Women In Fan Fiction

Fan fiction is something has been around as long as people have been telling stories. Ancient people would retell old stories or explore minor characters’ roles, which are both things people still do today. But there seems to be an unwritten rule between writer and audience that each should respect the other. In other words, authors shouldn’t ridicule their readers, and fans shouldn’t belittle the author. When either side breaks this mutual respect, we begin to see problems in a work of art. One problem with fan fiction is that today, people can’t publish their own versions of most modern stories due to copyright law, but most of today’s fan fiction is online for free. But copyright law has only been around for a couple hundred years, giving
For the most part, the producers cast white, male characters, but also add in the occasional female character. Unfortunately, most of these female characters are often flat, and exist as a love interest for either Sam or Dean. Even in the episodes about the Supernatural books, where the writers try to fix past mistakes, women are passive, or else possessive of Sam’s or Dean’s bodies. For a show with a mostly female audience, this can be problematic. The female fans are represented in an even more degrading light than the other female characters. In one episode, Sam and Dean go to a fan convention for the Supernatural books, and are helped only by male fans. As interpreted by Catherine Tosenberger, “It appears that to the Supernatural producers, the only good fan is a male fan, specifically one who avoids those fannish paths usually gendered female” (Tosenberger). In other words, the producers only want male fans who don’t write erotic fan fiction. And even in a later episode, which aired after Tosenberger wrote her essay, female fans may help with the investigation, but in the end it’s solely Sam who defeats the monster. So while the writers are trying to improve, they still fall short of 21st century standards of women’s
But the media is one of the four main sources of socialization, meaning that the media, which includes Supernatural, needs to show that women can be heroes too. This is mirrored in Avellaneda’s degradation of Cervantes as a cripple. But despite the fact that Cervantes was proud of the fact that he lost his hand fighting for Spain, Avellaneda’s comment must have made him feel less than he did before. Clearly, he was able to live an independent life and write, all with only one hand, which is the message amputees always need to hear. And negative messages like Avellaneda’s aren’t just insulting, but make people devalue themselves if they aren’t young and able-bodied. Thus, insults breaking the unspoken respect between writer and audience have larger consequences than many would