Dorian/Klaus
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| Pairing: | Dorian/Klaus |
| Alternative name(s): | |
| Gender category: | |
| Fandom: | From Eroica with Love |
| Canonical?: | |
| Prevalence: | |
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Dorian/Klaus is the pairing of Dorian Red Gloria and Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach.
In canon, Dorian is openly gay and Klaus is not, and in fact, often homophobic.
Fan Comments
1994
Slash works to intensify the barriers between homosocial and homosexual desire, to make them visible, precisely because it will be that much more interesting to see the characters work through them, and as Lezlie has pointed out, slash is primarily interested in the process by which the characters overcome the barriers and come together. Most commonly, this barrier comes to rest on issues of anxiety about first time homosexual experience for predominantly or exclusively heterosexual characters. In some of Barbara's Eroica erotica, that barrier exists between a flamingly gay and a homophobic character. But this is not the only way to create dramatic interest in slash. In SF universes, where homophobia can be imagined away, or in stories where the characters are assumed to be bi, other forms of barriers can surface around issues of class (Villa/Avon), race (Miami Vice. War of the Worlds. I Spy), temporality (Quantum Leap), alliances (Wiseguy), etc. This part of the definition both explains the predominance of first time stories, which can deal most directly with the crisis posed by those initial barriers but also why most long-term relationship stories must start by posing some new problem in the relationship which previously-committed lovers must confront and overcome. This barrier and its crossing is at the heart of slash. [1]
Klaus]and Dorian, oooh, let's see. Well, in the manga, they weren't friends in any acknowledged way, and certainly not lovers, but they were two people who met often and intensely and screamed at each other and then cooperated (beautifully) on some goal that they happened to both want for different reasons. That is, they were destined. To the Western slash-educated eye, they were clearly and obviously destined for each other, but sexual friendship in the sense of doing anything except (for Dorian) lusting after Klaus and (for Klaus) noticing it far too much, is something I and other fans read in. I'm told that Japanese fans do their best to read it in too — at least sex happens in the Japanese fan stories, though I couldn't say how well they parallel any other element of Western fans' stories. Klaus, by the way, has co-workers who are gay in a less flamboyant style than Eroica, with whom he gets along as well as necessary (it can't be said that Klaus gets along with anyone really well in the social sense) so while it's tempting to read him as a classic repressed gay homophobe, he does seem to be reacting specifically to Dorian, not just homosexuality per se. [2]
1995
Eroica, as you and a few other excellent friends have told me, has just acquired a new installment. I'm told that Japanese serials are even more static in format than Western ones used to be, so this probably won't introduce any unexpected developments; Klaus and Dorian won't leap into bed together, alas, just because they're making an appearance for the first time in six years. I write this in full hope (though not the expectation) that some Japanese Murphy's law (murufisu raa) will now apply and Aoike will be inspired to make a liar out of me.
Do I see differences in category between Dorian/Klaus and slash such as S/H and B/D? I'm not sure. There are obvious differences, of course: Dorian and Klaus are different individual characters, appear in a different medium, show the effects of being written by and for Japanese readers, and so on. Manga characters being considered within a Western slash context at all is a change, perhaps.[3]
Unlike the most typical slash couples, they aren't co-workers with shared problems created by their mutual work. They disagree on most basic issues and work together only when they have to - but so do Avon and Blake or Avon and Vila. Having Dorian as openly gay in the source seems to be the biggest break with slash tradition, and it does derail slash fans for whom overt straight sexuality is important. Even so, the intriguing balance between the two leads (especially in the early manga storylines), gives each one his own philosophy, occupation and supporters, shown often as parallel but irreconcilable opposites. They're put into positions where they will inevitably encounter each other, and each find that no one but the other is sufficient to fulfill the needs of the current plot. It's very easy to see them as potential partners, although the manga leaves them poised at that moment of not-quite-meeting, while a typical TV-show source throws its lead couple together in no uncertain terms in the first episode, or introduces them as already partnered. Eroica, in this sense, is one long succession of meet-cute episodes for a couple that steadfastly refuses to recognize an obvious attraction. That could be a 'difference from the S/H, B/D and so on: the source doesn't demonstrate their slashability with a long history of proven partnership, but merely suggests it (over and over) with test cases. [4]
Art
April Lee, from Guns and Red Roses #1 (1989)
TACS, from Guns and Red Roses #1 (1989)
by Sharon Young, from Companions in Chaos #1 (1993)
by Lorraine, from Rose Vines and Wire Ropes (2001)
References
- ^ from Strange Bedfellows (APA) #6
- ^ from Strange Bedfellows (APA) #6 (1994)
- ^ from Strange Bedfellows (APA) #9
- ^ from Strange Bedfellows (APA) #9