Slash was met with criticism, with an essay by Kendra Hunter dismissing slash as a form of "character rape" and a violation of the fans' desire to remain faithful to an original program.
This quote is what made me think of the concept of aura. What fans are doing by creating these story lines that are far away from the creators intentions, is prying these characters from their aura. This is very similar to what I spoke about regarding queer theory. Media can perceived in many way, including ways in which creators and producers did not intend. Slash seems to be taking queer reading to another level. Not only is the reader or viewer creating a queer reading of Star Trek and Kirk and Spock's relationship but they are going to the additional level of creating a new plot line outside of the original series.
Initially, I thought that fans must be writing this Slash because of the lack of GLBT characters on television and an obvious lack of same sex affection on TV and in the movies, with very few exceptions.
It was a surprise to me to see that slash could be seen as a projection of female sexual fantasies. According to feminist Joanna Russ, slash contains elements that women find are lacking in pornography: the lovers' personal interest in each other's minds, the tenderness, the refusal to rush into a relationship, the exclusive commitment to on another.
Contstance Penley helps me understand my confusion about women's role in this male homoerotica.
"the tendency of slash writers to depict Kirk and Spock as lovers while simultaneously asserting the the protagonists are not gay and have no history of previous homoerotic experiences; such a formulation allows the writers to maintain their own sexually charged relationship with these characters even while they are describing Kirk and Spock's commitment to each other. "
This is a concept that is interesting, yet confusing and will definitely be a topic that I bring up in my Mediated Sexualities class.
On a side note, I was thinking about the idea of fanatics taking their "original" material too far. While the fan erotica is more about creating new plots for exisitng characters to satisfy one's own desires, some fans try to pick up where the authors left off, infringing on the authors rights.
Earlier this year, J.K. Rowling sued librarian, Steven Jan Vander Ark in order to stop the publication of a ready reference book for Harry Potter fans. Rowling claims this would interfere with her existing plans to release a dictionary of sorts in the future.
Mr. Vander Ark testified that he was a former "Star Trek" fan for whom reading the first Harry Potter Book in 1998 was love at first sight. Ironic that he is a Trekkie, right?
Rowling claimed that Vander Ark's books copied material from her own books while adding little or no new information and insight. She was quoted with saying "A fan's affectionate enthusiasm should not obscure acts of plagiarism."
What do the creators of Star Trek think about slash. I would assume they are not pleased by the extreme changes of the characters that viewer create.
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