without you I'm inside a... well, I'm supposed to be, anyway

[aruan]

So, I've been looking outside windows all day for any sign of wind, rain, doom, gloom, mayhem, hellfire - anything! Nothing. Beautiful, lightly breezy, sunny day and our alcohol and hurricane cupcakes sit untouched because we promised ourselves we'll save them for the, you know, hurricane which they've been advertising like the end of the world since Tuesday, and it's all just a little ridiculous at this point that there's nothing to do because the entire town is boarded up and fled north and there's no mail today, ergo no Star Trek DVDs.

It's really weird to read an article treating something that's so much a part of your life like a scientific discovery, explaining its workings and nuances and jargon and ooh, observe the native tribes as they gather to perform sacrificial rituals to their muse-gods. Participatory culture! I'm gonna use that one.

...MIT's [Henry] Jenkins argues that fanfic represents a flowering of modern folk culture. For thousands of years, we have shared stories about mythical popular heroes... Each storyteller embellished the tale, inventing characters, adding details, rewriting the ending. In the 20th century, however, folk culture has been privatized. The characters we share today are TV icons and movie heroes... These characters don't belong to the public. They are literally owned by studios and producers, who run the character's "life" and expect us to accept their decisions gratefully.

Fan fiction rebels against the private folk culture, Jenkins argues. Writers reclaim folk heroes by creating new stories about them... Fanfic writers assert control over a pop culture designed to be passively consumed.

Also, I can't tell you how loudly I laughed at Backstreet fandom, the largest at the time for young people, being, according to the article, mostly male-written. Nick and Brian seducing young male fans! Bwah! And the WWTT - What Would They [the Boys] Think - task force? *cries with laughter* And I got myself an education on "Pon Farr." Seen the term, didn't know what it meant, but wow. What a lovely, ready-made plot device.

As far as fandom news, everyone seems all a-twitter with excitement over JC telling the Sydney Star Observer he'd kiss Justin as a publicity stunt. Accompanied by yet another for the inane quote gallery about their being brothers but things never having gone that far. Oh, boys. Very, very good looking ones, especially with that blue background in the So Fresh interview, but nonetheless.

Last night, the roommates and I all ordered a pint of ice cream each, delivered from Ben & Jerry's thank you, and ate them, round-robin fashion, standing in the kitchen. It was fabulous. Cooked tonight, pasta and sauce and watch out world, Martha Stewart has an heir. Also, Miranda just said we might as well drink and be merry now or let the goods languish. Enough for Staci and me. Booze!

Quote of the Day:

"I don't ever want to be ashamed of anything. I always wanna work on something that I can stand behind no matter how old I am or whatever what have you."
-JC (apply to his music or fashion at will)

Comments

[sarahq.livejournal.com]

Have you read Jenkins' book, titled Textual Poachers? It's a bit dated, but still an amusing read for those of us on the inside.

I found the author's insistence that slash fic isn't about sex to be a bit disingenuous. Sure, it's also about the emotional connection between the characters-- but shouldn't any sort of well-written sex involve an emotional connection between the characters? In these popular press articles that attempt to explain slash, I often get the impression that women! writing sex scenes! to be read by other women! is being described primarily for its shock value.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

I haven't, no. Didn't even know about it until reading the article. It sounds fascinating though, and I think I'd love a pseudo-outsider's perspective on this "cultural phenomenon" we've all been happily partaking in since, for me, 1995.

I found the author's insistence that slash fic isn't about sex to be a bit disingenuous.

It's not about sex in that the sex is the sole reason for the existance of every piece of slash. But, using the recent 100 Ways Challenge as an example, it does happen. Some of it is a sort of voyeuristic wish-fulfillment in that the author wants to see what she/he writes to happen between her characters of choice for no real reason other than 'Ooh, pretty!' but that's not why most of us write. Most of us write to create a story, to explain the odd bit of canon the boys never followed up on (or creators, but I'm talking about what I know right now and that's popslash), etc. Absolutely, sex should, as it tends to in the real world, involve emotional connection.

You know, I think a lot of people would find some element of strangeness in the women! writing sex scenes! to be read by other women! scenario. Why don't we watch porn? "Read" Playgirl? Or romance novels? Why do we take it upon ourselves to write often-explicit literature using existing characters/real people? It's an awful labor-intensive way to go about entertaining ourselves and not terribly conventional. I don't think many people go into it as conscious rebellion against privatized folk culture (which totally applies to real people, too - spin doctors? Interviewers with an agenda or who are being paid to paint them a certain way? It's all terribly fascinating, and the irony is that we're probably working with less solid canon than comics/TV/movie fandoms.) Truth be told, if you asked me why I do it, I'd cite the guys - but why do I take this path instead of being satisfied with going to shows or hanging out on message boards talking about interviews and how cute they are, etc. Why the fanfic, too? It's always a little embarrassing to explain to someone about fanfic, because we're already a marginalized subculture of fans, but the prospect that what we do can be seen as any sort of legitimate expression? Most people roll their eyes and pet your head. I loved that the author of the article didn't.

On another note, when's the last time we had a really good discussion instead of kerfuffle in popslash? Lamentably long ago. I'm so sick of the intra-fen to-dos and the raging civil war between JC/Justin fen. To that end, despite your dislike of their music (some of which I might love with ever-escalating passion), you're very quickly becoming my favorite commenter, and for that, I thank you.

[halimede.livejournal.com]

I've still not read it (though it sounds pretty cool), but that might be one of the things that dates it. I think the slash fic without sex scenes was a less rare breed than it is now --and it is by no means extinct. You can't define slash by saying it's about sex, that isn't all there is to it, or even the biggest thing. But it *is* very important. I bet that's very difficult to describe to the outside world where any one of the ingredients of slash (pop culture, 'derivative works', porn) are enough to have everyone automatically dismiss the whole thing.

but shouldn't any sort of well-written sex involve an emotional connection between the characters?

I'm very, very tempted to say no, though in slash it almost always does.

Not quite coherently articulated somewhat tangential thought: sometimes the wider slash community doesn't so much seem to be writing about sex, as sex about writing.

[coolwhipdiva.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you aren't being lashed around by gale-force winds, honey. Hope the cupcakes were good.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

As are we, of course. The above rant was built-up indignance but meant with no seriousness - of course we'd rather we didn't have occasion to buy hurricane cupcakes. It's mostly the inane local news. Let me make the pledge right now that, should I take that angle, I won't take any part in sensationalizing. Give me facts, give me plans, don't give me "projected paths" (and you know, it's amazing how little we can predict about storms with the outrageous technology we've got today) or flood projections or your own take on a few branches flying around being "significant debris."

And the cupcakes were good! The amount of alcohol consumed was a little too much though, and while I didn't pay the ultimate price, a couple of others in the house didn't fare so well. Also, there's finally a hurricane outside, so we've filled containers with water and taking advantage of the power while we've got it.

Also, Mississippi should be a no-contest decision. Come play with uuuuus!