Red alert

[briarwood]

Every time fandom has the warnings-on-fic debate, I wonder what kind of warning would actually make me skip reading a fic, all other things being equal. There are genres of fic I avoid: MPreg and GenderSwap (the former because pregnancy=icky and the latter because it's never done realistically IMO). So yeah, those do make me skip. But the weird things people warn about (I'm never gettin' over the haircut warning) mostly confuse me.

A couple of days ago jencat004 posted a wincest fic called Smokin'. Along with the fic, the author posted a "warning": Dean smokes, and if you really want to bitch about the wrongness of THAT, and not the fact that two brothers are sucking each others dicks, well, quite frankly, I can't help you.

I didn't read the fic. That warning is more than sufficient for me to skip it.

The truth is, it bothers me a hell of a lot more for a fic to portray any of these characters as a smoker than the whole incest thing bothers me. And I don't feel I need "help" in any way because of that. (Actually, the defensive tone of the warning tells me the author already believes she's in the wrong. But what the hell. I'm just explaining it to me.)

Part of it is characterisation. When a fictional character lights up a cigarette, that immediately sends a signal that this character is an inconsiderate git who values his or her own addiction above the health and comfort of everyone in the vicinity. It says that the character is careless of their own health and fitness. It says he or she stinks to high heaven (fag-stink is worse than body odour. Seriously). Most of all, it says that the character is sexually repulsive because getting that up close and personal with someone who smokes...frankly eating vomit would be more pleasant. This is so much the opposite of Dean Winchester that I'm more likely to accept a fanfic!Dean listening to Britney Spears and driving a yellow Smart Car than I am him lighting up a fag.

Part of it is my relaxed attitude to fictional incest. jencat004's comment implies that I should find something wrong with two brothers sucking each other's dicks. Well, sorry, but I don't. Firstly - as a gay woman I have no problem with two guys sucking each other's dicks and frankly I have a problem with anyone who does. But let's assume she didn't mean to imply that the gay part of that sentence is the wrongness.

So, okay...it's because they're brothers. Well, I grew up on a reading diet of Heinlein so the fact that they're related doesn't even make me blink. Nor would it in real life, if I believed it was a healthy and consensual relationship. Like that couple in Germany. (IMHO it was extremely irresponsible of them to have children, given the high probablity of birth defects, but I fully support their fight to be together.) For Sam and Dean, well, babies aren't an issue, so why should anyone have a problem with their relationship, the way slash authors portray it? If it were non-consensual, or child abuse, that's different. But I'm talking about loving, consensual sex between adults. Why, exactly, should I consider that wrong? I don't grok it, sorry.

There are good reasons why TV characters today are rarely portrayed as smokers. If Supernatural were made in the 1970's, yeah, I'm sure Dean would be a smoker. He'd probably be a racist, too. And a misogynist. And a homophobe. They are equally unacceptable in the hero of a 21st century show.

Comments

[trialia]

Incest just squicks me, period, whatever sexuality it's with.

As for smoking, Torri smokes, you know.

[morgan32.livejournal.com]

As for smoking, Torri smokes, you know.

You say that like it should change my opinion or something.

Smoking is a filthy habit and anyone who does it in the presence of others is knowingly and deliberately endangering their health. End of story.

[trialia]

Na, I'm not. Don't get me wrong, babe, I completely agree with you on the subject. I developed asthma from 15 years of passive smoking.