Whether or not we like to admit it, the literary canon is challenged every day. “Good” literature, and what it encompasses, has a very blurry definition now. With new waves of popular culture, the tight bounds of art and scholarship are weakening.

What is fan fiction?

Fan fiction is one such cultural phenomenon, that embraces the revolution of non-normative reading. Essentially, fanfic writers produce original stories with characters taken from a source product (movie, book, television series, etc.), and give them a complete makeover. They often incorporate the source product’s original setting as well, or place the character in an entirely new world. The characters may also not be fictional at all times, as fanfics can also be based on real-life personalities like musicians, actors, etc.

Where did fan fiction come from?

Fan writing is now a part of multiple fandoms, all over the world. However, fan fiction was born in the science fiction fandom. Fan written stories were originally published in fan magazines which also comprised of other fan-related work such as articles, poems and fan art. However, with the advent of personal computers and the internet in the early nineties, fan writing moved to the online sphere. Without a doubt, this shift from print publishing to online publishing had a major effect on fan fiction writing. Firstly, an author could publish his/her story with almost no hindrances, either by submitting the writing to an online archive, or making a personal web page, which automatically resulted in the increase of fan fiction writers. Secondly, the number of readers also grew, since fan fiction could be accessed by individuals in their own homes. This sort of accessibility and lower cost (the cost of an internet connection, compared to the cost of printing and binding) combined, to construct an environment in which fan fiction was a more desirable activity with a bigger audience. This led to the increase in fandoms as well as the produced fan fiction.

Why should I care?

There are numerous published works that had originally been online fanfics. For example, The Fifty Shades of Grey series was a written as a Twilight fanfic, by author E.L. James. However, it is not safe to assume that the purpose of all fanfics, is to be published after all. We must consider their existence in relation to online spheres, and how virtual energy on the internet contributes to the fanfic. When a story is posted online on a platform, there are several comments and reviews that are given by the readers. This encourages rewriting, thus resulting in the formation of a metatext. Thus, the writing becomes communal and the reading becomes a shared experience. Since the fanfic is constantly being produced and also reproduced through the process of discussions, comments, etc., conversations about the culturally approved norms and values arise. Fan fiction can be said to exist because there is something noticeably wrong with the archetypes and norms being depicted by the source product.

Fan fiction can also be seen as a means of bringing back communal storytelling. In the oral storytelling tradition, each time that a tale is repeated, an individual’s own interpretation adds on to it. This adds a mark of their authorship on the narrative, and all such minor alterations form the story of a community which can be passed down to the next generation or to another geographical region altogether. Fan fiction works in a very similar fashion. A cultural entertainment product is basically an individual interpretation of the dominant ideology of the era. When a fan rewrites this narrative, he/she not only accepts the source product, but analyses it with precaution and appreciation. The source product is discussed by fans, and the hegemonic elements present in it are altered to reflect their own experiences.

What is Slash Fiction?

As fan fiction gained popularity, a new genre called slash fiction emerged. Slash is a subculture born after and from fan fiction, wherein the two characters picked out from the source product for the fanfic are male, and are depicted in a romantic and, very often sexual relationship.

Slash is believed to have come up from Star Trek fan fiction, whereas a few critics believe that there was unpublished slash based on The Wild Wild West even before that. In the Star Trek fandom, fanfic writers often explored the deep friendship between Captain Kirk and First Officer Spock in their stories. Such works would be labelled “hurt/comfort”, as one character would be physically or emotionally wounded while the other comforted him. Soon, authors began using the idea of the “hurt/comfort” narrative to write about a sexual and romantic relationship between the two characters. These stories would now be labelled as “Kirk/Spock” at the beginning, to make the readers aware of the sexual content that follows. The term “slash fiction” arises from this use of the slash between the names of the two characters. With time, this sort of writing spread to other fandoms as well, and slash fiction no longer referred only to Kirk and Spock, but other “m/m” or “male/male” narratives as well.

Slash, with its portrayal of male characters and sexual intercourse, is often commended for breaking stereotypes. New ideas of masculinity and gender performativity can be derived through this kind of writing, transforming the nature of queer scholarship altogether.

Slash Fiction and the Performance of Gender

Judith Butler, in Gender Trouble, explains how the gender binary is established and how gender is maintained through this binary. However, slash excludes the binary system which makes gender seem natural. It is believed that gender mirrors sex, and thus, is the cultural reflection of biological sex. With this in mind, we can say that women are defined by societal and cultural roles that are prescribed to them. Slash, however, frees the female fan through her embodiment of the male character. Slash has also time and time again, been related to Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity.

According to Butler, Gender is not a noun, but neither is it a set of free-floating attributes . . . gender proves to be performative-that is, constituting the identity it is purported to be.” Gender is not “being”, but “doing”. She argues that gender is not something that we are born with, but rather something that is born out of repetitive performance. If one refuses to
perform gender, it ceases to exist. According to Butler, drag is the way through which gender’s constructedness can be revealed. It is a parody of gender, which highlights how one can perform something while being something else entirely. Slash, thus, brings together emotional as well as physical realms of gender to undermine its concept as natural- emotional, by portraying emotional vulnerability and physical, by the taboo sexual acts.

All in all, in slash, female writers associate themselves with the male characters present in the story. This cross identification and intellectual transvesitism is similar to how drag works. The female fan embodies the male character and thus, reinvents it by rewriting masculinity. The body depicted in the story is male, but the essence is female due to her writing it. This makes the performance somewhat feminised in a patriarchal society. Slash also does not comply with the sexed body. By impersonating the other sex, she breaks down the apparent naturalness of gender. It is also believed that gender is present to build a wall, a binary between males and females, thus succeeding in maintaining naturalness in heterosexuality. However, slash rejects this by pairing two males and rejecting heterosexuality even more. In a way, the slash community is a space where women with different sexualities, along with gay men, all interact sexually, with the help of the bodies of male characters and/or celebrities. Slash fiction, thus, reveals gender’s performative nature through its drag and transvestitism. Thus slash fiction, opposes compulsory heterosexuality (or heteronormativity), through its drag especially.

In Conclusion …

We can agree that fan fiction (as well as slash fiction) has immense potential for scholarship in various fields. Apart from that, fan fiction is also pretty cool in itself, and it is definitely exciting to see your favourite characters in a completely new demeanour. Fan fiction encourages individuals to begin writing, and to experiment with form and technique. Fan fiction facilitates the formation of communities where there is constant innovation. All in all, fan fiction is a thriving genre of literature, already gaining a notorious reputation for its raw, honest and resilient nature.

Glossary

1. Fanfic- Short for fan fiction

2. Fandom- Originating from the words ‘fan’ and ‘kingdom’- constitutes a group of individuals that share the same interests surrounding a particular text, and engage in fan activities

3. Metatext- Writing that reflects on other writing