Storytelling is an integral part of human nature. As fundamental to us as breathing. Every civilisation from every period in history has a tradition of storytelling to express their lived experiences, from the intricate cave-painted scenes of fierce battles from aeons ago, to the multi-million dollar blockbuster franchises that we enjoy today. But as much as stories are everywhere, it would be inaccurate to say that stories have always been, for everyone.
Storytelling, like any form of art, is inherently political, as it holds up a mirror to our society and those who run it. It is no wonder then that the cultural giants in the Western world’s storytelling history - from the classics to the modern hits - tend to be centred around the dominant groups in society: the cis, the straight, the white, and the male. Art reflects life - or, at least, the life that its creators perceive - and so the art pushed onto us every day is a reflection of their reality, not our own.
For women, for queer people, for people of colour, this can leave an empty space in our books and television screens where we long to see our reflections looking back at us. The implicit message enclosed in the dearth of representation is that our stories are not worth being told. But, as I said, storytelling is an inextricably human experience: if these stories are not made for us, we will make them ourselves.
Transformative fiction - more colloquially known as fanfiction - has a history as rich as any other storytelling tradition. However, one thing that makes it stand out is that, since its inception, it has been dominated by the less represented figures in society. Fanfiction as we recognise it today arose from Star Trek ‘zines’ in the sixties: people - primarily women, would use mailing lists to share physical copies of stories based on the popular sci-fi franchise. Crucially, a lot of these stories were explicitly queer, with Kirk and Spock, the two male leads, often paired together. In the 1960s, where queerness was still heavily discriminated against in the places where these ‘zines’ were popular, this was no small matter. While certainly not elevating queer stories to the mainstream yet, it established a tangible community for those who connected to these tales of queer love.
Fanfiction has come a long way since the secretive mailing lists of the sixties, now becoming a popular pastime with multiple dedicated websites hosting millions of stories. Fanfictions have even served as the blueprint for multiple successful original book series’, such as Fifty Shades of Grey and Shadowhunters. But what has not changed for a large portion of the fanfiction being produced today, is its inherently subversive nature. A quick study of Archive Of Our Own, one of the most prominent fanfiction sites on the internet, shows that the five most popular pieces of media to write about are the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Harry Potter, Supernatural, My Hero Academia, and Star Wars. Despite these franchises primarily providing representing for cisgender-heterosexual audiences - with some of them being notable for having creators who have been outspoken against the queer community - the most popular relationships within the stories for these franchises are queer. Much has been said about why these particular relationships are so popular, but in my opinion, why they have come about is less important than the effect that they have had: fanfiction has taken stories catering to the hegemonic groups in society and reclaimed them for the underrepresented.
Why does this matter? It matters because stories matter. Because community matters. Representation for the queer community in media has undoubtedly improved - while still leaving a lot to be desired - but younger teenagers might be surprised at what a recent shift that was. Growing up in the 2000s and 2010s, I didn’t see people like myself on the TV, at the movies, or in my books. When queer people were featured, they were the easy joke, or the token side character, or the tragic sob story. I wasn’t exposed to the idea of the possibility of gay romantic love as a genuine possibility until I discovered fanfiction. I had never heard of trans people at all until I discovered fanfiction. In the world of transformative fiction, however, queerness was normalised; even celebrated. Beyond seeing myself as a one dimensional character, I got nuanced depictions, issues handled with sensitivity, and a freedom within queer storytelling that didn’t exist in mainstream media.
This is not to say that fanfiction is an unparalleled artform. It is infamous for being poorly written. Some of it is, like every other genre. However, the subjective quality of a written work does not necessarily underscore its value when its content carries meaning and solidarity, particularly for the young people who are consuming and creating it - and, indeed, a large proportion of fanfiction writers and readers are young. What does it say about our cultural landscape that young people feel such a strong need to create any story, no matter how poorly formed, in order to feel a stronger connection to modern art? And indeed, what does it say about our society that we are so quick and eager to discredit the stories of young, predominantly queer and female writers whose work we don’t consider up to scratch, without sharing nearly the same amount of energy for the professional writers who create similarly mediocre work every day?
After all, what are transformative works at the end of the day? Works that take core elements from an existing story and shape it into something new. By this definition, a good portion of the content that crosses our television screens can be considered fanfiction, even franchises as well known and lauded as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (‘MCU’) which adapted their central characters and plots from the original comic books. Now compare the celebration of the MCU to the way other mainstream transformative works were received - such as the all-female remakes of Oceans 8 and Ghostbusters.
What’s the key difference here? Take your time, it’ll come to you.
Those who have dominated the field of storytelling will despise any transformative works that don’t cater to them, even when they are ‘professional’ works made for the big screen. But this is exactly why transformative works - why fanfiction - is so powerful. It makes the social majority mad, because it isn’t for them. It’s for us, and that sense of community in storytelling is as valuable now as it has ever been.
So the next time you’re opening your laptop to surf Archive Of Our Own or Fanfiction.net, remember that you’re taking part in a time honoured tradition of sticking it to the man, and enjoy.
Written by Adam Hughes and edited by Estell Mathew