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

[tacky-tramp.livejournal.com]

A few possibilities.

1) Fandom is mostly chicks, and chicks dig love stories.

2) Fanfic tends to explore issues not explored in canon, and romance is often sidelined in the texts we are fannish for.

3) Fanfic tends to explore issues in different ways than canon does, and a lot of the texts we are fannish for have lame canon romances.

Maybe we're filling gaps, maybe we're revising inadequate storylines, and maybe we're playing with love, emotions, and sex like little ladies should. Dunno.

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

1) Fandom is mostly humans, and humans like sex. A lot.

2) Canon doesn't have as much sex as humans want. Or even as much as we have, especially in our dreams.

3) The internet, being made by humans, is for porn.

[tacky-tramp.livejournal.com]

I approve of this list. :D