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

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

Here from metafandom.

People use sex as a metaphor for emotional intimacy. It's simple, and it generally gets the message across. But the result is that all friendships end up sexualized (not that I have a problem with that, of course!).

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

People also use emotional intimacy as a way of getting to the sex. It's the Internet, and *it's for porn*.

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

*nods* That's good too.

[eyra.livejournal.com]

Also here from metafandom.

This is where my opinion sits, pretty much. But I also think the metaphor isn't just emotional intimacy, but also vulnerability, which is really really interesting and fun to poke at. Sexualized relationships can be the same as their platonic canon counterparts, they're just allegorized. And now I've called NC-17 fic allegory, which has more or less made my morning.

Adding sex makes the reader's emotional connection to the relationship easier to come by, perhaps. But then, as has been amply covered, it's also (probably "mostly") about hot people, and about getting them to be hot together. There are lots of discussions I've read with phrases like "reverse objectification," a feminist movement in which women are claiming porn for themselves, and etc., but it boils down to "we write/read because we think it's hot. And yay for porn."

:)