Exactly. I would be interested in a well-developed essay on the topic of fan fiction (and/or slash writing), but this isn't one. I think she's trying to pass off poorly expressed opinions under the guise of scholarly writing, and it just comes across as a bad presentation that verges on being offensive. To be honest, I don't read slash writing, but I'd love to hear some opinions from the people who do. Statistics will be tough to find or even compile, simply because this is (from what I understand) a web-only phenomenon, but it would be a valuable contribution to the literary community. A couple of months back I read an article (dating from the early 90s, I think) from a woman who did a wide-scale study on the popularity of Harlequin romances, which have traditionally been ignored among scholars. Her findings were fascinating and indicated just how important it is to consider the wide variety of reading that people really do. I think fan fiction makes for a good comparison. I've only heard of one professor at the university level offering a study of this, but I'd like to see it discussed more. It's completely not my field (I lean toward the medieval stuff), but I'd be willing to take a class in it.
As for the gay characters turning straight, that one throws me for a loop. I can't imagine anyone offering a serious slash fic only to have it end with the men (or women) walking off into the sunset with someone of the opposite sex. That would pretty much undermine the entire thing, wouldn't it?
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Date: 2008-03-27 04:08 am (UTC)As for the gay characters turning straight, that one throws me for a loop. I can't imagine anyone offering a serious slash fic only to have it end with the men (or women) walking off into the sunset with someone of the opposite sex. That would pretty much undermine the entire thing, wouldn't it?