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Line 4: − + − With a good actor, the audience can pick up on the subtext and interpret the character's thoughts and feelings. Stage "business" as well as speech contributes to the story behind the story. This is why people say of actors like Ethel Barrymore or Leonard Nimoy that a single gesture or word "spoke volumes".<ref>At least this is true of neurotypical audiences. This is an area where autistics can have difficulty eliciting meaning, and may need to have some things spelled out in more detail.</ref>+ + + − Sociologists have observed that the inclusion and placement of women, seniors and minorities in advertising, news media and graphic arts creates subtextual messages about the role of such people in society. If they are shown in a subservient posture (seated while others are standing, for example) or in the background behind the "main" characters), it creates a negative subtext for the audience, both about how they should think of these people, and what the sponsor thinks of them.<ref>Laura R. Oswald in ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=NpH-_tnQN_8C&lpg=PA98&dq=Marketing%20Semiotics%20Pioneer%2010&pg=PA103#v=onepage&q=Marketing%20Semiotics%20%22visual%20codes%22&f=false Marketing Semiotics: Signs, Strategies, and Brand Value]'' (Oxford University Press, 2012) gives as examples the male and female images on the Pioneer 10 spacecraft and a McDonald's commercial showing two men standing and shaking hands while a woman sits behind them, looking up. She also analyzes the coding of insurance commercials aimed toward "baby boomers" for whom the 1950s-1960s youth culture is still a living, vibrant reality and who would not react well to images of nursing homes and rocking chairs.</ref> (See [[Misogyny in Fandom]] for more on the placement of female characters relative to their perceived value.)+ + − In fandom, subtext is content in [[canon]] (or, sometimes, [[fanworks]]) that is meant to be understood by the audience without being explicitly stated. + − − A fan used examples from [[Quantum Leap]] and [[The Professionals]] in a 1995 comment: {{Quotation| − "Subtext " is what a work of art may imply or indicate without stating outright. It can be deliberate or inadvertent, and can be interpreted subjectively by the art's reader/viewer/listener. When [[Al Calavicci|Al]] screws up his face into an expression of misery at learning that [[Sam Beckett|Sam]] doesn't remember him, possible subtexts are: "Oh shit, the experiment's gone wrong!" "Does this mean he doesn't remember fucking me under the Accelerator night before last?" or "My hangover is even worse than I said." When [[Bodie]] and [[Ray Doyle|Doyle]] have a different set of rooms every time they are shown at home, the subtext can be, "CI5 agents have to move often for security reasons," or "These characters are so unstable that they can't keep the same apartment for long." <ref> from [[Strange Bedfellows (APA)]] #8 (February 1995) </ref>}} − In the [[Star Trek: The Original Series]] episode "Journey to Babel", Spock volunteers to donate blood for his father's heart operation. Christine Chapel says Spock's blood "isn't true Vulcan blood either, it, ah -- has human -- blood elements in it." Spock replies, "It should be possible to filter out the human factors." Whether or not a viewer has been following the show and knows the characters, the theatrical subtext is clear: Chapel loves Spock, because he's a Vulcan he can't respond, but he's also part human and she wishes she could connect with that aspect of his nature (but knows she cannot). Filtering out the human factors is exactly what he's been doing with his entire life. These lines are significant to their characters and to this episode in particular (as a subsequent scene with Spock and his mother demonstrates). It's all conveyed in her regretful expression and slight stammer, and his matter-of-fact response.+ − ==Subtext and Authorial Intent==+ − In dramatics, subtext does not necessarily have to be deliberate on the part of the author. There have been many debates over whether certain subtext exists in canon whether or not the [[authorial intent|writer intended to put it there]]. K.M. Weiland argues that subtext ''must'' be intentional in order to be subtext in the first place. <ref>[http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/5-ingredients-need-story-subtext/# The Only 5 Ingredients You Need for Story Subtext], Sept. 12, 2016.</ref> But in ''The Fanfic Symposium'', fan author Shomeret argues that subtext is "a level of interpretation that is almost always unintended by the writer. When you write a story, you intend to communicate certain things. Being told about something you didn't intend may be alarming or infuriating." Shomeret continues: + + + − In fan discussions, subtext most commonly refers to canon that is felt to imply a romantic [[Shipping|relationship]] or [[UST|unresolved sexual tension]]/attraction between two same-sex characters, or to hint at a character's sexual orientation. [[Slash]] fans point out elements of art direction and photography as well as acting that they feel make the "obvious" point.<ref>One of the most famous citations of possible slash subtext is made by Dr. Frederic Wertham in his analysis of the original ''Batman'' in ''Seduction of the Innocent'': "They constantly rescue each other from violent attacks by an unending number of enemies. The feeling is conveyed that we men must stick together because there are so many villainous creatures who have to be exterminated. Sometimes Batman [[Hurt-comfort|ends up in bed injured]] and young Robin is shown sitting next to him. At home they lead an idyllic life. They are Bruce Wayne and 'Dick' Grayson. Bruce Wayne is described as a 'socialite' and the official relationship is that Dick is Bruce's ward. They live in sumptuous quarters, with beautiful flowers in large vases. Batman is sometimes shown in a dressing gown... Sometimes they are shown on a couch, Bruce reclining and Dick sitting next to him, jacket off, collar open, and his hand on his friend’s arm. As they sit by the fire the young boy sometimes worries about his partner: 'Something’s wrong with Bruce. He hasn’t been himself these last few days.' It is like a wish dream of two homosexuals living together." Wertham believed that not only did Batman and Robin's adventures contain gay cues, but that their relationship was obviously homosexual even to child readers and would encourage boys to "become" gay. Cultural reviewer Will Brooker revealed in his book ''Batman Unmasked'' that gay men had told Wertham in interviews that they saw Batman as gay; he did not make it up. Cultural reviewer A. David Lewis puts Wertham's work in context at [http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/jan03/rdm_0103.shtml Seduction of the Insolent (or, Retraction of the Innocent)] at ''Sequential Tart'', vol 6, issue 1, January 2003.</ref> Sexual subtext, of course, also still exists [[Het|between male and female characters]], but these are not generally the focus of modern fan attention.+ − When the term subtext is used with regard to canon, an argument is often made that fans are [[Slash goggles|seeing sexual relationships or attraction]] where they don't really exist. In film and television, especially in dramatic or suspense genres, just as in real life, two men or women looking intensely at each other or even touching does not mean they are sexually attracted to each other.<ref>Early ''Star Trek'' fans saw James Kirk and Cmdr. Spock's wordless exchanges as evidence that they were developing a kind of intuition or telepathy common to people who work closely together, rather than a sexual connection. Kirk's becoming telepathic was a subplot in [[Claire Gabriel]]'s ''[[The Thousandth Man (Star Trek: TOS story)|The Thousandth Man]]'' and a major plot point in later episodes of [[Jacqueline Lichtenberg]]'s ''[[Kraith]]'' series.</ref> However, [[TPTB|showrunners and producers]] who point this out, may be accused, rightly or wrongly, of [[Queer Baiting]].+ − + + + + + + − + − It certainly isn't that the creators of a show ''don't'' add subtext to imply specific things. In a February 1992 interview, Bob Justman confirmed that the subtextual message in the ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' episode "[[The City on the Edge of Forever]]" (1966) concerning the 1960s' massive anti-war protest movement was intentional.<ref>H. Bruce Franklin, [https://web.archive.org/web/20161019112544/http://www.depauw.edu:80/sfs/backissues/62/franklin62art.htm Star Trek in the Vietnam War Era].</ref> − − +
working a lot on this page, trying to focus on fannish things, not long academic quotes
}}
}}
'''Subtext''' is the underlying motivation, feelings and emotions behind a character's actions and speech.
'''Subtext''' is the underlying motivation, feelings and emotions behind a character's actions and speech. In fandom, subtext is content in [[canon]] (or, sometimes, [[fanworks]]) that is meant to be understood by the audience without being explicitly stated.
Subtext can be inferred by the original creators of source text as a way to add interest. In a February 1992 interview, Bob Justman confirmed that the subtextual message in the [[Star Trek: The Original Series]] episode "[[The City on the Edge of Forever]]" (1966) concerning the 1960s' massive anti-war protest movement was intentional.<ref>H. Bruce Franklin, [https://web.archive.org/web/20161019112544/http://www.depauw.edu:80/sfs/backissues/62/franklin62art.htm Star Trek in the Vietnam War Era].</ref>
Subtext can also be created due to the practical limitations of telling a story, such as carelessness, lack of continuity, lack of time, or a disinterest.
==Subtext, Shipping, and Relationships==
In fan discussions, subtext most commonly refers to canon that is felt to imply a romantic [[Shipping|relationship]] or [[UST|unresolved sexual tension]]/attraction between two same-sex characters, or to hint at a character's sexual orientation. [
[Slash]] fans point out elements of art direction and photography as well as acting that they feel make the "obvious" point.
When the term subtext is used with regard to canon, an argument is often made that fans are [[Slash goggles|seeing sexual relationships or attraction]] where they don't really exist.
In film and television, especially in dramatic or suspense genres, just as in real life, two men or women looking intensely at each other or even touching does not mean they are sexually attracted to each other.<ref>Early ''Star Trek'' fans saw James Kirk and Cmdr. Spock's wordless exchanges as evidence that they were developing a kind of intuition or telepathy common to people who work closely together, rather than a sexual connection. Kirk's becoming telepathic was a subplot in [[Claire Gabriel]]'s [[The Thousandth Man (Star Trek: TOS story)|The Thousandth Man]] and a major plot point in later episodes of [[Jacqueline Lichtenberg]]'s [[Kraith]] series.</ref> However, [[TPTB|showrunners and producers]] who point this out, may be accused, rightly or wrongly, of [[Queer Baiting]].
{{Quotation|In slash the anxiety about what you are subconsciously communicating also exists. Although I am bisexual, I have been unable to complete any [[Femslash|f/f slash]] because I worry so much about the potential subtexts. Since there is so little f/f in the majority of fandoms (aside from Xena), I tend to feel very self-conscious about the sort of lesbian relationships that I would be portraying, and fear that I will misrepresent lesbians. I always ask myself what my f/f story might be saying about lesbians in general. Am I feeding into stereotypes? Am I being too negative? Am I being too positive? I don't want to over-romanticize lesbian relationships either. I have written lesbian characters into slash stories that are primarily m/m, but the idea of putting a story out there for other fans to read that focuses on an f/f relationship sets off a panic reaction in my brain. I have several uncompleted f/f stories in various fandoms, and one completed story that is in a state of eternal revision because it never satisfies me.
{{Quotation|In slash the anxiety about what you are subconsciously communicating also exists. Although I am bisexual, I have been unable to complete any [[Femslash|f/f slash]] because I worry so much about the potential subtexts. Since there is so little f/f in the majority of fandoms (aside from Xena), I tend to feel very self-conscious about the sort of lesbian relationships that I would be portraying, and fear that I will misrepresent lesbians. I always ask myself what my f/f story might be saying about lesbians in general. Am I feeding into stereotypes? Am I being too negative? Am I being too positive? I don't want to over-romanticize lesbian relationships either. I have written lesbian characters into slash stories that are primarily m/m, but the idea of putting a story out there for other fans to read that focuses on an f/f relationship sets off a panic reaction in my brain. I have several uncompleted f/f stories in various fandoms, and one completed story that is in a state of eternal revision because it never satisfies me.
Subtext is extremely subjective, and not all fans will agree on their validity or application to a particular relationship in a show or film.<ref>Shomeret, [http://www.trickster.org/symposium/symp27.htm The Subtext Anxiety]. ''The Fanfic Symposium'', November 21, 1999.</ref>}}
Subtext is extremely subjective, and not all fans will agree on their validity or application to a particular relationship in a show or film.<ref>Shomeret, [http://www.trickster.org/symposium/symp27.htm The Subtext Anxiety]. ''The Fanfic Symposium'', November 21, 1999.</ref>}}
==Subtext and Authorial Intent==
In dramatics, subtext does not necessarily have to be deliberate on the part of the author. There have been many debates over whether certain subtext exists in canon whether or not the [[authorial intent|writer intended to put it there]]. K.M. Weiland argues that subtext ''must'' be intentional in order to be subtext in the first place. <ref>[http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/5-ingredients-need-story-subtext/# The Only 5 Ingredients You Need for Story Subtext], Sept. 12, 2016.</ref> But in ''The Fanfic Symposium'', fan author Shomeret argues that subtext is "a level of interpretation that is almost always unintended by the writer. When you write a story, you intend to communicate certain things. Being told about something you didn't intend may be alarming or infuriating." Shomeret continues:
==Decoding Subtext==
With a good actor, the audience can pick up on the subtext and interpret the character's thoughts and feelings. Stage "business" as well as speech contributes to the story behind the story. This is why people say of actors like Ethel Barrymore or Leonard Nimoy that a single gesture or word "spoke volumes".<ref>At least this is true of neurotypical audiences. This is an area where autistics can have difficulty eliciting meaning, and may need to have some things spelled out in more detail.</ref>
{{Quotation2|For my part, I never have been able to "slash for slash's sake." I don't and can't "[[Slash goggles|see slashy]] [[subtext]]" everywhere I look. Evidence of emotional and/or physical intimacy (same gender or opposite) demonstrates only that characters are emotionally and/or physically intimate. Emotional/physical intimacy exists between people who are friends and among family members and is, by itself, insufficient to suggest, much less prove, that there is or should be sexual relationship.
==Fan Comments==
===1995===
{{Quotation|
"Subtext " is what a work of art may imply or indicate without stating outright. It can be deliberate or inadvertent, and can be interpreted subjectively by the art's reader/viewer/listener. When [[Al Calavicci|Al]] screws up his face into an expression of misery at learning that [[Sam Beckett|Sam]] doesn't remember him, possible subtexts are: "Oh shit, the experiment's gone wrong!" "Does this mean he doesn't remember fucking me under the Accelerator night before last?" or "My hangover is even worse than I said." When [[Bodie]] and [[Ray Doyle|Doyle]] have a different set of rooms every time they are shown at home, the subtext can be, "CI5 agents have to move often for security reasons," or "These characters are so unstable that they can't keep the same apartment for long." <ref> comments about [[Quantum Leap]] and [[The Professionals]], from [[Strange Bedfellows (APA)]] #8 (February 1995) </ref>}}
===2008===
{{Quotation |For my part, I never have been able to "slash for slash's sake." I don't and can't "[[Slash goggles|see slashy]] [[subtext]]" everywhere I look. Evidence of emotional and/or physical intimacy (same gender or opposite) demonstrates only that characters are emotionally and/or physically intimate. Emotional/physical intimacy exists between people who are friends and among family members and is, by itself, insufficient to suggest, much less prove, that there is or should be sexual relationship.
I remember one of the original "[[incest]] slash" fandoms, from the early-to-mid-80s--"[[Simon and Simon]]" fandom. My friends and I were *so* bewildered by that and, when it was explained to us by proponents that "of course they're having sex, look at how much they love each other," it was (in modern 'net vernacular) a real *headdesk* moment for us.
I remember one of the original "[[incest]] slash" fandoms, from the early-to-mid-80s--"[[Simon and Simon]]" fandom. My friends and I were *so* bewildered by that and, when it was explained to us by proponents that "of course they're having sex, look at how much they love each other," it was (in modern 'net vernacular) a real *headdesk* moment for us.
It's the Vulcan in me--I need to see a logical extrapolation from the media source product to the suggested extra-textual relationship (slash or het). Connect all the dots for me--explain what is in canon (the characterizations, backgrounds, history, specific relationships, physical setting, time period, larger culture and worldview, etc.) that makes it possible (or even likely) and also rationally explain away whatever there is in [[canon]] that mitigates against it. <ref> comment from [[klangley56]] in [http://goodnightsong.livejournal.com/235854.html the subject of slash], dated June 1, 2008, accessed Feb. 11, 2011; [http://www.webcitation.org/5wNOTl2kY WebCite]. </ref>}}
It's the Vulcan in me--I need to see a logical extrapolation from the media source product to the suggested extra-textual relationship (slash or het). Connect all the dots for me--explain what is in canon (the characterizations, backgrounds, history, specific relationships, physical setting, time period, larger culture and worldview, etc.) that makes it possible (or even likely) and also rationally explain away whatever there is in [[canon]] that mitigates against it. <ref> comment from [[klangley56]] in [http://goodnightsong.livejournal.com/235854.html the subject of slash], dated June 1, 2008, accessed Feb. 11, 2011; [http://www.webcitation.org/5wNOTl2kY WebCite]. </ref>}}
==Xena Fandom==
==Xena Fandom==
In [[Xena: Warrior Princess|Xena]] fandom, "subtext" refers to the implication that [[Xena/Gabrielle|Xena and Gabrielle]] are meant to be understood as a lesbian couple.<ref>[http://www.xenite.org/faqs/subtext.html Xena - The Subtext FAQ for alt.tv.xena], Version 1.08, updated 1998. (Accessed 26 December 2008)</ref> A "[[subtexter]]" in Xena fandom is someone who is a fan of lesbian subtext. Here, references to subtext links, subtext fanfiction, subtext virtual seasons, etc. are usually referring to a lesbian interpretation of the source, like for example in CN Winters [http://www.cnscaldron.com/cn_winters_subtext_reports.html Xena Subtext Reports].
In [[Xena: Warrior Princess|Xena]] fandom, "subtext" refers to the implication that [[Xena/Gabrielle|Xena and Gabrielle]] are meant to be understood as a lesbian couple.<ref>[http://www.xenite.org/faqs/subtext.html Xena - The Subtext FAQ for alt.tv.xena], Version 1.08, updated 1998. (Accessed 26 December 2008)</ref> A "[[subtexter]]" in Xena fandom is someone who is a fan of lesbian subtext. Here, references to subtext links, subtext fanfiction, subtext virtual seasons, etc. are usually referring to a lesbian interpretation of the source, like for example in CN Winters [http://www.cnscaldron.com/cn_winters_subtext_reports.html Xena Subtext Reports].
==Meta==
==Meta==
* [[Why Subtext is Better than Text]] by [[Janis C.]]
* [[Why Subtext is Better than Text]] by [[Janis C.]]