Fanfiction is fiction literature about a medium such as a TV show, movie, or book, written by fans of the medium. It generally consists of many different genres and locations, but uses characters specific to the medium chosen. One of the most prominent parts of fanfiction culture is shipping or more specifically slash shipping. Shipping is the act of supporting two or more characters, personalities, or real people in a romantic relation-“ship” regardless of whether the relationship exists in real life or not; for example, “Bill Clinton/Hilary Clinton,” “Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky,” and “Bill Clinton/Michelle Obama/Monica Lewinsky” are all “ships”. Similarly, slash shipping is the act of shipping two characters, personalities, or real people of the same sex regardless of their original sexual orientation. While slash fiction in LGBT terms refers to any gay or lesbian fiction, fanfiction terms differ slightly in that slash fiction refers to gay fanfiction (as opposed to femme-slash which refers to lesbian fiction). On popular fanfiction archiving websites, simple searches show that more than 70 percent of all fanfiction is male slash fiction (“M/M Tag Search”). This abundance in male slash fiction brings up a puzzling question: why do so many fans enjoy it?
One common explanation for the abundance and support of gay fanfiction is that slash shipping promotes a positive, appealing idea of gay relationships. Slash shippers claim that by shipping homosexual relationships, they are making these relationships a regular part of society and by attempting to integrate slash relationships into society, they are supporting the LGBT community. In short, readers claim slash fiction is merely a form of sociopolitical statement made to create...
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... real life can compromise emotional, physical, and social safety, slash fanfiction allows women to explore at their own pace. They don’t have to worry about getting sexually abused because they are the ones in control of the experience. They don’t have to worry about physical security because it is only themselves who are involved. There are no chances of getting STDs or injuries. Additionally, there is an emotional safety blanket because there is a very little chance of emotional heartbreak or depression that results from reading slash fanfiction in comparison to real relationships. Many females also find mental solace in the fact that they can indulge in whatever they are interested in at whatever pace they wish to proceed, as opposed to having to worry about reciprocating and being an ideal partner. They also are allowed to bend rules and test the limitations of
What is gender? The answer to that is not so simple. “Gender is what culture makes out of the ‘raw material’ of biological sex,” (Unger and Crawford, 1995). Also, there is a difference between what is gender identity and what is a gender role; a difference which seems to be even more difficult to differentiate between than the words “gender” and “sex”. Media and other parts of our culture seem to believe they know the difference, yet up until a certain period in time, the same stereotypical characters were portrayed and used as role models for others in most media. Women characters being the helpless victims, while the strong men would come to save them (including television shows such as Miami Vice or Three’s Company). Today there is a whole slew of shows and movies, which are redefining and re-categorizing the stereotypical language in relation to gender. One such television series is Buffy, The Vampire Slayer (starring Sarah Michelle Gellar). And although it may seem like a typical teen-angst show, and the main character is a “whiny, rich” girl who fights demons , many people believed it would be exactly like the film (of the same name) which came out five years before the television show first aired in 1997. The film (starring Kristy Swanson) was trite and “airy”, and yet the television series proved those non-believers wrong. In a stereotypical world within the culture that the show represents, Buffy is doing a man’s “job”. She is fighting creatures double her size, and killing them. She is aggressive, outgoing, and determined. Words which are not “normally” used to describe women (without, of course, the word “bitch” trailing right behind them). In other cultures, women being the more aggressive and “take-charge” kind of person is the “norm”, but because we are living in a society, a culture, where even with the whole women’s suffrage being long passed, many people would still like to see women behave as dainty, quiet, and passive characters. Buffy, The Vampire Slayer has taken the issue of “normal gender roles and behavior” and switched them around, allowing the women to be more aggressive, having most of the power and ability, while the men take on the more passive role, watching from the “sidelines”, or at least simply trying to help. Although, at times, the stereotypical views of how a...
In his article “Star Trek Rerun, Reread, Rewritten,” Henry Jenkins addresses the function of fandoms, more specifically the writing of fan-fiction, and further in the context of the Star Trek fandom. He claims that fans are “textual poachers” who take pieces of the original text that they deem as worthy, and rework, or improve areas that they find problematic or contradictory to the overall purpose of the piece. This “poaching” that is transformed works into fan-fiction are heavily written by females, at least in the Star Trek fandom. Jenkins states that this is due to the fact that women have a rather limited and highly stereotyped portrayal in science fiction. Thus, in writing fan-fiction, women are able to express themselves and their own
Furthermore, a few of his plays are written about drag queens and others about being gay. Mr. Fierstein grew up in a time when being gay was a very hard lifestyle to be open about. Over the decades the support group lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community or better known as LGBT, has supported the mass movement worldwide. Mr. Fierstein set out to illustrate to the world that it is ok to be yourself and that the LGBT community will not accept any more bigotry. His plays focus on the hardships faced by the oppressed and the tyrants.
... frustration of their action images. For these particular genres, the crisis of action in the context of failure begets the interrelated crises of masculinity and genre. The only remaining option for addressing this triple crisis is the confirmation of genre, and therefore masculinity, through the propagation of empty genre signifiers.
In an effort to legitimize all subcategories of sexuality considered deviant of heterosexual normatively, queer theory acknowledges nontraditional sexual identities by rejecting the rigid notion of stabilized sexuality. It shares the ideals of gender theory, applying to sexuality the idea that gender is a performative adherence to capitalist structures that inform society of what it means to be male, female, gay, and straight. An individual’s conformity to sexual or gendered expectations indicates both perpetration and victimization of the systemic oppression laid down by patriarchal foundations in the interest of maintaining power within a small group of people. Seeking to deconstruct the absolute nature of binary opposition, queer theory highlights and celebrates literary examples of gray areas specifically regarding sexual orientation, and questions those which solidify heterosexuality as the “norm”, and anything outside of it as the “other”.
Transgressive sexuality has always been part of gothic novels, and the fear of infectious diseases has easily found its way into the genre. During 1980s, infections spread in bathhouses where men had 30-40 sexual encounters a night leads people to homophobia. (Poole 2011). Gay men were viewed as a voracious creatures of the night with supernatural sexual appetite. Antigay activists used vampires’ drinking human blood as a metaphor for homosexuals eating sperm.
Drag shows is a form of comedy entertain that has its own unique twist. This form of entertain is very important to the gay community. To me, drag shows were emphasized in this class mentioned in some of the readings, like the navy base in Rhode Island. From stories about same sex companionship, like Alice and Freida and Weston’s stories, being gay or showing same sex romantic feelings were thought of as an embarrassment. In Alice and Freida’s case, Alice’s family disproved of such relationship, and in many of Weston’s stories, many were debated about the idea of coming out, because they were afraid that they would be shamed upon. The reason why drag shows, especially drag queens, work so well in the gay community is because the idea of norms are flipped in this environment. Outside of the drag show, the idea of crossdressing is thought of as weird and wrong, but in a drag show, it is encouraged. Within the drag show, homosexuality is treated as the norm, whereas outside, homosexuality is not “normal”. This almost provides a safe environment for homosexuality.
Despite its increasing presence in mainstream media, BDSM is still largely viewed as transgressive behaviour. James’ trilogy, while very popular for its titillating content, has been accused of promoting abusive relationships and violence towards women. (reference) When BDSM is represented in popular culture most people only vaguely understand it despite its prominent existence in soci...
The complexity and depth in the fan fiction is that the homoerotic relation and desire between the women are more obvious and clearly revealed. “They know each other intimately, in the ways friends and lovers know each other, [...]” (UbiquitousMixie). Comparing this to Cunningham, who has described the
For most people, John F. Kennedy Jr was a character in a play, a character in a story, just the way Sherlock Holmes was. When he's lost, then people react very emotionally. Constantly rehearsing the details of somebody's life and death shows that people are trying to continue the story. We always try to do that when the story ends before we're prepared for the ending.
These people bring to the public’s attention that there must be some sort of censorship in these narratives/novels. Back in 1986, a manager of a comic book store was arrested for the “possession and sale of obscene materials” (Cole 123). This was because some people believe it is wrong to sell the public explicit material, due to morals and religions. Since, this can happen often, authors like Alison Bechdel have created an account to hold money to hire lawyers for those arrested selling graphic novels with sexual material in them. Cole writes “Bechdel works with a number of lesbian and gay writers and artists to secure money for those sued for the creation, publication, and distribution of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual comics” (Cole 123).
Horror literature has been around since as long as man has been on earth. While usually in the form of ghost stories, many have often told stories orally, or on paper, to play on the horrors and darkest fears that we as humans face. While large populations of people do not like the horror genre, some get a satisfaction or enjoyment at looking at some of their worst fears being played out in front of them via a book or movie. As the stories have advanced through history and been examined and read through many different lenses both by history and literature experts, one aspects remains to be examined, and that is the changing role on of women in the story. While many of the early stories early stories portray them as simple, one-dimensional characters, weak and unable to help themselves, they evolve into more complex and eventually pushing through the damsel in distress mantra into the complex villain or hero.
Fan Culture is something that has been around for a while, but it the last twenty years, since the introduction of the Internet, it is also something that has changed dramatically. A fan is an enthusiast of something and now the Internet is a good home for fans to gather and build together a community of fans, a ‘Fandom’. The turn Fandom means a community of a group of people who all enjoy them same thing and the Internet has created a place for online communities. Fan Culture has irreversibly changed the media industry because of the ability share information and fan made created content. The creation of these online based communities have meant that people from all over the world can talk about the latest TV shows, movies, books, comics and other forms of content and create groups dedicated to them. The Internet has also become a platform for the creation of a collective community, where individuals who all have shared interests can go. “Fans uses of technologies bring a sense of playfulness to the work of active reading” (2010; 12). Digital Fandoms are user-led forum of content creation, the fans create a number of things; fan fiction, fan blogs, fan made videos, fan art work, wiki leaks. The fans create a whole new life, another side of the TV show, film or book, that is complicity run and used by the fans. These fan made creation do not have to stick to what is canon in the show and can do what they wish with the character and the storylines. However is this an okay thing to do, Henry Jenkins refers to the fans who create these things are ‘Textual Poachers’. Those fans are now active interpreters instead of passive consumers. In this view the fans are poaching the created content of the writer. The fans have power to create t...
This quote addresses directly the primary difficulty of the issue. The terms gay and lesbian are useful in literature in that they allow a group of people who have been marginalised and even persecuted to become visible. They enable a way of life and a set of identities, harmonious or conflicting, to be presented, to be questioned, to be understood and accepted. As categories they create ‘space’ in which there may develop a more evolved understanding of texts and they also create a genre within which many lesbian and gay writers are comfortable with being placed. A gendered reading of a text can reveal undercurrents and depths which might otherwise not be apparent. These categories also make ‘space’ for the author within the text which leads to a closer tie between the author and the reader in the reading process.
Romance movies have this weird love that goes on in them. Some characteristics include; sex scenes, lovey dovey affection, hate (sometimes) that ends up in love, marriages, divorces, new found love, and really anything that can happen between a man and female, female and female, man and man, whichever someone prefers. Romance movies are often seen as “chick flicks” while some may agree, others disagree. The ONLY reason they are considered “chick flicks” is because it’s a romance and theirs sappy love. There is no real evidence of it being labeled as a “chicks only flick”, men actually prefer to watch some of those movies. It doesn’t make them weak, homosexual acting, a pansy, or anything else men might call other men. Romance movies and novels are highly bought in stores. Who knows? It may be bought by your future husband or wife. And, since this paper is describing the differences, parents might look at this and decide whether or not to show the kids these types of