Beatles RPF
| RPF Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name(s): | The Beatles |
| Scope/Focus: | The Beatles real-person fiction |
| Date(s): | 1960s - present |
| See also: | John Lennon |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Beatles were an incredibly popular English band from the 1960s. The fandom, one that was started in Liverpool, while they were still the Quarrymen, is a long-enduring one, riddled with folklore, legend and other stories. It is often considered a sub-category of the Classic Rock fandom, but also a standalone fandom as well. Related fandoms are the Who, the Rolling Stones, the Classic Rock fandom, and the Monkees fandom. While it has a massive prevalence all across the globe, one of its strongest concentrations among young people is on the micro-blogging platform Tumblr. It has organized itself much like popular media fandoms, with overarching big-name fans and several fandom-specific memes.
Fan Fiction
RPF Fanfiction
There was a Beatles RPF fandom as far back as the late '60s, but that community didn't overlap or connect very much with science fiction or media fandom, and not much is known about the players, fanworks or fan activities of the community. However, in her widely reprinted article, "Beatlemania: A Sexually Defiant Consumer Subculture",[1] Barbara Ehrenreich describes and analyzes aspects of 1960s Beatles fandom that make it seem interestingly analogous to certain aspects of fannish practices today.
There are several small archives and communities recording Beatles Slash (their preferred term over Beatles RPF) as a branch of media fandom in the internet era.
Beatles RPF was also present on FanFiction.Net but was removed in September 2001 after FanFiction.net banned Music Fan Fiction.
Opinions differ as to whether fiction based on the fictionalized versions of the Beatles seen in Help! and Yellow Submarine, or on the Beatles' appearances in Doctor Who canon[2], count as RPF.
Beatles Slash
- Beatles Slash YahooGroup Mailing List, founded 19 Jan 2001
- Beatles Slash Livejournal Community, earliest post, 2 Jan 2001, continuous posting from April 2003. Over a thousand members as of access date 12 July 2009. (profile contains links to several other livejournal communities devoted to specific pairings of Beatles Slash)
- Two of Us, a small archive site.
- Abbey Way on archive.org, a fic archive which ran from 2002 to 2006 and contained 72 stories at last record of Internet Archive.
- The Vampire John Lennon, a slash novel fanzine by Chanson de la Lune
- Savoy Truffle, a small archive, last updated 2002.
- Oh, Darling!, a fic archive containing 772 stories, last updated 2005.
- JohnheartPaul founded in 2005 on LiveJournal and dedicated only to the Lennon/McCartney pairing, including fanfic and nonfiction analysis (tinhatting). Moved to Dreamwidth in 2017.
Beatles RPF is a former Yuletide fandom with two stories available in the Yuletide archive, written for Yuletides 2007 and 2008.
Het/Gen Only
- Rooftop Sessions, a fanfiction e-zine that will only accept het or gen material. Last updated 2006, seven e-zines published. epub versions were made available here: Rooftop Sessions
- The Beatles: Live at 12 Cold Creek Street a self-published novel by Tina Kulka. Originally posted online.
- With Strings Attached a self-published sci-fi adventure AU novel by D. Aviva Rothschild, published in 2000.
- our beatles fanfiction! a tumblr blog
Mixed
Professional Beatles RPF
- 1978 film I Wanna Hold Your Hand, essentially a Mary Sue story in which several American teenagers attempt to sneak into the Beatles' hotel room in 1964.
- 1991 film The Hours and Times, a fictionalized account of John Lennon and Brian Epstein[3] in Spain together in 1963.
- 2000 novella Plastic Jesus by Poppy Z. Brite, which postulates a love affair between a thinly disguised Lennon and McCartney.
- 2000 film Two of Us, a fictional rendering of the meeting between Paul McCartney and John Lennon at John's New York City apartment in 1976.
- 2009 film Nowhere Boy is a retelling of John Lennon's youth and first encounters with Paul McCartney and George Harrison, with many fictionalised elements added.
Characters
Brian Epstein, Cynthia Lennon, Derek Taylor, Dhani Harrison, George Harrison, John Lennon, Julian Lennon, Linda Eastman, Mal Evans, Neil Aspinall, Paul McCartney, Peter Brown, Ringo Starr, Sean Lennon, Stella McCartney, Yoko Ono
Archives
Lennon/McCartney Tinhatting
A significant subset of Beatles slashers participate in nonfiction analysis, or tinhatting, activities in regards to the John/Paul pairing. Some very firmly believe that Lennon and McCartney were romantically involved with one another in some fashion, while others are interested in the idea, but remain sceptical. Evidence in the form of songs, interviews, photographs and video, and third-party accounts are collected and shared amongst "McLennon shippers", as many refer to themselves. Fanworks, including written analysis and fan videos, have been created to help share collected evidence and convince readers/viewers.
McLennon Shippers and Communities
- JohnheartPaul, founded on LiveJournal in 2005, is a slash and tinhatting community for the John/Paul pairing. Moved to Dreamwidth in 2017.
- McLennon Confessions is a Tumblr account that posts fannish thoughts submitted by McLennon shippers.
- mclennonproof is a tumblr user who collects evidence posts for the pairing.
- mclennonbook is a Tumblr user who writes about the pairing.
- mclennonwasreal is a Tumblr user who writes about the pairing.
- classicmclennon is a Tumblr fan of the pairing.
- mclennunf is a Tumblr fan of the pairing.
- mclennonaf is a Tumblr fan of the pairing.
- bead-mclennon is a Tumblr fan of the pairing.
Significant Fanworks
- MacLen Musings, Ltd. is an archive of quotations from The Beatles, people who knew them directly, and third parties who have written about The Beatles, documenting Paul McCartney and John Lennon's relationship. Run by hb_princess
- Just Like Starting Over by YouTube user MCLENNON is a documentary of John and Paul's relationship, which aims to demonstrate that they were romantically involved.
- Young John and Paul and Liverpool Gay Culture is an essay written by ljlorettamartin analysing the biographies of John and Paul though the lens of 1950s gay culture in Britain.
Communities, Mailing Lists, & Forums
- The Beatles Fan Fiction Directory, an LJ community with an archive by the same name. As of 2011, 261 stories archive, both slash and het
Meta/Further Reading
- The Beatles and "Slash" - BeatleLinks Fab Forum, Archived version posted November 28, 2001, shortly after FanFiction.net's removal of Beatles fan fiction
References
- ↑ Gelder, Ken; Thornton, Sarah (1997). The Subcultures Reader. Psychology Press. p. 523. ISBN 978-0-415-12728-8.
- ↑ The Beatles in the Tardis Wiki (accessed 21st September 2015)
- ↑ Wikipedia Brian Epstein
