----- Original Message ----- From: Steve Rogerson steve.rogerson@mcr1.poptel.org.uk
Fiona said: "you insist that my views have as much validity as if I had suggested that Avon likes ballroom dancing."
Apart from the fact that we have no evidence either way as to Avon's
feelings
about ballroom dancing,
:).
I fear you are missing the point. Many fans have interpreted, independently, a sexual tension between Avon and Blake. And
many have
interpreted this as that they were either having a relationship or that
they
could, and some have thus gone away and explored that possibility in
fanfic.
Not disagreeing with you, and never have.
Your view, I believe, is that there was no possibility of a relationship
between
the two and that they were both heterosexual. That is a totally valid
viewpoint
and amply backed up by onscreen evidence and the views of the writers and
actors.
The point is that it is not the only viewpoint.
This is also true, and something that I rather hoped I'd made clear that I'd acknowledged from the outset.
Why do you find it so difficult to believe that others can have a
different
viewpoint when all the evidence suggests that they do?
Steve, forgive me, but I *do* sometimes wonder if you're reading my e-mails :). I have never said that, and in fact in I think every single one of my posts to Betty I've made it clear that I support and celebrate the other viewpoint.
Are you saying all the
people who say they have made slash interpretations are lying?
No, how can they lie? B7's a fiction, after all, and so's slash. In the end it's all down to one fictional work v. another...
That would be just
ridiculous. It is perfectly clear that many have made these
interpretations. You
might think they are wrong,
Please, Steve! I never said they were wrong anywhere!
but surely you have to accept that they have made them
I've never denied it.
and therefore such an interpretation is possible
Never denied that either. How can I, when it's been made?
I'd like to reiterate something that I have said to Betty, Tavia, Neil *and* Mistral on this debate, which is that I hope (although I'm having my doubts) that I have made it clear in all of my posts that I do not consider the slash interpretation *wrong.* As I've also said, I have on occasion read and rather enjoyed slash, and am decidedly *not* anti-slash :), and in fact I faintly resent the implication that I am.
The point which I was debating is not whether or not slash is wrong, but whether or not slash is supported by canon, written evidence, surrounding the series' production etc. I.e., whether or not a gay subtext was *meant* to be implied at any point, or whether the whole notion of a gay subtext is something with no justification in the series itself, but added after the fact by fans (a neutral example: somebody mentioned ages back that it's become "accepted fanon" that Avon is allergic to certain medications. Now, one could base whole story premises on this idea. But it's still not going to fit the canon in the slightest, and the fact that it's not explicitly ruled out by canon isn't going to make it canonical).
Now, as you yourself said, the second case seems to be very much true: the hard evidence from canon, written evidence etc. does not seem to support slash. One can't deny that the series' creators have said that they did not intend this reading, nor that Chris Boucher's drama format actually works *against* this reading, nor that there is a definite visual grammar within the series for expressing bisexuality which neither of the characters under discussion employ. Therefore, as you say, it doesn't work as canon.
As I've been saying all along, though: as something that's a non-canonical extrapolation or superposition-- wonderful! I'd no more want to call slash writers wrong than I would want to call the writers of AU stories, B7-crew-in-fantasy-scenario stories, or Blake-survives-Gauda-Prime stories wrong. But for exactly the same reasons.
Fiona
The Posthumous Memoirs of Secretary Rontane Available for public perusal at http://nyder.r67.net
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