subtext in fantexts

[hope]

I think it's one of the potential drawbacks of slash that its very existence to an extent denies the possibility of homoerotic subtext in gen stories.

And yeah, okay, I know all you SPN readers out there will be "wtf! in gen stories they sleep in the same bed and give each other baths ALL THE TIME!" but, okay - frequently I also notice stories posted with notes like "subtexty wincest" or "pre-slash" or "you can read this as slash if you want" or "hints of slash".

In other words. SUBTEXT. Slash's existence potentially excises homoerotic subtext from non-slash stories: because as soon as there's subtext, frequently authors feel they have to re-classify. Which means a whole lot of things, most on the side of the audience reception to the story.

More than a few of the gen stories I really, really love - in this fandom and other fandoms - have strong subtext. That is just subtext. Juicy, homoerotic subtext. Which is satisfying in its own right; something completely other than slash. If I'm looking for slash to read, I won't be satisfied by something that's just subtext. And if I'm reading a gen story about a same-sex partnership, I'd be disappointed - even unsatisfied - if it was strikingly lacking in subtext.

Interestingly problematic division there, I reckon.

Interesting in terms of SPN specifically too; the text itself has such a strong subtext and text of emotional and physical intimacy; a queer reading of it is quite easy. It's fascinating watching people classify their stories as slash or non-slash when they re-create or even emphasise just a little the intimacy that occurs on the show itself.

Comments

[elspethdixon.livejournal.com]

I think it's one of the potential drawbacks of slash that its very existence to an extent denies the possibility of homoerotic subtext in gen stories.


Not necessarily. I've found that gen fic writer by slashers is often at least mildly slashy, and I've deliberately attempted to write homoerotic gen on at least a couple of occasions (ex: Three Musketeers fic, because d'Artagnan has a massive, hero worshiping crush on Athos in canon, and it's a 19th century novel, so subtext is just automatically there). And then there's the Starky & Hutch fandom, where the only obvious difference between the slash and the gen is the lack of sex scenes in the latter. I know there are S&H gen writers who strongly believe that the guys aren't sleeping with each other and don't want to, but their stuff reads pretty much exactly like the slash anyway.

[eleventh-guard.livejournal.com]

I agree that there is sometimes subtext in genfic - and that, at least for me, the fact that I've been writing more slash lately seems to bring out the subtext. I'm in the Star Wars fandom, and our main board has a very strict No Slash Especially With Canon Characters rule (it's actually more complicated, but the gist is "no slash"). I was able to post a genfic there, and it definitely has some subtext. Nothing strong enough to get me booted, but enough to find if one looks for it. It's so easy to add a little subtext to gen stories, and before, it might not have been.

Maybe it's because I started with a slashy plotbunny and made it gen instead of the other way around.

[elspethdixon.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's because I started with a slashy plotbunny and made it gen instead of the other way around

That couldn't hurt ^_^. I know that back in the day when I wrote HP fic, I used to have to go over every chaper of my long gen/het fic with a fine-toothed comb, trying to keep Sirius/Remus subtext from creeping in. Re-reading it now, I wasn't as sucessful as I assumed at the time (I also wasn't as good a writer as I assumed, but that's neither here nor there). Because I shipped S/R so hard, they were always in love with one another in my head, even when I tried to write their interactions as platonic.