"Yes, the Evil Queen is Latina!": Racial dynamics of online femslash fandoms
Online media or participatory fandom has long been theorized as a unique creative and communicative space for women. Further, scholarly work has highlighted the possibility of it functioning as a space that is conducive to the articulation of queerness—both through transformative work and participan...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Organization for Transformative Works
2017-06-01
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| Series: | Transformative Works and Cultures |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.3983/twc.2017.0908 |
| _version_ | 1818888379733901312 |
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| author | Rukmini Pande Swati Moitra |
| author_facet | Rukmini Pande Swati Moitra |
| author_sort | Rukmini Pande |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Online media or participatory fandom has long been theorized as a unique creative and communicative space for women. Further, scholarly work has highlighted the possibility of it functioning as a space that is conducive to the articulation of queerness—both through transformative work and participant identity. However, this theorization has failed to account for the differential operations of these spaces when they are forced to deal with issues of race and racism. This essay argues that this is a significant blind spot as fannish spaces cannot but negotiate with the multiple loci of privilege and intersectional concerns that underpin their functioning. It therefore proposes a significant intervention in the study of the same, drawing our attention to the historically queer and oft-sidelined fannish spaces of femslash fandoms. This analysis seeks to locate the ways in which such queer spaces grapple with critiques of misogyny and homophobia in popular cultural texts and online spaces, as well as the problematics of race and racial identity within such spaces, focusing on the queer fan community built around the relationship of Regina Mills and Emma Swan, eponymously known as Swan Queen, in the television show Once Upon a Time (2011–). |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T16:52:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-caa93ee34f734a4485cd278d65a50de2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1941-2258 1941-2258 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T16:52:12Z |
| publishDate | 2017-06-01 |
| publisher | Organization for Transformative Works |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Transformative Works and Cultures |
| spelling | doaj.art-caa93ee34f734a4485cd278d65a50de22022-12-21T20:13:30ZengOrganization for Transformative WorksTransformative Works and Cultures1941-22581941-22582017-06-0124https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2017.0908"Yes, the Evil Queen is Latina!": Racial dynamics of online femslash fandomsRukmini Pande0Swati Moitra1University of Western Australia, Perth, AustraliaJawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, IndiaOnline media or participatory fandom has long been theorized as a unique creative and communicative space for women. Further, scholarly work has highlighted the possibility of it functioning as a space that is conducive to the articulation of queerness—both through transformative work and participant identity. However, this theorization has failed to account for the differential operations of these spaces when they are forced to deal with issues of race and racism. This essay argues that this is a significant blind spot as fannish spaces cannot but negotiate with the multiple loci of privilege and intersectional concerns that underpin their functioning. It therefore proposes a significant intervention in the study of the same, drawing our attention to the historically queer and oft-sidelined fannish spaces of femslash fandoms. This analysis seeks to locate the ways in which such queer spaces grapple with critiques of misogyny and homophobia in popular cultural texts and online spaces, as well as the problematics of race and racial identity within such spaces, focusing on the queer fan community built around the relationship of Regina Mills and Emma Swan, eponymously known as Swan Queen, in the television show Once Upon a Time (2011–).https://dx.doi.org/10.3983/twc.2017.0908Fan communityFan fictionIntersectionalityQueernessRaceTV |
| spellingShingle | Rukmini Pande Swati Moitra "Yes, the Evil Queen is Latina!": Racial dynamics of online femslash fandoms Transformative Works and Cultures Fan community Fan fiction Intersectionality Queerness Race TV |
| title | "Yes, the Evil Queen is Latina!": Racial dynamics of online femslash fandoms |
| title_full | "Yes, the Evil Queen is Latina!": Racial dynamics of online femslash fandoms |
| title_fullStr | "Yes, the Evil Queen is Latina!": Racial dynamics of online femslash fandoms |
| title_full_unstemmed | "Yes, the Evil Queen is Latina!": Racial dynamics of online femslash fandoms |
| title_short | "Yes, the Evil Queen is Latina!": Racial dynamics of online femslash fandoms |
| title_sort | yes the evil queen is latina racial dynamics of online femslash fandoms |
| topic | Fan community Fan fiction Intersectionality Queerness Race TV |
| url | https://dx.doi.org/10.3983/twc.2017.0908 |
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