Sometime reasonable wins...

[maygra]

If you have not tripped over heatherly's essay elsewhere, I encourage you to read it.

You know, if that's the sort of thing you like to read.

I say this in full admission of fact that I disagree, or rather, approach differently a couple of points in the second half of her essay -- primarily from a ideological and practical POV as opposed to disagreeing with her en toto of a writer's responsibility. I'm pretty sure I'll have additional thoughts on that in a bit, if I can get my thoughts organized in such a way as to present them as less contention than perspective.

Comments

[trinity_clare]

What's interesting to me is actually something that stems from her post, which cautions fanfic writers to keep in mind the difference between fantasy and reality. When I entered SPN fandom, I was wary of incest fic, and then when I did start reading it, I couldn't read fluff or schmoop or established relationship or anything but angst, really. And since I'm not a huge fan of the angst genre, I did slowly branch out (within the Sam/Dean pairing). And now all it takes is a little suspension of disbelief and a well-written story and I'll read most anything. So when I go back and look at my reading material with an observer's eye, it might seem...off. And while that wasn't what heatherly was warning against directly, it seems like part of it.

[maygra.livejournal.com]

I actually approached the incest with the same kind of wariness and the first few stories I actually wrote were all about me working my way around and through it, because yes, I had to consciously set aside my inculture biases and prejudices about it...which in retrospect should not have been as difficult as it was especially when we're talking about two brothers who hunt ghosts, werewolves, demons, and other entirely fictional inventions as a matter of course.

And even on reading and enjoying it (angst or fluff/schmoop) has not changed my impressions or assessment of the damage potential of real-life incest.

And now I find myself wanting a happily ever after for them, no matter how improbable it would be in real life because in the fictional realm, any kind of happy for either of them seems so impossibly far away.

[trinity_clare]

Curiously, when a thoughtful SPN author writes an incest pairing with John, much more of the fallout is addressed, and SPN fandom in general tends to react much more negatively to unrealistic incest fics with John. Because I've seen John/Dean, etc., done very well, but never healthily (there are lots of bad fics out there where John and Dean live happily ever after, but that's not what I'm talking about). Not everyone's cup of tea, obviously, and not very much mine either, but it's a thought to throw out there.

[maygra.livejournal.com]

Well, I think in that case it's the power (implicit or otherwise) imbalance that sets people off. Dean and Sam are seen in the balance of all things as more equal whereas the entire issue with John/Dean (or John/Sam) implies a great many things about John that people aren't as willing to accept or by into. The whole premise of "suspension of disbelief" is predicated by "willing".

i.e. it's easier for me to buy into the idea that Dean (being the co-dependent, approval junkie that he is) might actually respond to overtures from John or even initiate something if he thought his father had need of it than it is for me to believe that John would take advantage of Dean that way or otherwise surrender to even a hidden weakness unless he was possessed -- in which case it isn't really John and the coercion is explicit.

[trinity_clare]

True, very true. I've also seen that issue addressed in Sam/Dean fics, especially when they're a certain age and Dean has a bigger maturity gap.