Political RPF
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| RPF Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name(s): | Political RPF |
| Scope/Focus: | politicians |
| Date(s): | |
| See also: | Pundit RPF, Historical RPF |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Political RPF is a real-person fiction fandom that uses real-world politicians as the primary characters. The term most commonly refers to contemporary politicians, but some political RPF may also be Historical RPF.
Crossovers are common, especially with Pundit RPF and West Wing FPF.
A lot of the shipping and fanworks for this fandom fall into the category Crack.
Scope
United States Presidential Politics
United States presidential campaigns and elections are popular sources of Political RPF.
1993
Some Clinton/Gore slash thoughts:
Have you seen the picture of [Bill Clinton and Al Gore] taken on the campaign bus, the one where they're sitting at some table and Bill is reaching across to cup Al's face with one hand?!? And the way Al stares at Bill adoringly in almost every public forum? Arghhh!!! (I can't believe I'm looking at the Leader of the Free World and the Vice-Leader of the Free World through slash-colored glasses...) [1]
2004
During the 2004 campaign, the John Kerry/John Edwads slash pairing was very popular on LiveJournal, due largely to the community known as johnxjohn or John Squared. It was created on July 6, 2004,[2] and had over 450 members by July 12.[3] The community's profile describes its history and purpose:
This community started as an extended riff on the kinds of jokes that Jay Leno was making about the two candidates being very touchy-feely together. Since then, it's mostly evolved into a place for appreciating that these are two very attractive men who also look adorable when they hug. There's a fair amount of joking around and silliness too.
At its height, JohnxJohn had approximately 800 members. The fandom that began there, ostensibly as a joke, evolved into a fairly serious fandom which generated fan art and over 100 pieces of fan fiction, but most of these creative works were not published in the JohnxJohn community out of concern that neither the candidates nor the campaign be caused any embarrassment. Fan fiction was circulated privately and in at least one secret, visible-to-members-only LiveJournal community that was created as a refuge for fans who took the fandom seriously and didn't want their fan fiction or their feelings mocked. About 90 fans joined the secret community. All of the "serious" participants in the fandom (as distinct from the people who thought the fandom was just a parody or a joke and thus not a real fandom at all) were supporters of the Kerry/Edwards campaign. Many participants commented that the fandom provided significant emotional support during the stressful events of the campaign season. Additional fan fiction was written after the election, all of it fairly serious and mostly dealing with themes of grief and mourning. Thus the fandom evolved from what may have been intended merely as a joke (as indicated by one of the founders of the JohnxJohn community) into a channel for creative fannish works expressing and exploring feelings about the election.
2008
Following the 2008 election, the LiveJournal community rahmbamarama became a popular destination for both political fandom and pundit fandom, especially fans interested in Rahm Emanuel/Barack Obama. The community has a number of in-jokes, and members often post and comment using caps lock and swearing in homage to Rahm's reputation.
2012
The pairing of Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan was popular during the 2012 election.
2016
In the course of the 2016 election, some people shipped Donald Trump/Hillary Clinton.
2020
Due to the great variety of Democratic candidates to choose from, the 2020 election has so far produced as wider variety of ships than the elections before. The most common ship seems to be Pete Buttigieg/Chasten Buttigieg. During the main election, Joe Biden/Donald Trump has become fairly popular.
Fanworks
Fanfiction
- Get the News I Need on the Weather Report (Black Snake, Bleeding Heart) by TF Grognon
- as wax melts before the fire by orphan_account
- build me a pyre by orphan_account
- January 19th by Steadfxst
- Reward by Steadfxst
- repentance. by speakerryan
- Summer, 1996 by MayCSB
- Calculated Risks by fools_seldom_write
- Just some fun by Hotaruxfirefly
- Electoralism/Bimbo-Cowgirlism by lizManuscripts
Fan Vids
- OBAMA & BIDEN: THE BROMANCE by ElleOfTheMills
Links & Resources
- Political RPF at AO3, which has many subcategories. As of April 2013, the most popular are:
- Third Monday, a U.S. politics fic exchange
References
- ^ comment on Virugle-L, quoted anonymously (March 25, 1993)
- ^ johnxjohn Community Profile. (Accessed 3 June 2015.)
- ^ beeblebabe. Untitled post, published on 12 July 2004 at johnxjohn. (Accessed 3 June 2015.)