Warning: This
page contains SPOILERS for the TV series through TRY.
Also contains opinions, which may or not be
offensive.
Everyone knows that the whole thing about couples and
fanfic in Slayers fandom has been fodder for a rather
large flamewar. For more about it, see Avocado's
manifesto on the subject, which delivers a much needed
message.
And now to add my personal twig to the
inferno.
Firstly, my personal preferences in fanfiction aren't
for romance fic. They're for adventure fic. I prefer
fiction where the romance, if any, is secondary to the
plot, which must be exciting and with an interesting
antagonist and possibly featuring lots of
canon-nitpicking fanservice, interesting original
characters who avoid being self-instery and fit in the
Slayers world, good description (since we're in a text
medium), and .....
But I'm getting off-topic here. The point was to
exercise my views on romantic fanfiction. To be honest,
if it's well written enough, I'll read it, even if I have
zero interest in the couple, or even if the last few fics
I read that had them were awful.
There's an unfortunate perception that romance is the
only way to catagorize fics, so I'll actually keep this
one fairly short. Note that most of my generalizations,
and most of the generalizations partisans on both sides
take for granted absolutely blow apart when dealing with
some fics, some of which are the most popular in their
genre. I can't stress this enough, but you shouldn't
assume too much about your fellow fans based on bias.
Actually, I think if you want to make generalizations
about people, you should start with their grammar and
spelling. The more smileys and s people use
compared to the amount of actual, readable text in their
messages, the more annoying they tend to be. People who
continually speak as if they are in a chat room or
roleplaying also come under this catagory. Misuse of the
English language by native speakers (I have a great deal
of sympathy for those who attempt to master another
language), including unclear run-on sentences, and
extreme rambling, also qualifies. These individuals occur
among fans of all pairings. Often, these people don't
write fanfic very well. Articulate and well-spoken fans
may also be found among all pairings.
On the other hand, it probably does mean something
that one prefers one couple to another. But this is
probably more indicative of the personality of the
viewer, in my view, then the tenability of the couple in
"real life." Which is of course a very fannish way of
looking at the matter, because they are, after all, just
fictional characters. Most of what people write about the
couples is projection, as I stated elsewhere. But I don't
pretend to have a foolproof theory about exactly what in
people's psyches makes them like couple X.....and I'd
think it a very dangerous and perhaps rude generalization
to think that everyone has the same reason.
But I was talking about....
The Common Fanfic Couples
Gourry and Lina. This is one of the more popular
pairings. I have to say that I don't like it enough to
read fics just about this couple; to me, for Lina to be
in a relationship she would have to change so much that
I'd think of her as being un-Linalike. I think it's
amusing in the series as an unrealized relationship. Part
of why I don't really like it that much is because I have
trouble imagining it realized, and me finding it
interesting if realized. If you buy the theory that all
Slayers romance fanfic is really about self-inserting
yourself and fantasizing, then this could be because I
don't find Gourry appealing enough. Certainly, this
theory is beginning to make some sense, especially if you
count the fact that the ones who write romantic fanfic
are mostly female.
Zelgaldis and Lina. I don't like this one enough
either to read based on pairing alone, and the same
criticisms apply as G/L, though I find Zelgaldis somewhat
more interesting as a character. Partisans of both assert
that they are oppressed by the others, but in truth,
around the same number of people like both, as far as I
can see. It's impossible to find the true strength of
either without polling every single person who reads
Slayers fic on the net, which is not possible. By looking
at web pages, you can see who's more vocal. BTW, like
Avocado, I think the whole brouhaha is pointlessly
vicious. I think the tremendous popularity of this is due
to several reasons a) a lot of people don't find Gourry
as appealing as the people who write G/L fanfic do, and
prefer Zelgaldis. b) people are turned off by some
aspects of the G/L relationship as a relationship; i.e.
the perceived inequality, the comic violence, the way it
doesn't go anywhere in the series, the perception that
Zel and Lina would be more compatible with each other in
an actual relationship. Of course, to like this, you also
have to jettison some canon, so people who like Z/L will
necessarily be more flexible about canon in this
respect.
Zelgaldis and Amelia. Also rather popular. Same thing
for the other two relationships, I don't like it enough
to read on pairing alone. Quite a bit of character
development is needed in this one than G/L, because it's
more of a simple attraction, and the platonic part of Zel
and Amelia's relationship isn't as developed as Gourry
and Lina's. Maybe it's because I don't really identify
with Amelia? Partisans (who also claim the Z/L types as
their natural enemies), claim that all hostility to this
relationship is based on dislike of Amelia. I won't deny
that this explains part of it, but there are too many
fans who like both Zelgaldis and Amelia, but not both
together, to explain this as the sole motivating factor.
I've read lots of fics which give Amelia a respectable
love interest or don't seethe with hostility towards her.
If they ignore or omit her, one can't attribute this to
hostility either. This seems to bring more skepticism
that G/L, possibly because Zelgaldis is so obsessed with
his cure, and because Amelia seems very psychologically
young.
Interestingly enough, no one pairs up Gourry and
Amelia. The problem also increases...how does one explain
male fans of any of these three pairs with the
self-insertion theory? Then why don't people just write
self-inserts? Also, good fic writers don't do self
inserts. Yet respectable, not discernably insert,
in-character fanfiction exists for all three
pairings. Unless you believe it is fundamental to the
characters of any of these four characters that they may
only be happy with the person the story pairs them with,
a good enough writer (because a good-enough writer can do
pretty damn much anything) can pair these all up
convincingly. I have read and liked fics that worked,
characterization-wise, with all of them. (And if you say
that makes me an idiot with no taste in fanfiction, you
don't need to send me an email, as I've anticipated your
response already.) I'm always willing to read fanfic by
good writers, even if they change character
relationships. The insert theory, therefore, explains
some of the fic, but not all of it.
I do tend to think that the tremendous popularity of
Z/L among Western fanfic writers is something
significant. In Japanese stuff, G/L is far more popular.
Several attempted explanations follow. A) Japanese fans
have access to the novels. I've heard Gourry is far more
appealing and interesting in the novels. B) As
characters, according to the tastes of Western fans,
Zelgaldis and Lina would tend to be the sorts who one
would expect to be together. I did once read a sub review
where the person reviewing spontaneously declared that
Z/L ought to be together, without displaying dislike for
Amelia. As personalities, I don't think it can be proven
or disproven objectively that they are compatible or
incompatible; a character is not a real person with a
fully realized personality, and we haven't seen any of
these characters in a real relationship, where the most
potential problems would arise. Plus, I don't really
believe that in most cases, there is only one person with
whom one may have a workable relationship. (See, this
couples thing just dissolves into personal theories about
relationships and humanity. I find it uncomfortable to go
about critiquing other's views of romance abstractly
unless they're flagrantly stupid. It isn't something
reducible to a formula like most canon.) Personally, I'm
not passionate about any of these from canon, but I think
the Zel/Lina thing is better explained by multiple
theories than just one. I also think something's wrong
with the portrayal of a relationship if so many fans are
so indifferent/dislike it.
Xelloss and Lina. Here's where the theory, at least
for me, tends to really fall apart. Xelloss and Lina are
my two favorite characters. Therefore I ought to like
this one the best. Problem is that I don't. I don't have
a virulent dislike for it, but I'd rather see Filia
paired with him. Plus some of the same reasons I'm not
hugely enthused about reading various permutations of
GLZA apply here.
Xelloss and Filia. My personal fave. I'm admitting my
bias, full disclosure. Heck, this is even more non-canon
than Zelgaldis and Lina, so you can flame me even more.
Their on screen interactions are just so much more
interesting and charged then most other Slayers
relationships. If you like comedy, it has high comedic
potential, if you like angst, it has that too. I'm
planning to discuss this in detail elsewhere, so watch
this space.
Valgaav and Filia. I don't really like this one that
much....unless you do the incest weirdness thing, which
is interesting as darkfic. During TRY, it could work
within canon. After, you do have incestuous overtones,
because I subscribe to the theory that having Val reborn
as an infant would be pointless if he kept his angsty
memories of being a mazoku/ancient-dragon hybrid, which
would include knowing Filia. Reborn, he'd be a blank
slate, only knowing Filia as his mommy. Can we say
"Oedipus complex?" Actually, I have read compelling stuff
with this kind of relationship, but you have to take into
account that it embraced the tabooness of it
all.
All other pairings aren't really written enough about
to be worth addressing here, except that I'm not really
interested in either of them except for possibly
Rezo/Ellis.
Yaoi/Shounen-Ai pairings
Of course, there's no question that these aren't
canon; Slayers isn't shoujo (yaoi is a subgenre of
shoujo). But to even ask the question of whether they are
canon, with yaoi, is to miss the point. Yaoi is about
fantasy, but it's not devoid of reason. It's a subgenre
with stylized rules and conventions. One can predict what
people will slash. Sometimes the writing quality is quite
high. The most popular shounen-ai pairing in Slayers is
Xelloss/Zelgaldis, followed by, in no particular order,
Gourry/Zelgaldis and Xelloss/Valgaav.
I'm not a yaoi fan, so I can't presume to speak for
them. (Come to think of it, even if I did like yaoi, I
wouldn't present myself as being typical of all yaoi
fans.) Whatever it is that gives people a taste for
shounen-ai, I don't have it. One thing I can say is that
most yaoi fans just want to be left alone to do their
thing in peace. They don't want to argue "morality" or
canon with you, so doing so will be a waste of both their
time and yours.
"Support"
I really don't like the term "support" when used
online, as in "I support Zelgaldis and Lina" or "I
support Valgaav" or whatever. The problem with this term,
as it is practiced, is that it promotes siege mentality
and unnecessary polarization. Normally when you say "I
support Zelgadis/Filia," you secretly mean, "I hate
Filia/Valgaav" or "I hate those nasty people who like
Xelloss/Filia." Plus, it supports (that evil word again)
the false perception that you must either "support"
something or be against it, allowing less room for people
who are neutral. Support banners are a sign that fans are
drawing battle lines against each other. Then you have
the problem that you've now started to separate fandom
into two groups, supporters and non-supporters, and
probably have really annoyed the non-supporters who care.
Then they will start their "support" group, and we all
will be annoyed at having to wait for all of your blasted
banners to load. The problem is, when you have groups of
this sort, you'll run into the problem all groups have,
members whom you'd rather not be associated with. Even if
you are a nice-non-flaming sort of person, it will
reflect badly upon you when your partisans flame other's
web pages. Then the other side will darkly mutter "that
sort of behavior is typical of the fans of
Zelgaldis/Filia." Neutral parties will think "get a
life!" or if they perceive the flamers to be typical of
your group, start thinking "The Zelgaldis/Filia mob is
full of unbalanced wackos, possibly more so than the
Xelloss/Filia crowd." You might also have to reign in the
people who go too far and deal with nasty infighting that
follows. So if you do start up a group (and I'm not
saying that such groups don't have positive aspects as
well), beware of going negative. When you go negative,
you may learn that you or your friends have sides that
you never knew existed.... Most groups (and I like other
anime series besides Slayers, and there are varying
degrees of civility in those fandoms as well) actually
deal with the "opposition" in the most productive way, by
completely ignoring it. When they see pages or
fics about the aspect of their fandom that they do not
enjoy, they do not visit them, and do not read them. This
method is very effective. The only obligation people have
is to be polite about their preferences. If they flame
you, they are wrong to do so. If you flame them, you have
behaved just as wrongly, even if you think your
preference is more "right" than theirs.
[note that no offense was meant towards Z/F
fans, if any exist, by my use of a hypothetical group of
them as an example]