Smarm

If you are looking for the fanzine of this title see Smarm (Sentinel zine).

Trope · Genre
Synonyms:
Related:	Hurt/Comfort, schmoop, WAFF (Warm and fuzzy feelings]]
See Also:	gen
Tropes · Slash Tropes · Tropes by Fandom
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Definition of Smarm

In fandom, Smarm refers to a fanwork genre in which two or more characters are emotionally expressive, warm, and caring with each other. Smarm, in its purest form, has no sexual content; it is particular to what are more commonly known as gen fanworks. This is not to say that the characters in a smarm fic will not touch—a declaration of smarm is a indication of the author's intent for the touching not to be interpreted as sexual. It's possible that schmoop is used as the equivalent of smarm in slash stories. The "emotionally expressive, warm, and caring" parts are the main literary feature of smarm, as opposed to the will-they-or-won't-they and actual sex parts that are more likely in romantic first time stories.

Smarm is very prevalent in The Sentinel fandom, though many other fandoms utilize the genre as well.

History of Smarm

The word "smarm" originated in the mid-1800s and meant an ingratiating, Uriah Heep-like attitude. A common synonym in dictionaries of the period is "unctuous", i.e., oily, greasy, smearing it on a bit thick. At one point a smarmy person was one who used Brylcream (that greasy kid stuff) in his hair. The New Yorker still defines smarm as "revealing or marked by a smug, ingratiating, or false earnestness: e.g., a tone of smarmy self-satisfaction."

One very early use of the term in fandom, though in a different context, was in the Starsky and Hutch letterzine S and H. In a letter from issue #2 (August/September 1979) in response to the lack of explicit het stories in the fandom, the writer speculates that these stories are in people's drawers at home. She goes on to say the stories may also be unwritten, "because the authors are too embarrassed to put them in writing. Or they're not printed because there's no zine specifically soliciting smarmy S&H, and the author doesn't know where to send one."

While defining meaning from a mundane dictionary isn't that helpful, this fan's comment shows a 1982 awareness of the changing fannish use of the term: "I've been bothered for a long time by the fannish use of the term "smarm/smarmy" to mean sexual contents, from teasing on up, and very occasionally heavy emotional content. That just didn't sound right, but... I'm congenitally lazy and never bothered to check the dictionary. But a few days ago cage got rattled once too often by what I considered an incorrect use of the term and I actually looked it up. According to the Random House Dictionary, "smarm" (British informal) means "trite, cloying sentimentality"; "smarmy" (British informal) means "excessively or unctuously flattering, ingratiating, servile, affectionate, etc." Defense rests.'"

Another fan explains in 1982: "I can venture an explanation of how 'smarmy' came to have sexual overtones in reference to fan fiction. As I recall , it was first used in fandom to apply to a certain type of story in which not only was sex the main theme, but it was a particularly cloying, sentimental sort of sex, usually occurring in K/S stories. I think the early users of the word (notably Paula Smith) knew what they were referring to -- not the sex, but the sickeningly sweet emotional content -- but that it was taken by who didn't exactly know the meaning of the word to apply to the sexual content itself, and thereafter misused."

Kitty Woldow claims to have coined the smarm in its fannish sense:

It was about 1983 when I first used the term and it was based on a Star Wars zine I had been reading, where I came upon the word in a LoC column describing some nicely gooey scenes in a story from the previous issue. There had been all sorts of terrible torture and then extended bits of lovely comfort, and the letter writer said she thought those comfort scenes were a bit smarmy. I had never heard the word before and thought, gee, is that what zine pubbing fandom (to which I was just being introduced) calls that stuff I liked in the story, the gooey bits that gave me the spike in the stomach? Nice to finally know there is a word for it. It was not, of course, intended that way, but when I asked the person who'd loaned me the zine, she, apparently not willing to admit her own ignorance of the word, assured me that my interpretation was correct. Since she'd been buying and reading zines for a couple years before I even knew they existed, I had no reason not to assume she was right about this part of the whole fannish vocabulary I was just learning.

Woldow adds:

Having at last discovered the term for that thing I had enjoyed so much my whole life without realizing other people also did, I happily proceeded onward into writing fic and doing my own zines, labeling what I wrote and wanted to see as smarm. It was through Riptide initially, where I put out a letterzine (King Harbor Tourist Information) and two story collections (The Pilot's Prayer), then my Lethal Weapon (Doin' the Job) and Quantum Leap (The Imaging Chamber, Accelerator Accidents) zines, that the term began to filter outward among the general zine reading public, most especially those who were also smarm devotées. Once I got online and taught the term to TS fandom, it spread along the net and reached its present state of untraceable ubiquity. No doubt by the time the OED picks it up, I won't be able to convince anyone at all that it was I who coined the usage, but this article can at least provide those future compilers with some small measure of etymological authenticity.

How Smarm Differs from Slash

From Kitty Woldow,

Slash is about sexual desire, and therefore about personal gratification. For a story to be slash, at least one character must want to have sex with another. That may not be all that's going on, there can be love and smarm and friendship and angst and hurt/comfort and all the rest, but without somebody feeling lust for a person of their own gender, you don't have slash. Whether it's ever revealed, requited, or consumated is utterly irrelevant; the important factor, as in some criminal law, is intent... Smarm is about the love between friends that does not have a component of sexual desire. It is the type of relationship where either person would die for the other, where the single greatest motivation of each is the welfare of the other rather than himself. It is, in this way, completely opposite to slash. It doesn't matter if the characters hug, or kiss, or even touch each other in ways that can be construed as sexual, so long as the one factor of their intent remains unchanged, focussed outward rather than inward.

Smarm in Different Fandoms

The Sentinel:

• Romantic expression in smarm grew to the point that it was difficult to separate a gen story from a slash one in The Sentinel fandom, where smarm stories could include heavy petting, and french kissing, but would assert that this was meant in a non-sexual way. Smarm became the equivalent of a PWP, complete with romantic language, but always ostensibly gen.

Xenaverse:

• In the Xenaverse the term smarm was not used, but stories of a similar nature were sometimes referred to as "romantic friendship".

Stargate SG-1:

• In Stargate: SG-1 fandom, "smarm" was sometimes used to refer to the "comfort" of hurt/comfort in all fic, whether gen or ship.

Examples of Smarm from The Sentinel

From The Sentinel story Last Request by Carole, "Simon tried unsuccessfully to stifle his grin as he noticed the contact between the two men even in their sleep. Jim's hand was buried in the younger man's curls. Blair's hand tightly clutched the bottom edge of Jim's sweater. Was it a partner thing? A friendship thing? A Sentinel/Guide thing? Simon smiled. Whatever it was... it was a good thing."

From "The Sentinel" story Sentinel 101 by Susan Foster: "Blair started to pull away, but his sentinel was not about to let him do that. Jim pulled his guide into his arms; for a moment the younger man struggled against his hold; then his body went limp and he began to sob as if his very heart would break. Nestled against his sentinel's chest, face pushed into the older man's neck, Blair began to speak; his words so quiet only a sentinel could hear. Jim made himself keep calm and whispered soft words of encouragement when the voice faltered, made reassuring sounds as he was told about the harrowing ordeal the man in his arms had suffered."

From Crash and Burn by Audrey Lynne: "I love you, too, Blair. And that isn't going to change. Whatever else changes -- that's gonna be the same. You're my compass. You guide me, in more ways than one. And, Chief? I want to be your safe harbor -- the place you go when things get bad."

In Sentinel Con. by Shedoc, Jim has bad dreams, and Blair makes him hot chocolate, tucks him into bed, tells him a story, and then there is some gen bed sharing. "Blair wondered why he hadn't woken and stilled as he realized his Sentinel was lying beside him, head resting up against Blair's shoulder, hand on Blair's arm. Jim had turned his body in to Blair's and Blair sighed. Obviously the subconscious had taken over and Jim had climbed into bed for protection last night."

In Sculptor of Souls by JET: "He burrows his head under my chin and snuggles close, his arms winding around my waist, his hands gently rubbing my back in soothing circles of warmth. I rest my face on his soft curls, savoring the precious life pressing tightly against me. My heart lurches with overwhelming emotion. When did I grow to love this young man so much? Finally, I respond to Blair's unanswered question, an uncontrollable catch in my voice. 'No, Chief, no regrets. Never.' His arms tighten around me, and Blair's head nestles even closer over my heart. Exactly where he has always belonged."

Meta

• Cry, the Beloved Smarm by Renae at The Fanfic Symposium
• The Death of Smarm by Lucy Gillam from The Fanfic Symposium