This post came from two places, mainly: Grace's absolutely correct objection that the "slasher's gaze" essay couldn't do what it claimed to do through a textual study alone, and my own struggles with "School of Lost Souls" as the type of story it would squick me to write for any other audience. Rebutting Grace's arguments at to actual sex was less a response to her and more a necessary move as I saw it, considering my own gender.
Also, less so, from seeing the Frank Miller's scans for the first time and immediately (mis)reading them as a deconstruction of the het male gaze, rather than as unironic (as they are generally interpreted). I read them the way I'd read one of wisdomeagle's fics, assuming a feminist community when in fact none actually existed.
It's odd that you should mention chan as an example, since "School of Lost Souls" falls under some of the broader definitions of the term--it's a crossover story about a teacher and a 15-year-old girl.
So I don't even so much rebut Grace's argument when I point out how community is crucial, because I couldn't write what I write for an audience of 21-year-old boys: I'd be squicked far too badly. (Not that I necessarily have a problem with them enjoying that sort of thing per se.) But as a member of this community, with this audience, I can have an idea of what the immediate effects of my fiction are, and under what hermeneutic conditions my fic will be interpreted, and they are IMHO very positive.
no subject
Also, less so, from seeing the Frank Miller's scans for the first time and immediately (mis)reading them as a deconstruction of the het male gaze, rather than as unironic (as they are generally interpreted). I read them the way I'd read one of
It's odd that you should mention chan as an example, since "School of Lost Souls" falls under some of the broader definitions of the term--it's a crossover story about a teacher and a 15-year-old girl.
So I don't even so much rebut Grace's argument when I point out how community is crucial, because I couldn't write what I write for an audience of 21-year-old boys: I'd be squicked far too badly. (Not that I necessarily have a problem with them enjoying that sort of thing per se.) But as a member of this community, with this audience, I can have an idea of what the immediate effects of my fiction are, and under what hermeneutic conditions my fic will be interpreted, and they are IMHO very positive.