Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World

by Jamison, Anne

  More recently, however, I’ve become interested in the series’ secondary characters, and in challenging gender representation through them. In the last few years I’ve started writing about Cancer Man and Teena Mulder, Samantha Mulder, and, most controversially of all, Diana Fowley. Fowley was introduced in season five, with Chris Carter saying that she “was a character you were destined to hate because she was a competitor for Mulder’s affection with Scully.”45 Den of Geek ranked Fowley among their ten most disappointing female characters in sci-fi TV.46 Hating Fowley quickly became a favorite fan pastime. The Diana Fowley Hater’s Brigade was created in 1999 and contains links to fanfiction, poems, and songs about Fowley (almost all of them wishing her dead), as well as a mailing list. The Anti Diana Fowley Archive, which lists fanfiction stories relating to Diana Fowley and includes titles such as “Die Fowley Die!” and “Diana Fowley dies!!!” was also set up in 1999. The hate continued even past her death in the show, in which she sacrificed her life to save Mulder’s (an act that, as I see it, aligned Fowley with other women of The X-Files who have made sacrifices, including Scully).

  In their examination of X-Files fanfiction in the journal Communication Studies, Christine Scodari and Jenna L. Felder suggested that the hate toward Fowley stemmed from Mulder’s trust of Fowley in the face of her duplicitous behavior and his refusal to clarify his relationship with her to Scully, causing what Shippers view as a breach in their partnership and developing romance. Many Shippers had noted the hypocrisy in Carter’s introduction of Fowley, with one complaining, “Chris [Carter] has droned on and on about his objections to ‘soapy’ plot devices yet he goes right ahead and uses the soapiest idea of all: the meddling ex-girlfriend that returns from abroad.”47

  Much of the underlying antagonism toward a Mulder/Fowley relationship, Scodari and Felder go on to show, comes from the way Shippers view the (potential) romantic relationship between the two. As one Shipper quoted by Scodari and Felder noted, “I love how [Mulder] loves Scully . . . with patience and respect and real affection. She’s not an easy woman, and he wouldn’t want her to be. He likes her mind, her willingness to challenge him . . .” Another suggested, “This is exactly why I find the M&S relationship so important . . . I think they are attempting to define the heterosexual romantic relationship for the new century,” while a third concurred, “I think that women see that strength of equality and say wow—‘that’ is a male/female relationship at its best.”48 In contrast, not only would a relationship between Mulder and Fowley draw upon a “soapy” plot device (soaps are traditionally considered a devalued feminine genre), but the existence of a prior relationship between the characters, and Fowley’s duplicitous nature, would provide a poor basis on which to develop a romance.

  While plenty of fanfiction was written in response to fan frustration with this storyline—Scodari and Felder relate that “Fanfic answer[ed] sixth season chagrin by stating in headers that the objectionable events [were] going to be ignored, or by reconciling the agents and eliminating ‘The Fowl One,’ often mortally and at Mulder or Scully’s hand”49—other fans defended Fowley. In her post to the halfamoon LiveJournal community, recommending Fowley-centric fic, wendelah1 wrote that

  Diana Fowley is one of the most neglected, misunderstood, and hated characters in TXF fandom. I guess it’s no secret that I love her [ . . . ] I like writing her [because] : (1.) she’s an intelligent, complicated, middle-aged woman with divided loyalties, and (2.) smart as she is, she’s still in love with someone she knows she can’t have.50

  Among the fic wendelah1 recommended was maidenjedi’s “Something Strange,” which follows Fowley through her return to the United States. Although Fowley is portrayed as disloyal and untrustworthy in the series, in fic her motivations are examined in much greater detail. Through lines such as, “She wasn’t sure why she had agreed to come. Someone else could’ve handled the dirty work. She thought longingly of Saudi heat and sand, of Arabic voices. She’d rather pretend there if she had to at all,”51 the reader discovers where Fowley has been since leaving America, as well as her state of mind on returning. Fowley’s feelings for Mulder are laid bare, and maidenjedi shows us a much more vulnerable woman than the series did:

  A small figure topped with red hair got up from the table and got to Fox first. He dropped his stare down to her as she placed her hand on his arm. She whispered to him, he answered her. All his attention was on her, and Diana felt the dread return.52

  It is this barely hinted vulnerability that I find interesting both as a writer and a reader. Although fans often complain about Chris Carter’s predilection for leaving loose ends, these holes allow fic writers to create a backstory for Fowley and make her a more sympathetic character. Fowley, like Scully, is not an easy woman, and Mulder wouldn’t have wanted her to be. He would have liked her mind and her willingness to challenge him, traits that can be developed further in fanfic than they are in the series, and that reveal Fowley to be more than the manipulative shrew as which she is often pegged. This kind of revision or augmentation of received canon, the backbone of fanfiction, can be (and in academic work often is) seen as a form of resistance.53

  One of the most common ways writers resist original texts, however, is through slash fiction. Of course, other genres can be just as resistive as slash. In fact, as Will Brooker argues in Using the Force: Creativity, Community and Star Wars Fans:

  slash fiction plays exactly the same game with the primary texts, on a formal level, as does . . . its heterosexual counterpart. [Gen] stories that do nothing more than fill in the gaps . . . expand on [an] evolving relationship . . . are no less radical than slash in terms of their relationship with the primary texts. Slash relies on the [texts] as much as genfic does; genfic departs from the [texts] as much as slash does.54

  As a fanfic writer who now spends a lot of time coming up with stories about Fowley, I would argue that fanfic that portrays her in direct contrast to her depiction on The X-Files is just as resistive as most slash. But femslash featuring Fowley—fics in which a same-sex relationship is imagined between Fowley and another female character who is canonically heterosexual—is perhaps the most resistive of them all.

  While much of the academic work on X-Files fanfiction so far has focused on Mulder and Scully, fic that focuses on Fowley, as well as femslash pairing Scully and Fowley, is an important tool that fans use to critique constructions of gender on the show. By drawing on their knowledge of the series to fill out stories with detail, fanfic writers are able to subvert the clichés and stereotypes evident in the series.

  One reason slash is appealing as a genre is that an equal relationship between a man and a woman is not possible in the patriarchal society in which we live, and slash between men enables writers to examine relationships between characters who are equals. Whether the same is true for femslash depends on who you ask. Academics Lamb and Veith55 argue that women are not equals in a patriarchal society, even if they may be equals in a lesbian relationship. Bacon-Smith56 and Green, Jenkins, and Jenkins57 argue that femslash has been largely ignored by fic writers because there are not enough strong female characters on television. In Scully and Fowley The X-Files offers two characters who easily qualify. Their roles as FBI special agents place them relatively high up the chain within the male-dominated field of law enforcement and, while arguments can be made about their lack of equality within the institution of the federal government specifically and patriarchal society more generally, nonetheless they are each other’s equals.

  idella’s fic “The Future’s So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades” shows Scully and Fowley developing a relationship following Mulder’s disappearance in season six. It comprises five “parts,” chronological but not continuous, and begins just after Fowley’s apparent betrayal of Mulder at the end of season five. Scully is suspicious of her new partner’s motivation, both in joining the X-Files division now, and in her former relationship with Mulder. In this way, Scully’s thoughts and fears mirror viewers’ at t
he beginning of season six, as well as the fic’s readers’: that Fowley is not to be trusted, and that her assignment to the X-Files as Scully’s partner is further evidence of her role as spy. As the fic progresses, though, Scully’s (and thus the reader’s) attitude toward Fowley shifts. At one point, Scully notices that Fowley is quieter than usual and wonders if it’s because of the remarks made by the (male) law enforcement officers they had encountered in the field. Her concern and compassion for the other woman is evident: “What could she say that Fowley doesn’t already know? Fowley could spout the same platitudes at her. Scully slows down for a red light. ‘Small towns, you know,’ she says. ‘Small minds.’”58

  When Fowley propositions Scully in an airplane bathroom, then, it seems almost inevitable: though neither woman likes the other, each is the only person who knows how the other feels. Scully/Fowley is not just a slash pairing; it is an enemyslash pairing, between two characters who do not like or trust each other. Catherine Tosenberger suggests that the joy of an enemyslash pairing lies in watching the antagonists overcome their differences. She writes that “dislike is recast as sexual tension, and when the characters are both men, part of the pleasure is in seeing their negotiation of expectations of male aggression (rather than friendship) in terms of desire.”59 Scully and Fowley, as strong, nontraditionally female characters, are also able to resort to aggression, however, and in the fic, their feelings of aggression toward one another segue into desire:

  Scully crosses the room in three quick strides and presses her gun to Fowley’s head. She doesn’t flinch, but she looks like she’s paying attention now. Scully takes a step back, keeping her gun trained on her partner. “Who’s after you?” she asks. “Are they after both of us?”

  [ . . . ]

  When she opens her eyes, Diana is standing with her head to one side, looking at Scully consideringly. Scully touches her wrist. It’s cold and smooth, and Diana leans forward and kisses Scully. The past two months are pressing down, and the weight of them makes her sag against Diana. When she pulls away, she realizes she’s still holding her weapon. “You should go,” she says.60

  Fowley is also, thus, repositioned as a stronger and more three-dimensional character than depicted on The X-Files.

  I’d argue that what is happening in fic like this one is not so different from what occurs in Shipper fanfiction. At least up until season eight, there is no sexual element to the Mulder/Scully relationship. Fans are thus able to find queer pleasure in the text by writing stories in which they are a couple, and by drawing on the gender reversal created by Carter. Fans similarly find “queer” pleasure in the text through writing Mulder/Fowley fic, and Scully/Fowley femslash. Each of these are non-normative pairings, at least within the X-Files universe, and each fleshes out the characters’ backstories and motivations in an attempt to understand them better. Each also further critiques canon’s construction of gender, and the role it plays in romantic relationships.

  In fanfiction, Fowley is no longer the soapy plot device but rather becomes a means through which fans can comment on male writers’ depictions of ex-girlfriends, competitors for male affection, and post-feminist women whose enemies are no longer men, but other women. The power of fanfiction, then, lies in its ability to reimagine texts and resist the meanings imposed by the creators of those texts. Be it through het, gen, slash, or femslash, fan writers and readers take control of the characters they love and create stories, scenarios, and a world befitting of them.

  The Look of Fic: 1995

  Steven Han’s X-Files fanfiction “The Calimari,” posted to Usenet (and also set partly in Usenet)D

  The Bronze Age

  Buffy Meets the Internet

  The best texts are incoherent.

  —Joss Whedon

  BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER appeared on screens—both television and computer—at a time when home use of the latter was rapidly expanding. By 1997, when Buffy debuted, one in three US homes had computers—up from one in five in 1993—but only one in five Americans reported using the internet. This figure nonetheless represented a dramatic rise in usage, with higher percentages reported among teens and young adults. Buffy’s home network (the then-new, now-defunct WB) was on a mission to attract younger viewers, and so the show started life with an official website that soon added an interactive comment zone—called The Bronze, after the series’ teen club and frequent vampire feeding ground. Fans met in this virtual space to talk about the show, and the show’s creators could see what was said. Soon, fans weren’t just interacting with each other, but with the show’s writers, actors, musicians, composers, stunt coordinators, and anyone else who happened by. Creators could discuss and defend their choices, explain their process, tease future episodes, or just tease fans: “The whole show’s going naked and gay; you heard it here first!”; “I think all viewpoints regarding X[ander]/W[illow] are valid, glad to see I could cause some pain and dissention.” Eventually, there were “real-life” get-togethers—posting board parties—that the show’s cast and crew also attended.

  The primary users of The Bronze were, of course, fans. This fan experience has been documented in an hour-length film IRL (In Real Life) by Stephanie Tuszynski, and its greatest point of emphasis throughout is the sense of community the board built. But fans also explained how show-creator participation helped legitimize the online activity—in the fans’ own minds. Conversations on the boards also forged a sense that fans, Joss and co., and Buffy herself were fighting common (metaphoric) demons, whether corporate suits or snotty popular kids—or getting dumped, or dealing with the loss of a parent. The overall experience was one of solidarity. When a fan worried that Joss would think Bronzers were losers for hanging around a computer on a Friday night, he replied, “By the by, if being on the site on a friday nite makes you guys losers, what does it make me? Buffy is a show by losers, for losers. Be PROUD. Losers rule.”61

  Another source of cohesion was language: fans’ and writers’ posts made frequent use of the show’s special slang, which provided a common language distinctive enough to be the subject of a book (Slayer Slang, from Oxford University Press, by lexicographer and language historian Michael Adams). Fic writers, too, could learn and employ this language, lending an authentic sound to character voice and dialogue—and they did so in droves. Buffy almost immediately began inspiring fic, with the tacit and sometimes more explicit support of the show’s creator. The Bronze was by no means a fic community—as is the case in fandom generally, many extremely active fans were very anti-fic themselves. Whedon, however, has been consistently pro-fanfic, and while he doesn’t discuss individual stories, his Bronze postings as far back as 1998 display an awareness of what was likely to inspire fic: “Well, my computer’s been down for a few weeks. Much has happened. We finished ep 9, which I suspect will generate MUCH fanfic (both adult and otherwise).”62 It was a good call. The episode in question—season three’s “The Wish”—isn’t far from AU fanfic itself, playing in the kind of “what-if” universe fan writers love: what would have happened if Buffy had never come to Sunnydale to do battle at the Hellmouth? Spoiler alert! Sweet, geeky Willow is a dark, sadistic dominatrix of a vampire. Dorky Xander is her leather-clad, greaser-style mate. Broody, heroic Angel is now kept as Vamp!Willow’s “Puppy” and cowers in a cage waiting to be tortured. And to top it all off, cheerleaders are forced to wear drab colors. Welcome to the Wishverse, where new fic is still being posted.

  Whedon couldn’t resist the pull of the Wishverse either. Following the fic-like logic that “more would be better,” “Dopplegangland” brought part of that world back to Sunnydale. This Whedon-penned and -directed episode practically femslashes Vamp!Willow with herself: “That’s me as a vampire?” Willow asks after meeting her vampire alter ego. “I’m so evil and . . . skanky. And I think I’m kinda gay.”

  In the following season, “kinda gay” Willow loses the qualifier and becomes canon—at which point the Bronze and Buffy fandom generally exploded in the kind of c
ontroversy that . . . happens all the time in fic fandoms around slash pairings. But this time, it wasn’t just fandom. One of Joss’ Bronze posts about this plot development early on (“Willow and Tara’s relationship is definitely romantic. Thorny subject; the writers and I have had long topics about how to deal with the subject responsibly, without writing a story that sounds like people spent a long time discussing how to deal with it responsibly”63) went very public, much to his dismay: “Well. The posting board. A place for laughs, for romance, for leaking information . . . You know, I came on last week, chatted a little about the willow/tara dynamic—couple of days later it’s in Entertainment Weekly.”64 As many a fan writer has also found, it’s easy to forget that the intimate-seeming virtual spaces of online fandom are in fact quite public:

  The truth is, I was a little wigged by all the commotion my posting caused. I think the worst thing that could happen would be for the willow/tara storyline to become some kind of publicity stunt. I guess if I type something here, the papers are gonna pick up on it, and there’s nothing I can do about it.65