than hers.I started out writing a bit of het but was quickly tempted into slash and never looked back. Since then I've preferred the dominant slash pairings all the way along - Jack/Daniel, John/Rodney, Blake/Avon, Illya/Napoleon, Jim/Blair, Gibbs/DiNozzo, Clark/Lex, Don/Charlie, Harry/Snape- always the main slash pairing in the fandom, or at least a major one. I think the only times my preferences were in the minority were Duncan/Joe and het!pairing Max/Logan, but I wasn't so invested in those that it really mattered.
Now I find myself out of the mainstream in Torchwood, and it's really different! One of the things I love about Jack is that he made het alright again. I can find something interesting in Jack/pretty much anyone, male or female, except, really for Jack/Ianto. Maybe I wouldn't mind Jack/Ianto so much if it wasn't the overwhelming, rabid, insistent OTP that it is. (I have new sympathy for the SGA people who don't get John/Rodney.) The noticeboards have dozens of Jack/Ianto fics every day, and maybe two or three of any other pairing.
Finally, a canon m/m pairing that is incidental, not the main focus of a 'gay' show. Shouldn't I be happy? Is it, I wonder, that the canon pairing takes away the transgressive thrill of matching two nominally straight characters? Maybe. Really, maybe. But mostly I think it's how poorly matched they are. A strong character like Jack with Ianto? It can't end well. Ianto occasionally shows some interesting backbone (sometimes OOC, IMHO) or humor, but mostly he wibbles. (Come on, Ianto fans, even you must admit that mostly he wibbles!) Aside from some unfortunate co-dependence, I don't see it. (Er, not that I shut off the TV when the pretty boy-kissing comes on.) As a 'part-time shag' thing, okay, but not a long-term emotional relationship.
I don't see the Jack/Gwen pairing either, but it isn't anti-het sentiment. I like Jack/Martha and Jack/Rose/Doctor (though not Rose/Doctor on their own), and will read Jack/Rose.
When I first discovered the wonder that is Captain Jack Harkness, and started watching Torchwood, I had this naive idea that with a show where ALL the characters have some degree of bi-sexual experience, finally we were coming to a point where het vs. slash ship wars would cease to exist. It would be a non-issue. Everyone happy!
Ha! I was so wrong! Slash pairing vs. het pairing wars are alive and well, though at least this time the slash pairing is dominant (*remembers year after year of Jack/Daniel vs. Jack/Samantha unpleasantness*).
My pairing is Jack/Doctor (nineth or tenth). Talk about being in the minority! Seriously, why don't more people write that? Lots of angst and issues, yes, but no wibbling at all! Jack/Rose/Doctor is rare, too, failing to please either committed slashers or committed shippers.
I don't like having to hunt for something to read. I want it served up in glorious heaps of fic that's more than I can get through. (Spoiled thoroughly by the McKay/Sheppard glut.) Is this, then, an opportunity to grow? Learning how to survive in a fandom that doesn't value my pairings. Accepting having fewer readers and less comments when I manage to write something. Trying to be happy that at least someone's slash pairing is canon, if not mine. At least my pairing is half way there - as unrequited. Sigh.
On another note: Okay, something big will happen at the end of DW S4. I don't want to know! *Fingers in ears - lalalalalala* How will I get through the next several months without being spoiled? Only by not watching fan-sites or reading fic. People sneak in fic based on spoilers that catch the unwary by surprise, and then you can't go back to not knowing! Hopeless, probably.
Now I find myself out of the mainstream in Torchwood, and it's really different! One of the things I love about Jack is that he made het alright again. I can find something interesting in Jack/pretty much anyone, male or female, except, really for Jack/Ianto. Maybe I wouldn't mind Jack/Ianto so much if it wasn't the overwhelming, rabid, insistent OTP that it is. (I have new sympathy for the SGA people who don't get John/Rodney.) The noticeboards have dozens of Jack/Ianto fics every day, and maybe two or three of any other pairing.
Finally, a canon m/m pairing that is incidental, not the main focus of a 'gay' show. Shouldn't I be happy? Is it, I wonder, that the canon pairing takes away the transgressive thrill of matching two nominally straight characters? Maybe. Really, maybe. But mostly I think it's how poorly matched they are. A strong character like Jack with Ianto? It can't end well. Ianto occasionally shows some interesting backbone (sometimes OOC, IMHO) or humor, but mostly he wibbles. (Come on, Ianto fans, even you must admit that mostly he wibbles!) Aside from some unfortunate co-dependence, I don't see it. (Er, not that I shut off the TV when the pretty boy-kissing comes on.) As a 'part-time shag' thing, okay, but not a long-term emotional relationship.
I don't see the Jack/Gwen pairing either, but it isn't anti-het sentiment. I like Jack/Martha and Jack/Rose/Doctor (though not Rose/Doctor on their own), and will read Jack/Rose.
When I first discovered the wonder that is Captain Jack Harkness, and started watching Torchwood, I had this naive idea that with a show where ALL the characters have some degree of bi-sexual experience, finally we were coming to a point where het vs. slash ship wars would cease to exist. It would be a non-issue. Everyone happy!
Ha! I was so wrong! Slash pairing vs. het pairing wars are alive and well, though at least this time the slash pairing is dominant (*remembers year after year of Jack/Daniel vs. Jack/Samantha unpleasantness*).
My pairing is Jack/Doctor (nineth or tenth). Talk about being in the minority! Seriously, why don't more people write that? Lots of angst and issues, yes, but no wibbling at all! Jack/Rose/Doctor is rare, too, failing to please either committed slashers or committed shippers.
I don't like having to hunt for something to read. I want it served up in glorious heaps of fic that's more than I can get through. (Spoiled thoroughly by the McKay/Sheppard glut.) Is this, then, an opportunity to grow? Learning how to survive in a fandom that doesn't value my pairings. Accepting having fewer readers and less comments when I manage to write something. Trying to be happy that at least someone's slash pairing is canon, if not mine. At least my pairing is half way there - as unrequited. Sigh.
On another note: Okay, something big will happen at the end of DW S4. I don't want to know! *Fingers in ears - lalalalalala* How will I get through the next several months without being spoiled? Only by not watching fan-sites or reading fic. People sneak in fic based on spoilers that catch the unwary by surprise, and then you can't go back to not knowing! Hopeless, probably.
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