Random thoughts on Rape Fic
Oct. 15th, 2003 10:35 amBy being a violation of the character--a physical invasion of his body, a mental and emotional humiliation--rape in slash takes on the role of transformative experience.
It is about breaking down the character: his attitudes, his confidence, his very sense of self so that the author can allow him reshape himself from the brittle broken thing into something whole and human. And rebuilding himself can be as heroic as rebuilding the whole world.
This is why hurt/comfort is a popular genre. The comfort is as necessary to the concept of hero as the hurt. The enduring of the hurt is a heroic act, true, but the rebuilding, the acceptance of comfort afterward is as well.
It is about breaking down the character: his attitudes, his confidence, his very sense of self so that the author can allow him reshape himself from the brittle broken thing into something whole and human. And rebuilding himself can be as heroic as rebuilding the whole world.
This is why hurt/comfort is a popular genre. The comfort is as necessary to the concept of hero as the hurt. The enduring of the hurt is a heroic act, true, but the rebuilding, the acceptance of comfort afterward is as well.
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Date: 2003-10-15 08:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-16 06:07 am (UTC)