Slash Pairings Never Die

anotherwellkeptsecret:

ivyblossom:

As far as I’m concerned, the only thing that matters is what’s in the story, and where we can take that story if we want to (in sum: everywhere).

Creator intentions, or commentary about creator intentions, or creator’s fakeout commentary about their intentions, while interesting, are not that important, in the end. The story is the story, and it is what it is. It’s out there to be interpreted and reinterpreted as we see fit. Creator intentions are all well and good, but if they aren’t watertight in the story (which is always), if the opposite argument can be made using evidence from the narrative (certainly always), we’re cooking with gas.

Slash fandoms have existed for a long time in spite of the original intentions of creators. Many creators have been actively and openly hostile to slash fandoms. There has been eyerolling, dismissive commentary, explicit prohibitions, and lawsuits. But slash fandoms have flourished anyway.

As far as I can tell, nothing can kill a slash pairing. Creators can marry characters off, kill them, make them as butch and heterosexual as they possibly can, and slash fandoms will keep on thriving. Maybe it’s because we like the challenge. Maybe it just adds angsty fuel to the fire, and you know where all that angst leads.

There is always an explanation to be made, a narrative or character loophole to exploit, a perfectly reasonable way to continue doing as we do. Human beings are too complicated to restrict that way, and I mean both fictional people and their fans. We aren’t going to be boxed in by canon, because narrative is naturally non-restrictive. No matter what the creator’s intentions are, narrative will set us free. Their stories will just give us more loopholes and ideas, always. They will never shut that door.

Long live slash fandom!

Bless you.