But if I can adjust my perceptions of a hairbrush to make it a hammer, I can adjust my perceptions of violence to see it as an object, a tool, as it is used in fanfic. For the purpose of this essay, I am primarily taking the stance of the writer. I believe that the reasons why we like to write violence in fanfic and why we read it are not the same, but neither are they mutually exclusive. But as a symposium is meant to evoke and provoke thought, my theory stands. I think we like violence in our fanfic and in all our entertainment because it gives us the illusion we are confronting our deepest fears in a safe environment.
Violence is an obsession of our times.
Perhaps it is a predominately American fascination, morbid as it may seem, this romance we have with violence. It is, at best, a co-dependent, dysfunctional relationship. We see violence and abhor it. Immunized to its ugliness by constant exposure, we can allow ourselves to be fascinated by it without the stomach turning reaction which at one time may have been the most basic cause of our aversion to violence. No longer hampered by revulsion, we seek to understand it, to deal with it, to make it part of ourselves, so that no future outbreaks can infect us.