The unpredictable homosexual : exploring gender performativity in slash fiction

Abstract

This thesis will discuss ways in which slash fiction, a genre of fan fiction which couples two male characters in a homoerotic relationship, destabilizes traditional gender norms and reconfigures the cultural value of the canon. This will be illustrated through examples from the fantasy genre, as in the fantasy genre a number of narrative possibilities are explored. The case studies chosen for this dissertation are Supernatural and Harry Potter. Judith Butler‘s theory of gender discussed in Gender Trouble and Bodies that Matter, where she asserts that gender is performative because of its repetitive nature. This thesis postulates how slash writing reveals the performative nature of gender through its lack of male/female relationships. In slash, both characters are male and thus, conventional gender norms which come to play within a relationship framework are modified, if not altogether rejected. Fan writing, unlike the canon, is written by amateur writers and not for profit but rather for the fan community. As slash is not written for profit, fan authors are free to write whatever they desire and content can vary from being mild to heavily sexually explicit, unlike the source text which is aimed at a widespread audience that may find such sexually explicit material offensive. Thus, this thesis will also explore the notion of the cultural value of the text, and how this is changed by fans, whereby they appropriate it and share it with the fan community rather than with a general audience. It will also explore how the content is modified from something innocent to something sexual and/or romantic. Furthermore, it will link this idea of cultural value and gender performativity together to also demonstrate how slash not only reveals gender‘s performative nature, but also problematizes representations of such gender found in media. It will also focus on how fans appropriate the textual value of the canon through fan writing and how traditional masculinity is deconstructed by these fans who inject an element of vulnerability within the male character.