Senior Project Advisor
Julie Dugger
Document Type
Project - Campus-only Access
Publication Date
Summer 2025
Keywords
fanfiction, archiveofourown, implicit rules, anonymity online, pop culture, publishing, queer representation, writing studies, literary criticism, English literature
Abstract
This project explores the best ways, and in part defines what that means by best, we can talk about fanfiction even outside of fanfiction spaces. More and more, fandom is being brought into the public conversation; it’s in our tv shows (I’m thinking about Kat’s introduction in Euphoria), we have major motion pictures that are clearly Harry Styles RPF (After, The Idea of You, etc.), fanfiction is being physically bound and put on Goodreads– it’s everywhere. What was once isolated in niche in-group communities is now a prominent part of the way the general public interacts with media. But even as fanfiction and fandom culture are being brought into the mainstream, not everyone knows how to talk about them. Fanfiction in general has its roots in being seen as lowbrow entertainment, and oftentimes even saying you read/wrote it was seen as taboo or embarrassing. That connotation still haunts how the general public interacts with fanfiction today. My project begins with a concentrated look at how that connotation shapes how fanfiction is talked about outside of the community, then leads into a discussion on what makes fanfiction so different from other written media (and thus why it cannot be talked about in the same way), and finishes with some possible rules of engagement with fanfiction in our broader cultural sphere, primarily focused on privacy and acknowledgment of context.
Department
Honors
Recommended Citation
Padfield, Elizabeth, "Fanfiction's Out of the Bubble" (2025). WWU Honors College Senior Projects. 1026.
https://cedar.wwu.edu/wwu_honors/1026
Type
Text
Rights
Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.
Language
English
Format
application/pdf