Slytherins in Fandom - A Study
Some of you on my list already know, and for those who are redirected here, I'm off to New Orleans April 8-12 to present at the Popular Culture Association's National Conference. I'm listed in the Science Fiction and Fantasy area, and will be presenting on fandom in Harry Potter, and the treatment of the Slytherins. I am also asking for some help from the fandom community, the specifics of which are found below the abstract.
ABSTRACT:
“I sometimes think we Sort too soon” - How fandom gave humanity back to the Slytherins
In J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” book series, the British tradition of the house system is one of the key features at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Students are sorted magically, according to the perceived qualities possessed by children at eleven years old. Out of the four Hogwarts houses, Slytherin House in particular is given the unsavory reputation of producing the most evil villain their world has seen, and this distinction casts pallor on the house as a whole. Each year, twenty-five percent of students are branded as potentially evil.
The stereotyping of the entire wizarding world based on their house affiliation can be hugely debilitating and whether the individuals fit the stigma or not, it will remain with them through their entire adult lives. Characters are rarely allowed to demonstrate qualities opposite of their proscribed houses. There are canon examples of witches and wizards acting against type; however, their actions and reasons are occasionally blurred in an exception to the rule.
The hegemony of the wizarding world created by J.K. Rowling does a disservice to today’s readers. T
he simplistic allocation of characters to these particular traits shows an inequality that many members of fandom react against: the fans don the colours of the disenfranchised house, and create their own text to include the marginalized. Through fanfiction and cosplay, fandom is choosing to reevaluate the Slytherins as wholly human, and not caricatures of evil.
The essay will address three ways in which fandom reclaims the Slytherins: 1) reexamination of the Hogwarts Founding Charters, and the stereotyping of the House due to nature/nurture concepts, 2) queering the Slytherin identity, and 3) identity performance through cosplay and roleplaying.
Here's where I need help from the fans. Anyone who would like to share their experiences as a fanficcer who prominently features Slytherins as the protagonists, a cosplayer who dons the green, or a roleplayer (live chat, message board, etc) who plays Slytherin characters, please feel free to contact me through this journal.
Slytherin Ethics Disclaimer
This study is being conducted by Stephanie Lalonde, an Independent Scholar located in Niagara Falls, Ontario. I am asking for your participation in the study. To participate in this study, you should be in a position in which, based on your experience in Harry Potter fandom, either online or in real life, you have worked creatively or engage regularly in projects, films, books, cosplay, fanfiction, fanvids, RPGs, or any other sort of media or participatory narrative which fall into the Harry Potter fandom. If you are a fan, then you often consume science fiction texts of any type, and may use said texts as a platform upon which to build your own narratives.
Interacting with any aspect of this website - leaving a comment, replying to questions, offering a fan craft, writing to the creator, etc - we be considered as volunteering for this study. All volunteered texts or crafts will potentially be included in the study, as well as any academic texts, conference presentations, or films precipitated from this study.
Participation in this study is voluntary. You may decline to answer any questions that you do not wish to answer, or decline to comment on any aspect of the study as you wish. You can withdraw your participation at any time by deleting or requesting deletion of your responses or offered fan crafts.
There are few known or anticipated risks from participating in this study. Should fans agree to be directly quoted in the presentations or academic papers, if their legal names are ever connected to the online aliases they provide, published materials generated from the thesis could conceivably be used against them in an intellectual property or copyright suit. It is important that you understand these risks before agreeing to participate in this study. However, Ms. Lalonde will only use the alias you provide for her. She will not use your legal name unless you ask her to. How you manage your alias, screen-name, or identity within the fandom or professional community will still be up to you.
It is also important for you to know that any information that you provide will be confidential, and the data collected from this study will be accessed only by Stephanie Lalonde and will be maintained on a password-protected computer.
Should you have any questions about the research, please contact Stephanie Lalonde through this journal or at red_moon_creations@yahoo.ca.
Thank you for considering participation in this study.