In Defense of Fan Fiction

Taking a lead from my last post, I wanted to firstly apologize for some of the blanket statements I made about Americans and homophobia. I certainly don’t want to look like I am shaking my finger at everyone and accusing them. But when you look at the general populous and especially around election time, it cannot be helped. Maybe this isn’t the place to argue how we feel about gays in America but trust me, I will make a point.

Insofar as comic book fans being averse to seeing a movie version of Robin for the aforementioned reasons, it is very interesting to me that within the world of fan fiction, where – primarily female writers – are taking comic characters and writing them into original stories, there is no end to the amount of male/male pairings. (Ok, even if this isn’t your thing, bear with me on this.)

Also known as slash, this stuff exists in mass quantities wherever fanfic is hosted, such as Livejournal, DeviantArt, Fanfiction.net., and personal blogs. Long ago, when I first got into comics and then, naturally, discovered the realm of fan fiction, it had never occurred to me that so many people were taking well-known characters and pairing them up in ways we’d never even imagine. (Wolverine and Gambit? Oh my.) Yet, this seems perfectly natural in this arena and, dare I say, the norm.

Obviously, and inherently, men and women read comics for different reasons. I posit that women tend to become more emotionally involved with characters and, if so inclined, this is what prompts a personal piece wherein the characters are then paired up in such a manner. For instance, the sheer number of stories that involve Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson is unbelievable. Sure, I stood up for their relationship as being nothing more than father/son and/or mentor/apprentice but there’s no doubt an underlying relationship that could be misconstrued as more.

I don’t want to say that everything we do comes down to sex and sexuality but it seems that even in something like comic books, where the first and foremost keywords might be “fighting” or “well-written stories” or “great art”, people have taken it to this level. But I think more importantly, slash fiction can be viewed as a liberation. On a day to day basis, we’re bombarded by things that tell us “One Man, One Woman” and uphold these ideals of the perfect macho guy and the helpless girl in need of the lovin’ of a said ultramasculine guy. When a woman, also a comic fan, writes the story of Tim Drake and Conner Kent and the intense friendship/relationship they have, she is stepping out of the confines, going beyond the boundaries that our society wishes to prescribe for us, and setting herself – as well as her readers – free.

Of course we cannot consider anything written in fan fiction to be canon. But it’s a way for fans to take their love of an existing character one step further. Speaking solely for myself, this makes me feel like those people are real, as silly as it may sound. But think about any novel or even comic you’ve read and truly enjoyed. You get to know those people as if they were real. I still struggle to understand why so many female writers tend to produce these stories. Maybe it is in the pursuit of understanding ourselves. It’s what we do, humans. We seek to better grasp why we act as we do and why other may act differently.

In a world where state laws continue to ban people of different sexualities from seeking the pursuit of happiness, it’s nice that in the our little world of comics and fanfiction we remain unshackled.

**image courtesy ph1shf00d on DeviantArt