Jacqueline Roberts Dr. Nancy Pedri English 3817 December 2, 2014 Queering Canonically Heterosexual Characters in fan fiction A pastime for many people across the world is the storytelling, and in some cases creating a story based on an existing universe. Sometimes these stories end up being a commentary on a queer reading into a story. In a society such as today, where the LGBT community is becoming larger but their presence in mainstream media is still low, people are taking matters into their own hands. From YouTube, a digital space where some of the top content creators are members of the LGBT community (Tyler Oakley, Hannah Hart and Troye Sivan for example), to Tumblr, a blogging website where the average person can create content based …show more content…
Ship fan fiction is the most interesting as it not only focuses on the canon relationships, but more frequently examines non-canonical relationships, allowing both the reader and the writer to experience these potential relationships as if they happened within the original works themselves. Kustritz states that these slash fictions “allows women to construct narrative that subvert patriarchy by reappropriating those prototypical hero characters” (371). These authors, primarily the female ones take these stereotypical and one dimensional characters and create them into something more dynamic and interesting to their needs. For the community at large, by queering these characters it shows that this is a sort of oppression that the writers and readers are suffering from. It is a cry for more homosexual relationships, characters and storylines in mainstream …show more content…
What parts of our society leave us empty? Which individuals are particularly satisfied by slash fan fiction? Why are fan narratives written at all?” (372). This leaves us with great questions about fanfiction and its role in today’s society. It also backs up the idea that it is written by and for those that are dealing with questions of sexuality in their own life. While there are no hard and fast answers to these questions, if we analyse them through the eyes of someone interested in learning about homosexuality or someone participating in self-discovery, these questions help shape our