Courtney/Gwen

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Pairing
Pairing: Courtney (Total Drama)/Gwen (Total Drama)
Alternative name(s): Gwourtney, Courn, Gwentney, GxC
Gender category: Femslash
Fandom: Total Drama
Canonical?: Fanon
Prevalence: Most Popular Femslash Pairing; Popular Pairing Overall
Archives: n/a
Other:
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Courtney/Gwen, also known as Gwourtney, is a popular pairing within Total Drama fandom.

The ship is between Courtney and Gwen, both prominent characters. Although it has been shipped since 2007, it only became common to ship around 2010 after the release of Total Drama: World Tour. That season introduced a love triangle between Courtney, Duncan and Gwen. Duncan/Gwen, canonized in World Tour, was unpopular with many fans. While some shipped the formerly canon Courtney/Duncan even harder after the reveal, others wanted to pair the suitors.

Total Drama: All-Stars in 2013 only made the pairing even more prominent, as that season rekindled their friendship in-universe and had many scenes of them interacting. After All-Stars ended, Courtney/Gwen became the most prominent Femslash pairing in the fandom, (though as of 2024, Julia/MK is not too far behind.)

As of November 2023, over 305 works on Archive of Our Own are of Courtney/Gwen. On FanFiction.Net, around 80 fics are of the pairing.

Common Tropes

  • Fluff: Fanworks for them tend to be on the sweeter side.
  • Opposites Attract: Courtney is a CIT who likes being in charge while Gwen is more standoffish to others. Both are incredibly caring people.
  • Post-Total Drama: More so than other pairings, Courtney/Gwen is more likely to happen when they're older.
  • Wardrobe Upgrade: In fanart, Gwen's goth aesthetic is often heightened to include more makeup and chains. While Courtney usually stays in canonical outfits, she may be drawn with more free-flowy clothing and a wide brim hat.

Courtney/Gwen Fandom

Courtney/Gwen fans who shipped the pairing during the airing of Total Drama: All-Stars may believe that Courtney/José, which became a thing on Tumblr around the same time, was popularized in direct response to Courtney/Gwen's rise in popularity. The pairings don't have much overlap in terms of fans, and Courtney/Gwen became popular first, crediting this theory. There was also light ship war with Courtney/Scott fans around this time, though this has since died down considerably due to Courtney/Scott's waning relevance.

In early Courtney/Gwen fandom, Striddums[1][2] was a BNF for their fanart. Modern BNFs include wzardjellies[3], sundaemuddysucks[4] and courtney-deserved-better[5]. courtney-deserved-better is a BNF for Total Drama fandom overall. CITPrincess, big in the fandom overall for her love of Courtney/Duncan, also shipped it as early as 2009[6].

July 3rd is Gwentney Day on Chefhatchet's Appreciation Calendar.

"We’re not homophobes, this is cool art!"?

In 2015, the official Fresh TV Tumblr, thefreshchannel, reblogged fanart for the pairing drawn by yourstillnotmytype-58 for Courn Week 2015. At the time, there was tension between the studio and some fans on Tumblr: While Fresh didn't actively discourage Slash/Femslash interpretation of their shows, their reasoning for not putting any same-sex relationships in their shows changed every time it was asked and often relied on it being a "political issue," which was not unfounded at the time, but still rang bitterly to some fans due to how it was worded. They also blocked many queer fans who brought up the subject[7]. Their response to a question about Noah, "We don’t consider Noah to be gay," became a meme in the fandom just a month or so earlier, discussed more on his page.

When a fan joked that they must've "reblogged yuri" on accident, the official blog replied.

[totaldramautism]
fresh doesnt consider noah gay but reblogs yuri
[thefreshchannel]

We’re not homophobes, this is cool art!

[tddawn]

freshtv likes courn pass it on

[totaldramautism]

noahs still not a heterosexual btw[8]

"They’d make such a fun TV couple"?

In 2023, Terry McGurrin, an executive producer on the show, said this about the Courtney/Gwen pairing on Twitter. Although this exact phrasing is often unknown, the trivia that he likes Courtney/Gwen may be parroted in fan circles.

[lula @lulaloopsey · Apr 25]
@standupmonkey in honor of lesbian visibility month i need to know your thoughts on them next
[Terry McGurrin @standupmonkey · Apr 25]
They’d make such a fun TV couple. It would be a never ending game of high status.[9]

Example/Notable Fanac

Fan Communities/Fan Events

Fan Blogs

Fan Art

Videos

Fanmixes

References/Further Reading

  1. ^ https://striddart.tumblr.com/
  2. ^ https://gwourtney.tumblr.com/
  3. ^ https://www.tumblr.com/wzardjellies
  4. ^ https://sundaemuddysucks.tumblr.com/
  5. ^ https://www.tumblr.com/courtney-deserved-better
  6. ^ People are surprised that I crackship Gwen/Courtney, but the truth is I drew this way back in 2009 by CITPrincess, Archived version
  7. ^ I am SO curious as to why the creator of TDI blocked you, Archived version
  8. ^ fresh doesnt consider noah gay but reblogs yuri, Archived version
  9. ^ They’d make such a fun TV couple. It would be a never ending game of high status, Archived version
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