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Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 09:58 am
it's nothing like a question that can be answered in one word
Environments are in read-only for mass updates. I wish I could explain what that actually is, because it's deceivingly nothing like what those words mean according to the dictionary, but I really can't. I know it's a mass, and it's an update, and while yes, it is, no, it's really not. And it sucks.
However, this rare morning, it gives me a short, brilliant moment to surf friendsfriends.
Sarah T on the lower numbers of John/Ronon in SGA.
Actually, I've kind of vaguely wondered about that, but--the thing is, my first fandom was Star Trek and I came out of that physically incapable of not having a header (though sometimes I break conditioning and remove it) and a taste for random internet drama. I also came out of it unable to believe Kirk was heterosexual and it would still be a year before I stared blankly at my first slash OTP (Pyro/Iceman, in case you were curious).
(Sidenote: I was on there watching or posting actively 1999 -2001--wow. Just. Yeah. This is why flamewars rarely scare me and why I don't often participate; I know some fandoms have been far wankier for far longer and with greater populations and drama, but I'm not sure any fandom post-usenet can hit that same deeply terrifying intensity where there were no prisoners taken and occasionally you realized the ground was being sown with salt. Deeply awesome. Even when you had no idea what Treksmut university was and kept freaking out every time your inbox pinged.)
Right. Moving on. The OTP even in Voyager was Kirk/Spock. I mean, that's an exaggeration, but not much of one. ASCEM(L) was like, KS Central. And I know this because I didnt' read slash and contextually knew at the time the plotlines to three of the winning GO stories.
Now, my question--are there any fandoms who have had more than one major pairing of the same type at the same time? As in, more than one major slash and more than one major het?
Since Trek, I've never been involved in a fandom that did, so I'm curious. And I'm not sure my memories of Trek are accurate, as this was 1999/2000 and I spent about half that time going, oh my God this is the best thing in the world! And um, writing Paris/Seven post-Paris/Torres breakup porn. Because I didn't like Seven and that's how I deal with dislike. It felt like Janeway/Chakotay and Paris/Torres had similiarly strong followings, though J/C was a bit older and larger, and Chakotay/Paris and Paris/Kim seemed relatively even (in retrospect, the locked archives actually skew it even more; I never even *knew* about some of them before Smallville).
I'd ask what everyone thinks influences a pairing to be written, but the answers will be, invariably:
a.) Lots of feedback! OR Feedback doesn't matter! Etc. Etc. Etc.
b.) BNFs! OR BNFs turn me off pairings! Etc. Etc. Etc.
c.) Big Pairings are sheep! OR Rare pairing are boring! Etc. Etc. Wait, didn't we do this recently?
d.) Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. (insert here)
I always wondered if it was just a moment of fannish--unity, if you will, like when a mob forms. Like, remember when you went to cheer at a football game and suddenly in the third quarter and while you've never been the perkiest cheerleader and kinda quiet, you're suddenly filled with bloodlust and helping to lead the crowd in screaming BEAT THE WATERPIGS and lost your voice for a day? (They were hippos. Yes, we got in some much trouble for that one. So very much worth it.) (My algebra teacher was louder than all of us together, though.)(I don't miss being a cheerleader. I do, however, miss controlling crowds with five inches of thigh and some belled shoes. Seriously. I still marvel at that.)
Yes, I'm going to be this incoherent all day; I had no sleep. Also trying to get my John/Ronon recs together, since I kind of think I should feedback the authors and then give the fic their own page.
However, this rare morning, it gives me a short, brilliant moment to surf friendsfriends.
Sarah T on the lower numbers of John/Ronon in SGA.
Actually, I've kind of vaguely wondered about that, but--the thing is, my first fandom was Star Trek and I came out of that physically incapable of not having a header (though sometimes I break conditioning and remove it) and a taste for random internet drama. I also came out of it unable to believe Kirk was heterosexual and it would still be a year before I stared blankly at my first slash OTP (Pyro/Iceman, in case you were curious).
(Sidenote: I was on there watching or posting actively 1999 -2001--wow. Just. Yeah. This is why flamewars rarely scare me and why I don't often participate; I know some fandoms have been far wankier for far longer and with greater populations and drama, but I'm not sure any fandom post-usenet can hit that same deeply terrifying intensity where there were no prisoners taken and occasionally you realized the ground was being sown with salt. Deeply awesome. Even when you had no idea what Treksmut university was and kept freaking out every time your inbox pinged.)
Right. Moving on. The OTP even in Voyager was Kirk/Spock. I mean, that's an exaggeration, but not much of one. ASCEM(L) was like, KS Central. And I know this because I didnt' read slash and contextually knew at the time the plotlines to three of the winning GO stories.
Now, my question--are there any fandoms who have had more than one major pairing of the same type at the same time? As in, more than one major slash and more than one major het?
Since Trek, I've never been involved in a fandom that did, so I'm curious. And I'm not sure my memories of Trek are accurate, as this was 1999/2000 and I spent about half that time going, oh my God this is the best thing in the world! And um, writing Paris/Seven post-Paris/Torres breakup porn. Because I didn't like Seven and that's how I deal with dislike. It felt like Janeway/Chakotay and Paris/Torres had similiarly strong followings, though J/C was a bit older and larger, and Chakotay/Paris and Paris/Kim seemed relatively even (in retrospect, the locked archives actually skew it even more; I never even *knew* about some of them before Smallville).
I'd ask what everyone thinks influences a pairing to be written, but the answers will be, invariably:
a.) Lots of feedback! OR Feedback doesn't matter! Etc. Etc. Etc.
b.) BNFs! OR BNFs turn me off pairings! Etc. Etc. Etc.
c.) Big Pairings are sheep! OR Rare pairing are boring! Etc. Etc. Wait, didn't we do this recently?
d.) Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. (insert here)
I always wondered if it was just a moment of fannish--unity, if you will, like when a mob forms. Like, remember when you went to cheer at a football game and suddenly in the third quarter and while you've never been the perkiest cheerleader and kinda quiet, you're suddenly filled with bloodlust and helping to lead the crowd in screaming BEAT THE WATERPIGS and lost your voice for a day? (They were hippos. Yes, we got in some much trouble for that one. So very much worth it.) (My algebra teacher was louder than all of us together, though.)(I don't miss being a cheerleader. I do, however, miss controlling crowds with five inches of thigh and some belled shoes. Seriously. I still marvel at that.)
Yes, I'm going to be this incoherent all day; I had no sleep. Also trying to get my John/Ronon recs together, since I kind of think I should feedback the authors and then give the fic their own page.
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omg I talk SO MUCH: Part 2
From:Bring Your Own Subtext: These are those fandoms where people tend to pairing crazy - half the fun for some people in these fandoms is playing mix and match with the available characters. Everything is fair game. Actual femslash! Whee incest!
Harry Potter: As others have said, crazy segmentation and a proclivity to pair everyone off with the kitchen sink. But Harry/Hermoine, Ron/Hermoine, Draco/Hermoine, and Ginny/Draco all have vast amounts of het followers and fics. Draco/Harry, Snape/Harry, and Remus/Sirus are the primary slash pairings. All receive a large amount of attention.
Roswell: You could find at least 3 fics for any obscure pairing you could ever dream of, but major competing het pairings: Max/Liz, Michael/Liz. Slash pairings: Max/Michael, Max/Kyle
BtvS: Major het pairings: Buffy/Angel, Buffy/Spike (Willow/Angel, Will/Spike were heavier in the early yrs of fandom). Major slash: Angel/Spike, Angel/Xander, Xander/Spike. Major femslash pairings: Willow/Tara, Buffy/Faith
Movie Madness: Unexpected, inexplicable fandom surprises! Suddenly a movie comes out and people go nuts for a pairing. Only a couple hours of canon, where the pairing shares screen time with a number of other plot points and characters, and yet a large group of fen rush to their computers and begin shipping like mad. This fandom will tend have only 1 major pairing.
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace: A few filmed scenes brought us hundreds and hundreds of Qui-Gon/Obi-Wanfics - LONG fics.
The X-Men movie(s): Het version of this phenomenon. Wolverine/Rogue.
See also: I would probably classify The Foresaken under this heading as well, as a minor fandom.
Inexplicable OTP: There is just something about a certain pairing on the show that pushes a whole bunch of people's buttons. Maybe this is because the canon has big gay subtext, maybe we see what we want to see - shippers will say subtext, others may say no. Maybe fandom has difficulty writing people of color, maybe that's not it at all. Fandom participants and non-fandom participants can argue about justification, lack of justification, why, when, how until the cows come home... but it will not change the OTP fixation.
Highlander: No 100% proven reason that Duncan/Richie did not catch on... other than it didn't. Duncan/Methos wins in a landslide, despite having much less screen time.
SGA: Why for art thou Rodney/John, and not John/Ronon or Rodney/Ronon equally? John/Teyla and John/Elizabeth seem to share close to equal billing, but on the slash side it's OTP or bust.
SG-1: I think SG-1 probably belongs here for the slash side. Jack/Daniel doesn't have any serious competition in the slash fandom, despite Jack/Teal'c, Daniel/Teal'c, and Daniel/Cameron sharing quality screen time. (mentioning D/C as we didn't get the appropriate RayK-like shift)
Torchwood:I'm tentatively including Torchwood here instead of under Canon Based Shipping because (a) Jack/Ianto was quite popular before it truly received strong canon support in S2 and because (b) it overshadows Gwen/Jack so strongly in fandom, though G/J subtext still receives a lot of focus on the show. And I don't think G/J would overtake it in fandom even if she became Jack's primary canon partner. But it really could go either way... kind of like Jack! hee. ;)
Smallville: Clark/Chloe overtook the canon het pairing Lana/Clark in fandom's hearts. Clark/Lex far overshadowed Clark/Pete fic like whoa. [However: as Pete got less character development than Lex and less screen time, then left the show etc. and Clark has yet to find another long term relationship arc with any other male character... it may be that for the slash side this fandom might instead have more in common with Last Man On Earth]
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