[i'm such a geek]
Jan. 31st, 2004 03:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reenkaThinking about reading het... it occurs to me that if you can -only- bear to read slash (in general, I don't mean specific pairings), then you're really in the same boat as the people who can only bear to read het. I mean, there's that default setting of rightness, and everything else is uncomfortable. So if it works that way, then slash is no longer "different"-- it's just the same thing with different equipment. If the important thing is that the equipment remains or that you're turned on by the equipment, then you're not really... er... doing anything special, I guess.
I don't know where this whole "slashers are special" thing comes from, anyway. It's so easy to feel like being a slasher means you're more open-minded and maybe kinkier and more free-spirited. All those het-obsessed people are just prudes, aren't they? Prudes who don't know what they're missing, right?
It's funny, because while I would say it's "all about the dynamic", for me, I -am- shallow. It's not as if I look "beyond the bodies" or whatever. I -like- the bodies. Possibly, it can be equally if not more freeing for girls to write/read a certain kind of het fic rather than slash. Because you're learning to be okay with yourself, to not fall into gender roles, to challenge your assumptions-- right there, where it's difficult. Where you're reminded of yourself. Where there's a -girl- there, and you're not that girl and maybe you want to be and that -hurts- or maybe you -can- pretend you are, and then you remember you aren't and -that- hurts.
It would be hard for me, actually, to imagine a true romantic who's exclusively a slasher (or vice versa). Or a real hedonist, for that matter. And I'm pretty much both. How could you confine yourself to only one arena? How could you pretend the fun's only over -here- and not over -there-? The fun is everywhere, isn't it? People fall in love with other people, and have the same emotions no matter -who- they have them with, right? And bodies are always fun together, aren't they, no matter whose bodies they are? It's the bisexual revolution all over again, man.
Slash for the sake of slash or vice versa just strikes me as sad, really. Anything for the sake of itself can be seen as sad-- sex for the sake of sex, food for the sake of food. Righteousness for the sake of righteousness. I can go on and on. (And most often, I do, don't I.) It's like... meaning may come from within, but it's pointless if there's no larger context. And my larger context tends to be love... hopefully sans the righteousness.
EDIT - Yeah, all right. It's hotter. Slash, that is. Or maybe it's my H/D button. Can never tell, really. *gives up*
I don't know where this whole "slashers are special" thing comes from, anyway. It's so easy to feel like being a slasher means you're more open-minded and maybe kinkier and more free-spirited. All those het-obsessed people are just prudes, aren't they? Prudes who don't know what they're missing, right?
It's funny, because while I would say it's "all about the dynamic", for me, I -am- shallow. It's not as if I look "beyond the bodies" or whatever. I -like- the bodies. Possibly, it can be equally if not more freeing for girls to write/read a certain kind of het fic rather than slash. Because you're learning to be okay with yourself, to not fall into gender roles, to challenge your assumptions-- right there, where it's difficult. Where you're reminded of yourself. Where there's a -girl- there, and you're not that girl and maybe you want to be and that -hurts- or maybe you -can- pretend you are, and then you remember you aren't and -that- hurts.
It would be hard for me, actually, to imagine a true romantic who's exclusively a slasher (or vice versa). Or a real hedonist, for that matter. And I'm pretty much both. How could you confine yourself to only one arena? How could you pretend the fun's only over -here- and not over -there-? The fun is everywhere, isn't it? People fall in love with other people, and have the same emotions no matter -who- they have them with, right? And bodies are always fun together, aren't they, no matter whose bodies they are? It's the bisexual revolution all over again, man.
Slash for the sake of slash or vice versa just strikes me as sad, really. Anything for the sake of itself can be seen as sad-- sex for the sake of sex, food for the sake of food. Righteousness for the sake of righteousness. I can go on and on. (And most often, I do, don't I.) It's like... meaning may come from within, but it's pointless if there's no larger context. And my larger context tends to be love... hopefully sans the righteousness.
EDIT - Yeah, all right. It's hotter. Slash, that is. Or maybe it's my H/D button. Can never tell, really. *gives up*
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Date: 2004-01-31 04:41 pm (UTC)Can't think of one right away. I've had different ones at different times, y'know? I love a -lot- of songs, and a lot of them are lovesongs, too....I do have a favorite sex song, eheheh. "Closer" by NIN. No contest, man. No contest. But that's more... a certain sort of love, y'know? Heh. Okay, slightly challenged by Sophie Hawkins' "Damn, I wish I was your Lover"-- but no. So yeah. While I have a lot of songs I have an intense relationship with, "Closer" is prolly the one I'm the most viscerally into... though it's tied with Moby's "Porcelain", that's not really entirely about love, anyway.
I have a favorite "he left me to die" song. Indigo Girls' "Ghost", definitely. And most of Tori's songs... especially "Silent All These Years" and "Little Earthquakes", but... those aren't really lovesongs, right? 'Cause "Silent All These Years" has prolly my favorite song for -years-.
I have a favorite "he's a stupid jerk, gah" song, which'd be Patty Smyth & "Love Just Ain't Enough". Or maybe Tori's "Tear in Your Hand". Or "Leather". Or "China". Okay, Tori in general.
Elton John's "One" is my favorite "soulmates 4evah" song. Savage Garden's "Truly, Madly, Deeply" is my favorite "I want to see movies like this" song. Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed" is my favorite "ode to my beloved" song. U2's "Mysterious Ways" is my favorite "this is what it feels like" song tied with Ani's "Falling Is Like This". I've always had this gaping huge soft spot for "I Melt With You" by Modern English (that's been my favorite love song for -years- and years and years, sort of my "this is what love should be like" song) & "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds gets me all nostalgic 'cause that was one of my very top favorite lovesongs back when I was 14. And then there's Berlin and "Take My Breath Away", which I adored completely.
More sad love songs... and I love a whole lot...
I have this... -thing- for "No More I Love You's" by Annie Lennox... and also "Why". Ani's "Untouchable Face". That just breaks me into pieces. And the Rufus Wainwright version of "Hallelujah". And Moby's "Porcelain". And U2's "With or Without You". And the Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody".
Clearly I've listened to way too many lovesongs, man. I wanna say either Tori, Annie Lennox, Modern English or NIN. And they're all so -different-, y'know? *sigh* At different times, I have different favorites. Depends which one I remember at the time. If I listen to one again, it all comes back, y'know? Right now, "Closer" is just the one I've had most recent experience of. It also reminds me of my OTP's at the moment. "Love" isn't exactly what it's referring to, though :> Pick one, anyway :>
Oh, and. Yeah. I totally agree. I dunno... I don't think I'm -always- looking for differentness, in romance. Sometimes I'm just looking for the intensity... I mean, that's not necessarily "different"... it's just not dependent on gender, I guess. Slash isn't any more -intense- by nature of it being two boys, y'know? It might be sexier or more well-written by a certain segment of the population or less cliche (not true, generally)-- but the emotions are all the same, so if that's what one's after.... The preference for it becomes... weird. But then, some people like purple more than blue, so :>