Selfie
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Selfie |
| Abbreviation(s): | |
| Creator: | Emily Kapnek |
| Date(s): | September 30, 2014 – December 30, 2014 |
| Medium: | Live-action TV series |
| Country of Origin: | USA |
| External Links: | Selfie on Wikipedia, Official Site |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Selfie was an ABC romantic-comedy television show starring Karen Gillan (Amy Pond in Doctor Who) as Eliza Dooley and John Cho (Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek AOS) as Henry Higgs.
Canon
"The series follows the life of Eliza Dooley, a woman obsessed with the idea of achieving fame through the use of social media platforms, including Instagram where she posts selfies. She begins to worry that "friending" people online is not a substitute for real friendship, and she seeks help from Henry Higgs, a marketing image guru."[1]
Eliza's and Henry's names are a play on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and the musical based upon it, My Fair Lady - in which a man named Henry Higgins helps a woman named Eliza Doolittle improve her social status.
Main Characters
- Eliza Dooley
- Henry Higgs
- Charmonique Whitaker
- Sam Saperstein
Fandom
The Selfie fandom is fairly small, most of the fanworks are located on Tumblr (various picspams and gifs) and Youtube (various types of vids) with a few works on Archive of Our Own[2] and FanFiction.net[3].
Fandom's main pairing is Eliza/Henry. Although the two main characters, Eliza and Henry, are clearly fan favorites, Charmonique is as well.
Fan campaign to save the series by reblogging or retweeting #spreadtheselfie[4], #saveselfie, and #selfieseason2 on Twitter and Tumblr since October 2014. Despite this, due to the ratings, ABC still cancelled the series in November, although allowed the remaining episodes air on their website and on Hulu. Fans however still continue to fight the cancellation with the hashtags and a petition to save the series Please renew "Selfie" for a second season. and a call for Hulu to pick up the series for a second season: Join Our #SaveSelfie Campaign.
Reactions
"When ABC announced it had picked up a show called Selfie, people sneered.Selfie, which was cancelled in November amidst bad ratings, was doomed before the pilot even aired. Everything about it pissed people off — its name, its premise and the marketing behind it.
Too bad that’s not what Selfie was about. Selfie was clever, peppered with jokes, boasted a diverse cast (a biracial “will they or won’t they”) and presented some of the most balanced commentary on the millennial generation that I’ve ever seen on television. Selfie showed viewers both sides of the millennial coin — the self-centered and dysfunctional Eliza Dooley and the overly ambitious and work-obsessed Henry Higgins.
Selife represented the millennial generation better than anyone did. Too bad we couldn’t get past its name."[5]
"There weren’t many television shows this fall I was interested in but Selfie had definitely stuck out to me...I really enjoyed the pilot and my friends seemed horrified by this and some even remarked how terrible the characters were….But that was the point. Karen’s Eliza Dooley goes to John’s Henry Higgs for the sake of an image makeover. The point was Eliza was self absorbed and way too involved in her social sphere. The point was Henry was boring, no fuss and a shunner of Facebook. The point was their would be the other’s balancing influence.
One thing the show got right (to hyperbolic levels) was the usage of social media - from the lingo to leveraging it as a visual aspect of story. It was nice to look at. It was quickly revealed what the popularity on social media meant to Eliza but she realized she was without genuine friends. ... [the series] became more about their dynamic interactions and them being a duo.
Of course - they were establishing the romantic elements. AND ABC CANCELED IT. There was something great on the horizon for Selfie. And it was going to be about women in my age bracket and what others presume. Eliza was the quiet asset at her work. Really, everyone figured she was dumb and superficial but that was her power. She was being counted out but was off on her own path to solve problems.
Another thing that stings about this cancelation is: John Cho. Asian men don’t get cast as the romantic lead. I cannot think of a show or film where that is the role an Asian man has played that."[6]
Fanworks
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Fanfic
- doubt the stars by ShanaStoryteller. (Eliza/Henry) Eliza knows that Henry is her soulmate, but Henry doesn't know she's his. She's not going to tell him.
- Rocky Mountain High by lamardeuse. (Eliza/Henry) Henry's midlife crisis happened when he was twenty-six.
Vids
- Teen Idle (Eliza)
- love like this (Eliza/Henry)
- I just wanted to be perfect (Eliza/Henry)
- Boom Clap (Eliza/Henry)
- Maps (Eliza/Henry)
Fanart
Archives & Fannish Links
- Selfie works at Archive of Our Own
- Selfie & crossover works at FanFiction.net
- Selfie works at Het Reccers
Tumblr
References
<references>
- ^ Wikipedia (Accessed 31 December 2014)
- ^ AO3 lists 60 works as of December 31, 2014.
- ^ FFN lists 11 works as of December 31, 2014.
- ^ Selfiebc announces the hashtag in order to help save Selfie from being cancelled have appeared. (Accessed 31 December 2014)
- ^ Did the Negative Pre-Hype Kill Selfie? Fans with Feels.com. Published December 24, 2014. (Accessed 31 December 2014)
- ^ watchitnow on Selfie. Tumblr. Published November 24, 2014. (Accessed 31 December 2014)