Where 're the femslash little black dress
May. 8th, 2011 02:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snowynightSome anecdotes
I love Sherlock Holmes, so I can't resist the lure of the 2009 Sherlock Holmes film. It has Mary and Irene in a greater role than in the book, but the movie's never about them, never told in their POV. They pretty much respond to the action. I return from the cinema with a vague thought that I would like a gun-swinging Mary partnered with Irene in a steampunk Victorian London, but I don't really get the characters enough. Because the movie doesn't give me this.
When I watch the earlier season of Stargate: Atlantis, there are only two female favourite characters. They are shown as friends, and the fandom pretty much pair them as the spare. Later in the season there were more female characters introduced and filmed interaction between Teyla and them. While the amount of fic produced is not much as far as I know, Teyla launched several ships, Teyla/Kate, Teyla/Keller, Teyla/Sam. While the canon is not good enough, it at least gives a starting point to write and passes the Bechdel's test in some episodes.
My hypothesis about the lack of femslash little black dress is thus:
There're just not enough female characters. Even nowadays a show can be without one female major character. Supernatural, for example is a big offender.
When there are finally some, the writers often screw up on the female characters. The stories are often not about them, the story not told in their POV, they often go without agency or sacrificed for some dramatic effect. These combined don't encourage fans of female characters. When the show finally pass Bechdel's Test, there are usually no multiple female relationships, not to mention multiple female friendships.
And when there are such examples, people don't know about it.
In conclusion, with the current trend, we're less likely to see femslash little black dress.
I love Sherlock Holmes, so I can't resist the lure of the 2009 Sherlock Holmes film. It has Mary and Irene in a greater role than in the book, but the movie's never about them, never told in their POV. They pretty much respond to the action. I return from the cinema with a vague thought that I would like a gun-swinging Mary partnered with Irene in a steampunk Victorian London, but I don't really get the characters enough. Because the movie doesn't give me this.
When I watch the earlier season of Stargate: Atlantis, there are only two female favourite characters. They are shown as friends, and the fandom pretty much pair them as the spare. Later in the season there were more female characters introduced and filmed interaction between Teyla and them. While the amount of fic produced is not much as far as I know, Teyla launched several ships, Teyla/Kate, Teyla/Keller, Teyla/Sam. While the canon is not good enough, it at least gives a starting point to write and passes the Bechdel's test in some episodes.
My hypothesis about the lack of femslash little black dress is thus:
There're just not enough female characters. Even nowadays a show can be without one female major character. Supernatural, for example is a big offender.
When there are finally some, the writers often screw up on the female characters. The stories are often not about them, the story not told in their POV, they often go without agency or sacrificed for some dramatic effect. These combined don't encourage fans of female characters. When the show finally pass Bechdel's Test, there are usually no multiple female relationships, not to mention multiple female friendships.
And when there are such examples, people don't know about it.
In conclusion, with the current trend, we're less likely to see femslash little black dress.
Re: here from metafandom
Date: 2011-05-26 07:29 pm (UTC)Aha, I agree with you on nearly every point. I only ship Aveline with Isabela if she doesn't marry Donnic (which requires missing out on the funniest quest, sob). I can't imagine Aveline being anything other than monogamous.
AHHHH I also love LadyHawke/Isabela/Fenris! And I love f!Tabris/Leliana/Zevran. I never thought about Anora/Cauthrien, but that's probably because I'm too busy shipping Anora with my f!Cousland. Oh lordy, now I'm gonna ship Anora/Cauthrien like burning.
Re: here from metafandom
Date: 2011-05-27 02:57 am (UTC)I love any sort of polyshipping involving Zev and Leliana, though, just on the grounds it's adorable. I'll spare you my ranting about the enforced monogamy in the games, but suffice it to say it pisses me off considering the characters themselves seem like they're poly friendly. And I totally grok what you're saying about Aveline, because I don't think she'd be anything but monogamous either, but it just strikes me as weird that it never even occurs to people given the amount of "slapslapkiss" chemistry she has with Isabela. I mean, she doesn't *have* to end up with Donnic, you know? At least it only strikes me as "weird", when my brain doesn't go to that sad, ragey place of "Aveline's not conventionally pretty and people never want to ship women like that, much less with the sexbomb women". tl;dr: these games are so queer and so full of strong awesome women, where is my femslash? It's not like we have the "lol ~agency~" excuse.