Modern Mythology, Period 7
Nicole Cavalieri
9/21/21
Archive of Our Own, Fandom Culture, and Modern Folklore
Intro:
In today’s lesson, we discussed what folklore is as a broad category that encompasses
most of what we will cover in this class. Folklore is, essentially, the works of everyday people
that are shared through word of mouth and spread throughout a culture. It is made by and for
those everyday people and creates a collective knowledge that the collective partakes in and
adds to, passing it on to future generations as it evolves. In the second part of the lesson we
discussed how folklore persists in the modern day. In her Ted Talk, “Folklore Doesn’t Meme
What You Think It Memes” folklorist Lynne McNeill posits that internet culture and memes are
modern folklore. Through the internet, we have for the first time in history, a complete
documentation of what regular people think, feel, and create. There is a whole wealth of
terminology, humor, and information that only makes sense within the context of the internet.
I found this Ted Talk extremely thought provoking; however, it does not go into extreme
detail about what it is actually like to exist on the internet. Internet culture, while widespread,
also has many niches that exist with their own jargon, meme formats, and context needed to
understand. This is similar to the way different regions of the world had folklore specific to their
area that would not make much sense to an outsider. However, the internet, being worldwide,
removes the barrier of physical proximity. Instead, the “regions” of internet culture form around
common interest and creative works. One of the easiest ways these regions form is through
fandom, in which people are united through their love of a certain piece of media. Fandom, and
fan fiction in particular, is a great illustration of the way folklore develops and is viewed by the
modern world.
Fanfiction as Folklore:
Fanfiction is any work of writing that is derivative of an existing work of media. It can be
written within the world and conventions of the media it is derived from, or it can take familiar
characters and elements from the original work and put it in a new setting. It ranges from
heartfelt love stories, to detailed character studies, to unexpected comedy and absurdity. Like
other forms of folklore, it has terminology understood by those involved in the community
understood by all. For example, fanfiction that puts familiar works in a new setting are known as
“AUs” (Alternate Universe). Fanfiction has specific genres, story structures, and tropes, both
across fanfiction as a whole and within specific fandoms. It has been passed down through chat
forums, tumblr blogs, and subreddits in the same way fairytales were passed down in oral
history. The only difference is the amount of documentation afforded to us by the modern age.
Folklore vs. Academia and Archive of Our Own:
However, as with traditional folklore, fanfiction has often been looked down upon as
frivolous and unworthy of recognition. McNeill makes this point connecting folklore to internet
culture in her TedTalk, discussing what institutions value as worthy of study. Fanfiction is maybe
the most poignant example of the way internet culture is looked down upon in academic spaces
because of the history of hostility between authors and the fans who produce writings based on
their work. Many published creatives decry fanfiction as a perversion and tarnishment of their
original work. The idea of what makes something art is rooted in elitism and the perspectives of
those who had the privilege to build institutions of higher learning. Fanfiction is made for free
and consumed for free, which means writers are not profiting off of the work of others. The only
harm done to the original work is an arbitrary blemish on the “sanctity” of published works.
Hostility towards fanfiction is most clear in the instances in which authors have brought
fanfic writers to court for violations of their intellectual property. For many years it was
commonplace for whole forums of fan works to be taken down and erased forever. After many
years of dealing with the loss of hardwork and cultivated community, a group of fans founded a
nonprofit Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) that defends the legality of fanfiction
under fair use laws. Besides the legal work, OTW also created Archive of Our Own (AO3), a
web archive of fanfiction that stores them on secure servers run by volunteers.
AO3 is truly unique in the way it functions as a highly effective archive. It uses a system
of “tagging” in which works are placed in categories that let you know what a work is about. The
tags are in the language of fandom, using the fandom jargon I touched on earlier. Through the
use of these tags you can find essentially any story you want by using their advanced search
feature which allows you to search for the tags you want and block out tags for things you don’t
want to see. This folklore is thus documented in a more thorough way than was ever possible
before the internet age. The way people engage with the things they are passionate about is
preserved which gives a huge insight into the culture of a people. The trends in what is viewed
as romantic, or tragic, or funny are all stored in this archive. And all of this work is done for free
by those dedicated to making art made by the people accessible.
Queer Representation and Fanfiction
Fanfiction, like folklore, is shaped by the experiences of those who write it. In folklore, we
are able to see a diverse array of experiences from people of all races, genders, and social
standing. Fanfiction in particular sheds light on the queer experience. The majority of fanfictions
that feature romance focus on same gender romance. And many of the relationships with the
most fanfictions are between same gender couples whose canon counterparts are only shown
to be heterosexual and/or cisgender. Fanfiction allows queer people to write representation for
themselves that is honest and meaningful, which mainstream media often lacks. Some of the
earliest instances of fanfiction were written in the 60s and 70s depicting queer relationships in
Star Trek.
This fact makes the stigma against fanfiction more sinister. Much of the outcry that
traditional media had against fanfiction, especially in its earlier days, was rooted in queerphobia.
Much queer fanfiction is also written in response to queer-baiting, a phenomena in which a
piece of media implies that a character is queer without actually depicting the character as
queer. This is harmful because it allows creators to profit off of queer audiences hoping to find
representation without alienating homophobic viewers. Queer-baiting is also linked to queer
coding, in which a character is displayed with stereotypically queer traits without actually being
queer. Queer coding is mainly the result of the Hayes Code, a law that restricted what could be
depicted in TV and film. One part of the code banned “sexual deviancy”. This meant that queer
characters couldn’t be depicted on screen, or if they were they had to be shown to be explicitly
evil or else punished for their queerness. This created a trend that has persisted into the
modern day in which many classic villains are associated with stereotypically queer traits.
Because of all of this, the preservation of fanfiction is all the more important. The internet and
fandom is often one of the first places queer youth find community and explore their identity; it is
not uncommon for people to explore their gender or sexuality through fanfiction and the
characters they love.
Final Thoughts:
Fan culture and fanfiction is an essential part of modern folklore and the culture of those
who have grown up in the internet age. There are many parallels to more traditional folklore
which makes fandom a great case study of how folklore evolves and functions. It is also more
well preserved than its folkloric predecessors and gives a voice for marginalized communities to
share their own stories.
