Earlier today when I saw this essay, I quickly re-read the stories. Then I read the essay twice. I am delighted because I enjoy this kind of analysis the most of all fannish conversation—analysis which compares and contrast stories with similar elements. It takes a lot of work to do but it enhances the enjoyment of stories, which already have brought a lot of pleasure. I’ve always loved the way themes/clichés are used and re-used in fan fiction. It is one of the great pleasures of reading fan fic.
I find the language of theory and literary criticism hard to follow. It’s outside of my field and strikes me as an obscure and specialized language. I had to look up trope and re-read the essay carefully. That said --I have found literary theories of sexuality (as best as I understand them) to be very helpful in understanding both my own sexuality and the politics of sexuality. So I’m willing to work harder when I read such things. But I have the feeling when I read essays which use theory talk, that I’m getting only about 46.7% of what is being said.
I think of theory as haute couture. The fashions on the runways of Paris and Milan are so alien to what we find in Target. Yet we know that in a few years, the essences of this year’s hot haute couture will be distilled into ready-made clothes which are made practical in the process. That’s how I feel when I read an essay like this. My eyes are wide and my brain is scrambling but I know that ideas are trickling down. It’s okay if I don’t get it all, it’s just a taste of what is to come. Some day it will be distilled for civilians.
I have always wondered if there is biological desire, hard wiring. I always thought of myself as straight but as I age and read more fan fiction and think about sexuality, the more I think of desire as being philosophical and psychological. My own desires have broadened from being exposed to non-determinist ideas of sexuality.
At the same time, I used to discount the importance of the body and the physical when I was younger. I have become both more sex positive about the actual body and more expansive in my ideas of attraction in the mind in recent years.
And I think the ASB for me is a metaphor for my own self-understanding and I love the story for that reason. It seems true at its heart. It captures the shock and liberation of new discovery so perfectly. John and Rodney come to have more expansive ideas about what is possible for them because of a very strong physical experience. They take desires they know and understand—being attracted to women—as a path into a more expansive idea of attraction.
I love this idea that being open to possibility can uncover true love and fulfillment. If they hadn’t been turned into women then they wouldn’t have found each other romantically. And as we readers with our OTP goggles on would have regarded that as a tragedy.
I think the point you made that the fiction contributes Meta as much as discussion does is so right. Fiction is so powerful that if done right, it teaches us truths that we couldn’t internalize without the strong emotional response to ease the learning.
Mostly good fan fiction is just enjoyable but every once in awhile the story is more than that. All of these stories, by playing with notions of gender and desire actually stretch us and our imaginations and ideas.
Anyway, thank you so much for taking the time to write this, it was great and made me think. And re-enjoy and re-appreciate 3 great stories.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2007-04-10 12:56 am (UTC)I find the language of theory and literary criticism hard to follow. It’s outside of my field and strikes me as an obscure and specialized language. I had to look up trope and re-read the essay carefully. That said --I have found literary theories of sexuality (as best as I understand them) to be very helpful in understanding both my own sexuality and the politics of sexuality. So I’m willing to work harder when I read such things. But I have the feeling when I read essays which use theory talk, that I’m getting only about 46.7% of what is being said.
I think of theory as haute couture. The fashions on the runways of Paris and Milan are so alien to what we find in Target. Yet we know that in a few years, the essences of this year’s hot haute couture will be distilled into ready-made clothes which are made practical in the process. That’s how I feel when I read an essay like this. My eyes are wide and my brain is scrambling but I know that ideas are trickling down. It’s okay if I don’t get it all, it’s just a taste of what is to come. Some day it will be distilled for civilians.
I have always wondered if there is biological desire, hard wiring. I always thought of myself as straight but as I age and read more fan fiction and think about sexuality, the more I think of desire as being philosophical and psychological. My own desires have broadened from being exposed to non-determinist ideas of sexuality.
At the same time, I used to discount the importance of the body and the physical when I was younger. I have become both more sex positive about the actual body and more expansive in my ideas of attraction in the mind in recent years.
And I think the ASB for me is a metaphor for my own self-understanding and I love the story for that reason. It seems true at its heart. It captures the shock and liberation of new discovery so perfectly. John and Rodney come to have more expansive ideas about what is possible for them because of a very strong physical experience. They take desires they know and understand—being attracted to women—as a path into a more expansive idea of attraction.
I love this idea that being open to possibility can uncover true love and fulfillment. If they hadn’t been turned into women then they wouldn’t have found each other romantically. And as we readers with our OTP goggles on would have regarded that as a tragedy.
I think the point you made that the fiction contributes Meta as much as discussion does is so right. Fiction is so powerful that if done right, it teaches us truths that we couldn’t internalize without the strong emotional response to ease the learning.
Mostly good fan fiction is just enjoyable but every once in awhile the story is more than that. All of these stories, by playing with notions of gender and desire actually stretch us and our imaginations and ideas.
Anyway, thank you so much for taking the time to write this, it was great and made me think. And re-enjoy and re-appreciate 3 great stories.