swatkat

Weird? Predictable? Weirdly predictable? Wierdly interesting? The rip-tides of cultural sexism at work, again?

One of the things about viewing 'womanhood' or 'manhood' as contested terms is recognizing that there are always multiple versions out there - so a story focusing mostly on female characters doesn't just have one sterotype/version of womanhood to work with, but dozens - and these competeing versions of womanhood can be set up to duke it out, as it were, to demonstrate which is the most desirable/acceptable. So, these would be stories in which gender politics remain central - just as in m/f stories.

I haven't actually read much f/f yet - my f/f reading has been pretty limited by not knowing the source materials well enough for the more popular f/f fandoms, so I haven't seen this phenomen exactly - any recs for this sort of thing? And would it make any sense if I have never knowingly looked upon Faith in my life! ;-)

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And, on further thought, not hardly much diferent at all than ostensibly HR fic that makes Michael a nobly suffering god-boy against Nikita's bitchy and incompetent whingeing.

Blergh - but, not all that uncommon.

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First things first. *points to icon* This is Faith. She is my girl (and Buffy too). She is one of those characters who can be paired with (has been paired with) anyone and everyone for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that the actor playing Faith had chemistry with everyone she ever shared the screen with, including several inanimate objects like a cross-bow and a stake. The other icon (the one above), is my Buffy/Faith icon. Anyone who knows even the slightest bit about slash (or is unconsciously inclined to slashing) will vouch for the canonicity (is that a word?) of this potential. The beauty of the Buffyverse is that all the sub-text was intentional (this goes for het pairings too), which even shuts up the "but that's not what they intended!" fen, and there are moments when the line blurs and becomes text (as in the one in my icon).

any recs for this sort of thing?

Augh, I'll have to look, since I press the back button whenever I come across such crap (I could rec *good* Buffyverse f/f, though *g*) - but I've come across fics where Joyce (Buffy's mother) suddenly becomes a homophobic, snotty EVIL BEOTCH, albeit in canon she was the person who was probably kindest to Faith in Sunnydale. Or poor Willow (who, btw, later comes out and has TWO on-screen lesbian relationships), who suddenly becomes the evil manipulator standing in the way of their True Love. And the funniest thing? Often, the fic also bashes the MAN in the middle - like turning poor Angel/Riley (Buffy's S4 boyfriend; one of the most boring characters in the Buffyverse) into an abusive piece of shit. As if Buffy couldn't snap their necks with her bare hands if she needed to.

and these competeing versions of womanhood can be set up to duke it out, as it were, to demonstrate which is the most desirable/acceptable.

Aha! That makes a *lot* of sense.

Swatkat

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how much I hate you, because I've finally decided to surrender and rent Buffy DVDs. I just can't pass up such a fertile source of f/f. *Shakes fist in your direction, because I don't need another fandom!!!*

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How's the Xena fanfic? Have you poked into much of it yet?

I watched only the first season or so, and the series finale.....so I've stayed away from the fic on the theory I ought to see the rest of the show first.

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I just recently caught up with all the Xena seasons on DVD -- as I may have mentioned, I never watched the show when it was on the air because it just struck me as so cheesy and campy, from the snippets I saw.

But because of its importance in f/f fandom, I finally gave in and rented them, and found that I quickly got over the cheesiness and *adored* the show. Completely adored, as in "OMG I must now read every single fanfic story out there!!!111" adored. As in, "I am such a stupid idiot and must kick myself repeatedly for not getting involved in this fandom when the show was still alive!" adored.

*Ahem*

So. I am now on the verge of diving into that fic universe, but it's a vast and uncharted place to me -- while I've found boatloads of archives (and finally figured out their fanfic lexicon, which is quite unique), I haven't found a good source of recs to narrow things down. At the moment I'm just stabbing at stories and authors randomly, but I hope to get a better sense of things soon. I'll let you know what I find.

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You've done a good thing - from what I've heard, Xena is *the* fandom for long, plotty f/f. *g*

Swatkat

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Long and plotty? *Eyes widen*

My God, I've found paradise!

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Speaking of newfandom squee - I finally watched the first disk of Firefly last night - all four eps, out of what I now - post searching - know is only 14 filmed eps. Sigh - it is a wonderfully campy show from Joss Weadon.

Gina Torres is in it, in a marvelous kick ass sort of role.

But more than this - OMG!!! the f/f! It is so beautiful! Inara/Kaylee - from the very first exchange between them I was all 'OMG!OMG just LOOK at them!"

So I went running to crack van and recs - and all the major pairings are m/m. Oh, yes, some people have written it - but, not so much in comparison to the favored m/m. And the crack_van summary was written by an avid m/m fan for all the m/m pairing and she was squeein away about from the very first exchange ...see above - and I'm all - Huh. Knew this was a big m/m fandom - was actually looking for it. Didn't see it leap off the screen. Actually - didn't see much leap off the screen from the men at all, really. Sparks, energy, alterness.....not so much. They were all very laid back and manly in a woodenish sort of way. I mean, sure, you could write it, but....

And one of the most popular slashed men actually makes an incredibly rude and ugly anti-lesbian joke in the first ep, one that was designed to hurt and embarass Kaylee (actually, I learned that was the second/third ep shown not the first/second, but still. Early.) It could be sublimation - or, he could be a raving misogynist, or so far anyway - plain old run of the mill homophobe, he's looking like.

I haven't read any slash about him yet - finals to grade and all - but I'm going to be *very* curious about the writers handle this.

Today we have learned that my slash goggles are working just fine thanks, but apparently I only have a f/f pair. *grin*

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WatchBuffyplskthx.

I'll point you to Firefly femslash if I do come across it. A lot of the Buffyverse authors also write Firefly.

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VICTORY!!!!1!!1111!

Now, do keep in mind that they're teenagers, and not Lilah Morgan. :p And does this mean you've finished watching Angel?

Swatkat

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I'll keep the teenaged thing in mind and cut them some slack. *g*

Not quite finished watching, but at this point I like the series well enough to line up Buffy as next in my rental queue.

You are truly the fandom crack dealer. LOL.

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