Transformative Works and Cultures - TWC (Organization for Transformative Works)
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Fan fiction, early Greece, and the historicity of canon
No full textThe historicity of canon is considered with an emphasis on contemporary fan fiction and early Greek oral epic traditions. The essay explores the idea of canon by highlighting historical variance, exposing wider conceptual isomorphisms, and formulating a revised notion of canonicity. Based on an analysis of canon in early Greece, the discussion moves away from the idea of canon as a set of valued works and toward canon as a practice of containment in response to inherent states of surplus. This view of canon is applied to the practice of fan fiction, reestablishing the idea of canonicity in fluid production environments within a revised, historically specific understanding in early oral traditions on the one hand and in digital cultures and fan fiction on the other. Several examples of early epigraphic Greek texts embedded in oral environments are analyzed and assessed in terms of their implications for an understanding of fan fiction and its modern contexts
Shipping in Plato's "Symposium"
No full textA comparison between Achilles/Patroclus shipping in Plato's Symposium (ca. 427–347 BC) and Dean/Castiel shipping in Supernatural (2005–), asking whether slash shipping is always necessarily deliberately transgressive
"Fan CULTure: Essays on participatory fandom in the 21st century," edited by Kristin M. Barton and Jonathan Malcolm Lampley
No full textReview of Kristin M. Barton and Jonathan Malcolm Lampley, eds. Fan CULTure: Essays on participatory fandom in the 21st century. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2014. Paperback, $40 (212p) ISBN 978-0-7864-7418-9, E-book ISBN 978-1-4766-0459-6
Racebending fandoms and digital futurism
No full textOnline fan art can be a way for communities to celebrate a particular fandom, characters, or relationships; yet though these pieces have been studied for their ability to create community and express identity, one area that has yet to be fully explored in connection to fan art is as a form of activism. The racebending movement on Tumblr suggests an effort by fans to reclaim books, films, and television from the whitewashing that often takes place in the entertainment industry. In particular, this project explores Tumblr art devoted to recasting popular fiction with people of color, and how this activism has ties to movements such as Afrofuturism, as well as relating the history of the term "racebending" itself. I will examine how these recastings are performed to gauge the intention behind them, and to trace how they are being used as a commentary on society. I believe these rewritings of popular fandoms not only indicate a desire by fans to see more portrayals of diversity, but are also in essence creating an ethno-futuristic space. Though for the most part, the television and film industries continue to whitewash their programming, these fans protest that notion through creating their diversified fan art; in essence, rejecting the homogenous entertainment of the past and present in favor of a self-made, heterogeneous future
Fannish masculinities in transition in anime music video fandom
No full textPolitically engaged scholarship often interrogates the experiences of groups without privilege. But in order for social change to happen, privileged identities must also be reworked. An analysis of anime fandom in the early 2000s shows that fan works, such as fan video and cosplay performances, concretize masculinities that are both transgressive and desperately seeking normative confirmation. By means of queer and masculinity theory, I argue that fandom is a uniquely generative space for reworking masculinity. This will only remain true, however, if it can hold onto its subversive practices in a time of increasing mainstream attention
Local newspaper movie contests and the creation of the first movie fans
No full textThis article explores the advent of local newspaper movie contests in the 1910s and how these contests helped to create active movie fans. Such contests increased the popularity of the new medium of film by engaging local audiences in the process of filmmaking, including fans as scriptwriters and even stars. They helped to transform film into a dominant cultural practice by creating local spaces for film patrons to become part of the national pastime of going to the show. They did so by appealing directly to female spectators, who both legitimized going to the movies and created dynamic film fan communitie
Toward a broader recognition of the queer in the BBC'S "Sherlock"
No full textWith an eye toward the growing body of scholarship on the new Sherlock (2010–), this article considers both the show's possibilities for queer identification and the limitations of analyses of the show that rely too heavily on Holmes's relationship with John Watson as evidence of Holmes's queerness. Despite the producers' proclamation that Holmes is above sex, much less gay sex, the show is ripe with a queer subtext that viewers have recognized and reclaimed as their own. Several scholars have examined Sherlock's appeal to these viewers, but their focus has primarily been on the ways these readings conflict or intersect with how the show and its producers understand him. This article calls for a reading that conceives of a queerness outside of the homosexual domestic. Using José Escobar Muñoz's theory of disidentification, I argue that we should explore readings of the show that do not demand validation of queerness through normative relationships and behaviors. Instead, Sherlock's illegibility allows him to exist in a queer space, outside both essentialist and constructivist ideas of who and what people can be
Toward a goodwill ethics of online research methods
No full textAs more academic work (teaching, research, and publishing) moves online, we acafans face ever more challenges regarding how academia and online communities can and should interact. Since academia enjoys a position of power, while fan communities are often highly marginalized, I argue that, as acafans, we have a special responsibility to the fan communities we engage with and study. Fulfilling this responsibility means using what I call a goodwill ethics heuristic approach to online research methods, which requires us to balance the concerns of fans with those of scholarly development. In order to trace what this goodwill heuristic approach to online research methods might look like, I start by examining ethical values of research methods as they are defined by the Belmont Report. I then revisit the methods of previous fan studies. I add to these methods an extended set of ethical values as they have been described by prominent scholars in a range of fields using human subjects research. Finally, I discuss my own online fannish profile, focusing on my self-positioning and how it has been crucial in developing a goodwill ethics approach in my own research. Ultimately, I argue that all online research should use a goodwill ethics heuristic approach, and that such an approach is chiefly characterized by researchers' willingness to abdicate their expert status where necessary; ongoing negotiations between researchers and participants; and researchers' taking sufficient time to establish both an emic perspective of the community or site being researched and relationships with participants
Antifan activism as a response to MTV's "The Valleys"
No full textMTV has launched several reality TV shows in the United Kingdom, but one, The Valleys (2012–14), about youth moving from the South Wales Valleys to Cardiff, has received much criticism. Grassroots criticism of the show arose, and a Valleys-centric campaign, The Valleys Are Here, took direct action. I adopt Jonathan Gray's definition of antifans to complicate ideas of fan activism. I utilize comments and posts made on the Valleys Are Here Twitter feed and Facebook account, as well as the organization's Web site, to examine the ways in which they encourage activism among antifans of the series. I pay particular attention to activist calls for MTV to be held accountable for its positioning of Wales and the Valleys, and to how it encourages participation among varied groups of people whose common denominator is their dislike of the series. Fan activism is not exclusive to people who consider themselves fans, and notions of fan activism can be complicated by drawing in antifans
Cultural differences: Polish fandom of "Welcome to Night Vale"
No full textWelcome to Night Vale (2012–) is an intertextual podcast in the tradition of popular horror and weird tales. Listeners are meant to be part of a (fictional) community, listening to the radio in the small desert town of Night Vale in the Southwestern United States, although neither the state nor the exact time are specified. We follow the host of the program, Cecil Palmer, as he describes the town's community life, although the events presented in the show are far from normal. The first episode was published online June 15, 2012, with no marketing to accompany the event. Many had first heard about Welcome to Night Vale through fan art available via social media, including Tumblr, Soup.io, blog communities, Facebook groups, and deviantArt. Although the production is available in English only, it has a Polish fandom. We describe the difference in perception of this popular text based on differences in the cultural background and literary knowledge of the listeners. We also attend to fan practices such as fan art surrounding Welcome to Night Vale because their content correlates with the creator's culture of origin, as well as the issue of funding the free podcast among fans from different countries and different economies