OK, that freaked me out
Aug. 21st, 2006 04:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
justalurkrThis is meta and probably not even very nice, but, liek woah. The kerfuffle I saw on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
sga_flashfic this morning was most unsettling.
First, I do not invalidate anyone's opinions on derivative work and the proper treatment thereof. I also don't understand a great many peoples' opinons thereon, but at no time by thought, word or deed do I intend to invalidate anyone's thoughts, feelings, opinions or perceived rights.
That said...
1. The kerfuffle was unsettling mainly because I've historically viewedsga_flashfic as a kerfuffle-free zone. Granted, I don't even skim every reply to ever post, but my perception is that people of varied flavors of fandom have gotten along pretty well and stuck to the serious business of porn production. This is to the good.
2. The kerfuffle was unsettling because, in like two and a half replies, this heretofore remarkably civil group lost their freaking minds. As far as I can tell, totally. Personal attacks abounded. The worst possible construction was put on almost everything. People who normally pass on by and let the children squabble were posting he said/she said replies. It was speechless-making.
3. This is the one where I skate the wafer-thin ice of opinion invalidation, but is really meant to be I don't understand your opinion at all and suspect the worst:
Part of the reaction to the latest challenge onsga_flashfic was more than one person worrying that their slash would be remixed as ship. I think. I didn't read all 135 frozen replies to the admin post. (It was too embarassing.)
Let me get this straight: someone might derive a work of heterosexual ship from your derivative work of homoerotic slash, and that would be OMGWTFBBQ THE WORST THING EVER.. (pardon the inherent redundancy of "heterosexual ship" and "homoerotic slash," but people have their own spin on fannish terminology and I'm trying to be as clear in my misunderstanding as possible.)
edited to add: I have now read all 135 frozen replies and stand corrected: a number of genners were concerned that their stories would be remixed as McShep (majority) with a couple biting their lips over Sheppard/Weir or Sheppard/Emmagen getting grafted on. I still think my objections below are valid when boiled down to "if it's not something you'd normally read, why are you sweating it?" A question which posters to the comm attempted to answer in some quantity, if not detail.
My objections:
(a) I'm a rock-ribbed, unrepentant slash ho who has read vanishingly little hetsmut that rose to the level of a pro romance novel, let alone surpassed it. I don't read hetsmut fanfiction.
I also don't believe hetsmutters are evil, idiots, small-minded or inherently homophobic if they don't read homoerotica. They could be all of those things for other reasons, but not simply because they dig hetsmut over homosmut. Many hetsmutters read hetsmut because...wait for it...it floats their boats. Bangs their shutters. Butters their muffins. Is their cup of tea. These hetsmutters look at that scene where I'm thinking "OMG Sheppard is lucky he's still got functioning kneecaps" and go "Sheyla missing scene!" For hetsmutters, this is of the good.
I thought the whole world had wanked its way around to "it's a waste of time to dis others' tastes," but maybe not.
(b) May I venture to say that the odds of a hetsmutter reading homosmut and thinking "boy/girl remix!" being more flexible than a rock-ribbed, unrepentant slash ho who wouldn't waste her time reading smut that rarely rises to the level of pro romance fiction, let alone surpasses it, are very, uncomfortably good? And this freaks me out a little? Since slashers are supposed to be the ultimate in "whatever floats your boat?"
(c) Isn't it control freakism above and beyond the parameters of fun, which fannish pursuits are supposed to be, to bar people from writing something you, yourself, would never dream of reading based on your work? I'm assuming here for the said of argument that writers who think het remixes of their slash as the worst thing EVER wouldn't be caught dead reading 'ship. My brain is insufficiently flexible to conceive of a bifictional fanfic reader having a problem with this, or at least not to the degree of hysteria.
(d) For people who don't want others playing with their toys at all: more power to you, baybeeez! I don't understand it completely, but if that's how you think/feel/are about it, just get on with your bad selves.
But, two more things:
I. Is there actually a need to have a screaming, misshappen cow about it out in public? With no epidural? Would it be possible to say "I'd rather not have people riff on my stuff?"
II. Free advice, based on years in fandom: take steps such that your head fails to explode when people play with your toys anyway. Not saying it's right, especially when you've publicly withdrawn permission, which actually makes it tackier to me, just saying it's going to happen.
It seems a waste of time & energy to get all worked up about it.
Appropos of none of any of that, I find "because the admin said so" to be a perfectly good argument.
sga_flashfic this morning was most unsettling.First, I do not invalidate anyone's opinions on derivative work and the proper treatment thereof. I also don't understand a great many peoples' opinons thereon, but at no time by thought, word or deed do I intend to invalidate anyone's thoughts, feelings, opinions or perceived rights.
That said...
1. The kerfuffle was unsettling mainly because I've historically viewed
sga_flashfic as a kerfuffle-free zone. Granted, I don't even skim every reply to ever post, but my perception is that people of varied flavors of fandom have gotten along pretty well and stuck to the serious business of porn production. This is to the good. 2. The kerfuffle was unsettling because, in like two and a half replies, this heretofore remarkably civil group lost their freaking minds. As far as I can tell, totally. Personal attacks abounded. The worst possible construction was put on almost everything. People who normally pass on by and let the children squabble were posting he said/she said replies. It was speechless-making.
3. This is the one where I skate the wafer-thin ice of opinion invalidation, but is really meant to be I don't understand your opinion at all and suspect the worst:
Part of the reaction to the latest challenge on
sga_flashfic was more than one person worrying that their slash would be remixed as ship. I think. I didn't read all 135 frozen replies to the admin post. (It was too embarassing.) Let me get this straight: someone might derive a work of heterosexual ship from your derivative work of homoerotic slash, and that would be OMGWTFBBQ THE WORST THING EVER.. (pardon the inherent redundancy of "heterosexual ship" and "homoerotic slash," but people have their own spin on fannish terminology and I'm trying to be as clear in my misunderstanding as possible.)
edited to add: I have now read all 135 frozen replies and stand corrected: a number of genners were concerned that their stories would be remixed as McShep (majority) with a couple biting their lips over Sheppard/Weir or Sheppard/Emmagen getting grafted on. I still think my objections below are valid when boiled down to "if it's not something you'd normally read, why are you sweating it?" A question which posters to the comm attempted to answer in some quantity, if not detail.
My objections:
(a) I'm a rock-ribbed, unrepentant slash ho who has read vanishingly little hetsmut that rose to the level of a pro romance novel, let alone surpassed it. I don't read hetsmut fanfiction.
I also don't believe hetsmutters are evil, idiots, small-minded or inherently homophobic if they don't read homoerotica. They could be all of those things for other reasons, but not simply because they dig hetsmut over homosmut. Many hetsmutters read hetsmut because...wait for it...it floats their boats. Bangs their shutters. Butters their muffins. Is their cup of tea. These hetsmutters look at that scene where I'm thinking "OMG Sheppard is lucky he's still got functioning kneecaps" and go "Sheyla missing scene!" For hetsmutters, this is of the good.
I thought the whole world had wanked its way around to "it's a waste of time to dis others' tastes," but maybe not.
(b) May I venture to say that the odds of a hetsmutter reading homosmut and thinking "boy/girl remix!" being more flexible than a rock-ribbed, unrepentant slash ho who wouldn't waste her time reading smut that rarely rises to the level of pro romance fiction, let alone surpasses it, are very, uncomfortably good? And this freaks me out a little? Since slashers are supposed to be the ultimate in "whatever floats your boat?"
(c) Isn't it control freakism above and beyond the parameters of fun, which fannish pursuits are supposed to be, to bar people from writing something you, yourself, would never dream of reading based on your work? I'm assuming here for the said of argument that writers who think het remixes of their slash as the worst thing EVER wouldn't be caught dead reading 'ship. My brain is insufficiently flexible to conceive of a bifictional fanfic reader having a problem with this, or at least not to the degree of hysteria.
(d) For people who don't want others playing with their toys at all: more power to you, baybeeez! I don't understand it completely, but if that's how you think/feel/are about it, just get on with your bad selves.
But, two more things:
I. Is there actually a need to have a screaming, misshappen cow about it out in public? With no epidural? Would it be possible to say "I'd rather not have people riff on my stuff?"
II. Free advice, based on years in fandom: take steps such that your head fails to explode when people play with your toys anyway. Not saying it's right, especially when you've publicly withdrawn permission, which actually makes it tackier to me, just saying it's going to happen.
It seems a waste of time & energy to get all worked up about it.
Appropos of none of any of that, I find "because the admin said so" to be a perfectly good argument.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-22 02:46 am (UTC)Yes, I know, all fanfic is done without permission of the original writers, but... honor among thieves, y'all. Is it that hard to ask permission? And if you don't want to ask, why not? Do you know the author would say no, so you're just avoiding it?
I've had people ask to riff off the Breadbox Editions. But parodies like that aren't mine or anyone else's really. They've been around for a long time. The only problem I'd have is if someone tried to continue the Stargate BBEs without my permission or use some of my group names I created. Other than that, knock yerself out baybee.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-22 05:25 am (UTC)The real idea of the challenge was to take a story about a mission (most especially one with porn) and write the mission report that wouldn't get anyone jailed or otherwise disciplined. In hindsight, I can sort of see where genners might get twitchy, but seriously...the intent wasn't to add porn & cover it up, but to cover up porn that was already there. ;)
They're being a lot cooler about it than I might have been, given the heat flying around the initial discussion.