![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Munich Film Festival II: Slash
Jun. 27th, 2016 08:27 amYes, "Slash" as in slash of fanfiction fame. As in, it's an entire movie about two teens who write same and deal with the whole coming of age, discovering their sexuality thing at the same time. This could have gone wrong in so many ways, but I'm happy to report the resulting movie does NOT ridicule fandom, either the writing or the non-writing part of same; instead, it's lilke Galaxy Quest to Sci Fi, specifically Trek fandom, laughing with the fans, not at them, and taking them seriously as characters. And when was the last time you saw a comedy focused on a male teenager who is attracted to both men and women and whom the movie refuses to label or put into a neat category? Or a movie about teenagers that treats writing (and writing fanfiction, not poetry) like genre movies otherwise treat dancing or singing or acting? A movie in which an explanation of what "curtain fic" means receives an adorable emotional pay off by the end?
"Slash" is directed and scripted by Clay Lifford, who was there for the Q & A afterwards and cheerfully confessed to having been in fandom all his life, and it shows. (Doesn't mean EVERY bit of the movie feels dead-on; Lifford said he wrote the quoted fanfiction for the movie, and it shows, too, which isn't a problem early because beginner stories certainly often read like this, but at one point there's a "best of" live reading at a convention, and there the quoted example certainly would never make it that far.) Like I said, the whole thing feels like a love declaration, though not an over the top one; while fandom and the fanfiction writing community by and large are presented as positive and a great space for creative people, there is also the inevitable competitive feeling and the self righteous bully to be found specializing in tearing down fellow fans.
( Spoilery observations and descriptions under the cut )
I could go on about how this movie is my favourite of the festival so far for hours, but I won't, and will just include one more running gag: Julia brings up that the Brontes wrote fanfiction early on (the Angria and Gondal tales), and Neil finds that information repeatedly useful, not least when being told off by a girl who says she only reads real literature. (He even gets the Duke of Wellington/Napoleon pairing right, though not the Bronte sister - it was Charlotte - and brother Branwell -, not Emily, who turned Wellington and Napoleon into Zamorna and Northangerland, respectively.) Still, icon chosen in honor of that running gag.
In conclusion: if this movie is shown anywhere near you, go watch! The website is here.
"Slash" is directed and scripted by Clay Lifford, who was there for the Q & A afterwards and cheerfully confessed to having been in fandom all his life, and it shows. (Doesn't mean EVERY bit of the movie feels dead-on; Lifford said he wrote the quoted fanfiction for the movie, and it shows, too, which isn't a problem early because beginner stories certainly often read like this, but at one point there's a "best of" live reading at a convention, and there the quoted example certainly would never make it that far.) Like I said, the whole thing feels like a love declaration, though not an over the top one; while fandom and the fanfiction writing community by and large are presented as positive and a great space for creative people, there is also the inevitable competitive feeling and the self righteous bully to be found specializing in tearing down fellow fans.
( Spoilery observations and descriptions under the cut )
I could go on about how this movie is my favourite of the festival so far for hours, but I won't, and will just include one more running gag: Julia brings up that the Brontes wrote fanfiction early on (the Angria and Gondal tales), and Neil finds that information repeatedly useful, not least when being told off by a girl who says she only reads real literature. (He even gets the Duke of Wellington/Napoleon pairing right, though not the Bronte sister - it was Charlotte - and brother Branwell -, not Emily, who turned Wellington and Napoleon into Zamorna and Northangerland, respectively.) Still, icon chosen in honor of that running gag.
In conclusion: if this movie is shown anywhere near you, go watch! The website is here.
