Why so little genfic?

[author_by_night]

Disclaimer: Entry inspired by a secret on the fandomsecrets community.

Something I've noticed in almost all of the fandoms I'm in or know of -  Heroes, Harry Potter, Wicked the book, Wicked the musical, Rent, Pirates of the Carribean, Supernatural - is that there's a huge emphasis on romance. Actually, often smutty romance, at  that. Meanwhile, in all of those fandoms, save Pirates of the Carribean, the themes of friendship and/or family seem just as important, but they are not given the same amount of screentime. Well, I don't really know if that's the case with Supernatural, but gazing through the comms, it certainly seems to be the case. Also admittedly, Rent is clearly about romantic love, but there's still themes of friendship there too. (Mimi and Angel, Joanne and Mark - a friendship that probably wouldn't normally happen, all things considered - and Mark and Roger.)

I don't have a problem with people's shipping preferences - to each his/her own, right? If you want to write Petrellicest or Wincest, more power to you. Same with if you want to ship Remus/Sirius ( a ship I can see on some level anyway), Harry/Hermione, or Will/Jack. 

But I have  a general question - why is it that in these fandoms, non-romantic relationships, canon or not, do not generally get equal writing time? Even I have to admit that my entrance into the HP fandom came with musings about whether or not it'd be Harry/Hermione or Hermione/Ron, if Remus/Sirius was plausible, etc. I only became a genfic person later on. And even then, I still shipped Remus/Tonks (which wasn't canon at the time) and Ron/Hermione. 

So what is it about romance and smutfics that gains so much more popularity, and why do people see the need to put canon friends and siblings in romantic and/or smutty situations?

Discuss. :)

Comments

[jdbracknell.livejournal.com]

I've wondered this myself, since my shippy fics get about 4 times the number of hits/reviews as anything gen - which always seemed odd to me, since friendships (especially the ones JKR has provided us with) are so complex and fun to explore, and for my money, as rewarding to read and write as something with a smutty pay-off.

I've wondered if it's because people see romantic or sexual relationships as the only ones that can be interesting, or deep, and therefore worthy of exploration in fic - or that there's simply more interest in deconstructing a romantic relationship than a friendship one.

I think some people, too, have difficulty with the idea of a deep and far reaching bond that isn't based on romantic love. In a lot of ways, it's easier to express that two characters have feelings for each other by letting them kiss than by demonstrating in other, non romantic, ways that deep feelings exist.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

I do think it is true that a lot of people don't realize other relationships can have
deep bonds without being shippy. And
yes, it is harder to write about two
people being close without making it
seem shippy; heck, sometimes that's a
problem IRL.

But I don't think that's true of all
smut writers - I know many who still
value friendship. And I do want to
clarify that I don't think smut is
bad, I just wonder why there's not
more focus on platonic relationships.