rispacooper

I am having a problem with f/f slash...if you can call the fact that I generally hate it a problem. I say generally because there are exceptions, that are just so hot or so interesting I have to bookmark them and read over and over, and possibly even rec them. And I realized after watching the movie Mona Lisa Smile yesterday that the reason I hate a lot of it is that it tends to be all buddy/cuddly, like m/m slash for tv cop shows tends to be. All the interesting opposing slash, all the characters who fight, or bicker, or who are *obsessed* with each other tend to get overlooked in the name of mush. Well watch Mona Lisa Smile, if you can stomach Julia Roberts and Julia Stiles (it's difficult but try), and watch the characters played by Kirsten Dunst and Maggie Gyllenhael (sp?) and then complain as I did about the lack of fanfic for those too, when the movie clearly sets it up for you. (Maggie's character, Giselle, kicks ass by the way. She's like Paulette Goddard in the women. Reow) Someone who doesn't write at the speed of a snail, like I do, please explore this! It's begging for it.

And on a related note, could we please banish the phrase "femslash" from writing? Why does f/f slash need it own word? Is it any less slashy than m/m. I think the only reason to have it at all is that word itself is...fun...to say out loud. It's almost suggestive. But it remains mostly unnecessary, and slightly offensive, and we need to be rid of it.

And then I trail off into oblivion....

heh heh

no subject

Ooooh oooh oooh ooooh! I think I thought you meant the opposite - that not all slash should be romance, when you're in fact saying that not all romance, male or female is cuddly. Sorry. People are reading this thinking we're wierd hah.

I totally agree. I've tried to deal with this in my HH fic because the fanfic is *all* sap all the time (I'm not sure I'd have written so much of it if I didn't have to avenge Archie) Even *that* kind of devoted love has resentment and guilt and all these luscious things attached. This is why I loved Sansa/Sandor so much. It wasn't any typical fantasy book kissy crap, it was scary and angry but it was sadly human and beautiful and therefore a thousands times more touching than stupid titanic shit. Anger and jealous and resentment are just as romantic and more affective because they're honest.

It is true though - women are seen as knowing how to deal with their feelings better then men, and a lot of slash is overly sappy where people have *no* problems saying "I love you, snugglebunny." I'm not that way, but maybe I'm wierd I dunno. But there's such a lack of good female characters in general, I mean we're barely allowed personalities in movies/books, let alone complex relationships. I think that's half the problem. So when good characters come along, we don't know what to do with them. That's the major problem - there's no archetype in our collective unconscious for this sort of thing. We can't say oh it's a Judas/Jesus thing, because we think of that as male (which is dumb).

Somehow, the mythology we draw from has got to get changed, so we have something grand to hold the f/f up to. I know you hate xena, but this sort of thing abounds in Xena, so it should get credit for that ;P There's also a het form of it in Xena/Caesar that's great.

Back to my original point, schmoop in small doses, and more slamming people against walls and tugging their hair hehehe Male and/or female. Cuz hey, the ugliness and human nature applies to women, too.

I think that's it, women aren't allowed to be "human" in the way that men are. We always have to be nice. Man, this is such a *HUGE* problem that the current state of f/f is just the tip of the iceburge. *thought headache* I have to shut up now or I'll rant forever.