Transformative Works and Cultures - TWC (Organization for Transformative Works)
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Approaching whiteness in slash via Marvel Cinematic Universe's Sam Wilson
No full textThis essay articulates the privilege of being a white writer within fandom and addresses the importance of Sam Wilson as a specifically black character in considering the author's own status as a disabled queer woman
Fan fiction as feminist citation: Lesbian (para)textuality in chainofclovers's "Done with the Compass, Done with the Chart" (2017)
No full textA close reading of an exemplar femslash fan fic, chainofclover's "Done with the Compass, Done with the Chart" (2017), demonstrates that the language of desire it narrates for canonically heterosexual female characters is anchored by a lesbian (para)textuality. Chainofclovers takes a line from Emily Dickinson’s poem "Wild nights—Wild nights!" for the title of her fan fic for the Grace and Frankie (2015–) TV series. The author enters literary critical discourse and demonstrates feminist models of citation. The use of Dickinson, paired with similar references to the Mojave lesbian poet Natalie Diaz in the chapter epigraphs, provides a new map for the characters to follow, allowing them to travel beyond the canonical confines of compulsory heterosexuality. Just as the canonical characters Grace and Frankie refuse the requirement to cite the men in their lives, instead choosing to cite each other, chainofclovers cites lesbian poetry to imagine a narrative of female desire that is not defined by men. The story thus reflects the feminist citational model that both fan fiction and fan studies can enact, challenging traditional networks of property and ownership by producing a work founded on sustenance and gratitude
"Television 2.0: Viewer and fan engagement with digital TV," by Rhiannon Bury
No full textRhiannon Bury. Television 2.0: Viewer and Fan Engagement with Digital TV. New York: Peter Lang, 2017, paperback, $48 (147p) ISBN 978-1-4331-3852-2
Queering the Anglo-Saxons through their psalms
No full textFor fan fiction based on the TV serial drama The Last Kingdom (2014–), some fan fiction authors use fragments of the translations of the Psalms by King Alfred of Wessex (849–899) to firmly ground their stories in the historical reimagination of the Anglo-Saxons. In the short story "Æthelflaed and Lagertha," fan fiction writer Bandi Crawford uses an Alfredian psalm to connect The Last Kingdom to another major TV series, Vikings (2013–). By developing bisexual and biromantic story lines along the lines of Alfredian psalms, the author constructs a twenty-first-century neomedieval-based culture in which the Alfredian psalms are reinterpreted or critically reexamined through a queer lens, thereby negotiating more diversity within a favorite show's story world
Using the Marvel Cinematic Universe to build a defined research line
No full textResearchers can use the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to link their research to build a defined line of study. The MCU can teach researchers about authorship and the review process, as well as how to link individual studies together to build a defined research line, all while learning about the publishing process
In defense of revision
No full textEditorial for Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 30 (September 15, 2019)
Nostalgia, novelty, and the subversion of authority in "The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs"
No full textThe Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, by negotiating the authorship and authority of its derivative readings, discusses the place of Israel vis-à-vis Christianity through almost fannish retellings of the lives of the patriarchs of Israel. The text thereby walks a line between nostalgic and novel readings of foundational narratives, in some places perpetuating canonical authority and in others subverting it. The outcome of this interplay is the displacement of the Israelite author and Christianization of Israelite history. Contemporary fan fiction studies discourse provides tools for analyzing this negotiation of textual authority
Latina fans agitate respectability: Rethinking antifans and antifandom
No full textThis piece proposes that the fields of ethnic studies, fat studies, and sexuality studies (with a focus on racialized sexualities) can help us think about antifans and antifandom from a different lens. I utilize identity hermeneutics to analyze some of my own fan sites that center fat women of color, nonnormative sexualities, and Latina deviance. I offer the heuristic of agitation and agitated discourse to think through the hater (antifan) comments that Latinas encounter online about their fat racialized flesh
"Bodyminds reimagined: (Dis)ability, race, and gender in Black women's speculative fiction," by Sami Schalk
No full textReview of Sami Schalk. Bodyminds reimagined: (Dis)ability, race, and gender in Black women’s speculative fiction. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2018. Paperback, $23.95 (192p) ISBN 9780822370888
Toward an integration of musicological methods into fan video studies
No full textMethods are emerging regarding the analysis of fan videos and vidding. In an expansion of existing analytical methods, I add musical analysis to the repertoire. Assessing music on a deeper, more conscious level takes into account the affective contributions of music in vids, as well as how elements of music contribute to the structuring and creation of vids—for example, in how mood and tone of voice influence the emotional impact of a vid, and in how both rhythm and instrumentation are used by vidders in their creative process. This analytical method opens up a new and fruitful understanding of the art of vidding, the vids themselves, and the vids' creators