In Defense Of Fandom
Thinking very seriously about spending myWinter Term researching and writing an extended treatise on fandom. Here’s where I’m at with the plan.
I’d start with the historical roots of fan practices (spoilers, everything the Greeks and Romans wrote was fanfiction of The Iliad and The Odyssey fucking fight me. Also Shakespeare wrote a lot of Ovid fanfiction. Also Dante’s Inferno is a self-insert fanfic.). Get distracted for a while about how most of the famous pieces to come out of the Renaissance are either bible or Greek mythology fanart. Then I’d talk about just how many of your favorite modern authors are writing fanfiction, and go a little bit into feminist perspectives on revisionist narratives.
Then I’d go into the creation of modern fan communities, probably talk a lot about Star Trek and zines and cosplay and fan conventions. I’d spend a lot of time talking about the divides in fan communities between transformative fanworks and participatory fanworks and why that divide often causes shaming even within fan communities (hint: it’s often rooted in misogyny. Surprise!)
I’d also like to spend a lot of time thinking about slash fandom and tackling some of the common criticisms therein. Talk about the roots of why people focus on creating queer narratives so often in fandom and fandom as an inclusive creative space that has often served as a safe environment for lgbt fans. But like, I also don’t want to gloss over a lot of the fucked up stuff that happens in fandom spaces (there’s a lot of issues related to transmisogyny and racism and internalized misogyny)
I’d also like to trace, mostly for fun, the histories and implications of some of the weirder fanfiction tropes.
And then, for the real kicker, I’d like to really get into the meat of just how often content creators fuck over their fans. Talk about the way that yes, media with large scale slash fandoms are queerbaited like no tomorrow. Also cover the way fandom and fanfiction and fanart are treated by the mainstream media and how that interacts with the sort of celebrity/tabloid/reality TV culture that defines the entertainment industry. And most importantly the way that content creators shame fan practices, while still relying on the engagement provided by fandom in order to make a profit on their content. Yes. Once again, you guessed it, it’s related to misogyny.
This way, next time someone casually tries to put me down for reading and writing fanfiction, I can throw this at them instead of being stricken by the urge to forcibly remove their head from their body.
So yeah, if you have any suggestions for resources, tropes, fandoms, interviews, books, people, perspectives, intersectional social justice theories, or weird fanfic pairings you think I should include, hit me with them.
Also feel free to reblog this so I can get a wider variety of perspectives.
What do you think?