Introduction to Slash
| Meta | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Introduction to Slash |
| Creator: | Fajrdrako |
| Date(s): | August 2002 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom: | |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | Introduction to Slash, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Introduction to Slash is a 2002 essay by Fajrdrako.
For additional context, see Timeline of Slash Meta and Slash Meta.
Sections
- 1. The history and nature of slash
- 2. Slash lexicon
- 3. Headers in story presentation of a mailing list
- 4. Links
Some Topics Discussed
- what is slash?
- pseudonyms
- where to find slash
- the wide varieties of slash
- other general comments
- a glossary
Excerpts
Slash fandom is an ever-growing djinn which escaped from its lamp back in the 1970s. An online website I recently looked at has fifty definitions of the word ‘slash’, all based on the premise that slash is a genre of fan fiction focused on a sexual relationship between two characters from popular culture of the same gender.
But slash is more than just a form of fan fiction, it’s also a way of looking at popular media. Slash fans like shows “because they are slashy”, but at the same time “slash is in the eye of the beholder” and “anything can be slashed”. It’s a way of interpreting (or reinterpreting) material to the pleasure of the consumer. Generally, if a person likes slash, they will apply the concept broadly.
Now, since the beginning of literature, writers have based their writing on extant materials or stories known to their culture, and it is only in the 20th century that a legal belief in intellectual property has marginalized this practice. Sociologist Henry Jenkins has called the use of fan fiction for our own purposes ‘poaching’, but it is more creative than the verb implies; slash fandom is more than just the creation of stories. There are also slash vids, original art, photomanips, games, mailing lists for discussion, conventions and other activities. Moreover, there is a wide divergence in style, intent and content in the creative productions of slash fans. Because slash is independent of any publishing industry (and even more independent of any entertainment conglomerate), slash fans make up their own rules and their own genres. A scholar of slash, Mafalda Stasi, has written, “slash is a palimpsest, a rich layering of genres, more or less partially erased and resurfacing; a rich and complex continuum of themes, techniques, voices, moods and registers.”
There are many patterns and even more clichés, but the scope of imagination is wide. What never happens in slash is that the premise of the show is used with imaginary characters; it’s the characters themselves that matter, first and foremost. K/S was never really about Star Trek: it was about Kirk and Spock.
It makes no difference how the relationship between the two characters is portrayed in the original show - in the canon. If the show is not ‘slashy’ but fans find the characters attractive and want to slash them, they’ll do it. It helps if the relationship is a strong one in the show, which probably sparks the incentive to slash in the first place; it helps even more if a strong emotional bond is implied, with the characters being friends, working partners or antagonists. If there’s lots of physical touching or eye contact, this tends to make a show popular and to give it a large slash following. But if it isn’t there, that’s fine, the fans can insert it to their own satisfaction with their own imaginations.