I have real problems with slash in general. It puts forward the notion that you can't have love without bed romping and that platonic relationships are somehow weak and unfulfilled.
I get angry about this in hetero couples, too. Angel and Cordelia are the perfect example. I loved that they adored each other, were willing to kill-or-die for each other, WITHOUT the necessity of being in luuuuuurve. Surely extremely close and lasting attachments are capable without passionate love being involved.
I apply the "romantic gesture" rule to a lot of slash couples; if it would be unequivicably seen as romantic gesture if the pairing was m/f, then it remains a romantic gesture if the pairing is m/m or f/f. Best example off the top of my head is in Master & Commander: Far Side of the Ocean. When Captain Aubrey breaks off pursuit of the enemy ship to go back to the Gallapagos Islands so that Maturin can recover from a gunshot wound (and study the wildlife), if it had been in a romance novel and Maturin had been a woman, it would have been a major WAFF (warm-and-fuzzy-feeling) moment. Is it any less because the two characters are male?
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I get angry about this in hetero couples, too. Angel and Cordelia are the perfect example. I loved that they adored each other, were willing to kill-or-die for each other, WITHOUT the necessity of being in luuuuuurve. Surely extremely close and lasting attachments are capable without passionate love being involved.
I apply the "romantic gesture" rule to a lot of slash couples; if it would be unequivicably seen as romantic gesture if the pairing was m/f, then it remains a romantic gesture if the pairing is m/m or f/f. Best example off the top of my head is in Master & Commander: Far Side of the Ocean. When Captain Aubrey breaks off pursuit of the enemy ship to go back to the Gallapagos Islands so that Maturin can recover from a gunshot wound (and study the wildlife), if it had been in a romance novel and Maturin had been a woman, it would have been a major WAFF (warm-and-fuzzy-feeling) moment. Is it any less because the two characters are male?