Episode 13: Fan Fiction, To Pair or Not to Pair

Welcome to Episode 13 of Fandom Cracked!  In today’s episode, your hosts discuss the complicated world of fan fiction pairings.  Specifically, we discuss the ethics of romantically pairing characters in fan fiction who, in canon, occupied the roles of abuser and survivor/victim.  Specific pairings we discuss are Sam Winchester and Lucifer (Supernatural), and Jessica Jones and Kilgrave (Jessica Jones).

Podcast Notes:

• Canon – a plot point or fact that is sanctioned by the author or creator of an original work. For example, the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended it’s television production after season 7; however, Joss Whedon, the original creator, continued to work on “season 8” in the form of comics. These comics would be considered “canon” despite the 8th season of the show never making it to television.
• Fan Fiction – a form of creative writing in which fans will sometimes engage. Works can range from complex, lengthy, or serious works to the fantastical, strange, and poorly written.
• Pairing(s) – when two characters of a work are shipped (put into a relationship) together. Note: pairings and ships do not have to be canon. Ex. pairing Trish and Jessica from Jessica Jones in a relationship.
• Reader Insert – Also known as “x reader,” where the author writes a story in which the reader can insert themselves into the text. Typically this is achieved by including “Y/N” or “Your Name” in the text so that readers can supplement their own name while reading.
• Slash – a category of fan fiction that includes a homosexual pairing between two characters.

Episode 12: Fan Fiction, Legit or Illegal?

Welcome back to Fandom Cracked with Episode 12 and our look into the world of fan fiction. Is it fun? Yes. Is it legal? No one seems to know. Should it be legal? And are there ethical implications for fanfiction?  Find out on this episode where Pebble and Blü discuss the interesting world of fan fiction, what makes it fun, and why some creators of original works might not like it.

Podcast Notes:

• Canon – a plot point or fact that is sanctioned by the author or creator of an original work. For example, the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended it’s television production after season 7; however, Joss Whedon, the original creator, continued to work on “season 8” in the form of comics. These comics would be considered “canon” despite the 8th season of the show never making it to television.
• Fan Fiction – a form of creative writing in which fans will sometimes engage. Works can range from complex, lengthy, or serious works to the fantastical, strange, and poorly written.
• Fluff – a category of fan fiction that includes romance and may be considered sweet.
• Pairing(s) – when two characters of a work are shipped (put into a relationship) together. Note: pairings and ships do not have to be canon. Ex. pairing Trish and Jessica from Jessica Jones in a relationship.
• Reader Insert – Also known as “x reader,” where the author writes a story in which the reader can insert themselves into the text. Typically this is achieved by including “Y/N” or “Your Name” in the text so that readers can supplement their own name while reading.
• Slash – a category of fan fiction that includes a homosexual pairing between two characters.
• Squee Factor – a situation or item that produces a feeling that induces the viewer/participant to make a high pitched noise of happiness or excitement.

 

Episode 11: From Buffy to Jessica Jones – Portrayals of DV in Media

Welcome to Episode 11 of Fandom Cracked!  In today’s episode, your hosts discuss how portrayals of domestic violence have evolved in pop culture, looking specifically at Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Jessica Jones, two shows that aired in two different decades, but are considered groundbreaking in how they portrayed women.

Podcast Notes:

• Gaslighting – a form of mental abuse in which the abuser attempts to make the victim question their own sanity regarding the abuse.
• Reproductive Coercion – a form of domestic violence in which the perpetrator of the abuse coerces, pressures, or threatens their partner’s reproductive health or reproductive decision making (e.g., whether or not to get pregnant) in order to maintain power and control in the relationship.

Episode 10: On the appeal of Star Wars…

Welcome to Episode 10 of Fandom Cracked!  In this episode, your hosts discuss the appeal of Star Wars.  Blü has been a life long fan and has her own theories on why Star Wars has such broad appeal!  Pebble, on the other hand, has always considered the enormous appeal of Star Wars to be a huge mystery as she never really got “into” the fandom.

Podcast Notes:

• Reluctant Hero – An archetype of a hero.  The hero who doesn’t set out initially to be  hero, but, rather, reluctantly gets pulled into being the hero or into performing heroic acts.

Episode 9: Small(er) Press Comics

It’s Episode 9 and in honor of the Longest Night of the year and all adjoining holidays, you get two episodes this month! Lucky you! Blü and Pebble talk about their favorite comics outside of the heavy hitters like Marvel and DC. You can find a list of the comics we talk about in this episode bellow, as well as our usual list of quick definitions.

Edit: Apologies to Stiffler and Copeland, it’s “Find Chaos” not “Finding Chaos” -Blü

 

Podcast Notes:

• Destiel – a pairing of two popular characters from the show Supernatural, Dean Winchester and Castiel. Put ’em together and you get “Destiel”!
• Instagram – a social media platform that uses mostly pictures to create profiles and webpages
• Ship/Shipping – the act of pairing two or more characters/people together in a relationship

Princeless by Jeremy Whitley

Courtney Crumrin by Ted Naifeh

Death the High Cost of Living by Neil Gaiman

Lumberjanes by Grace Ellis and Noelle Stevenson

Toil and Trouble by Mairghread Scott

Find Chaos by A. Stiffler and K. Copeland

Questionable Content by Jeph Jacques

Legend of Mantamaji by Eric Dean Seaton

Episode 8: Teen Wolf Binge Watch and Rehash

Welcome to Episode 9 of Fandom Cracked!  In today’s episode, your hosts talk about one of Blü’s favorite television shows, Teen Wolf, focusing mostly on the character development of Kira Yukimura, Scott McCall, and also parenting in the show.

Podcast Notes:

None.  BUT if there’s a term you aren’t familiar with, please contact us and we will update this section accordingly.

Episode 7: Harry Potter and Questions of Racism and Slavery

Welcome to Episode 7! We are talking about one of our favorite series, Harry Potter. This iconic series has made reading young adult literature a legitimate pastime for adults and brought the adventure of fantasy to children everywhere. It’s also brought us the ability to examine our values and understand our biases under the guise of fantasy. Today we explore ideas of racism in Harry Potter through the character Ron Weasley and the position of house elves, like Dobby.

Podcast Notes:

• Explicit and Implicit Racism – overt displays of racism versus unconscious biases.
• White Savior – a story line that involves a main character of Caucasian ethnicity that “rescues” a group of racial or ethnic minorities.
• Gaslighting – a form of mental abuse in which the abuser attempts to make the victim question their own sanity regarding the abuse.

Episode 6: Anime and the New Orientialism?

Welcome to Fandom Cracked: Episode 6!  In this episode, your hosts discuss what makes a cartoon an “anime,” and whether or not making “made in Japan” a requirement for being an “anime” is a new form of orientalism.  We also discuss if some aspects of American Otaku culture might reflect more complex racial/ethnic dynamics than a simple “love for all things Japanese.”

Episode 5: Avatar the Last Airbender – What’s up with Azula?

Antagonists are the most interesting people to talk about; especially when the antagonist is as complex a character as Azula from Avatar the Last Airbender. What’s up with her, anyway? Your hosts often get asked “Is she ‘crazy’ or is she a ‘bad seed’?” Find out in this episode why things aren’t so black and white, or easily defined, for Azula.

Podcast Notes:

• Psychosis – Diagnostic terminology referring to psychotic features such as hallucinations or other thought disturbances.
• Resiliency – The ability to continue developing and thriving despite negative experiences such as trauma.
• Paranoia – A sense of imminent threat from those around you, as if others are “out to get you.”
• Psychotic Break – An instance where a person loses touch with reality, including paranoia, hallucinations, or delusions.

Episode 4: Diversity – Sexism and Gender

Welcome to Episode 4 of Fandom Cracked!  In this episode, your hosts discuss how various fandoms fare with regards to sexism and representation of women.  Your hosts will use the Sexy Lamp Test, the Bechdel Test, and the Mako Mori Test to examine various female characters, and will explore the usefulness of these tests.  The concept of intersectionality will also be introduced; Future episodes will go deeper in exploring this theory and its significance in fandom.

Here’s the link to the wonderful Trekkie Feminist, who we mentioned in this episode for her amazing work on using the Bechdel Test for every single episode in Star Trek!

Podcast Notes:

• Bechdel Test – A test used to gauge the level of active participation of the female presence in a work of fiction, primarily used in movies and television but can also be used for female characters in a wider range of media such as books and comics. To pass the Bechdel Test, the work must 1) have two (named) female characters that 2) have a conversation together, and 3) the conversation must be about something other than men.
• Canon – Official. Happening within the official storyline given by the author, producers, or other official persons that produce material of a fandom. Often used in fanfiction to differentiate between actual storyline versus created by fans. “It was never stated in canon that they love each other, but did you see the way the looked at each other in episode 5 of season 6? They’re totally in love!”
• Cis/Cisgender – A person that identifies with the gender that they were assigned at birth.
• Dash (Tumblr) – The home page of the social media website Tumblr where blog posts that a user has followed appear and can be scrolled through.
• Fangasm – An overwhelming feeling(s) of joy and happiness in relation to a work within a particular fandom. “I saw the back of Jennifer Lawerence’s head at the convention and I could hardly contain my fangasms.”
• Fangirling – The act of becoming extremely excited in regards to an object or product related to a particular fandom. Often involves shaking, making high pitched noises, or hyperventilating. “She got so excited at seeing Benedict Cumberbatch on TV that she started fangirling.”
• Intersectionality – The exploration of how different systems of oppression or discrimination are connected.  According to this theory, one cannot faithfully examine oppression by separating one form of oppression from another (e.g., talking only about gender discrimination without taking into context how racial discrimination and discrimination against sexual orientation can impact it).
• Mako Mori Test – A test used to gauge the level of active participation of a female character in a work of fiction, primarily used in movies and television but can also be used for female characters in a wider range of media such as books and comics. To pass the Mako Mori, there must be 1) at least one female character that 2) has their own storyline, and 3) that story line does not revolve around the main male character.
• Sexism – A prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women.
• Sexy Lamp Test – A test used to gauge the level of active participation of the female character in a work of fiction, primarily in movies and television but can also be used for a female character in books or comics. The test states that if the female character can be replaced with a sexy lamp and the plot remain virtually unchanged, the story does not pass the test.
• Ship/Shipping – From the term “relationship,” it consists of putting two or more characters in a relationship. The “ship” does not have to be canon, occur within the show, or even within the same fan universe (ex. Shipping a character from Supernatural with a character from Doctor Who). “I know that Toph and Sokka aren’t canon, but I totally ship it!”