Chloe Sullivan

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Character
Name: Chloe Anne Sullivan-Queen
Occupation: Freelance journalist and Member of the Justice League; formerly Reporter
Relationships: Oliver Queen (husband)
Jonathan Sullivan-Queen (son)
Gabe Sullivan (father), Moira Sullivan (mother)
Lois Lane (cousin), Lucy Lane (cousin)
General Lane (uncle), Ella Lane (aunt)
Robert Queen (father-in-law), Laura Queen (mother-in-law)
Clark Kent (cousin-in-law)
Jimmy Olsen (ex-husband)
Fandom: Smallville
Other: played by Allison Mack
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Chloe Sullivan is a main character on the television show Smallville.

Canon

Sparky, snarky, she's the reporter for the high-school newspaper and truth is her goal... and she's got a mile-wide crush on Clark Kent.

Fandom

Chloe is a popular character in fanfiction. Many authors identified with her, and in consequence she was often written as a Chloe-Sue.

"You would think like a show about Superman, our fan letters would be about Superman. Literally nine our of ten fan letters that I get are about Chloe Sullivan." Smallville producer Kelly Souders on Chloe Sullivan fans, "the most intense fanbase" she has ever seen.[1]

Fannish engagement with the character

Chloe was a popular character, who appealed to many fans. LJC writes:

Why Chloe, you may ask? Well, she may not always be the object of Clark's fantasies, but Chloe is a pretty nifty gal! She's smart, funny, and Allison Mack brings a delightful down-to-earth and real quality to Chloe. Lana may be Clark's crush, but Chloe (and Allison) has definitely stolen fans' hearts.[2]

Chiriru writes:

Yet another is that her strengths and weaknesses are human and identifiable - if they aren't strengths we have, they are ones we wish we had or that people had more of; if they are weaknesses we have they are ones we wish we had less of. Chloe can be almost too human in a show that is about iconic American figures - and some times she gets the riot act for that from fandom (although I sometimes have to wonder if it simply hits too close to home at times). Indeed, I think Chloe is the favorite over Lana because more people can relate to Chloe over Lana. Chloe's beautiful, but she's not the town beauty queen, and few of us can ever be that, so a more proportionate amount of the population will relate to Chloe. Few people are also unconditionally loved like Lana, but we can all relate to having a boy we crush on not like us back.[3]

Some fans liked season 1 Chloe, but felt the character's later development went in the wrong direction. For example, Chiriru again:

... the character of Chloe Sullivan is not written in S2 as one would think she would be. ...

For the current season, Chloe has been more out of character than in a bad fanfic. She's snippy, spiteful, and wallowing in self-pity. ...

She isn't the character that so many people knew and loved in season one. And while we realize people grow up and change, they don't change that much in one summer. Chloe Sullivan doesn't need to be Joey Potterized. We like her just the way she was.[4]

Fanon about the character

In early seasons, some fans theorized that Chloe Sullivan of the show would grow up to become Lois Lane of the comics (the Chlois theory). LJC includes it in a list of Smallville clichés; she writes:

Yes, the letters l-o-i-s l-a-n-e can be found in Chloe's name. Yes, they are both intrepid girl reporters. But there's a little too much "Chloe grows up, dyes her hair, and changes her name" fiction out there right now. I'm as much of a Clark/Chloe shipper as the next gal, but I think that it's pure wishful thinking.[5]

Another Chloe cliché highlighted by LJC is that she is addicted to caffeine, after stories such as Would You Like Some Java With Your Snark? popularised the trope.[5]

Pairings

In the early fandom, Chloe/Lex (Chlex) and Chloe/Clark (Chlark) were the major pairings, and were both part of the main het pairings on the show. Chloe/Lana (Chlana) femslash is relatively rare as is het pairing Chloe/Pete. At the end of the show she is married to Oliver Queen and the Chlollie pairing is one of the most active in the post-series fandom and had also become popular ship prior to it becoming canon.

Chloe pairings have expanded since the beginning of the show than the above pairings and canon related pairings such as Chloe/Doomsday and Chloe/Jimmy Olsen. She's been shipped with Lionel Luthor, Whitney Fordman, Bart Allen, Arthur Curry, Brainiac, Zod, Bizarro, Kal-El, Mia Dearden, Zatanna Zatara, Jason Teague, Tess Mercer and Kara Kent.

She's often paired with other characters in other fandoms and could be considered as Little Black Dress for the fandom. Supernatural crossovers often pair her up with Dean Winchester or Sam Winchester as the main pairings, however she's also been paired up with John Winchester.

Fanworks

Fics

Arts

Vids

Recs

Meta

Archives and Fannish Links

LiveJournal Communities

DreamWidth Communities

Mailing Lists

Fansites

Ship specific:

Deviantart

Tumblr

Resources

References

  1. ^ Tumblr gif taken from TH2 Panel 2: "We're Looking for Characters"
  2. ^ Girl Friday: Index (accessed 3 September 2012)
  3. ^ Idol Reflection: Chloe Sullivan: The Queen of Obscure and Irrelevant References (accessed 3 September 2012)
  4. ^ The Old School Chloe Campaign: Charter (accessed 3 September 2012)
  5. ^ a b Smallville Fan Fiction Resources: The Big List of Smallville Fan Fiction Clichés (accessed 3 September 2012)
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