Onward with the GFY: part 1
6 Mar 2010 07:53 pm[disclaimer: I'm trying to refrain from value judgments, because that's not really a useful step in deconstruction.]
Okay, the GFY trope.
When last we visited this topic, I was asking: "when, if ever, do we profess attraction to someone but with the caveat that they're the only one we'll ever feel (or do) this with? What if the GFY trope is actually an analogue, if we ignore the copious numbers of badly-written fic using it, and just look at the bare bones of the trope?"
( Somewhere along the way while simmering these thoughts while the post pre-heated, I got thinking about the question of whether there's ever a realistic, valid, point in a person's life wherein one denies sexuality despite activity. )
Reminder: I'm not discussing whether or not the trope (or anything related) is okay or not-okay, so don't presume that attention equals agreement. I am, however, focused on deconstructing the mechanics of GFY and related coming-out stories, to see if I can tease out why it's such a major trope in female-audience-oriented genre-romance published fiction, and come up with a few theories on its origin(s) and appeal.
onto part two
Okay, the GFY trope.
When last we visited this topic, I was asking: "when, if ever, do we profess attraction to someone but with the caveat that they're the only one we'll ever feel (or do) this with? What if the GFY trope is actually an analogue, if we ignore the copious numbers of badly-written fic using it, and just look at the bare bones of the trope?"
( Somewhere along the way while simmering these thoughts while the post pre-heated, I got thinking about the question of whether there's ever a realistic, valid, point in a person's life wherein one denies sexuality despite activity. )
Reminder: I'm not discussing whether or not the trope (or anything related) is okay or not-okay, so don't presume that attention equals agreement. I am, however, focused on deconstructing the mechanics of GFY and related coming-out stories, to see if I can tease out why it's such a major trope in female-audience-oriented genre-romance published fiction, and come up with a few theories on its origin(s) and appeal.
onto part two