ron rant.

[phineasjones]

oh come on. i'm done with the self-editing. time for a mini-rant.

it's my own fault for reading opinions with which i know i'm not going to agree. but. ugh.

so. ron/harry. that's what's got me all worked up today. and no, not in that way.

i'm so sick of people saying that the pairing doesn't work because ron is so obviously straight. wtf? there is no canon support for any character being gay. NONE. because jkr never, never mentions any boy having sexual/romantic feelings for another boy. and that would be the only canon support for 'gayness' worth discussing. if you're going to tell me that ron can't be gay because he's so boyish (or sloppy or not very bright - or whatever)... just don't bother. i know what the stereotypes are, thanks, i don't need an hp-based lesson. anyone who reads hp and decides that draco can be gay because he is stuck up and a little prissy (not to mention the wizard-equivalent of a racist) but ron can't because he's not those things... is missing a huge fucking point. and i think many people need a reminder that many of the other stereotypes that lead one to easily accept draco as gay are fanon, not canon.

also. the "problem" of so many h/r fics making ron the top? um. again, jkr never delves into the sexual dynamics between these two does she? if ron as top is not believable it's because the author didn't write it convincingly - not because of some inherent character trait of harry or ron. canon harry and ron are frickin 14 years old, people. this probably hasn't really come up for them. and yes, most authors probably don't write it convincingly. i've already gone on and on about the sorry state of h/r fic.

this makes me want to take starbuckle away somewhere where we can write angsty, smutty best friend love to our hearts' content.

i mean, from a wider view, slash usually impresses me in the way it ignores stereotypes and gives any person/character a full palate of sexual possibilities. not so much with ron, though. it's too bad.

Comments

[starbuckle.livejournal.com]

amen. amen! can i say it again? AMEN.

and you can take me anywhere, baby. ;)

[silviakundera.livejournal.com]

(not to mention the wizard-equivalent of a racist)

I personally (and again, this is just my personal viewpoint) consider Draco's views to be more comparative to the Palestine vs. Isreal conflict, ect. than KKK style racial prejudice... if only because racial prejudice is thrust upon some innocent group who holds no threat whatsoever... while it can be argued that Muggles are a threat to wizard kind -- as they would likely persecute them if wizards attempted to live an open life.

Not that Draco and the Death Eaters aren't narrow minded threats to the general peace, and Voldemort isn't all sorts of wrong -- means like that do NOT justify the ends, innocents shouldn't have to die for your cause, there has to be another way, ect.

Muggles and wizards are opposing cultural and political forces, and an extremist group on either side can commit evil deeds.

And this. um. explains why I can write Draco, while knowing he's rather lacking in empathy for a large group of others. I don't think he's *right*, and in the real world I'd avoid him like the plague, but I also don't feel the instinctual disgust that racism brings from me.

And since it's all a fictional conflict, I can detach myself. Like I can detach myself from the reality that vampires kill tons of humans, and still enjoy and care about vampire characters in movies, books, and television.

Thank you so, so much!

[franzeska]

I saw the comments other people have been making recently, and I almost went and ranted similarly in my own lj. I still might. I hate the attitude that the only characters who can be secretly gay are those that are pretty, exotic looking and rich. You're right about there being no real canon support for homosexuality, but even if one is looking for subtext, Ron sets off my gaydar more than any other character. When I say this, fandom people usually react with extreme surprise, but it's the truth. Why? Because Ron is one of the angriest and most unnecessarily frustrated characters. In my real life experience, people often release the pressures of being closeted not through angst and declarations of eternal love, but through anger and irritating behavior.

I find the general fandom attitude to be both homophobic and classist. Homophobic because it claims that real gay men are the same as figures from the fantasy lives of straight women (yes, other people do write 'slash', but it is still largely written by women and I hope none of the queer ones are this confused). No, Ron isn't real, but by assuming an orientation for a character who is not fleshed out enough to have a sex drive and by stating that one can tell, categorically, that he is straight, he occupies a similar position to that of a real person.

The attitude is classist because it assumes that homosexuality is a vice of the rich, a stereotype with a long and illustrious history to be sure, but still a stereotype.

Normally, I don't get upset by the divergences between women's fantasy lives and real male homosexual practice. After all, there is no reason that they should coincide. However, when people try to reconcile the two, I take exception to the fantasy having precedence over the reality. Sure, black hair and white blond are more symbolic and ethereal than anything and carrots, but I don't want to see that applied to people's conception of genuine sexual orientation.

In addition, I find the implication that I am insane for wanting to slash a character like Ron most distasteful. H/D exists only in the minds of those who write/read/ship it and that is perfectly fine, but it is equally valid for me to construct a different subtext from the canon.

And another thing about Ron...

[franzeska]

I suspect that the reason fanon Ron is so horrid is that he's one of the most fleshed out of the canon characters. Draco is evil and needs to be reformed. Harry we don't really know well, despite his narrator duties. Most of the other characters are either blank slates or the most obvious of caricatures. Ron is one of the few people who we see not just as a villain and not just as a hero. We see him at home, we know, to some extent, what makes him tick. This is the reason I love him in canon, but it makes him less interesting to mess with in fanfiction. There are less blanks to fill in and there is less leeway for the inexperienced author. This leads to him being less interestingly modified and less explored by writers.