Real World Events in Fanworks

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Related terms: Historical AU
See also: Judaism and Fandom, Race and Fandom, Social Justice, Suez Canal Obstruction, OceanGate Titanic Incident
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Some fanworks focus on a contemporary or historical real world event, such as natural disasters, disease outbreaks, terrorist attacks or other tragedies. These are typically viewed with near-universal negativity or at least a great deal of controversy.

If the canon time period of a piece of media is set during or very close to a real world event, or the entire show's premise lends itself to a greater likelihood of real world events being involved in story-lines, there can be less of a universal negative reaction to fanworks that include these events. For these types of media, the reaction is more likely to depend on the specifics of how fanworks build on or deviate from what was shown in canon, as well as opinions on how well done the canonical portrayal was.

Additionally, certain types of notable real life events such as significant changes to laws do not necessarily get the same negative response or controversy, though there can be considerable variability depending on the specific event. Fanworks based around marriage equality or the overturning of discriminatory laws, for example, are arguably less likely to court controversy outright.

Can Fics About Real World Events Be Done Respectfully?

Tevere's Generation Kill story set in East Timor, Sixteen Days in September[1]. This story was used as an example of how fanfic, even slash fanfic, can be set in these kinds of times and places without the problematic results of the Haiti fic. Tevere posted the meta essay Fanfic as a Vehicle to discuss her story, the Haiti story and the "interesting part of the discussion around this story is the ongoing conversation on whether or not fanfiction -- as opposed to original fiction -- is ever an appropriate vehicle for the exploration of real-life natural or man-made tragedies, particularly in non-white and post-colonial settings."

Specific Topics

American Slavery in Fanworks

Hamilton (musical) fandom generated much controversy due to its rewriting of real-world historical figures, which involved changes to represent "American Now." The musical cast people of color to play historical figures who were white, and it was common practice within Hamilton fandom, like any fandom, to have different headcanons about characters' identities, and to diverge further in AUs. Controversy grew over the distinction, and lack thereof, between the canon of the musical and real world history. Specific issues are whether or not fans were properly separating the musical characters from their historical bases, whether or not separating them is truly possible, and if the fandom or the musical romanticized or minimized historical atrocities. See Hamilton Controversy.

the infamous "weeaboo drug dealer Thomas Jefferson" character sheet by ask-crammaster-ham, 2017

This controversy is exemplified by ask-crammaster-ham, a Modern AU ask blog which created character sheets for its reimaginings of the Hamilton characters. The Thomas Jefferson character sheet was spread, mocked, and criticized, becoming known as "weeaboo drug dealer Thomas Jefferson."

American Slavery: Sample Fanworks

Nazi Germany, the Holocaust and WWII in Fanworks

Main articles: World War II and Nazi

Many pieces of media are canonically set during this period, while others are not but people make Historical AUs about them. The Hetalia fandom is notorious for its Nazi imagery, as one of the main characters is a gijinka of Nazi Germany. Cosplayers have been known to do Nazi salutes for photographs.

One edited photo posted on DeviantArt showing Rainbow Dash, a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic character, during the Holocaust was shown in many cringe compilations and also mocked widely on reddit.[2] The My Little Pony fandom also has a fancharacter called Aryanne with a swastika cutie mark.[3]

"Nazifurs" such as Foxler are furry fans who promote white supremacy, fascism or related agendas. They are generally hated by the rest of the fandom.

There was also a meme Hail Hydra in the Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom, which was criticized for resembling the phrase, "Heil Hitler."

A 2008 Harry Potter RPG, called Hexennacht RPG was the subject of much derision and anger.

An animash screencap posted on Outofcontextanimash depicting edited versions of Kiara from The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride and Bambi from the Disney film in a Holocaust setting caused some outrage and confusion on tumblr.[4]

screencap from Outofcontextanimash

Fanworks related to Taika Waititi's 2019 film Jojo Rabbit are also a minor point of fan contention. Some artists wonder how to present fanart of characters, considering even child characters are wearing Nazi uniforms. The major debate is whether it is appropriate to ship the most popular pairing, Freddy Finkel/Captain Klenzendorf. Both characters are Nazis, although many fans argue the subtext is that both men are gay and secretly working with anti-Nazi resistance.[5][6] Some posit that no one should be shipping Finkel/Klenzendorf, or at least that the overwhelming amount of content focused on shipping Nazis compared to other parts of the film is inappropriate.[7]

The Holocaust and WWII: Sample Fanworks

  • Oswiecim is a work by Gabrielle Lawson in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fandom. The work uses the common Trek trope of time travel to send one of its characters, Julian Bashir, back in time to 1943. The story appears to have an overwhelmingly positive response, perhaps due to the extensive research (it comes with a page of references), and the lack of romanticism or apologia.

The AIDS Crisis in Fanworks

The subject of AIDS in fanworks has followed, to some degree, the same trajectory of opinion on the subject as in mainstream culture. Ignored, feared, misunderstood, as the subject of realistic discussion, optimism, it's all mirrored in the fiction.

See Aids.

AIDS Crisis: Sample Fanworks

Terrorism in Fanworks

  • Anarfea's work By His Dirty Hands We Know Him is extensively tied into the real-life Shankill Road Bombing by the IRA. The story is part of the BBC Sherlock fandom and has one of the characters (Mycroft Holmes) deliberately fail to prevent the bombing in order to damage public sentiment towards the IRA. (Anarfea's author's notes address the issue of using real-world events: "I understand that the Shankill Road Bombing was a real tragedy with real victims, and hope that no one will find my writing about this real historical event offensive. My intent is to explore the thought process which may go on inside the heads of those who make terrible, politically motivated decisions, and the resulting psychological aftermath.")
  • College Boys and High School Girls incorporates the Boston Bombings.

Terrorism: Sample Fanworks

911 in Fanworks

After 9/11, many young people made "9/11 tributes" with their favorite characters. These were also widely mocked for being insensitive. They were common in the Sonic the Hedgehog fandom and were often parodied. There are also a number of animash videos with 9/11 as a theme.[9]

From a fan in 2023:

I’ve... unearthed a fair amount of… idk, tasteless? Questionable? 9/11-adjacent Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings fan content from that time period while sifting through old Dumbledore’s Army stuff. I feel kind of bad calling all of it tasteless, because some of it was obviously just teenagers and children trying to process a really scary event by comparing it to fictional tragedies they were already familiar with (think things along the lines of “I just watched the towers fall from my school and I don’t know what’s going on and we might go to war and now I understand how [fictional character] felt when [fictional bad thing] happened!”) But it reminded me a lot of that one Star Wars fanzine (You Could Use a Good Kiss, the Han/Leia romance zine) that was shut down by the creator in the early 2000s because people were being really inappropriate about 9/11 in their submissions, using the attacks as fuel for angsty fanfiction about the destruction of Alderaan and making tasteless comments about how the real-life deaths of three thousand civilians were great fanfic inspo or whatever. It’s just really fascinating from an anthropological standpoint watching this exact thing happen in three different fandoms. And then I was thinking about how one of the several Justinian/Theodora Byzantine romance musicals I mentioned in my last post got negative reviews (partly) because they kept alluding to 9/11—like, they wrote a bunch of the dialogue about Justinian’s wars in Italy to sound vaguely anti-terrorism-ish, because I guess they thought that was a surefire way to make him a sympathetic protagonist in New York in the early 2000s, even though it made no sense.

Idk. It’s just really interesting to me to look back and see the ripple effects that major global events like this had on pop culture, even tiny, niche conclaves of Internet fandom culture. You can almost watch real-life history unfold from the perspective of a bunch of young teenage girls just by sifting through old fanfiction. It kind of makes me wonder why fandom history isn’t studied more—like, academically, not by bored weirdos like me on Reddit. [10]

911: Sample Fanworks

  • "Of More Value Than Many Sparrows" [3]by icebluenothing (episode tag for the Doctor Who Series one episode Father's Day that has Nine take Rose to New York City on 9/11)
  • the zine Mourning (2002)

Challenger and Other NASA Disasters in Fanworks

Circle of Light #3 (a 1986 Star Wars zine) has two comments by the editors (as well as several last minute additions of fanworks) regarding the then-recent Challenger Space Shuttle disaster:

As you can see [from the inclusion of several last minute items], we were both hit very hard with the loss of the Challenger Seven -- and know that upward and onward is the future of mankind. Fandom has been a strong skeleton for support of the Space Programs of this nation, and I hope that this will not deter us from out final destiny." And "We simply could not do this issue without a tribute to the seven pioneers of space travel who lost their lives living our dream — is there any STAR WARS fan who hasn't paused on their way back in the house from running an errand, taking out the garbage or visiting a friend, and looked longingly up at the night sky — wanting desperately to move freely among the stars, as do Luke and Han? We mourn their sacrifice, but their deaths will not be in vain if we travel with the greatest safety possible in space because of it.

A fan wrote that she had her fill of Challenger fannish tributes:

I would like to protest, in advance, the upcoming issue of INTERSTAT. I have no doubt, given the editor's past obvious fondness for sloppy sentimentality, that it will be filled with touching tributes to the Challenger. I expect my copy will find its way into the trash can, unread. Now, the space program means a lot to me. I probably follow it more closely than most of you and I used to work for NASA. I was in shock when I heard the news, and when I got out of shock, I cried real tears. And I even allowed myself a moment of sickly sweetness in one of my own newsletters. But if I read one more fannish eulogy to the Challenger, I'm going to toss my cookies. Please, fannish writers, try to contain yourselves. I know the temptation is great to try your hand at a real tear-jerker, but, I beg you, allow the Challenger a death with some dignity. [11]

Challenger and Other NASA Disasters: Sample Fanworks

Other Events in Fanworks

Examples of Controversial Fics

  • The J2 Haiti Fic (2010)
  • Nisay, a 2007 J2 story set in Cambodia, albeit well after the genocide of the Khmer Rouge. ("The Killing Fields story")[12][13], which was modified after criticism of the story.[14]
  • College Boys and High School Girls (Gay marriage rally, Boston Bombings, Bangladesh factory fires) (Les Misérables) (2013-14)
  • Hivliving was a tumblr user who wrote a Hamilton fanfiction where the characters had HIV. She falsely claimed to have HIV herself and also scammed people out of money.

Charity Zines and Other Fannish Fundraising

A mulitfandom zine titled Mourning was published following the events of September 11, 2001, with the stated intent being that "a minimum of $5 from the purchase of each zine would given to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund" for the aftermath of those losses.

References

  1. ^ Sixteen Days in September, accessed August 9, 2011
  2. ^ History student is amazed by a holocaust photo with rainbow dash photoshopped into it Discussion on Reddit
  3. ^ Aryanne on Know Your Meme
  4. ^ [1]
  5. ^ Untitled Tumblr Post, Archived version A short post demonstrating difference of fan opinions.
  6. ^ Untitled Post on how fans approach terms of endearment for the ship, Archived version
  7. ^ I am a Jewish Jojo Rabbit fan, Archived version
  8. ^ originally posted to livejournal
  9. ^ [2]
  10. ^ from iwasonceafangirl at r/Hobby Drama; archive link (April 2023)
  11. ^ from Interstat #100 (February 1986)
  12. ^ here we go again post by Cambodian fan hesychasm reacting to "Nisay," 21 Oct 2007. (Accessed 4 Jan 2012)
  13. ^ Comments about Nisay in bossymarmalade's journal, comparing it with the The J2 Haiti Fic: la_vie_noire's comment, June 14, 2010, and skywardprodigal's comment, June 14, 2010, accessed August 9, 2011
  14. ^ "I tried dealing with the experience of visiting the Killing Fields with respect, I realize now that that wasn't enough, and has totally failed to work for some, especially those with personal connections to it. I'm sorry for that. I took the whole two paragraphs out now. As far as I'm concerned, that's the end of the story for me." From follow-up post by the author of "Nisay," 23 Oct 2007. (Accessed 4 Jan 2012)
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