Why Slash?

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=160 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="012a0643.jpg"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=435 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="00f64643.jpg"> <div> <B>Why Slash?</B></div> <div>  <A NAME="why_slash"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> Into every website, a little soap-boxing must fall . . .</div> <bR> <div> When I first discovered slash, I was surprised, to say the least.  I'd just gotten my computer and was surfing around the net looking for anything and everything I could find on my life-long obsession - RDA - when I stumbled across this thing called 'fan fic.'  I nearly laughed myself stupid when I read some of the MacGyver fic out there . . . I didn't understand who they were writing about, because the character they portrayed as MacGyver had no resemblance whatsoever to the guy that I loved on the show.  Then one day, as fate would have it - I found a link for something called 'slash.'  Now, at first (and I will blame this on being a complete web neophyte), I thought 'slash' was akin to the slasher films involving folks like Freddie Krueger and Michael Myers.  Yeah, just stamp the word "duh" right across my forehead.  Anyway, because of my preconceptions, I didn't read any slash for a very long time.  Morbid curiosity took over, however, and one day I read one of the stories, cringing in anticipation of reading about my beloved Mac getting hacked into little, bitty, bloody bits.  Oh what an awakening I had . . .</div> <bR> <div> The first thing that struck me was that the story was actually much better written than the other 'normal' fan fic I'd read previously.  Whoever wrote the story actually had the character down pat.  The hook, the thing that really made me perk up and take notice, was seeing MacGyver as a sexual being.  I think we all pretty much hated what the producers of the show did to him in the series - he went from being a flirty, skirt chasing, red-blooded, all-American male, to an emasculated monk.  So - seeing him in this light really tripped a switch in me.  The other thing that appealed to me was that I didn't have to read about heaving bosoms and moist nether regions.  I'm a red blooded, all-American woman . . . I like men.  I like sexually aroused men.  I don't want to read about women, don't want to have those images in my mind, don't want to try and picture myself as the love interest in the story.  I just want to read about my favorite guy being a sexually competent male - to hell with all the wiggly female bits.  So, even though slash portrayed the character in a homosexual circumstance, I found that I really liked it because of the sexual freedom he was given.</div> <bR> <div> In the area where I live, Stargate SG-1 wasn't on broadcast TV until a few years into the series, and I didn't have the money to afford the subscription to the cable channel it was on while the seasons were being aired.  One day, not long after having found slash, I'm flipping around the channels - and there's SG-1 on regular network TV.  I was in heaven.  The first episode I ever saw was The Nox.  I'm sitting in my living room, just thoroughly enjoying the show, when this little light clicks on in the back of my brain and I ask myself, "do you think it's possible . . .?"  Right then, there was the infamous hair petting scene between Daniel Jackson and Jack O'Neill and I let out a squeal that was probably heard in the next state.  I went straight to the computer after the show was done, did a search . . . and the rest, as they say, is history.</div> <bR> <div> I read every bit of J/D slash I could get my greedy little eyes on . . . some of it was incredibly well written (see Recommendation page) . . . and some of it made me wonder what drugs the writers were on.  I got done reading one particularly bad story, in which Daniel should have been attired in a gingham dress, and I said to myself, "I could do better than that."  D'oh!</div> <bR> <div> And so it began . . .</div> <bR> <div> I've been part of the slash community for about three years now, and overall I have to say it is probably one of the most polarized fandoms I've come across.  One side thinks Daniel's a simpering little boy who's only hope of happiness is the approval of Jack O'Neill.  This Daniel is particularly given to violent mood swings, usually ending in him being reduced to a puddle of tears and incoherent sentences - in general, he acts just like a spoiled woman.  Marty-Sue, anyone?</div> <bR> <div> The other end of this spectrum seems to think that Daniel is nothing more than a pissy, smart-mouthed, know-it-all who can run circles around the dumb Colonel . . . but he loves him anyway.  In this incarnation, Daniel's got the same attitude as a woman with severe PMS.  Snarky doesn't even begin to cover it.</div> <bR> <div> I looked at those two extremes and knew there had to be middle ground somewhere.  Daniel was a man - not a woman in a man's body, screaming to get out.  Daniel was an adult - not a petulant little child.  Daniel had been married to a woman he loved; he'd had relationships with other women; he knew what love was.  He was a fully adult male who wasn't afraid to feel emotion - but he didn't let it overrun him, either.  Sadly, there was very little 'good' slash fic out there that lived in this believable middle territory.</div> <bR> <div> As to Jack O'Neill, there's the same diametrically opposed view.  One side thinks he's just a mumbling Neanderthal who can barely make it through the day at a high-tech military facility.  The other side has him acting like a complete bastard on a regular basis.  Now, given the fact that RDA thought it was a funny idea to dumb him down (I love the man, but he doesn't always make the smartest decisions), you still don't get to be a Colonel in the United States Air Force, a pilot of the most advanced aircraft the nation has to offer, and the Second In Command of the most top-secret facility in the world because you're a brainless dolt who can't even use a computer.  Again, middle ground needed to be attained - but this wasn't often accomplished.</div> <bR> <div> When I started writing fic, I tried to keep this middle ground foremost in my mind.  I wanted the characters to sound like they did on the show.  I wanted their reactions to seem real and normal for them.  Daniel loves to get in and analyze things; Jack O'Neill seems to be rather emotionally constipated.  That divergence lends itself naturally to tension and conflict . . . two completely different characters will do that . . . it's a plus, not something to be shied away from.</div> <bR> <div> I had the hardest time writing Daniel, just because he is much more open emotionally than Jack.  It would have been very easy to let him slide into that 'weepy woman' mode.  I remember explaining to someone who didn't like how I wrote Daniel in my first fic (because my idea of Daniel wasn't just like her idea of Daniel), that I sort of viewed him as chocolate.  Sometimes, milk chocolate is what you want - very sweet, very smooth;  other times, you want that harsh, bitter-sweet aspect.  That's the point of writing multiple fics about multiple situations - you get to play with the different flavors that the characters have.  You can mix and blend and come up with all sorts of wonderful combinations.  It's when you totally lose sight of the original character and turn him into something else that you have the problem.  Writing slash isn't about reinventing the characters you see on the screen - it's about exploring a possibility while trying to write the characters as true to canon as you can.  For me, it became a writing exercise - trying to write within someone else's universe, keep the characters as true as possible to canon, yet put them in these relational situations that would NEVER happen on-screen.  It's been good practice.</div> <bR> <div> I go about my merry way, slashing to my heart's content, when I see this interview with RDA.  This interviewer, out of the blue, asks him what he thinks about the fan fic being written that pairs him, not with a female, but with other males and is generally extremely graphic in its description of the sexual aspect of things.  I wanted to reach through the screen and beat him to death for putting RDA on the spot like that.  With the way it was approached, I can't blame RDA for his reaction, which was 1) are people making money off this (and the blatant copyright infringements that must be happening)? and 2) are children being exposed to this stuff?  You could tell he was thinking of his daughter and what might happen if one day she got ahold of a story where daddy was taking it up the rump from another man.  Poor guy had no idea that this was a genre of the fans out there that watched his shows; to have it plopped into his lap like so much manure was just extremely painful to watch.</div> <bR> <div> Not long after that, I read a transcript of MS giving an interview and the topic of slash came up and he just wouldn't discuss it at all.  After that, no matter where he went, he got asked about the "relationship" between Jack and Daniel and you could tell it made him extremely uncomfortable.  Some slash writers haven't helped this situation any.  I've read the transcripts from the panels at the cons, and some of the slashers put on a pretty miserable showing - being obnoxious and far too blatant - expecting MS, the man to be 1) like Daniel and 2) like slash-Daniel.  It's exceptionally embarrassing to me, as a slash writer, to think that anyone would put any of the actors on the spot like that.  But, I will give MS credit - he's handled it well, and has a lovely sense of humor about it now.</div> <bR> <div> There are people in the slash community who have done us proud - hopefully making the actors understand that the majority of us do NOT think that they - as private individuals - or the REAL characters - are gay . . . we choose to slash based on our own smutty imaginations - not because of anything we see overtly portrayed on the show.  I can't help but wonder, however, if the unease and discomfort over knowing that a certain portion of the fans are choosing to interpret the interaction between the two characters in a slashy light has put both actors off and increased the distance that has formed between them onscreen.  If that's the case, then shame on us as a group for putting such pressure on the actors that they have to try and overcompensate just to prove that they aren't what they are portrayed to be in fan-generated fiction.</div> <bR> <div> Now, as to the copyright thing.  Oh plagiarism, they name is slash.  While what we do is technically copyright infringement, it's been going on since Kirk/Spock were puppies, at least, and probably before that.  People fantasize - and in the information age in which we live, they post those fantasies on the internet.  What's the difference between what used to go on with mimeograph copies and dealer tables at conventions in the years before the internet and what goes on now?  Probably just numbers.  There's just more of us.  Does that make it any less a copyright infringement?  Probably not.  My thought is this, though.  The majority of people who write fan fiction, of any type, do it out of a sincere sense of caring for the characters and the show.  We carry these characters around with us, we keep them close to our hearts.  They're in our homes at a minimum of once a week for an hour - some of us don't see our own families that much.  Imitation being the truest form of flattery - if there was no fan fic being written, then I'm thinking there wouldn't be a show - because there'd be no fan base that cared about the show enough to give it a second thought.</div> <bR> <div> Where the line gets drawn, at least I would hope, would be where people try and profit from using their fiction (or fan art) for profit or gain.  I do what I do, both with slash fic and photo manipulations/montages/collages, because I want to share my enjoyment with others of like interest.  If you aren't interested in slash then there's nothing on this site that would interest you, so please, feel free to use that back button on your browser at any time.  I don't want to make any money from this because I'm not the one who created the characters in the first place . . . I'm just splashing around in the fantasy pool created from what I see on screen and my own, admittedly warped, imagination.  I like playing the 'what-if' game and I'm putting my postulations up on the net for others to share.  If I'm in violation of anything, it's having an overactive, and highly over-sexed, imagination.</div> <bR> <div> My bottom line is this.  Fan fiction is supposed to be fun.  Slash fan fiction is supposed to be fun AND sexy.  It's produced from the fertile minds of people who just really enjoy letting their imaginations run wild - then sharing the results.  No 'infringement' is intended, and certainly no assumptions about the personal lifestyle choices of any actors is or should be made.  No money should be made from anything generated by fans because we aren't the creators - I don't care how big and flashy your website is and how many readers you claim to have - you should not profit from work that was created by someone else.</div> <bR> <div> As to the actors who play the characters, and the characters themselves . . . I don't think that any of them are gay.  Even if one, some, or all of them were - it wouldn't matter to me one iota.  I love the actors who play the characters to little bitty pieces.  I always have, and I always will.  I've come to be emotionally invested (after 7 years, it happens) in the characters and I hate seeing them written badly and not true to character . . . and in this instance, true to character means straight.  Jack and Daniel are not gay.  Lastly, RDA and MS have private lives and thoughts . . . I've got no business barging in and demanding to know their views, opinions and feelings on things that involve intimate subjects, and I wish others would quit assuming they do have that right.  The money I spend on things produced from the show entitles me to one thing and one thing only - to watch a theatrical performance by two wonderful actors.  I respect that boundary - I wish more people would.  Maybe then these two fine actors, and seemingly lovely men, wouldn't be so creeped out by this particular genre of fan fiction, and they would be able to see it for what it's supposed to be . . . just a good bit of fun.</div> <bR> <div> So, that is my long-winded and completely self-absorbed views on all that is slash.  Thanks for letting me bend your ear.</div> <bR> <div> C.</div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=45 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="00f64643.jpg"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="161" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 45 ><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="39" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="29"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Plotexpo.com"><U><B><IMG SRC="0181d270.jpg" border=0 width="29" height="39" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER WIDTH="15"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="45" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="15" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id213.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Five Ways Jack/Daniel/John Ended Up in a"><U><B><IMG SRC="017271d0.jpg" border=0 width="39" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id50.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Life, the Universe and Everything"><U><B><IMG SRC="016271d0.jpg" border=0 width="39" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>