HPB ship rants and canon vs fanon
I don't get all this discussion/wank about "HBP has sunk my ship, thanks a lot Jo". Really, for me, fandom is all about characters, and building on characterisations and putting them in situations that expand or divert from the canon universe. Fanfiction is a way to do what you want to do with the characters, explore different relationships (be it sexual, non-sexual, hate, love, friendship etc), dig a little deeper into characters head's and what drives them, what motives and dictates their actions and thoughts.
For me, canon provides insight and new material about the characters that we can incorporate into our fanfiction (or just as easily chose not to). It is not the be all and end all, otherwise there wouldn't be much point to fanfiction. Canon is a basis for which to build fanon. And I think people need to stop being so bitter and just enjoy your ship. You're not doing youself any favours with all this hate, fighting, bitching and boycotting of canon.
My favourite character to slash is a dead guy who is one of the few characters that actually got married. Does that stop me reading and writing him with all his male friends and enemies, even his son? Fuck no. I love the way JKR has written and created James, and I use his characterisation in any and all ways I can in fanfiction.
I do agree to a certain extent that Hermione wasn't done that well in HBP; she was petty and irritating and not written in a very good light, and I don't know why JKR chose to do that. But please, the Ron/Hermione has been coming since book 2, and if the H/Hr shippers chose to ignore that, that's perfectly fine; why should you not continue to ignore it? And who said the person you like/love when you're 16 is the person you're going to spend the rest of your life with? Sorry, real life is usually not like that.
And since when was Remus gay in canon? Speculate all you like, but it's not a canon fact. I like reading gay!Remus, but canon!Remus is still a character I love to bits regardless of whether he is gay or straight. And that's all that matters to me.
I also just read a post about "heterocentrism" in the books. I, personally, am slash-friendly / slash-oriented, ie I love reading/writing it, imagining it, and tend to look for and find slash hints everywhere I can, regardless of whether they are there or not. But before I got into gay fanfiction, I really didn't have the slightest inkling that a fandom like this existed. Gay issues were not predominant in my day-to-day life, in fact, they pretty much didn't exist. Coming from a largish country town I had not seen or met anyone who was gay, and even now living in a big city I do not know anyone in RL who is gay, though I have seen people around.
I guess what I am trying to say is that (as unfortunate as it is for people who are gay), gay people are a minority, and I don't see that JKR needs to put in a 'token gay character' into her series if she doesn't want to, just to make a point. I think that someone's awareness and/or empathy to the gay community comes from something that makes it personal, rather than anything from the outside. So if JKR has had no personal experience to make her sit up and take notice or feel strongly about homosexual relationships, then why should she include it? I am a writer (occassionally at least), and I understand that writing is a very personal thing; you put in your own experiences and feelings, and share/express issues that are important to you, in your writing. There are millions of important issues in the world, but that doesn't mean they all need to go into JKR's series. I guess what I am trying to say is that just because we are immersed in slash and find it an important part of our lives, it doesn't mean that everyone else does, or should, find it just as important.
Not sure if the last two paragraphs made sense to anyone. And I hope I didn't offend anyone who is gay, who has a lot more knowledge and experience about what it's like to be a minority. If I did, I apologise, that wasn't my intent. I would love to hear your opinions.
For me, canon provides insight and new material about the characters that we can incorporate into our fanfiction (or just as easily chose not to). It is not the be all and end all, otherwise there wouldn't be much point to fanfiction. Canon is a basis for which to build fanon. And I think people need to stop being so bitter and just enjoy your ship. You're not doing youself any favours with all this hate, fighting, bitching and boycotting of canon.
My favourite character to slash is a dead guy who is one of the few characters that actually got married. Does that stop me reading and writing him with all his male friends and enemies, even his son? Fuck no. I love the way JKR has written and created James, and I use his characterisation in any and all ways I can in fanfiction.
I do agree to a certain extent that Hermione wasn't done that well in HBP; she was petty and irritating and not written in a very good light, and I don't know why JKR chose to do that. But please, the Ron/Hermione has been coming since book 2, and if the H/Hr shippers chose to ignore that, that's perfectly fine; why should you not continue to ignore it? And who said the person you like/love when you're 16 is the person you're going to spend the rest of your life with? Sorry, real life is usually not like that.
And since when was Remus gay in canon? Speculate all you like, but it's not a canon fact. I like reading gay!Remus, but canon!Remus is still a character I love to bits regardless of whether he is gay or straight. And that's all that matters to me.
I also just read a post about "heterocentrism" in the books. I, personally, am slash-friendly / slash-oriented, ie I love reading/writing it, imagining it, and tend to look for and find slash hints everywhere I can, regardless of whether they are there or not. But before I got into gay fanfiction, I really didn't have the slightest inkling that a fandom like this existed. Gay issues were not predominant in my day-to-day life, in fact, they pretty much didn't exist. Coming from a largish country town I had not seen or met anyone who was gay, and even now living in a big city I do not know anyone in RL who is gay, though I have seen people around.
I guess what I am trying to say is that (as unfortunate as it is for people who are gay), gay people are a minority, and I don't see that JKR needs to put in a 'token gay character' into her series if she doesn't want to, just to make a point. I think that someone's awareness and/or empathy to the gay community comes from something that makes it personal, rather than anything from the outside. So if JKR has had no personal experience to make her sit up and take notice or feel strongly about homosexual relationships, then why should she include it? I am a writer (occassionally at least), and I understand that writing is a very personal thing; you put in your own experiences and feelings, and share/express issues that are important to you, in your writing. There are millions of important issues in the world, but that doesn't mean they all need to go into JKR's series. I guess what I am trying to say is that just because we are immersed in slash and find it an important part of our lives, it doesn't mean that everyone else does, or should, find it just as important.
Not sure if the last two paragraphs made sense to anyone. And I hope I didn't offend anyone who is gay, who has a lot more knowledge and experience about what it's like to be a minority. If I did, I apologise, that wasn't my intent. I would love to hear your opinions.