In the comments to the "would slashers support het couples"-post I often read that het-couples were not as interesting, because their relationship was often canon
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Pretty much exactly that happened in Buffy the Vampire Slayer fandom with Buffy and Spike. It started off as a completely cracktastic UC ship that no sane person thought would happen in canon. By the end of the show, it was the major canon ship. Far from fans losing interest, it became (and still is, so far as I know) the most popular ship in the fandom.
Despite the ship becoming canon, people still write a ton of AUs, both canon-based and fantasy crackfic. Partly this is because a number of fans weren't very happy with the way canon handled the ship, but partly, I think, it's because for so long all Buffy/Spike was AU anyway, and people just got used to it. And partly it may be because BtVS fandom is very accepting of AUs in a way some other fandoms don't seem to be. Harry Potter fandom, for example, seems to look upon the deliberate creation of an AU scenario with scorn, but in BtVS fandom, it's par for the course. (Heck, the BtVS canon incorporates the concept of alternate universes.)
Totally depends on the couple and how it's done. I'm not a big fan of declarations of love, so I usually prefer subtle. Tamora Pierce, when she finally confirmed in a book that Lark and Rosethorn were a couple did it pretty tangentially and subtly--they weren't the main characters or the focus (mind, anyone who'd ever read an interview with her about the books knew L & R were together). That was fine. I don't think it had much effect on the amount of L/R fiction being written--they were always a somewhat popular pairing, but the largely teenage fandom tends towards het Mary Sues, not femslash.
But sometimes when a couple I root for gets together it really bothers me how it happens, especially if it's a het couple with unconventional interactions who get jammed into the standard romance trope.
Honestly? Several of my favorite slash pairings are canon (Apollo/Midnighter, for example), and I also ship a lot of canon het ships. So I don't see being canon as any sort of drawback (if anything, I see it as a bonus--I get canon support for my interpretations of characters
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One of my OTPs *points to icon* is canon (and then some, but that's another ENTIRE post), and I still gobble up stories about them, even with a series that I keep saying doesn't need fic.
Maybe it's about how canon is structured. Geoffrey and Ellen are canon, yes, but they're not boring, and I bet they're not gonna be boring in that fantasy post-series world they live in, either.
No, it's not a slash pairing, but I think the same argument could apply here. Someone mentioned QaF, and I think it's similar. Brian/Justin are never boring or predictable, and neither are Geoffrey/Ellen. I bet F/K wouldn't be, either.
It's interesting that most of the Geoffrey/Ellen fic I've read IS romance fic, or rather, romantic fic. I've yet to read a post-series Geoffrey/Ellen angstfest with a sad ending. Because who could DO that to them, after all they've been through? *g*
First time Geoffrey/Ellen? Would be so, so wonderfully good, even if it would be so, so Art imitating Life. But like I said, that's another discussion entirely. *g*
more metafandomsapote3January 4 2007, 02:19:04 UTC
You know, this is more or less why I've never read much fanfiction for Whedonverse(s): I felt like if there was a there to be gone, Joss Whedon went there. Even Angel/Spike is canon. And it does take some of the excitement of speculation away, but at the same time, when the characters and their relationships are well-rounded and interesting I don't need fanfic to fill in the gaps.
Conversely, there are some shows where I get all judgey about a lot of the canon (::cough:: SGA) but the lack of emotional development onscreen makes for incredible fanfiction. The poorly-developed plot points strike many people as incomplete, I think, and people feel compelled to fix the canon through fanfic. Pure speculation.
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Despite the ship becoming canon, people still write a ton of AUs, both canon-based and fantasy crackfic. Partly this is because a number of fans weren't very happy with the way canon handled the ship, but partly, I think, it's because for so long all Buffy/Spike was AU anyway, and people just got used to it. And partly it may be because BtVS fandom is very accepting of AUs in a way some other fandoms don't seem to be. Harry Potter fandom, for example, seems to look upon the deliberate creation of an AU scenario with scorn, but in BtVS fandom, it's par for the course. (Heck, the BtVS canon incorporates the concept of alternate universes.)
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But sometimes when a couple I root for gets together it really bothers me how it happens, especially if it's a het couple with unconventional interactions who get jammed into the standard romance trope.
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Maybe it's about how canon is structured. Geoffrey and Ellen are canon, yes, but they're not boring, and I bet they're not gonna be boring in that fantasy post-series world they live in, either.
No, it's not a slash pairing, but I think the same argument could apply here. Someone mentioned QaF, and I think it's similar. Brian/Justin are never boring or predictable, and neither are Geoffrey/Ellen. I bet F/K wouldn't be, either.
It's interesting that most of the Geoffrey/Ellen fic I've read IS romance fic, or rather, romantic fic. I've yet to read a post-series Geoffrey/Ellen angstfest with a sad ending. Because who could DO that to them, after all they've been through? *g*
First time Geoffrey/Ellen? Would be so, so wonderfully good, even if it would be so, so Art imitating Life. But like I said, that's another discussion entirely. *g*
Reply
Conversely, there are some shows where I get all judgey about a lot of the canon (::cough:: SGA) but the lack of emotional development onscreen makes for incredible fanfiction. The poorly-developed plot points strike many people as incomplete, I think, and people feel compelled to fix the canon through fanfic. Pure speculation.
Reply
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