Queering the Potterverse: Close Reading Slash Fanfiction Pairings on Archive of Our Own

Abstract

Originating in the 1970s underground fanzines that delighted in featuring Kirk and Spock in homosocial and homoerotic pairings (K/S), “slash” fanfiction has since become a fixture of fan culture. Fanzines in which fanfiction was published first arose in the 1930s and were long viewed as lowbrow and thus relegated to the status of an occluded genre. However, since the introduction of the internet, it has both vastly expanded in scope, cultural, and scholarly cache, following foundational studies by researchers such as Camille Bacon-Smith and Henry Jenkins. Massification of the internet coincided with the rise of J. K. Rowling’s novelistic heptalogy, and the development of online fanfiction platforms with the phenomenal success of the movie canon, propelling the Potterverse into particular prominence within this popular cultural nexus. This thesis investigates how fan-readers-turned-writers queer Harry Potter characters in slash fiction, reimagining their characteristics and reworking the official narratives to subvert the author’s controlling presence, especially in terms of her heteronormative portrayal of characters. This study both contextualises and presents a series of close readings of slash fiction from the popular fanfiction site Archive of Our Own to investigate how the characters that figure in such works adhere to and differ from their canonical characterisations, how queering their sexuality affects their culturally marked masculine and feminine traits, and how emotional intimacy can be built between “enemyslash” pairings, where canonical antagonisms are overcome via romantic and/or sexual couplings. Often, fans subvert conventionally masculine and feminine qualities to enhance the depiction of the characters’ emotional vulnerabilities, which can intensify their homosocial and, indeed, queer relationships. These reinterpreted characteristics make them more human and relatable to fans who bridle at Rowling’s authorial control over the Harry Potter franchise and associated universe, with often conservative and heteronormative underpinnings. These findings suggest the wider value of fanfiction as an unrestrictive medium for fans to challenge original narratives and authors, extend the life of a fandom, and underscore its significance in fan culture.