No, seriously
Jul. 30th, 2008 07:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
phoenix64What is it that separates perfectly respectable historical fiction from squick-inducing Real People Fic/Slash?
It can't be the sex, because there is plenty of respectable or at least semi-respectable historical fiction that doesn't shy away from sex.
Is it that the protagonists are still living, or close members of their families might still be living? Because I've seen people still have that squick reaction when that isn't necessarily the case.
Is it an acknowledgment of the personal pleasure we get from certain kinds of fic - and I'm not just referring to sexual pleasure - and that perhaps we're uncomfortable "using" people for such a purpose? Along those same lines, is it perhaps bumping up against other issues with media and celebrity in the information age, and making us look at the lines we draw for ourselves more closely than we'd like to?
Despite the way some of this has ended up being phrased, I really don't have an agenda I'm pushing here - I genuinely feel the answer is "I don't know" and I'm curious what other people think about it.
Edited to add: OK, maybe I do have an agenda - but I'm trying not to, honest!
It can't be the sex, because there is plenty of respectable or at least semi-respectable historical fiction that doesn't shy away from sex.
Is it that the protagonists are still living, or close members of their families might still be living? Because I've seen people still have that squick reaction when that isn't necessarily the case.
Is it an acknowledgment of the personal pleasure we get from certain kinds of fic - and I'm not just referring to sexual pleasure - and that perhaps we're uncomfortable "using" people for such a purpose? Along those same lines, is it perhaps bumping up against other issues with media and celebrity in the information age, and making us look at the lines we draw for ourselves more closely than we'd like to?
Despite the way some of this has ended up being phrased, I really don't have an agenda I'm pushing here - I genuinely feel the answer is "I don't know" and I'm curious what other people think about it.
Edited to add: OK, maybe I do have an agenda - but I'm trying not to, honest!
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no subject
Date: 2008-07-31 05:46 am (UTC)You mention the voyeur aspect, and one of the first things that comes to mind is reality TV. I can't begin to express my distaste for reality TV. I mean, I didn't even like Candid Camera (or the Gong Show or Star Search). I try not to go off on it too much because there are so many people who like at least some of it and I don't wish to insult them because of my personal preference - but the truth is I really have a problem with a great deal of it. Not just what it is, but the way it's affected us over the years.