FAIRYTALES WITHOUT
DAMSELS-IN-DISTRESS: HOW FANS INTERACT WITH THE
GENDER IDEOLOGIES OF ONCE UPON A TIME
Name: Marlieke Lindeman Student number: 6133088
University: University of Amsterdam (UvA) Faculty: Graduate School of Humanities Supervisor: Anne Kustritz
ABSTRACT
The fantasy television series Once Upon a Time shows many fairytales characters, but deviates from the classic storytelling by reformulating conventional gender ideologies. This influences the fans in their engagement with the show when it comes to the writing of fan fiction, leading to expanding discourses on gender-related issues. Featuring many female protagonists, the show gives rise to the female form of the “slash” genre, which features same-sex relationships. Inspired by the shows’ portrayal of characters with blending gender traits, fans let go of multiple binary oppositions, such as masculinity and femininity, of which society says they can’t unite. Exploring different generic tropes, in the end combined with the theme of motherhood, this thesis explains how Once Upon a Time’s fans use implicit features of the show in going beyond traditional female roles and family structures. All in all, it shows the ambiguity of the slash genre, where all is about gender, and at the same time it is not. Fandom - Gender – Femslash – Fairytales – Motherhood
PAGE
1. INTRODUCTION 4
2. METHODOLOGY 6
3. FAN FICTION 7
3.1 Fan Fiction and its Ambiguous Genre: Slash 7
3.2 First Time Stories 11
3.3 Other Generic Tropes 22
4. FAN FICTION – THE JOURNEY OF MOTHERHOOD 25
4.1 Pregnancy 26
4.2 Different Mother Roles 28
4.3 Troubled Childhoods 33
4.4 Two Women Raising a Child 38
4.5 The Father Issue 41
4.6 Parents, Partners and Individuals 44
5. CONCLUSION 46
6. BIBLIOGRAPHY 48
Julie Levin Russo wrote in 2009 about two female characters from the television series Law and
Order: SVU, and the popularity among online fans to imagine them with a romantic and/or sexual
association. This was one of the first pieces on “femslash”, the female version of slash, which is a highly popular genre of fan fiction that focuses on relationships between characters of the same sex. The area of femslash is relatively new, as not many media products fit the female focus of the genre. Yet, the television show Once Upon a Time does.
Once Upon a Time (ABC, 2011) is a fantasy television series about a range of different,
intertwined fairytale stories and characters, centered around the narrative of Snow White. The series switches between two different worlds: the past in the Enchanted Forest, where everyone is their true fairytale character, and the present in Storybrooke, a little town where time stood still. Because of a curse cast by Snow’s stepmother The Evil Queen, all fairytale characters have been stuck here for eighteen years, robbed of their memories of their true identity. Within this fairytale stetting, Once
Upon a Time is noteworthy in its portrayal of women. Where the Disney films had their princesses
cleaning day in and day out, this is not the business of these leasing ladies. Snow, the main princess of the show, lives as a fugitive in the woods, and manages on her own by stealing and fighting her enemies; the Evil Queen, with her use of dark magic, holds more power than all men and women; and Red Riding Hood is not only a sweet girl but also the wolf herself, the monster from her own story. Next to these feisty, female fairytale characters, the series tells about Emma Swan, the woman that is the savior of all people.
With this outstanding depiction of women, Once Upon a Time deviates from the traditional gender ideologies that characterize the classic fairytales. These ideologies seem natural, as these stories are being exposed to great parts of society for so many years. When thinking of fairytales and specifically their princesses, many will come up with images from the classic Disney movies. These films largely shaped people’s mind-set on gender-specific issues, such as the role of men and women, marriage, romance, and on ourselves. Similarly, Once Upon a Time, in choosing to tell these stories with a reformulation of themes involving gender and sexuality, influences its fans. This thesis argues that the material of Once Upon a Time in its portrayal of gender ideologies, influences the way the fans engage with the show, leading to expanding discourses on gender-related issues, such as notions of femininity and masculinity, same-sex relationships, parenthood, and family life, in the end resulting in the questioning of the naturalness of conventional gender patterns, and of society’s habit of thinking in binary oppositions.
It is important to look at fandom, because it tells stories based on thoughts that circulate in society, but that the media cannot or will not explicitly tell. Media research often focuses on the text, with little attention for its readers. Yet, fandom should be studied, as it is not this “fake” world that people go to in escaping real life; the online world now is the real world. Maybe it is even here and not in society itself, that people can truly be themselves. Fandom is often seen as the field of freedom in
multiple ways. This thesis doesn’t look at freedom of authorship or copyright, but looks at freedom of thought, where it is about the subjective experience of reading, and the discourses that arise here. While fandom, and especially slash fiction, has been studied a lot, often the wrong question has been asked. There have been many studies about who is writing and for what reasons, but the question what is being created has been neglected.
By making this the central question, this thesis is concerned with the interpretative practices of fans when it comes to gender ideologies in this specific fantasy series. This is researched by looking at the practice of writing fan fiction, where fans write fictional stories about characters from their favorite show, with a focus on the genre of slash, which features same-sex relationships. Why these are called same-sex and not homosexual relationships, is because they revolve around more than just homosexuality, and because the term “homosexuality” is foreign to the fairytale world, as it was only coined by the West in the late 19th century. Where slash generally involves men, Once Upon a Time is
one of the few television series that inspires fans to write about female relationships. The pairing that this thesis is all about, is of the female characters Emma Swan/The Savior and Regina Mills/The Evil Queen, echoing the fans, together called “SwanQueen”.
The SwanQueen relationship is explored by looking at different tropes. After discussing fan fiction and the genre of slash, the trope of the “first time story” will be explored, which is a highly popular narrative formula with fan fiction, in which the first physical and emotional contact as lovers takes place. The following chapter will look at two other generic tropes, that often follow the first time story in narrative structure. Firstly, the “hurt-comfort trope”, in which the relationship goes to some emotional crises, with the purpose of the characters finding support with each other, after which the trope of the “domestic fiction” lets the relationship develop further, by creating a homely setting for the characters to settle down together. Going from these general tropes, that gradually take the relationship to new levels, the second part of this thesis will explore a “new” trope, which the fans invented combining features of the previous tropes with an important theme on the show, motherhood, resulting in the trope of the “mommies stories”, where Regina and Emma build a family together and share motherhood. Looking at the phases that SwanQueen goes through in these different tropes, it is explored how the intimacy between these two women evolves. In the end, all different stories together will show the fluid and highly paradoxical meaning of gender with the genre of slash, where all is about gender, and at the same time it is not.
2. METHODOLOGY
For the analyses of fan fiction, two of the world’s largest archives were selected: FanFiction.net and Archive of Our Own, where only stories written in English were incorporated. The choice to study fan
fiction comes from its free nature, providing room for fans to anonymously reflect on topics that interest them. Therewith, it shows not only the issues that the fans engage with, but also provides the opportunity to get a more profound reading of their viewpoints and reflections. FanFiction.net was selected because it is the largest fan fiction website throughout the world: it is an automated archive, founded in Los Angeles in 1998 and has more than 2 million users. Once Upon a Time at this moment has 12,048 stories under its name. The website most popular television series is currently Glee with 94,167 hits, and the biggest of all categories are the Harry Potter books with a number of 643,209.1
Yet, as FanFiction.net works with limitations on allowed content, especially when it comes to adult fan fiction, another website was selected because of its more “free and open” nature: Archive of Our Own. The site claims to be “[…]a fan-created, fan-run, non-profit, non-commercial archive for transformative fanworks, like fanfiction, fanart, fan videos and podfic.”2 It has 4,340 hits with Once Upon a Time. Separate from Fanfiction.net, it is a project of The Organization for Transformative
Works, which is run by fans themselves. Also different is that it hosts many fan practices, and fan fiction is just one of them.
The stories used for this research were selected from these websites, firstly with the use of the search function (FanFiction.net), or by the use of a tag (Archive of Our Own), filtering out all
SwanQueen stories. Subsequent, a significant amount of stories was read, to look at what tropes recurred the most, and to see what topics the fans were mostly interested in. Based on that knowledge, the tropes and themes discussed in this thesis were chosen, after which multiple examples were selected that fit them.
3. FAN FICTION
3.1 FAN FICTION AND ITS AMBIGUOUS SUBGENRE: SLASH
In a short time, Once Upon a Time has gathered a dedicated fan base, where many fans go over onto the practice that this thesis is all about, writing fan fiction. This chapter first focuses on the
1 FanFiction.net. 2013. 15-05-2013. <http://www.fanfiction.net/>
nature and history of this fan practice, and looks at what Once Upon a Time’s fan fiction is generally about. This is often still connected to romance, yet the romance narrative is expanded, especially by the fans writing slash, which will be discussed subsequently. In the end it is seen how Once Upon a
Time inspires to a great attendance of the female form of the genre, femslash. 3.1.1 Fan fiction
Fan fiction are stories that fans write about the characters and events from their favorite show (or other media product); not for economic purposes, but as an emotional response. Camille Bacon-Smith wrote one of the first big publications on the subject and, like many others, claims that the birth of fan fiction happened in the late 60’s with the television series Star Trek. In the early times, fan fiction was developed within magazines, the so-called “fanzines”. The practice of writing then would be considered a weird hobby. Yet, as Anik LaChev explains, with the arrival of the Internet, with its anonymity and easy accessibility, it expanded rapidly and grew into a mass phenomenon (84). The Internet is open to everyone, and so writing fan fiction also became an instrument for minority groups that were usually excluded from the dominant discourse. The Internet not only lead to an enormous expansion of fanfic stories, it also gained the awareness of the large number of people with the same interest, at which it even more became an ongoing process of sharing, reflecting and responding. María del Mar Rubio-Hernández talks about fandom as an active practice and sees how this unending process constitutes “[…]a continual reinterpretation of media texts, in which every writing contributes in a way to enlarge the experiences that the primary text caused on them” (535). So, the experience and meaning of the source text are expanded by the practice of fan fiction, which may take a different stance on things than the original text. Laura Hinton talks in her thesis about how fan fiction has often been seen as a way of going against the monopoly of culture. In using their imaginations, fans would come up with stories and ideas that often deviated from the conventional ones (2). Thus, writing fan fiction is not so much about creating something new, but as LaChev says “[…]about shaping something familiar, bending it, playing with it, deconstructing and reconstructing it” (87). However, with such practices of re-creation, new meanings arise.
Although fan fiction has been studied a lot, these “new” meanings haven’t. It is often discussed why people write fan fiction, which bears no singular answer. It can have to do with the source text itself: fans may be interested in the things not shown, want to expand their connection with the show, or are impatient for the next episode to come. It can also be about the fans’ selves, wherein it can function as a form of escapism, as a way of projecting personal stories onto an imaginary narrative, as a way to meet new people, or just as a creative practice. Like LaChev claims, “it can function as compensating writing and therapeutic writing, fun writing and/or experimental writing” (89). Also the identity of the fanfic writer is highly discussed, which actually offers a more limited answer: it is presumed to be mostly done by white middle class women of various ages, that are often highly educated (85). Of course this is generally speaking and as the field is expanding, it will contain
more writers from different backgrounds, leading to more diverse stories. However, among these discussions of who and why, the question of what fans create has been neglected. Like Katherine E. Morrissey notes, fan fiction is often connected to the romantic and the sexual (77). The majority writes about a “pairing”, which means two characters that are romantically involved. Yet, to say that fan fiction is only about romance is way too limited. This thesis will explore what is created in Once Upon
a Time’s fan fiction, which indeed is often linked to themes of love and sex, yet in many different
forms and variations, at which the romance formula is extended and diversified.
The fan fiction of Once Upon a Time is at this time a much expanding field, as it is a relatively young show. Though there is also room for individuality with the characters, most of the fanfic focuses on romantic narratives. On the website Archive of Our Own, more than twice as many stories have been written on (heterosexual) romance (F/M) than on general fan fiction (gen); 2,301 versus 1,041 stories3. Consequently, many pairings arise. Sometimes these also exist on the show itself, such
as “Rumbelle”, a combination of the characters Rumpelstiltskin and Belle, which is a popular couple among fanfic writers. As Karen Hellekson and Kristina Busse state, there are lots of fans that choose to write OTP, or “one true pairing”, which means that they will only write about one specific romantic relationship, because they are highly invested in it (11). Although Archive of Our Own is just one website among many others, it signals the great popularity of Rumbelle, as it is the couple that by far most stories revolve around; it in fact holds more narratives than the next three most popular
heterosexual pairings together.
Yet, Once Upon a Time’s fanfic not only focuses on pairings that were invented by the show itself. It expands the concepts of romance, with the involvement of surprising heterosexual couples, love triangles or polyamorous relationships where three characters or more are romantically involved, lots of different family relationships, and a striking interest in same-sex pairings. Thus, also here romance seems so to be an important theme with fan fiction, yet often not in a traditional manner, at which some fans are challenging the dominant viewpoints on notions such as gender, identity and sexuality.
3.1.2 Slash
One popular form of the romance narrative with fan fiction is formed by the genre of slash, which features two characters of the same gender in a relationship. The pairing that is chosen here is usually made up by the author of the fan fiction. Although a considerable amount of slash is about pairings of characters that never meet on the show, in many cases it is based on some “[…]perceived homoerotic subtext” (Hellekson & Busse, 10). This doesn’t means that the show openly admits to a
3 Archive of Our Own. 2013. Organization for Transformative Works. 23-04-2013.
homosexual relationship itself, but that the fans come up with this relying on, as Virginia Keft-Kennedy says, “[…]what is at least thinly veiled” (56). Thus, in many cases the source text inspires the fan to come up with these narratives.
Where with fan fiction in general there already was much attention for why people would write it, this is even more the case with slash, which makes it the subgenre that is assumed to be studied the most. Joanna Russ started the debate in 1985 with her book Magic Mommas, Trembling
Sisters, Puritans and Perverts: Feminist Essays, and was followed by many theorists in the early 90’s,
such as Henry Jenkins, Camille Bacon-Smith, and Constance Penley. While some of the initial ideas on slash have been challenged, such as Bacon-Smith’s understanding of it as a help to women in their dealing with traumatic relationships, other socio-political reasons have survived. Many theorists of then and now argue that slash is being written in an attempt to challenge the heterosexual matrix of gender inequality, to reconstruct the dominant versions of masculinity, and to escape the limitations of traditional femininity. This fits with the way Laura Hinton sees slash being used: as a way to explore the idea of gender as something socially constructed (5). Slash is often seen as counter-hegemony, as it goes against the intentional cultural interpretation of the source text. However, slash writers, called “slashers”, also accept many dominant representations from popular culture. Hence, it would be better to follow Jenkins here, and to not regard slash as a break with all representations in mass media productions, but as a negotiation with it (220). Therefore, it is wrong to say that all slash is counter-hegemonic and all writings on heterosexual pairings are not, although the nature of slash fits this “rebellious” position better, because its general principle, same-sex romance, is in itself already seen as resistant.
As with general fanfic, slash is assumed to be mainly written and read by women. With the involvement of a same-sex pairing, female fans can enjoy equal relationships that they cannot in the patriarchal society or mainstream media. Besides, without a difference in gender, they can experience both characters and both sides of the fantasy. Keft-Kennedy argues that for women, slash may also function “[…]to articulate their desires and wishes about their own relationships with men” (63). Therefore, with the writing of slash, women can create their ideal relationship and explore their sexual fantasy. This last part causes another debate about whether slash is a form of romance fiction or pornography, as both have theorists on their side. It probably can be both, but it’s difficult to say what exactly drives slashers. As the erotic pleasure is shocking to people, it is often highlighted as its main principle. Pornography is conventionally seen as the domain of men, but slash provides a space for women to explore their fantasies, although often in a different form than men’s erotica. Some scholars then see slash not as traditional pornography, but as a reaction to it, as it provides room for sexual stories without the conventional gender hierarchy of pornography. Also Jenkins argues that slash is not only about eroticism. It is a genre that explores the limitations and possibilities of gender related-issues, such as masculinity and femininity in relation to identity. A lot of studies on slash fiction then also propose that it is not so much about homosexuality, but about female desire concerning their own
identity and relationships with men. Hence, the viewpoints on the role of (homo)sexuality with slash are divergent.
Something the theorists agree on is the existence of the genre’s male focus. Slash refers to sex relationships, but as the majority involves male pairings, the term often specifies male same-sex stories. The reason for this is often said to be that there is not much material on shows that inspires to the imagining of female relationships. Where women have a history of identifying with male characters because of a lack of female ones, the same can be said for slash. Yet, the genre’s female version is now also growing. Throughout the years there have been a few shows, such as Xena:
Warrior Princess (1995-2001) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) that resulted in the birth of
femslash. Still, it is not much present because of a male focus in the media. Yet, now there is Once
Upon a Time. As the show features lots of women and chooses to go around notions of femininity
somewhat differently, there has been much to work with for fans on this area. So far, there is no actual homosexual relationship going on in Once Upon a Time, but it features a lot of female friendships, which provide the material for fans to get more invested in the relationships between women. As Chris Straayer discusses in talking about potential lesbian heroines in heterosexual material, “female
bonding is a precondition for lesbianism” (53). The idea of female same-sex pairings just cannot exist when women are only in relationships with men. So, although the show does not (yet) gives the fans a homosexual relationship, it does provide the material for fans to imagine this, which is also rare. That the material plays an important part here is visible as many fans stay close to the source text, while exploring these new pairings. This may be pairings that are also linked in canon, but as interactions between same-gendered characters are usually portrayed non-sexually, it is up to the fans themselves to eroticize these looks.
As femslash is a relatively new area, it is hard to say whether these slashers have the same motivations as with (male) slash. Still, some “traditional” slash motivations could be applicable: the discourse of femslash also goes against the existing patriarchal structure of society by eliminating gender difference. Besides, slash is much about blending gender traits, which seems equally possible with women. M/m slash often features masculine yet in the end also emotional and vulnerable characters, at which it would seem even more applicable here. However, femslash features strong, powerful females that struggle with opening up emotionally in their own way, and thus also here notions of masculinity and femininity mingle. Femslash can still be about what women seek in relationships, where it is most certainly about an equal affiliation, yet now imposed on female bodies. Bacon-Smith saw in the early 90’s no possibilities for femslash, as according to her the removal of the female body was necessary for women to imagine ideal relationships, because their own sexuality was not of question here (239). Yet, as femslash is an upcoming field, it appears the elimination of the female body is not a requirement for women who write slash. Looking at femslash then will show if and how the genre changes with the involvement of female characters.
Savior) and Regina (The Evil Queen), together called “SwanQueen”. This pairing is the one that is further explored in this thesis. Although Regina and Emma are connected on the show, it should be noted that they are not in a romantic relationship, as the show only features heterosexual romances. Thus, in fanfic these women fall in love with each other coming from a history of heterosexuality, as in canon both had relationships with men, even with the same one (Graham/The Huntsman). This is common for the slash genre, where the characters put in a same-sex relationship are often portrayed as heterosexual, while being attracted to a person from the same sex, and thus as Krisina Busse says “[…]suggesting that the homosexual relationship actually signals a displaced idealized heterosexual one that valorizes inner compatibility, true love, and deep friendship over sexual object choices” (211). Removing gender as a determining force by putting these characters in a same-sex relationship, concurs with the ultimate ideal of an equal power balance in romantic relationships.
3.2 FIRST TIME STORIES
Once Upon a Time’s fan fiction involving SwanQueen brings up a lot of different stories. Yet,
there are some themes, or tropes, that many narratives come back to. One of these is the “first time story”, which Bacon-Smith in 1992 stated to be the subject matter that the majority of slash writers focused on (229). In these stories, the main characters discover their (mutual) attraction for the first time. This chapter looks at the SwanQueen first time stories. Here, fans often start with unfolding the initial connection between these female characters as invented by the show, followed by them exploring all the different steps these women have to go through to arrive at the “end station” of the
first romantic contact. This sudden upswing of affection, many fans imagine it raising questions and doubt with the characters, which the first section of this chapter discusses, looking at how to go from homosocial to homosexual bonds. As slash is much about blending gender traits, in the second part notions of masculinity and femininity are being explored in this context, where it turns out many slashers go beyond gendered binary oppositions. The third section is about the role of sexual encounter within these stories, looking at how sexual descriptions don’t contrast with but are part of the evolving SwanQueen intimacy. At last, social aspects of same-sex relationships are deliberated, both linking it to real life issues, and to the role it has in fan fiction, bringing a new kind of “troubled” romance to explore.
3.2.1 From homosocial to homosexual
With many slash stories, relationships evolve out of a close friendship. This was the case with
Star Trek that started the slash genre. The characters of Kirk and Spock, who were among the first
same-sex pairings in fan fiction, were best friends, and as Rubio-Hernández states, this was seen as an important part of the show’s positive portrayal of homosocial relationships (540). Jenkins has named this the “great friendship theme” (203). Although female friendships are not much explored on television shows, close bonding exists among the women in Once Upon a Time, such as between Snow/Mary Margaret and Emma (although this changes when they find out they are mother and daughter), and Mulan and Aurora. Anne Kustritz says, “slashers use this ‘buddy show’ formula to push the male protagonists’ relationship to its perhaps inevitable conclusion by making the characters’ close friendship into a romantic relationship” (377). As was already the case with Star Trek, these bonds are often imagined to grow from a homosocial to a homosexual one.
Yet, this formula is not followed by most of Once Upon a Time’s slashers, who are more interested in the relationship between Emma and Regina, one that is certainly not evolving out of friendship. On the show, these women are sworn enemies, from even from before Emma’s birth when Regina was fighting her parents. More on the surface is their rivalry over Henry, where both Emma, his birthmother, and Regina, his adoptive mother, want her son to be with her. The physical attraction between rivals is not a new theme, but also much explored with stories around the Harry Potter films, featuring a relationship between Harry and Draco (Malfoy), a popular pairing of enemies that even has its own website (thehexfiles.net). Also with Regina and Emma the strain that comes from reciprocal competition is present, and with this sexual tension arises. Emma and Regina in their rivalry over Henry, actually form something that often occurs with romantic narratives, a love triangle. Although not linked by a romantic object, Emma and Regina fight over the love of a “man”, their son, which binds them together. Yet, two women fighting over a man is actually a reversal of the classic love triangle, which features two men competing for the admiration of one woman. Eve Sedgwick talks in her book about erotic triangles and draws on an earlier work of René Girard, when she states that “within the male-centered novelistic tradition of European high culture, the triangles Girard traces are
most often those in which two males are rivals for a female; it is the bond between males that he most assiduously uncovers” (21). Once Upon a Time thus deviates from the European tradition in its reversal of the erotic triangle, with a focus not on the male but on the female bond of rivalry, that transforms into a, by the fans imagined, romance. Sedgwick’s claim that “[…]the bonds of ‘rivalry’ and ‘love’, differently as they are experienced, are equally powerful”, appears to count here as well (524). The relationship of Emma and Regina thus changes in nature, as love and hate prove to be close to each other. However, the connection was already present, as the show invented the triangle
construction, which the fans eroticized.
Yet, as their rivalry prevents them from becoming friends, slash writers imagine Emma and Regina struggling with these conflicting feelings; not because they are from the same sex, but because of the hatred in their past. Many slashers explore this important part of their relationship, such as in the story “Realization” by fanfic writer Hunnyfresh, which shows Regina in a struggle with the sudden, overwhelming feelings she has for Emma:
It couldn't be love. Regina hated Emma. She paused in putting the pasta in the boiling water. There's the rub. Past tense. She continued cooking, arguing with her own inner monologue. It wasn't love. It was more like appreciation? Respect? Care? Just a hint of longing during the blonde's absence? Not love. Nothing more than that.4
Like happens in this story, many fans show the struggle that both characters face in realizing that their feelings towards each other might have a different nature than aversion. A lot of them then also describe their story as “Eventually SwanQueen”, as they write about Emma and Regina not being ready to admit their feelings to each other right away. The struggle with these new feelings is common for slash, but even more present here than mostly is the case, as the show presented Emma and Regina as each other’s worst enemies. It seems the fans want to give the characters a certain amount of time for consideration in advance of them coming to acceptance, perhaps to make this sudden turn in affection more plausible. Therefore, an important part of these stories is about the different stages the characters go through in discovering and accepting their feelings for the other.
There is some sort of formula for this. Rubio-Hernández describes four movements from homosocial to homosexual desire. Although this is not entirely the trajectory of SwanQueen, it has some of the same developments. The first phase, “the initial relationship”, is not present here as Emma and Regina don’t come from a friendly relation. Though they are connected through their rivalry over Henry, which for some fans is the main reason for pairing them together, this does not subsequently lead to the foundation of the SwanQueen relationship, yet is rather something they must overcome before connecting romantically. The second phase is called “masculine dystopia”. With this, the previous smooth communication, in this case not as friends bus as rivals, is then affected by a tense
4 Hunnyfresh. “Realization.” Archive of Our Own. 2013. Organization for Transformative Works. 05-03-2013.
atmosphere. They struggle with the question whether the other will feel the same, and in this case Regina and Emma also often have difficulties with their own feelings, because they are shocked by this sudden affection for the other. They turn red or react in another way that indicates that it does affect them, while they are not yet willing to accept this. In “Ebony and Gold” by The Auburn Girl, this denial leads to Emma wanting to leave, as she is afraid what might happen when she doesn’t:
"I think it's time for that cake." Her high heels clicked on the polish wooden floors, and Emma had to hold back from sucking in the scent of Regina's perfume as she whisked past. It was overwhelming being in the same room with her...alone...utterly alone...
Oh God, she had to go.5
Like indicated by this fan, denial is very significant within these stories, which is solved by the third phase, “the confession”, which Rubio-Hernández sees as the solution for the tense situation, leading to the fourth step, “masculine utopia”, in which the two prove to have mutual feelings, resulting in sexual encounter (540). These last steps often mark the end of the SwanQueen stories, followed by a note or indication by the author that this is only the beginning of the story of their relationship. In coming to this, it proves to be important to first accept the self along with these unexpected feelings, followed by a mutual acceptance of both parties. Thus, writing SwanQueen first time stories can really be a way of exploring all the different steps in coming to some sort of acceptance in any kind of “troubled” relationship, where at this point it is essentially not about society’s disapproval of same-sex relationships, but more about condemnation of the self.
3.2.2 Masculinity vs. femininity
In these first time stories, Emma and Regina take on varying roles. There is often one person taking the initiative to admit her feelings to the other or to move onto seduction. Mostly this is the role that is given to Emma. In heterosexual relationships this part is commonly ascribed to men, and it is then not that astonishing that both within source text and fan fiction, Emma is portrayed as more “masculine” than Regina. Many stories take over the source text’s depiction of her masculine traits: from her calling Henry “kid”, to the leather jacket that she often wears. In contrast, Regina is
portrayed more femininely with her classy dresses and high heels. Besides that, many femslash stories involve Regina making a lovely dinner for Emma (the lasagna she makes in canon is extremely popular), that puts her in the more feminine, caring role. With this, most fans stick to the personality traits of these women, as invented by the source text. As Malin Isaksson claims, “as free and creative as fan fiction may be, it is a general rule that good fanfic texts should inscribe themselves within the logic of the fictional universe they take place in, for instance in staying true to the original characters’ ‘personalities’”(100). The degree of femininity and masculinity ascribed to these characters in fanfic is
5
The Auburn Girl. “Ebony and Gold.” FanFiction.net. 2013. 04-04-2013. <http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9139189/1/Ebony-and-Gold>
thus already partly determined by the way the show had them set out.
That Regina is portrayed as the more feminine one also somewhat explicates her being in the relationship, as LaChev claims “[…]many authors automatically set up a gender pattern that puts the more classically feminine looking of the characters into a submissive and weak role in the
relationship”. Looking at SwanQueen, this would mean that Regina takes on the more passive role. This in a way corresponds to the principle of the “male gaze”, a term invented in 1975 by Laura Mulvey in her essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, where she describes how women in film and television function as passive characters, who are only present to be objectified by men (63). Where the woman’s role was only to be an object of beauty, the man would gaze upon here. This way of categorizing men and women also fits the fairytale tradition. M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar argue that Snow White’s glass coffin is a metaphor for the patriarchal structure of life, lying there as an object to be displayed and desired (qtd. In Craven, 129). Once Upon a Time does not follow in this tradition, as these women fight their own battles, and with this are stripped of their “passiveness”. Yet, some fans do explore this male gaze of letting one character look at the other one as only an erotic object, although now without a difference in gender. Often the role of “gazer” is given to Emma, corresponding to her taking the masculine role, such as in The Auburn Girl’s “Ebony and Gold”, where Emma looks at Regina as an object like the male gaze describes, only seeing her physical appearance in a sexual manner:
She was dressed in her normal black dress, which fit her figure snuggly and enunciated the curves and swing of her hips. High heels clicked as she took a step back to let Emma past. "Please... Come in."6
Still, Once Upon a Time proves to be a different case, as the women on the show are not easily labeled as either feminine or masculine. Although Regina may be more feminine on some levels, other characteristics can be seen as traditionally male: she is far stronger than Emma and is actually the “bad guy” on the show, so the weak, feminine role is not all that applicable to her. Besides, Emma is also an attractive woman, and she as well suits some rules of traditional femininity, with her long, wavy blond hair. As Sharon Hayes and Matthew Balls argue in their piece Queering Cyberspace, “in slash, the characters are often hyper-masculine, despite their sexuality” (225). In accordance with this, Regina and Emma look quit feminine, and not as the “butch” types that often mark cultural expectations when it comes to the physical appearance of women in same-sex relationships.
As the SwanQueen slashers picked quite feminine looking characters to pair together, it seems same-sex relationships don’t bear all the same connotations here as in society. Besides, as the fiction writers focus more on the psyche of the characters, it seems appearance in general is not of great importance here. This contrasts with the classic fairytales that have always been about physical beauty; it characterized the princesses and marked the story, because of the competition that it caused
6 The Auburn Girl. “Ebony and Gold.” FanFiction.net. 2013. 04-04-2013.
between women7. Yet, Once Upon a Time already removed this focus on outer beauty to a certain
degree, for example in giving the conflict between Snow and her stepmother a different origin. Further removed by the slashers, this scenery is no longer present. This is also partly owed to the fact that men play no part here. As Gilbert and Gubar have stated, in the case of Snow White, the passively heroine and the violently jealous stepmother are both victims of the mirror; a mirror that represents the approval of women as aesthetic objects (qtd. In Greenhill, 84). Like Allison Craven says, as this competition between women was part of the patriarchal structure of the fairytale, there was never room for female bonding (128). However, as with slash the characters are untied from this fairytale setting, and in same-sex relationships women do not have to compete for the approval of men, looks don’t have the same significance here. With this, slashers don’t only deviate from the fairytale tradition, but also from society’s stereotypical thinking, as it is a social habit to make a claim about someone’s sexual identity, based on his/her looks. Yet, as most slashers don’t connect a “gendered” look to sexual preferences, they go beyond conventional patterns of clearly dividing male and female roles, and of using physical appearance as a marker for one’s sexual identity.
That the femslash writers go beyond gendered stereotypes is also accountable to the ambiguity at which the canon portrayed these characters, leading to slashers playing with different roles that Emma and Regina may take. Although most often Emma takes the initiative in their romance, it is also Regina in a lot of cases. With this, there seems to be room for equal relationships in varying forms. Both women in these stories prove to be strong, struggling with their feelings, but also aiming at their goal. As they take on multiple roles in different stories, separating masculinity and femininity proves to be not that black and white, as there are no male and female defined roles anymore. As Phillip Conrad Kottak discusses in his analysis of fantasy films, cultural anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss has talked about how people have the need to categorize the world around them, and that one of the most common ways to do this is by thinking in binary oppositions (273). This is also how people classify men and women, by labeling them as opposites. Our civilization is used to thinking like this, and of giving gender as the excuse for differences in character, saying it to be “sex-related behavior”. Yet, like Elizabeth Woledge talks about, the genres fantasy and science-fiction often present
characters with both masculine and feminine qualities (52). Also the material of Once Upon a Time itself already goes beyond gender dichotomies to a certain degree, presenting these female characters with both feminine and masculine traits, which is further taken by the slashers. The mixing and merging of traditionally masculine and feminine categorized qualities is common for slash, as, like Virginia Keft-Kennedy says, it assists in their goal to avoid the long-established role of passivity and subordination of the women in conventional romance (53). Besides, with the blending of gender traits, the slashers can make the characters two halves of a whole: where Regina is more masculine, Emma is
7 Many classic fairytales, especially the ones told by Disney, are about women competing with each other on their exterior
features for male admiration: in the story of Snow White, her evil stepmother made them rivals in the contest of “who was the fairest of them all”, and Cinderella had to compete with her evil stepsisters, who all wanted the approval of the prince to become his wife.
made more feminine and vice versa, so they can complement each other on all areas. The mixing of gender qualities thus only contributes to “improving” the SwanQueen relationship.
That this “blending” fits the material of Once Upon a Time so well, is because the series’ many-sided portrayals of women already shows that these characters are not easily categorized. Most characters are shown in different phases of their lives, and in both Storybrooke and the
Enchanted Forest, at which they have multiple identities. When Regina would only have been depicted as The Evil Queen, her role in the femslash stories would probably have differed, but as the fans came to know her as the sweet girl that she was in her childhood, and saw the tragedies she faced, there are many fans who sympathize her, taking Regina as their point of view. In line with this, some fans imagine Emma in the “male” role of rescuer, one that she also takes on in the source text, being the Savior, but is now applied explicitly in relation to Regina, such as in “For Henry” by
Adm_Hawthorne:
"I knocked. You didn't answer, and, after everything that's gone down over the past few months, I got a little worried when you didn't answer your phone. I," she walked around to at least be in Regina's line of sight, "jumped the fence to see if I could look into a window to at least make sure no foul play had gone on." Ever regal, the older woman glanced up from her paper and smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Always the White Knight, Sheriff?"8
Here, Regina’s frequently present distant attitude becomes visible, which the fans explore as a result of the source text showing the physical pain Regina experienced in her life, what made her not very willingly to trust people. They imagine Emma to be the ultimate person to take this away, by showing Regina that she can count on her at all times.
What this all makes clear, is that for Once Upon a Time’s fans it is possible to play with different “male” and “female” roles, while sticking to the nature of the characters as invented by the source text. While doing this, the femslash writers question the naturalness of classifying masculinity and femininity as opposites, by way of showing how they can go together. Hence, it seems Bacon-Smith was wrong when she argued that women could not find a way to write about female characters without the stereotypical female traits (Hinton, 7). Although Once Upon a Time like any other show confirms certain stereotypes, it does give room for a more open discourse on gender, which appears to influence the fans’ stance on this. The show gives fanfic writers the opportunity to stay with the source text, while going beyond stereotypical portrayals of women, with the removal of thinking in
oppositional categories of femininity and masculinity.
3.2.3 Romance or pornography
There has been much debating about whether slash should be seen as romance storytelling or pornography. Once Upon a Time’s first time stories show that the amount of explicit sexual
8 Adm_Hawthorne. “For Henry.”Archive of Our Own. 2013. Organization for Transformative Works. 02-04-2013.
descriptions differs with each story. The first time trope is, as stated by Mirna Cicione, characterized by an unfulfilled desire that is developing through delays and crises, in the end coming to a happy conclusion with a cherished and rewarding relationship for both parties (170). This narrative formula corresponds to that of romance fiction, and with the inclusion of sexual encounter, both romance and pornography come together. Yet, it is not the same as heterosexual male eroticism; with slash the gender hierarchy of man and woman does not exist, and where pornography is (mostly) about male desires, slash is about female pleasures, not only but also on a sexual level.
From the start there have been contrasting viewpoints on slashers’ purpose in writing about sexual encounters. Joanna Russ and Constance Penley wrote about sexually explicit fan fiction, while Jenkins claimed that the majority of slash was more about the emotional value of sex than about bodily sensations (192). Yet, it doesn’t have to be one or the other. Cicione states that, “slash writing is at the same time an eroticization of same-sex nurturance, the expression of a desire for a relationship that satisfies all the basic needs of the people involved, and an unspoken reflection of the writers’ tensions about heterosexual relations” (155). With multiple slashers, many purposes arise. Yet, it is too easy to say that slashers only write about sexual encounter for the sake of sex only, as it often takes place in an emotional context, where the sex is part of what Cicione calls a “deeper emotional closeness”, and of a loyal relationship (168). Following Kustritz, the sex is then rather used as an act of trust than of power (377). While some slash stories may contest the assumption that women prefer soft-core eroticism, in many cases slash writings do remind one more of candlelight romance than of pornography, although the sexual tension is often very much on the surface.
In Once Upon a Time this eroticism arises on different levels. The story “Ebony and Gold” of the Auburn Girl, also presents a scene with a highly sexual atmosphere:
Warm breath tickled her earlobe. Emma froze. Regina was leaning very close, her face almost side-by-side with her own. This was way out of Emma's comfort zone. "Very good..." Emma murmured, keening quietly when she felt Regina's lips press behind her left ear. Oh God, Oh God. Her ultimate, secret, dark fantasy was coming true.9
Also other stories explore the sexual tension between these women, which often comes back to the same “tricks”, borrowed from canon. As Regina and Emma come from an antagonistic relationship, they often call each other Madam Mayor, Miss Swan, or Sheriff. This also happens in the source text, but the name calling in this specific context gives the story some sexual tension, as it is almost like some sort of role-play is going on, which is a common sexual game. Also food often plays a part here. As Cicione says, “although not specifically sexual in themselves, warmth and food are eroticized because they give a physical dimension to the closeness of the bond between the partners and lead to, or become part of, an intimacy that also has a sexual component”(163). In the case of Once Upon a
Time’s slash fiction, Regina usually cooks seductive meals, full of sensual connotations, such as
9 The Auburn Girl. “Ebony and Gold.” FanFiction.net. 2013. 04-04-2013.
melting chocolate. When Emma and Regina share such delicacies, it becomes part of their intimacy, just like with sexual encounter. Such imageries reveal that slash often does not have the explicit formulation of traditional pornography, but seeks eroticism in small gestures, as slash is much about love and tenderness, of which the expression of female sexuality is part. This combination of sex and intimacy is also something Elizabeth Woledge discovered. In her work Intimatopia: Genre
Intersections Between Slash and the Mainstream, she sees some slash fiction being set in this fantasy
world she calls “intimatopia”, which she describes as “[…]a homosocial world in which the social closeness of the male characters engenders intimacy” (100). Woledge doesn’t see slash as either romance or pornography, which both separate sex from intimacy, while in contrast slash often
connects the two. Also many SwanQueen slash stories are about intimacy combined with sexuality. At the end of most first time stories, Regina and Emma become more intimate, not only on a sexual level but for example also in their calling each other by their first names. So, it appears also with
SwanQueen sex often takes place in the context of gaining an increased level of intimacy.
Besides intimacy, the SwanQueen slash stories are often about the magic of love, which is an important theme on the show. Some slashers see the magic between Emma and Regina as proof of their romance. A supernatural confirmation of a couple’s bond is a common theme across slash, and is probably originating from Star Trek’s invention of the “mind-meld.”10 Using the theme of magic as
proof for the rightness of the SwanQueen relationship, the slashers also stick to the source text, where it is Emma’s touch that eventually gives Regina her magic back. Yet, instead of Regina using magic in a dark way as happens in canon, the slash stories often present it as vocalization of their mutual attraction, love and tenderness. For example, in the story by Entre-lagrimas-y-suspiros, called “Strongest Magic”, the fact that Emma is able to physically feel Regina’s magic, gives proof of their destiny to be with each other:
Emma steps closer, reaching across the space to grasp her hand. She lets her, allowing their fingers to intertwine. A tremor runs up her arm leaving goose bumps as it travels. The surge of power, of magic, that moves through her is distractingly strong. Her gaze flicks between their hands and Emma's green eyes. What she finds in those eyes is shocking. There is no surprise, no disgust. There is tenderness, warmth, and yearning.11
Thus, many SwanQueen stories build on the supernatural validation of love, which is characterizing for the genre of slash. Connecting Emma and Regina in a way that is not possible in real life, through the use of magic, creates a whole new dimension of intimacy, where their female bodies are literally being connected. It appears many slashers seek for developing the SwanQueen relationship with an increased emotional and sexual closeness, where they yet again let go of certain binary oppositions, such as sex versus intimacy, and pornography versus romance.
10 Mind Meld: by PJ Falzone claimed as “[…] literally, the joining of two characters’ minds to become one” (246) . Thus,
thought or knowledge is transmitted from one person to the other, so a fusion of the mind takes place.
11 Entre-lagrimas-y-suspiros. “Strongest Magic.” FanFiction.net. 2012. 04-03-2013.
3.2.4 Social acceptance
Where some slashers free their stories from the restrictions of real life by using the theme of magic, others exactly want to explore the SwanQueen relationship in connection to society. Here, it is not so much about Emma and Regina coming from an antagonistic relationship, but more about their same-sex affection, which is still a difficult subject in today’s world. As Keft-Kennedy states, two women romantically together has a different position in western culture than a two men-pairing, especially when it comes to heterosexual male pornography, where the fantasy of lesbian sexuality is a common theme (74). On the other hand, the idea of two women together is a threat to the conventional role of women in relationships, along with them getting pregnant, as in our world two women can’t conceive a child together without the interference of a man. Yet, the actual physical presence of a man isn’t necessary anymore because of modern possibilities, such as sperm banks and artificial
insemination. Still, it scares some people when the “norm” is not being followed. As it is assumed that most writers are straight, the idea of a heterosexual woman writing about homosexual sex is often seen as something absurd (Keft-Kennedy, 74). While for some writers it may not even be about
homosexuality, many outsiders will only perceive it as an experimentation with sexuality. Undeniably, fan fiction does provide room for this, and for some lesbian or bisexual women it can be a way of experiencing these romances. Hence, it can be used for a multiple of reasons, where exploring gender and sexuality is one of them.
Whether it is about one’s sexuality or not, this is a possibility because slashers can write anonymously. They can choose their own name and identity in this creative process, which makes it safe to write about this subject, as they can’t be hold responsible in real life. Although acceptance of homosexuality has come a long way, it is still the story of a “minority” that often does not get much attention on television. Slash goes against the dominant heterosexual matrix, but also shows that it is a struggle to come to acceptance with this “difference”, both within their selves and from the outside world. This happens with the SwanQueen first time stories in the descriptions of personal struggles, uncomfortable moments, and arguments between Regina and Emma whether this is “right”.
Sometimes there is also talking about the problems they will meet with the people around them. That there is also attention for possible consequences, probably also has a link with the show, as Once
Upon a Time features different versions of the romance narrative, that also meet disapproval of parents
and others. Although the show does not always present its viewers a happy ending, this is something many slashers do see for Emma and Regina, as is explored in the story “Realization” by Hunnyfresh:
So the brunette nodded and took a step towards Emma, the blonde grinning to herself though Regina clearly caught it despite Emma's best efforts to hide it. Maybe this feeling didn't creep up on her. Maybe
she just couldn't connect the dots, but in that instant, she realized that the younger woman before her was willing to risk everything, her life, her reputation, to save her, to include her, to want her.12
In this story, it is also stressed that Emma and Regina accepting their feelings for each other, poses some kind of danger, as it brings the risk of messing with their lives, and of changing the way that people look at them. Where the trajectory of the different phases with the first time story was about accepting the self, here it is more about the (un)acceptance of society, which fans may want to explore for personal reasons. Yet, next to whatever purpose slashers may have for writing, this social aspect is perhaps also what makes slash in general so interesting and pleasurable to write about. While
heterosexual romance has been the focus for many years, same-sex relationships bring new kinds of narratives with more tension, social problems, and new issues to explore. Romeo and Juliet is the epic love story because of their forbidden love and all the problems they faced to be with each other, but times have changed. Slash points towards this modern forbidden love, that has come a long way but should not be mistaken for something that is accepted in all of societies. Thus, even when slash is explicitly about homosexuality and its social issues, it does not have to be about one’s sexual identity, but can also be a way of expanding the romance narrative. Hence, it seems slash’s social aspects can be explored for multiple purposes: in a personal manner, as some fans might struggle with similar issues themselves, but also for the sake of the narrative, as it introduces “new” issues.
3.3 OTHER GENERIC TROPES
Where the SwanQueen first time stories are mostly about the acknowledgement of romantic feelings between Emma and Regina, these narratives also have some characteristics of other tropes, that in terms of narrative structure often follow the first time story, in order to let the relationship develop further. The first time story is often set in Regina’s home, a domestic setting, and it frequently shows one of these women taking care of the other. These features correspond to two other common tropes of slash: “hurt-comfort” and “domestic fiction”. In this chapter, these tropes will be shortly discussed, after which they collectively show how the SwanQueen fans find a new “subtrope” by combining them with a theme specific to Once Upon a Time.
3.3.1 Hurt-comfort
Often after the first time story, where the characters admit to their feelings, the hurt-comfort narrative presents itself to attain a growing intimacy. This trope features the pairing in a situation where one suffers from a trauma or illness and the other takes care of him/her, and thus is there for comfort. What Bacon-Smith claims these stories say is that “one way of dealing with personal pain is
12 Hunnyfresh. “Realization.” Archive of Our Own. 2013. Organization for Transformative Works. 05-03-2013.
to recognize the suffering of those we care about and return their attention and comfort” (261). Also with SwanQueen, hurt-comfort stories exist, as canon gave both women plenty of unresolved physical issues to explore. Although also here they shift between roles, it is most often Regina as the one suffering, and Emma taking care of her, corresponding to the roles they were given in the first time stories. For instance, in the story “Shield Me From the Cold”, by Seeker of the Sea, Regina breaks down and Emma is there to comfort her. Yet, Regina has trouble accepting this, as she has always done everything without the help of others:
"You've been so strong Regina, doing everything, raising Henry all by yourself. But you have help now, and I'm going to be here for you."
Eyes down again, brown hair shook with disagreement, "How can you say that? No one wants to be with me, not for long anyway. I'd just lose you too."
Chilled fingers gently raised her chin and forced their eyes to each other once again. Regina saw something in the green that she couldn't understand.
"Regina…" Emma breathed out softly, "I want to be with you. This connection between us, it just keeps getting stronger. It feels like my heart is drawn to you, and I can't keep denying what I want."
"What are you saying?"
Taking her face between her hands, the savior answered, "I care for you Regina. More than I ever have for anyone before. I want to be with you and make you happy and keep you safe."13
From a traditional viewpoint, also in this story Emma takes on the more masculine role of rescuer, and it shows Regina with the “female fate” of being the helpless one, although it can also be said that the role of the one comforting has some feminine traits, such as its nursing aspect. Putting Regina in this role, yet again it appears many fans sympathize her, probably drawing from the physical pain the character went through in her source text past. The hurt-comfort stories frequently draw on this physical pain, often hinting at the troubled relationship with her mother Cora and her past of being The Evil Queen. As Regina is used to being alone and to not receiving any help, many fans imagine her having trouble letting Emma in. Where with m/m slash, it was about men learning to open up and to share their emotions, this thus does not seem to be actual different with the female form of the genre. In canon, both Regina and Emma have learned to survive on their own, and thus with slash both at times have trouble accepting that there is someone to share their pain and pleasure with. Like with the first time story, also this trope plays with traditional habits of separating male and female roles, showing that women can both give and receive comfort, just like slash illustrated in the case of men. Without the gender of the characters being important, these stories are about achieving a certain point where both parties completely trust each other, in order to reach a new level in their emotional relationship, where they show every (broken) piece of themselves to the other, at which it once again contributes to an increased intimacy in the partnership.
3.3.2 Domestic fiction
13 Seeker of the Sea. “Shield Me From the Cold.”FanFiction.net. 2013. 29-04-2013.
After reaching ultimate trust, it is time for a new commitment. Domestic- or “curtainfic” is a theme within fan fiction that places the characters in a home setting, where often family-related issues are the focal point (Hellekson & Busse, 10). With slash, the term specifically comes from stories that imagine two men in a relationship going “curtain shopping” together for their new shared home, or other similar behavior. As men are usually not placed in these kinds of roles, it may have a humorous or satisfying effect for women to change this, playing with the roles that are given to men and women in society. Also it may expand the source text’s meaning, exploring a whole new type of narratives. Although these practices of domestic behavior may seem to fit better with women, for the female figures in Once Upon a Time little seems to correspond to what counts as “normal life”, and thus also here it brings new stories. Some slashers imagine Emma and Regina together in a domestic setting, exploring how their relationship would evolve in ordinary life. Hopefulregal envisions such a setting in “Happy Mother’s Day”, where Henry surprises his mothers by making them breakfast on Mother’s Day:
With the sun peeking through the slats in the blinds, Emma and Regina continued to lay comfortably in bed together. Emma's head was nuzzled up in the space under Regina's chin, and Regina had an arm casually draped over Emma's side, holding her close.
There was a sound of muted footsteps on the carpet outside the bedroom door. There was a small clatter that sounded like dishes, which elicited a sharp "shhh" from a young voice outside the door. "Sorry," whispered an older, feminine voice. The doorknob turned slowly and Henry peeked his head in through the small crack. When he saw his two mothers cuddled up together he smiled and gently pushed the door open all the way. He set up the tray holder that Granny had let him borrow from the diner, and Snow set the two trays down on it.
Henry tip-toed over to the bed and gently nudged Regina's shoulder. "Mom," he whispered urgently. "Wake up. I made you breakfast." Regina stirred, and Henry ran around to the other side of the bed to wake up Emma.
"Henry, sweetie, what do you need?" Regina asked groggily, rubbing her eyes. She looked down at Emma and brushed a piece of hair off of her face as she came to.
"It's Mother's Day!" He said excitedly. "And since I have the best moms in the world, I made you both breakfast." He smiled sweetly and gestured to the trays near the nightstand.14
The setting of this story, Mother’s Day, fits the nature of the domestic trope and of slash in general, where many stories are set in what Cicione calls “off-duty times” (159). With SwanQueen, these stories often revolve around family life together with Henry. Yet, they also explore the intimate relationship between Emma and Regina, and are - corresponding to the hurt-comfort trope - about both physical and emotional needs. As Cicione says, often “the partners make an explicit commitment to each other, promise to forsake all others of either gender, and decide to live together” (165). It is about a complete partnership, and seems to reflect on some women’s desire for a long-lasting, committed relationship, while having a family together. Yet again, the commitment of starting a family, takes the SwanQueen relationship to a new level of intimacy, where their entire lives now take form by the
14 Hopefulregal. “Happy Mother’s Day.” FanFiction.net. 2013. 29-03-2013.
constant presence of the other. This settling down together is often presented, both in these stories and in real life, as the ultimate goal in a partnership. With this, both the hurt-comfort trope and domestic fiction hint at family values of taking care of each other and setting a domestic environment, where new forms of intimacy and commitment arise. The women’s roles here are both maternal and sexual, which are conflicting parts that women are also expected to perform in society. While playing with these different roles, the fans show how being both parent and lover can be compatible, as while building a family setting, they keep investing in the SwanQueen relationship.
As it appears, the SwanQueen pairing features stories that fit these two tropes. Yet more interestingly, slashers have made them their own. Louisa Stein and Kristina Busse claim fans create fan fiction with genre tropes in mind (201). This may be true in some cases, as there are often lots of narratives fitting within these categories. Yet, these tropes are not all decisive and should rather be seen as a framework that the fans have to find their way around. The SwanQueen fans often write stories about Emma and Regina creating a family together with their son Henry, which fits these general tropes, but the popularity of this specific setting also comes from the framework of the source text that already put the characters in the mother role, although separately. Though holidays are a common theme of the domestic fiction trope, it is the fan that chooses to set the story around Mother’s day. Thus, within general tropes, fans often add features that are specific to the show.
4. FAN FICTION – THE JOURNEY OF MOTHERHOOD
The SwanQueen slash fiction follows many different paths that often contain certain tropes. Still, the show’s fanfic is not only following in the traditions of others. One of Once Upon a Time’s most present themes has become a characterizing angle within its fan fiction: motherhood. This fits the fairytale tradition that features lots of different stereotypical mother figures, such as the dead
birthmother, the fairy godmother, and above all the evil stepmother. Yet, with Once Upon a Time the role of the stepmother has been translated to modern times and is replaced by the adoptive mother, with the central plotline of Emma (birthmother) and Regina (adoptive mother) as the mothers of Henry. The show’s engagement with the theme of motherhood has inspired many fanfic writers, and especially when it comes to the SwanQueen pairing lots of stories are about maternity and related issues, as the initial relationship between Emma and Regina is defined by them both being motherly figures to Henry. Lots of slashers imagine the rivalry over their son being solved by pairing them together, so they can both be his parents, and thus many stories have come up that are about Emma and Regina starting a family together, with them often having another child. Within these stories, different views on motherhood and family life arise.
characteristic for the stories on this topic, hereafter “mommies stories”, is a great amount of tenderness, as these fans often describe perfect love stories with the traditional happy ending of a family coming together. Many of them then also introduce their story with the note that lots of “fluff”15 will follow. The mommies stories regularly feature family settings: holidays, camping trips,
private dinners, and also a lot are set in the family home. They show Regina and Emma in different phases of their relationship: as early lovers raising Henry, or married, often with multiple children. This chapter explores these mommies stories by discussing six themes: pregnancy, different mother roles, troubled childhoods, two women raising a child, the father issue, and parents, partners and individuals. These themes show different purposes for writing slash, yet also shared acts of proving the rightness of SwanQueen, of exploring these characters’ troubled pasts and matching personalities, and of searching for equal parent roles. It also displays the “disobedience” of going beyond traditional family settings in multiple ways. With all this, fans’ varying views on motherhood and the
SwanQueen relationship are explored, eventually showing to which extent slash truly is about gender, in what way it is gender indifferent, and what gender actually means in this context.
4.1 PREGNANCY
4.1.1 Dissimilar Roles
Most mommies stories revolve around a pregnancy, as Regina and Emma have a second child together, while raising Henry. This brings lots of typical pregnancy stuff to the stories: from yoga to maternity clothes, Regina and Emma meet it all. Like with heterosexual couples, the social discourses on having children thus also exist here, and a pregnancy involving two women is not all counter-hegemonic in that way. They face universal issues like any other pair: from telling Henry that he will have a baby brother or sister and how this won’t change their feelings for him, to the uncertainties and worries many meet during a pregnancy, fearing that something might go wrong. Still, this pregnancy story is different than the traditional one of a man and a woman having a baby. With two females in the parent roles, both can carry the child. Yet, corresponding to the fact that most fans imagine Regina in the more feminine role, she is more frequently cast as the pregnant one. Like with a man and a woman, logically the pregnant and non-pregnant roles are dissimilar. Regina is often hormonal and worried about the baby, and then Emma’s role of partner is to comfort her. This corresponds to Hayes and Balls noting that “the pregnant partner always demonstrates the nurturing and emotional bonding associated with pregnancy, while the other partner is cast in the traditional protective role of father” (232). These different roles thus not only exist with heterosexual pregnancies, but with slash too, as
15Fan fiction stories that are marked “fluff” are often sweet and warm romance stories that end happily, with few sexual
