(LOL - boy, do I have the rant for YOU. Sore subjects, coming up!)
I do like that she's going at it from an actor's perspective, but I'm wondering if it really matters if the K/S was intentional or not.
I would say it's really about a validation of a viewpoint. While generally I don't care if a pairing I love is canon, there are seriously some intense ship wars right now. I've been on a few general ST boards, and the homophobia is just STAGGERING. I think it's one thing to have another shipper say, "It's just not my cup of tea, but whatever," and then another to say, "God you're so stupid, they're just friends; go take your perverted viewpoints elsewhere!" Which sadly, that's been TOS fandom for the last forty years - which is so stupid, because Roddenberry and the actors never tolerated that shit, and when they encountered it, THEY DIDN'T (thank goodness!)
So I would say projects like that are all about pointing out why logically someone could slash them. Which shouldn't be necessary - but then, I HAVE encountered people who are like, "Shore Leave had slash? What do you mean 'the back rub'? I don't see any subtext in that..." *facepalm*
Personally, I got into TOS K/S as an "Ooh, that looks fun!" sort of diversion; but then as I kept watching the show... I would say feeling it's "pretty fucking canon" is about right. Which is why being told I'm idiotic for "mistaking friendship for perversion" is a little insulting, to say the least. (And while I'm loosely quoting, I would say I'm being grammatically KIND to those bigots, actually.) There's something... satisfying in being able to point out something slashy, which hold little logical doubt to the contrary. (And a bit of pride too. I mean, seriously - if K/S could be confirmed in any way as canon, that would be an important GLBT milestone! AND a little staggering, historically; holy cow. ♥)
While I don't care generally what other people ship, I don't like being lectured. I only lecture back when provoked - and K/S fans have been provoked for decades, now. ;)
have you read that interview where JKR disses the H/Hr fans?
I was in fandom at the time when it came out. It made me lose respect for her as a writer, and even slightly as a person, sadly. :( Her comments made being an H/Hr fan, and even an HP fan, really un-fun for a while.
Which is a shame, because the books on their own are really fun. But her treatment of her work is grossly immature, to say it kindly. I guess I'm from the Philip Pullman school of thought (he wrote The Golden Compass), in which I think reading is a democracy of sorts. "Reader-response theorist" is a good way of putting it. Except that JKR wants to control what her readers think, as opposed to letting them think for themselves. The immature part is being close-minded enough not to tolerate other points of view on her work. She also made fun of "Snape is a vampire" theorists in the same interview - which, I never was, but didn't think was a ridiculous argument at all.
I lost respect for her with the "re-read" comment. (Thanks for being out-raged about that. Most HP fans I talk to don't give a damn.) What a seriously dumb thing to say. A lot of her fans were young, and a lot of them went to great lengths to justify H/Hr by, what do you know - QUOTING AND ANALYZING HER ACTUAL TEXT. Some of them wrote fandom essays, and even comparative literature essays - a 14-year-old comparing Austen's pairings to JKR's? Not so uncommon, actually. And they picked up Austen in order to FIGURE OUT HER BOOKS. Yet, they needed to "re-read" because they did it from an H/Hr perspective? UGH... that's where the "lose respect for her as a person" comes in. She use to be a teacher. She should KNOW BETTER. Literary interpretation isn't a gift from the author, it's a right as a reader. Period.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 07:25 am (UTC)I do like that she's going at it from an actor's perspective, but I'm wondering if it really matters if the K/S was intentional or not.
I would say it's really about a validation of a viewpoint. While generally I don't care if a pairing I love is canon, there are seriously some intense ship wars right now. I've been on a few general ST boards, and the homophobia is just STAGGERING. I think it's one thing to have another shipper say, "It's just not my cup of tea, but whatever," and then another to say, "God you're so stupid, they're just friends; go take your perverted viewpoints elsewhere!" Which sadly, that's been TOS fandom for the last forty years - which is so stupid, because Roddenberry and the actors never tolerated that shit, and when they encountered it, THEY DIDN'T (thank goodness!)
So I would say projects like that are all about pointing out why logically someone could slash them. Which shouldn't be necessary - but then, I HAVE encountered people who are like, "Shore Leave had slash? What do you mean 'the back rub'? I don't see any subtext in that..." *facepalm*
Personally, I got into TOS K/S as an "Ooh, that looks fun!" sort of diversion; but then as I kept watching the show... I would say feeling it's "pretty fucking canon" is about right. Which is why being told I'm idiotic for "mistaking friendship for perversion" is a little insulting, to say the least. (And while I'm loosely quoting, I would say I'm being grammatically KIND to those bigots, actually.) There's something... satisfying in being able to point out something slashy, which hold little logical doubt to the contrary. (And a bit of pride too. I mean, seriously - if K/S could be confirmed in any way as canon, that would be an important GLBT milestone! AND a little staggering, historically; holy cow. ♥)
While I don't care generally what other people ship, I don't like being lectured. I only lecture back when provoked - and K/S fans have been provoked for decades, now. ;)
have you read that interview where JKR disses the H/Hr fans?
I was in fandom at the time when it came out. It made me lose respect for her as a writer, and even slightly as a person, sadly. :( Her comments made being an H/Hr fan, and even an HP fan, really un-fun for a while.
Which is a shame, because the books on their own are really fun. But her treatment of her work is grossly immature, to say it kindly. I guess I'm from the Philip Pullman school of thought (he wrote The Golden Compass), in which I think reading is a democracy of sorts. "Reader-response theorist" is a good way of putting it. Except that JKR wants to control what her readers think, as opposed to letting them think for themselves. The immature part is being close-minded enough not to tolerate other points of view on her work. She also made fun of "Snape is a vampire" theorists in the same interview - which, I never was, but didn't think was a ridiculous argument at all.
I lost respect for her with the "re-read" comment. (Thanks for being out-raged about that. Most HP fans I talk to don't give a damn.) What a seriously dumb thing to say. A lot of her fans were young, and a lot of them went to great lengths to justify H/Hr by, what do you know - QUOTING AND ANALYZING HER ACTUAL TEXT. Some of them wrote fandom essays, and even comparative literature essays - a 14-year-old comparing Austen's pairings to JKR's? Not so uncommon, actually. And they picked up Austen in order to FIGURE OUT HER BOOKS. Yet, they needed to "re-read" because they did it from an H/Hr perspective? UGH... that's where the "lose respect for her as a person" comes in. She use to be a teacher. She should KNOW BETTER. Literary interpretation isn't a gift from the author, it's a right as a reader. Period.
/novel-length rant.