it's still monday somewhere
Title: History, Fantasy, and How Fanfiction Improves Both
Author: callowyn
Summary/Abstract/Thesis Statement: In which fanfiction is both a vehicle for political opinions and a way to make emotional connections with history.
Fic analyzed: Primarily Rewriting The Old Language by zempasuchil (Merlin)
In sorting through zempasuchil’s impressive masterlist, what struck me the most was her treatment of politics. She’s written four fics that actually fall under the category of historical RPF, dealing with the participants in revolutions both American and otherwise; the rest of her work is mostly fantasy-based fandoms. And yet in For Who So Firm, which features Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, or How To Celebrate Defeat, starring Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, her focus does not fall on the wider social movements that these men brought about, nor even the writings for which they are so famous (well, except as a vehicle for a little antagonistic flirting between Hamilton and Jefferson). Instead, she fleshes out their relationships with each other, turning the dry stuff of textbooks into people, flawed but relatable; in essence, she turns them into characters.
Such humanization is necessary for good fiction, of course-no one calls history books RPF. What I found curious is the way the opposite process seems to have taken place in so much of her fantasy writing: not that the characters are dehumanized, but that she uses them as vehicles for a broader social commentary that is very much political, in ways the historical fiction is not.
Take, for example, Rewriting The Old Language, an AU of BBC’s Merlin set in modern-day America. At the time of this fic’s writing, Merlin was only one season old, and the canon was, for the most part, a delightfully silly romp through the French British countryside, occasionally interspersed with soulful looks and acts of codependent heroism between our fearless leads. The standard for historical accuracy was set at “pigeon sandwiches.” The first season of Merlin did offer us glimpses of Camelot’s dark side, from Edwin seeking revenge on Uther for killing his sorcerous parents (1.06) to Nimueh’s revelation that Ygraine’s death was the inevitable price of magic that Uther had asked her to perform (1.09), suggesting that her machinations throughout the season were fueled by something other than simple malice, but by the end of the season Nimueh, along with all the other evil mages flitting through this season, lay dead (1.13). Albion’s status quo remained safely intact.
Or did it? zempasuchil inspects what the aftermath of Nimueh’s death would look like in the context of a true magical revolution-and, to make things even more interesting, in a context that modern American readers will find very familiar indeed. “Rewriting The Old Language” doesn’t shy away from overt referencing of current events, referring to President Uther’s anti-sorcery campaign as a “war against terror” and having Gwen’s father taken to an “off-shore prison.” Uther, to his son’s mind, is waiting, even hoping for an attack that would allow him to strike back with lethal force-much the way many people believe Dick Cheney was planning to launch a war in Iraq years before 9/11 gave the excuse to do so. The American public in this fic seems on board with the Orwellian idea that “as long as the war is being fought, things are going in the right direction,” while 1984’s modern cousin the Patriot Act lingers behind Arthur’s warning that “Everything you say is overheard; you could be misunderstood.” Even the description of Nimueh’s uplifted face on a t-shirt calls to mind the questionable legacy of Che Guevara in the United States, a revolutionary on sale at the Gap.
So why did zempasuchil choose a quintessentially British fandom through which to express her concerns about modern American politics? After all, she could just as easily have dropped Jefferson and Hamilton into the future to see what their beloved Union had become. Part of it, no doubt, is the impulse to apply her interests and expertise to whatever fandom is the current object of her obsession. (One need look no further than Comandante to see that her fondness for Latin American revolutionaries is alive and well). But there’s more at work here. Writing on the internet offers a virtually uncensored medium that can do things like call a George W. Bush stand-in a “dictator”-commentary that television, especially shows marketed for children, as Merlin is-would never dare touch. It’s often easier to explore sociopolitical issues through the lens of fantasy, an elaborate metaphor which grants distance from their very real counterparts in our world. Moreover, the nature of fanfiction guarantees an audience who, although perhaps not concerned about or aware of the same issues, can be invited to the discussion by means of the characters they already love.
Which brings me back to my comments on historical fiction: zempasuchil adds characterization and emotion to stories that would otherwise be purely political, and brings political commentary to characters that would otherwise have purely personal storylines. Thus her fic counteracts both the way culture gives us history, devoid of human content, and the way we’re given entertainment, devoid of political content. This allows her-and we as readers-to form, not only a critical, but an emotional connection to political history.
Bibliography
Masterlist
For Who So Firm, historical RPF, Hamilton/Jefferson
How To Celebrate Defeat, historical RPF, Engels/Marx
Rewriting The Old Language, Merlin, gen
Comandante, Supernatural, gen
Author: callowyn
Summary/Abstract/Thesis Statement: In which fanfiction is both a vehicle for political opinions and a way to make emotional connections with history.
Fic analyzed: Primarily Rewriting The Old Language by zempasuchil (Merlin)
In sorting through zempasuchil’s impressive masterlist, what struck me the most was her treatment of politics. She’s written four fics that actually fall under the category of historical RPF, dealing with the participants in revolutions both American and otherwise; the rest of her work is mostly fantasy-based fandoms. And yet in For Who So Firm, which features Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, or How To Celebrate Defeat, starring Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, her focus does not fall on the wider social movements that these men brought about, nor even the writings for which they are so famous (well, except as a vehicle for a little antagonistic flirting between Hamilton and Jefferson). Instead, she fleshes out their relationships with each other, turning the dry stuff of textbooks into people, flawed but relatable; in essence, she turns them into characters.
Such humanization is necessary for good fiction, of course-no one calls history books RPF. What I found curious is the way the opposite process seems to have taken place in so much of her fantasy writing: not that the characters are dehumanized, but that she uses them as vehicles for a broader social commentary that is very much political, in ways the historical fiction is not.
Take, for example, Rewriting The Old Language, an AU of BBC’s Merlin set in modern-day America. At the time of this fic’s writing, Merlin was only one season old, and the canon was, for the most part, a delightfully silly romp through the French British countryside, occasionally interspersed with soulful looks and acts of codependent heroism between our fearless leads. The standard for historical accuracy was set at “pigeon sandwiches.” The first season of Merlin did offer us glimpses of Camelot’s dark side, from Edwin seeking revenge on Uther for killing his sorcerous parents (1.06) to Nimueh’s revelation that Ygraine’s death was the inevitable price of magic that Uther had asked her to perform (1.09), suggesting that her machinations throughout the season were fueled by something other than simple malice, but by the end of the season Nimueh, along with all the other evil mages flitting through this season, lay dead (1.13). Albion’s status quo remained safely intact.
Or did it? zempasuchil inspects what the aftermath of Nimueh’s death would look like in the context of a true magical revolution-and, to make things even more interesting, in a context that modern American readers will find very familiar indeed. “Rewriting The Old Language” doesn’t shy away from overt referencing of current events, referring to President Uther’s anti-sorcery campaign as a “war against terror” and having Gwen’s father taken to an “off-shore prison.” Uther, to his son’s mind, is waiting, even hoping for an attack that would allow him to strike back with lethal force-much the way many people believe Dick Cheney was planning to launch a war in Iraq years before 9/11 gave the excuse to do so. The American public in this fic seems on board with the Orwellian idea that “as long as the war is being fought, things are going in the right direction,” while 1984’s modern cousin the Patriot Act lingers behind Arthur’s warning that “Everything you say is overheard; you could be misunderstood.” Even the description of Nimueh’s uplifted face on a t-shirt calls to mind the questionable legacy of Che Guevara in the United States, a revolutionary on sale at the Gap.
So why did zempasuchil choose a quintessentially British fandom through which to express her concerns about modern American politics? After all, she could just as easily have dropped Jefferson and Hamilton into the future to see what their beloved Union had become. Part of it, no doubt, is the impulse to apply her interests and expertise to whatever fandom is the current object of her obsession. (One need look no further than Comandante to see that her fondness for Latin American revolutionaries is alive and well). But there’s more at work here. Writing on the internet offers a virtually uncensored medium that can do things like call a George W. Bush stand-in a “dictator”-commentary that television, especially shows marketed for children, as Merlin is-would never dare touch. It’s often easier to explore sociopolitical issues through the lens of fantasy, an elaborate metaphor which grants distance from their very real counterparts in our world. Moreover, the nature of fanfiction guarantees an audience who, although perhaps not concerned about or aware of the same issues, can be invited to the discussion by means of the characters they already love.
Which brings me back to my comments on historical fiction: zempasuchil adds characterization and emotion to stories that would otherwise be purely political, and brings political commentary to characters that would otherwise have purely personal storylines. Thus her fic counteracts both the way culture gives us history, devoid of human content, and the way we’re given entertainment, devoid of political content. This allows her-and we as readers-to form, not only a critical, but an emotional connection to political history.
Bibliography
Masterlist
For Who So Firm, historical RPF, Hamilton/Jefferson
How To Celebrate Defeat, historical RPF, Engels/Marx
Rewriting The Old Language, Merlin, gen
Comandante, Supernatural, gen