XENA SMASH

[auronlu]

Mintywolf is a saint.

For four years, she's been posting Guardian comic every week. She's up to 111 pages. 

The story focuses on relationships between female characters. On every page. From Lady Ginnem's mentorship of Lulu to Ginnem's kickass sister Imogen to Yuna's friendship with Valefor to NoPantsCrusader/LadyYocun'sBiggestFan  the nuanced portrayal of Lulu's friendship with Yuna, which evolves and grows over time. 

It's a well-written, convincing love story in which the protagonists are not het and not in a sexual relationship. It shows, not tells that female friendships can be every bit as powerful as the standard "boy meets girl" romance.

Just as with the game of FFX, the bulk of the story is actually flashback, recalled at the end of the journey. The "present" is the scene in which Lulu volunteers to be Yuna's fayth. That scene is reprised at the beginning of each chapter, only now it's ticked forward to show that Lulu IS going to become Yuna's fayth, in this AU.

Yet reader comments often seem oblivious to all of the above.

• Readers are excited when Tidus shows up, because now, at last, the story can be about Tidus/Yuna. (It hasn't been.) Some post a burst of Tidus/Yuna art right after she posts an emotionally powerful Lulu & Yuna scene.
• There are comments like "whoa whoa, Lulu, that almost sounds gay" when her headspace-narrative describes her feelings for Yuna. 
• Commenters jokingly scold Lulu for being sharp-tongued at Wakka, because she shouldn't be talking that way to her future husband. Did they play FFX?

Today someone wants to know if/when Minty's going to get to FFX-2, because this fan can't wait to see Lulu spawning the Wakkababy.

Even though Mintywolf's already showed that Lulu's going to become the Final Aeon, diverging from the X-2 storyline.
Even though Mintywolf's been focusing on female friendship and cuddles.
Even though Mintywolf's been avoiding sexual content all along.

Said fan kept poking, and Mintywolf deflected with tact. As she always does.

It is difficult for me not to snark at readers so desperately trying to find the het in her story, so determined not to see what the story is about, and has been about, for one hundred pages. 

When we were talking about this, Minty pointed out that "where is the straight?" comments on stories about female relationships are hardly unique to Guardian: Sister Claire's had such comments just this week.

I'm not surprised that these comments happen, of course. I'm just very frustrated on her behalf that people can't see, appreciate and engage in what she's trying to do, and has been doing very effectively, for years.

All I can do is support it. 

Comments

[zen_monk]

I can't help but think there's a gender bias that plays into people who read het into the comic, in that it's far more expected to anticipate het feelings among women (even more so people expecting it to align with canonical het pairings as though that is immutable among transformative works). And you know, I also tend to think that if the comic were instead featuring male characters going through the same development as the comic is going through, there might not be as many people calling into question the intention of their relationship and might implicitly understand what the comic might be going for. Or that romantic or sexual fulfillment is still centered around a dude and their reproductive purposes (and apparently traditional gender roles if people are feeling like Lulu might ruin her chances at marrying Wakka is she keeps slinging barbed words at him)

Obviously both genders have people with the straight goggles on too firmly (or outright wanting to deny it) but it seems more apparent to me that female relationships have to be even more explicit to get the message across for some people.

[auronlu]

You're probably right. After all these years I'm still somewhat bemused that female friendship/affection -- never mind lesbian; straight women can have strong rapport in the real world -- is such a rare aspect of fanfic, even when canon provides enough female characters to allow for it.