This Meta Monday we're reflecting upon "unpopular f/f opinion" by grison-in-space.
"unpopular f/f opinion" is a 2018 Tumblr meta post where the author says they are tired of soft lesbians and they want to read about hard, broken, or conflicting lesbians in stories. The post garnered a large response at the time, receiving thousands of notes and sparking some discussion.
Do you agree? Or are you curious to learn more? Head over to the Fanlore page!
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If this was a problem I was having solely with writing in the Temeraire fandom, I'd get over it. But it just. keeps. happening., to the point where surely this can't be something that only happens to me, can it? Tell me, internets, do you come to a point where you say to yourself, "This woman is really awesome, and I would totally read her kissing other girls! But there is literally only one easily-viable femslash ship, and it doesn't do anything for me! Exclamation points of dismay!" [...] I know I'm picky with ships, especially femslash ships, but in most fandoms with a lot of Awesome Female Characters, I manage to find a ship I like. (Hell, I have multiple pet femslash ships for The Babysitters Club, and I don't even like shipping any of the baby-sitters with each other.) But in a multitude of my fandoms, I'm finding that one or two Awesome Female Characters simply isn't enough. The chance of liking both of them is pretty good, on my end; the chance of liking them together is rather less so. Passing the Bechdel Test simply isn't enough for me--I want more than two women who talk, especially to each other. I want options.
Meta Monday: Femslash - Feminism, Women, and Potterverse
It's Meta Monday! We're talking about Femslash - Feminism, Women, and Potterverse, a 2005 post by volsi at hp-feminism.
Volsi discussed several topics in said post, re the lack of femslash in Harry Potter fanfic. She explored whether the lack of Harry Potter femslash was due to the lack of interesting and complex female characters in the books.
The post has prompted many heated discussions amongst fans. Are you curious? Head over to Fanlore and learn more!
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Fanlore does not support or condone the views expressed by J.K. Rowling. We wish only to highlight the transformative nature of fandom and the creativity of fans.
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We value every contribution to our shared fandom history. If you’re new to editing Fanlore or wikis in general, visit our New Visitor Portal to get started or ask us questions here!
After about a hundred posts categorizing femslash meta I’m staring to notice some patterns.
First, most femslash meta isn’t just about observing interesting patterns; it’s a call to arms to make more femslash and more complex femslash.
Most femslash meta has one of two themes: where’s the femslash and where’s the good femslash.
Meta about race or disability in fic is usually in its own category. It’s difficult to find meta about f/f interracial relationships, f/f and disability, etc. Presumably, there are some interesting subjects in the intersections.
An entire spectrum of satisfaction with various femslash communities exist. Some people think they’re too insular and dull. Some people think they’re uniquely vibrant.
F/F seems to be largely considered less innovative than other types of fic.
And I don't know, I have this feeling that in general femslash is rather prone to bittersweet and understated endings where the pairing aren't together at the end. And maybe less prone to big dramatic Shakespearean tragedy type endings where lots of people die or become evil or whatever.
In femslash vids, we can see vividly the cultivation of what we might call a lesbian gaze, embodied both in the visual intensity of the relationships on screen and in the looking operations implied by the vidding activity itself.
View of Femslash googles: Fan vids with commentary by creators.
All featured commentary comes from the lovely essay View of Femslash goggles: Fan vids with commentary from creators. This essay is superb and has a lovely analysis of the similarities between fannish spaces and virtual reality. Below the cut are three links to f/f vids plus the commentary from creators. If you enjoy this snippet, the original article has many more.
Everybody Wants to Rule the World.
(A Gamora &/ Nebula vid).
While I really enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy (Marvel Studios, 2014) movie, I was disappointed we never got more backstory about Gamora and Nebula—Gamora especially, being one of the core protagonists, but we were only introduced to her after she had already made the decision to go against her family and steal the orb. I also really liked Nebula's line "of all our siblings, I hated you the least," which implied a particularly interesting relationship between them.
I actually like them so much that I walked out of the movie theater already planning a fan vid in my head. Sadly, it took me a while to find a song and actually finish the vid, but I was certainly inspired by their relationship from the beginning. Luckily, my delay in making the vid ensured I was able to include a deleted scene between Nebula and Gamora that went into their backstory a little further as well as including an awesome shot of them getting up in each other's faces. It was actually this shot that tipped their relationship from being platonic into somewhat incestuous in my mind.
I do Adore.
A Bubbline vid.
It's interesting to vid a cartoon as opposed to the live-action source that I typically use in that different illustrators draw the characters with their own individual style. A lot of cartoons tend to have set character looks. The structure of Adventure Time makes vidding minor characters easier than most television shows because they tend to focus on a couple of characters in each episode. I pulled from the Princess Bubblegum and Marceline–focused episodes and additional episodes where they were in the background as part of the ensemble. Toward the end of the vid, I manipulated the clips with the inclusion of a book page titled "How to Kiss a Princess" taken out of context, to give the impression of a more textual romantic relationship without a lot of special effects on the source.
I think representation in cartoons is extremely important and making this vid was important to me. Had young me seen this vid and cartoons like Adventure Time and Steven Universe (Cartoon Network, 2013–), I am certain I wouldn't have had as many identity issues growing up
Past the Feeling
A Regina focused Swan Queen vid.
Regina and Emma's dynamic is a great example of the enemies-to-lovers romantic trope, with their initial interactions antagonistic but full of flirting looks, rough touching, and growing obsession with each other that comes across as strongly femslashy—I tried to highlight this aspect particularly in the beginning of the vid. On top of that, their interaction takes on a destined quality, not only because of how both of them came to have Henry in their lives but also because of their magical powers, which help them protect Henry together. I emphasize this in the vid through the choruses, which provide a contrast to Regina and Emma's antagonism by showing them combining their magical powers to work together to save Henry. Ultimately they discover their magical bond as they pool their powers at the very end, taking their relationship to another level. In this vid, I specifically tried to add more cross-dissolves than I usually do in order to highlight this symbolism and to make the emotions and reactions of the characters clearer, as well as to enhance the aesthetics and fit the tone of the song.
