fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #818 ]

⌈ Secret Post #818 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

101.

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[Homefront]

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[Louis Theroux and Jael Phelps]

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[Code Geass]

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(Family Guy/Seth Macfarlane)

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[Elite Beat Agents]

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(Princess Resurrection)

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[Harry Potter]

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[Watchmen]

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[Where The Wild Things Are]

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[Eminem/Green Day/The New York Dolls]

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[Wolverine and the X-Men]

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[Fallout 3]

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[FFX]

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[Silent Hill]

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 077 secrets from Secret Submission Post #117.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 2 3 4 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 2 3 - too big ], [ 1 - repeat ], [ 1 - doing it wrong ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

But that's the point - that this is not about "real human beings." This is about fantasy characters in fantasy stories. BL is not realistic, is not supposed to be realistic, has never aimed to be realistic, at least not on a whole - works by people such as Ono Natsume (I always forget her BL penname) are sometimes not regarded as BL because they do actually aim to be realistic. The entire point of BL can be summed up with "fun." If it's fun it's all good.

Mind you, lots of BL works do in fact operate with "reversible" pairings - and I've never seen anyone claim that they're "superior" or "more realistic" or whatever because of this, because everyone knows they're not and that's not the point.

Also, some people may enjoy AxB and BxC but not BxA for whatever reason. For others any pairing is fine as long as B is the uke. And so on. There are lots of reasons why one wouldn't want to switch the pairing to reversible - for me, it's usually that I just prefer to see B on the bottom and/or A on the top while the reverse does nothing for me. It's as simple as that. There are pairings where I care and pairings where I don't care. Btw I'm talking about sex now - for me this doesn't influence actual character dynamics. For others it may. For yet others it's their interpretation of the actual character dynamics that makes them decide on which one is the seme and the uke. Etcetera.

Again: it's all up to the writer. If she enjoys AxBxA then she'Ll write that. If she enjoys AxB and BxC she'll write that. if she enjoys everyone x B she'll write that. If she enjoys the prevalent seme/uke stereotypes she'll write those, if she enjoys clueless/younger/smaller seme x assertive/older/taller uke she'll write that, if she enjoys feminine seme x manly uke she'll write that, etc. etc. etc. (I don't know if you've heard of Ayakashi ayashi - for the majority of fandom the very feminine crossdresser Genbatsu was the seme and they had him top pretty much everyone, while street-smart 40 year old "cool older guy" Yuki was usually uke to everyone except for Abi who was what, fifteen years younger and a head taller than him.)

I think the key point here is that BLers regard 'who tops?' as a significant character question within a fanwork, even if only in a sexual sense, and I for one don't feel that way. (Though I think some people who slash outside of BL do). To me it's a matter of tone, or of what kind of sex I want to narrate at the time. I'm in a long-term heterosexual relationship, and there too 'who tops?' is as impulsive a question on any given day as it is in my slash fics.

But see, here you go again with the real life examples. What I'm saying is that yes, real life is different but BL by its nature is not concerned with real life. Whatever I do and have done in my relationships doesn't reflect on my taste as far as fandom and fictional guys are concerned. BLers know that real life is different, they just don't care.

One thing I like about BL (and manga in general) that it's shameless about being a fantasy. Mangaka are not trying to justify their fantasies by trying to make them realistic or trying to turn them into something deep and profound (fandom's interpretations notwithstanding), etc. And readers don't try to justify them either (again, some fannish interpretations notwithstanding). It's all unrepentantly self-indulgent fantasies, the kind that's looked down on in the west (even though it has a long history over here as well, but we've repressed it with all our might) but it flies in Japan. This is why Twilight has a hatedom yet nobody minds Vampire Knight which is exactly the same crap.

Anyway, I think it all comes down to personal preference. Which is why I hate it when people insist that being realistic is the only way to go and if someone doesn't agree she's an ignorant fanbrat who should be mocked and lectured. I totally understand if someone prefers the western idea of slash to BL, if you like that better then it's your prerogative, more power to you. I just wish people would finally stop regarding their way as the only way. Personal preferences are not universal rules that everybody should play by.

(Edited for clarity. Gah. Sorry for the tl;dr.)

[ SECRET POST #818 ]

Re: 130. tl;dr

Re: 130. tl;dr

Re: 130. tl;dr