It's the point at the end that really grates on me. Most mainstream movies don't even pass the Bechdel test - yet I'm supposed to believe that all the male characters in these mainstream movies are just of such wonderful quality that it's perfectly justified and completely understandable that people ignore the women entirely? Exactly how was Shia LaBeouf's character so much more interesting than Megan Fox's?
Regardless, to quote that statistic in support of this feeble argument that female characters somehow don't DESERVE attention and that's why they don't get it is to ignore the fact that mainstream movies don't comprise all or even the majority of source material for fannish endeavors. It's not "obviously" happening because there are more dudes any more than it's "obviously" happening because it's mostly being written by straight women who are into guys.
There are other faulty premises here, too - Of course you're correct in asserting there's a cultural double-standard with regard to the way we perceive m/f and m/m, but if you can agree that "romance is the only plausible outcome for m/f" as being rather stupid, why would you then carry that logic through as valid in the next breath when talking about m/m? Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't the idea that men and women cannot be anything but lovers be an idea we should dispense with? You argue - accurately - throughout this post that our culture predispenses us towards hetgoggles, then conclude that this apparently insurmountable problem is the basis of all complaint against slash everywhere, which itself is made solely from a self-righteous more-enlightened-than-thou perspective. Meanwhile, you are arguing basically that you as a slasher have the moral high ground.
It would be foolish to suggest that criticisms of slash are never bound up in cultural attitudes about queerness, but it's just as foolish to suggest that this is the sole reason and that it has nothing to do with arguably one of the most far-reaching and emotionally powerful elements of fandom subculture itself: ship wars.
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Regardless, to quote that statistic in support of this feeble argument that female characters somehow don't DESERVE attention and that's why they don't get it is to ignore the fact that mainstream movies don't comprise all or even the majority of source material for fannish endeavors. It's not "obviously" happening because there are more dudes any more than it's "obviously" happening because it's mostly being written by straight women who are into guys.
There are other faulty premises here, too - Of course you're correct in asserting there's a cultural double-standard with regard to the way we perceive m/f and m/m, but if you can agree that "romance is the only plausible outcome for m/f" as being rather stupid, why would you then carry that logic through as valid in the next breath when talking about m/m? Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't the idea that men and women cannot be anything but lovers be an idea we should dispense with? You argue - accurately - throughout this post that our culture predispenses us towards hetgoggles, then conclude that this apparently insurmountable problem is the basis of all complaint against slash everywhere, which itself is made solely from a self-righteous more-enlightened-than-thou perspective. Meanwhile, you are arguing basically that you as a slasher have the moral high ground.
It would be foolish to suggest that criticisms of slash are never bound up in cultural attitudes about queerness, but it's just as foolish to suggest that this is the sole reason and that it has nothing to do with arguably one of the most far-reaching and emotionally powerful elements of fandom subculture itself: ship wars.