clarification

[ciroccoj]

Re. my previous post re. "the fascination with reading/writing fics where gloriously unattractive people have explicit sex":

Many of you asked for clarification. medee6040 asked, "I mean, even allowing for taste?"

Yeah. I realize that there are many characters who gross me out that are actually quite attractive to others, and vice versa. AD Walter Skinner and Captain Picard may not be your cup of tea if you're not into bald, but you have to admit they exude a certain manly, authoritative charm, even if you're immune to it. Likewise, you may find Serena Southerlyn vapid or annoying, but there's fine bone structure and attractive colouring and... ::double-checks bast2's fics:: gorgeous hair and all that. Nora Lewin ::choke:: may churn my stomach, but Dianne Wiest is actually attractive in her own special way, to her own special fans. I may not get it, but I understand it.

But I'm talking people whom nobody could possibly find attractive. Cancerman or Frohicke, on the X-Files. Snape, from Harry Potter (and yes, Alan Rickman is attractive, but seriously - Snape? Greasy hair, sallow complexion, Snape? Please). Arthur Branch, from L&O. John Munch, same.

And the fics that I'm thinking of don't even try to make them sound attractive, either. The few I've been brave enough to skim don't turn gawky into "slender" or pudgy into "plump." They use adjectives like skeletal, gangly, pear-shaped, flabby, greasy, sickly, malodorous... which is probably why I only skimmed about three of them.

There are people who live for this stuff. The X-Files fandom had an entire site devoted to Cancerman slash. No, I never went there, but the mere fact that it existed blew my mind. Still does, frankly.

BTW, what triggered this was crack_van rec for a femslash fic featuring Minerva McGonagall/Rita Skeeter, from Harry Potter. No, I didn't read it. Just boggled, and posted a plea for understanding. Because I really, really, really don't get it.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?

Comments

[jennifus.livejournal.com]

Munch? The mere fact that the man has such a charmingly cynical/funny personality makes him fuckable.

[jenniferjames.livejournal.com]

They use adjectives like skeletal, gangly, pear-shaped, flabby, greasy, sickly, malodorous...

Hmmm... perhaps this falls under the "crack heads need love too" category?

*shrugs*

*sneezes*

Well...

[culturevulture7.livejournal.com]

...We actually did a panel on this at MediaWest two years ago, jessebee and I. Called it "Still the Prettiest"--except we went at it from the other direction, as in why are all the "pretty" boys put together, regardless of whether there is an iota of attraction. Like someone over at TWoP suggesting Rey/Mike. Or, say, Mulder and Krycek? Before Mulder knows Alex is bad, I could see. But after Mulder knows he works for Cancerman? After Krycek killed his dad? Nope.

And I write slash with Lennie so I'm biased ;-) And Munch and Finn to me are way more a believable couple on SVU than Alex and Olivia (sorry, O/A shippers!)

But somewhere out there is a Cancerman/Mulder/Scully story. No, really. And there's also a whole bunch of Mulder/Scully/Krycek stories where Scully is into being submissive and...y'know, you just don't want to know more.

Of course, we all draw the line somewhere. Like I don't want to read Hogan's Heroes slash (and it's out there). Or McGarrett from Hawaii 5-0 and ANYONE.

[bear.livejournal.com]

The sexy!Snape love, I don't get. I mean, he's a really, really interesting character, and I love it when he's in fics. But nekkid? Ewwww. Circe rec'ced a story yesterday that she described as "not your typical Snape is a virgin fic," and my mind recoiled at the notion that there are *enough* virgin!Snape fics out there that there are "typical" ones.

PS I think Frohike is kinda cute. In a trollish sort of way.