Brigid Kelly The Transformative Power of “Hot Gay Sex”: Queering Superman, Queering the Fan on the TelevisionWithoutPity “Smallville” Boards

When the television play writing games series Smallville and share their debuted on the WB creative productions, in October of 2001, it including fanfiction offered US audiences and art, are dedicated still reeling from the to discussions of effects of September 11th a reassuring picture of the show that take both a critical and humorous a Superman for the new millennium. With its approach.2 Much of this discussion concerned wholesome values, beautiful young cast and stories the perceived homoerotic subtext at play between in which a teenaged Clark Kent battles freaks to the show’s two male leading characters, Clark and re-establish normalcy by the end of every episode, Lex. Smallville became one of very few new shows to For many of these Smallville fans the attract a significant audience that season.1 show was, particularly in its first season, “the Almost immediately the show developed an gayest show on broadcast TV.”3 Many watched active online fandom of the type which has attracted because they found the idea of Clark Kent and much academic interest in the past decade or so. his future mortal enemy Lex Luthor, a pairing One prominent focal point for this fandom was they call “Clex,” engaging in “hot gay sex” to be TelevisionWithoutPity (TWoP), a site that recaps both provocative and powerful.4 Slash (pairing and critiques primetime shows, with a philosophy same-sex characters in non-canon romantic of “spare the snark, spoil the networks.” Most relationships) is nothing new to fandom, having of the information in this study was drawn from been recognized and documented for decades.5 For public posts on the Smallville discussion forum at these fans slash is more than simple transgression, TWoP (www.televisionwithoutpity.com), and from play, or pornography. For many fans the phrase other material recommended by TWoP Smallville “hot gay sex” in this context encapsulates a way fans, during 2002 and 2003. The message-board- of seeing that combines, and is structured by, a format forums, where fans can discuss episodes, shared approach to humour, erotica, and social

GET A LIFE?: FAN CULTURES AND CONTEMPORARY TELEVISION 71 Lauri Mullens, editor, Spectator 25:1 (Spring 2005): 71 - 82. THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF “HOT GAY SEX”

only transform Smallville, but may experience a personal transformation, an entry into a new way of seeing in which the participant may experience the feeling of power, acceptance and freedom unlike anything he/she experiences in “real” life. My notion of “hot gay sex” in this instance refers not to physical sex, but to the very activity that keeps fandom alive. In this paper I refer to such activity in quotes as ‘hot gay sex,’ to distinguish it from actual or even fictional sexual activity, with an awareness that the use of the term is not without potentially problematic political implications with regard to queer identity and politics. In addition, as cybersex demonstrates, the online environment has made it increasingly difficult to distinguish between talking about sex and doing sex. Throughout this paper I examine fan productions, specifically discussions, fanfiction, art, and essays, which demonstrate the transformative elements of ‘hot gay sex.’ Smallville, with its ongoing theme of obsession, including depictions of stereotypically fannish behaviour such as watching, collecting, stalking and loving one-sidedly, speaks directly to fans. Being a fan also means being marginal, being “queer” in its old sense of peculiar or odd; it can also mean being transformed. When fans resolve Tom Welling as a young Superman in the WB’s Lex’s textual obsession with Clark by putting the Smallville. characters in bed together, they also change them, interaction. This way of seeing and engaging with from future enemies to soulmates and from straight the text is also profoundly transformative. Three to gay. In doing so they drag these characters elements are common to “hot gay sex” activities into a marginalised space more like the one they and productions: they are timely (“hot”), they themselves inhabit. Thus Smallville fans use the are (mostly) counter-hegemonic (“gay”) and they Clex pairing in fanfiction to explore, therefore, not produce pleasurable feelings through an exchange just what it means to become “queer” in the sense of signifiers (“sex”).6 The online environment of lived sexual orientation, but also what it means allows the fan community to respond rapidly, even to become a fan. in real time, to developments in the show. This real time (“hot”) response is something that has “Hot Gay Sex” in Liminal Spaces been enabled by the combination of the technology and its social implementation. The activities and Computers, like televisions, are now ordinary commentaries presented in this forum frequently household items; however, both also function oppose or undermine the official storyline, thus as key channels of information which then has functioning as evidence of the existence of a the power to shape how we see the world. A counter-hegemonic force among fans of the show. negotiation takes place between the receiving of In slash fiction, sex (an exchange of signifiers) information and the making sense of it—a liminal functions to reveal truths and transform lives. The event. Thus, watching television and using the same could be said of fans’ online discussions Internet both invite participants into liminal (also an exchange of signifiers), wherein fans not processes. Two key aspects of liminality are a

72 SPRING 2005 BRIGID KELLY position outside the ordinary business of society, the grown-up demands of work and family. All the and temporariness. Henry Jenkins has written of threads function as “discourse networks” where the “weekend-only world” of fan conventions, fans can adopt their own kind of “defiant cultural which, though they last only a few hours, give capital.” And for these TWoPers, a knowing fans “power and identity” which help them cope appropriation of teenage discourse is one kind of with everyday life.7 Even if a person could watch cultural capital.8 As Brown suggests about the television all day, for example, advertisements soap opera, which revolves around women’s lives, disrupt the narrative flow of each show, forcing providing “imaginative-emotional” material from the viewer back into awareness of basic needs. which, through discussion, women “reimagine Fans generally go online in windows of free time, their roles and feel again what it is to be a either covertly while at work, or in the evenings woman,”9 these boards provide fans with a forum after daily chores are completed. Thus, this kind through which to re-experience an adolescence of participation, whether watching a favourite that has already passed. show or talking online, is special, and can only last However, because liminal activities for a limited time, after which the individual must transform, they cannot be experienced twice. Once exit this liminal space and re-enter the world of adolescence is over, an adult can never experience daily drudgery. Engagement with television texts it again. The adult fans of TWoP enjoy playing and online fan communities retains this sense of at girlishness, but they make distinctions between extra-ordinariness, even though both technologies themselves and Smallville’s real thirteen-year-old have increasingly commonplace roles in daily girl fans, who frequent other boards. Ironically, activities. one of the main ways they do this is by imitating A third key function of liminality is the teenager’s online “voice,” loosely constructed, transformation. As fan spaces are liminal, they personalised and heavily peppered with Netspeak invite fans to investigate texts and explore (acronyms and abbreviations) and idiosyncratic possibilities—what might happen if.…. In doing so, fans transform the text for themselves. But they may also undergo personal transformations as their explorations and interactions expose them to new pleasures and new ideas. Adolescence is a liminal period, where excessive affective attachments, vacillation between child-like and adult-like behaviours and even undefined sexual orientation, are socially supported. They are also supported and enacted (re-enacted) on the Smallville discussion threads of TWoP. Smallville, which revolves around teenagers’ lives, provides these fans with material (and a venue for participation), which enables them to feel again what it is to be a teen. Gay, straight, single and partnered women alike engage in same-sex flirting, and swoon over pictures of actor Michael Rosenbaum (Lex) on his dedicated thread, where, when not intelligently discussing his career, they may jokingly plot to stalk him, create nicknames for his penis, and plan schemes where they can all marry him. (It is perhaps significant that male fans, while not excluded, are rarely participants). These activities are not meant as serious; they are simply a playful break from

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spelling. Fans who know each other online are Netspeak only fleetingly, and for comical effect. attuned to each other’s usual online voices. Thus it is clear that this play at “teenageness” is just However, it is only under certain conditions that, play, and that only in certain circumstances is that this type of self-presentation is acceptable. this appropriation of teenage excess acceptable. The site discourages excessive Netspeak, along Members of this particular community, who with incorrect spelling and grammar, verbal tend to be beyond adolescence, therefore play at redundancy and multiple posts. Any fan who occupying the liminal space that is adolescence, persists in violating these would be directed to from which they are more or less removed. the board rules, which also explicitly disallow pictures, signatures and animated “emoticons,” Turning Superman Queer features regularly found on boards frequented by younger fans. Therefore, fans familiar with TWoP A sci-fi/fantasy genre show with many, seemingly conventions are well aware that this is in general rootless references, Smallville is the type of text an inappropriate way to express themselves on that frequently appeals to active fans, whether it the boards. Members of the community therefore achieves commercial success or not.10 For many deduce that what a fan says in this voice is likely of these fans, the perceived homoerotic subtext is to be tongue in cheek, and for this reason use such the main attraction. For others, the combination of

74 SPRING 2005 BRIGID KELLY what they see on screen and the influence of other K/S.13 While mashing is probably a practical fans leads them, too, to revel in homoerotica, while development (it is faster to type), it also has the continuing to enjoy other aspects of the show. effect of making the pairing into an entity in itself. Many factors contribute to fans’ conclusion that Fans often refer to “the Clex” or “the Clana,” as if Smallville “is really supposed to be about a gay/bi the outcome of pairing the characters is not just a Superman and his love affair with Lex Luthor.”11 romance, but an actual blending and intensification These include perceived chemistry between of characteristics. By themselves, Clark and Lex the actors who play Clark and Lex, similarities are infuriating, likeable and/or lusted after; as the between superheroes and closeted gays, parallels Clex, they are “a force to be reckoned with.”14 made in the show between Lex and Alexander the Finding and sharing evidence to support one’s Great,12 and innumerable textual “clues” ranging subversive reading of the text can take various from Lex’s association with the colour lavender to forms. Fan writer Thamiris draws on Smallville’s Clark’s nausea (caused by a kryptonite necklace) heavy use of interiors in her queer reading of the at the sight of his canon crush, Lana. During the show. She reads Clark’s first visit to Lex’s house first season, in particular, many fans wondered if as symbolic of sexual penetration, referencing the these elements were intentional. Freudian notion of the house as a body. Clark Tom Welling (Clark) and Kristin Kreuk (Lana) enters Lex’s mansion uninvited yet unchallenged, began the show with little acting experience, and despite the nominal presence of security. Lex (who many fans found their scenes unnatural and usually challenges uninvited males) welcomes this lacking in chemistry. By comparison they felt entrance/penetration. As Thamiris interprets it, that the chemistry between Welling and Michael the first time this visit happens, “in a telling and Rosenbaum (Lex) was noticeably potent. Over eroticised gesture, [Lex] tak[es] Clark deeper into time, fans also began to express concern about his home, up to the second floor, where the phallic the Clark/Lana (Clana) relationship. They felt symbols go wild.”15 uncomfortable with the uncritical portrayal of Fans like Thamiris draw on the language a Clark clinging to his dream of normalcy by of literary criticism and apply what Tulloch and objectifying and pursuing Lana, the passive object Alvarado call an “extensive” approach to texts, of the entire town’s affections. They also disliked examining them not just “intensively” as personal the stereotypical picture of Lana and Chloe covertly possessions, objects wherein comforting, beloved warring over Clark while nominally putting their material can be found, but as sites where codes friendship first. Mostly, however, they recognised meet.16 In the second season some fans started that in Superman canon, Clark ends up with neither to read Clark and Lex’s references to Lana as girl, but does remain intensely involved with Lex. code for the men’s own secret relationship. In These fans differentiate themselves from those Rhiannonhero’s story “Cherry Blossom Conduit,” who argue over whether Clark should date Lana the canonical barrier to the Clex—Lana—becomes or Chloe, transferring their desire for a romantic its enabler. Her position as site of the Clex romance pairing onto the two central males. In doing so, becomes explicit in this story, as Clark and Lex have they simultaneously recognise and reposition the sex with each other through Lana’s body during onscreen intensity of the Clex friendship to suit a threesome.17 This story demonstrates selective their own ends. use of textual data to support the preferred reading, Such chemistry can give rise to a situation in and also closes the implied triangle between the which a character, but particularly a pairing, can three characters, who in publicity stills are usually also function as territory, where fans redefine ideas portrayed with Clark in the centre. of identity (either singular or in combination) As fan critic Mary Ellen Curtin suggests, the and transformation. This is most noticeably approach taken by fans in evaluating believability demonstrated in the online convention of of a story or pairing can be characterized as “mashing” paired characters’ names into a single scientific. Fans assess the images they find word (“Clex” or “Clana”), rather than linking onscreen as raw data, sometimes rejecting even them with a forward slash, as in Kirk/Spock or “canonical” material that fails to contribute to

GET A LIFE?: FAN CULTURES AND CONTEMPORARY TELEVISION 75 THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF “HOT GAY SEX” the scenario or characterisation they find most embrace every even potentially queer realistic.18 Thus although many Smallville fans moment of the show. Indeed, many prefer slash pairings, actively seeking out textual viewers … watch Smallville only because evidence to support same-sex pairings rather than of the pleasure that lies in highlighting, heterosexual ones, they will also support non-slash and subsequently, discussing, the pairings if they are sufficiently compelling. Fans HoYay!”24 therefore evaluate the onscreen relationships and champion whichever one they feel shows the Viewing Smallville queerly can also be interpreted most passion—the ones with most chemistry, the as a communication process and a primarily social most logical connections to social and historical act, rather than only an ideological position. parallels, and the “obvious” clues embedded Fan Miss Windy suggests most people who within the text. write fanfiction do so largely for social reasons, Through fanfiction, fans take existing and that some “write exclusively as a means of characters and, in a process Curtin calls “the participating in fandom, as a means of acquiring calculus of human nature,” mold them to both social currency.”25 more adequately match “a set of objective data” Fan Alax’s animated Valentine’s Day banner (i.e. what they see on screen) and to explore what advertisement, “Clex – it’s the reason we watch,” happens when they alter one or more variables.19 celebrates key moments for Clex fans by using The restriction of using pre-established characters symbols drawn from the show. The foil, Porsche, and situations enables the fan writers to “go watch, white tulip, bowties and Ty Nant water deep,...into questions of motivation, choice bottle all refer to specific scenes which fans and possibility,” concerns often linked to the agree are particularly suggestive of a gay Clex feminine rather than masculine domain.20 Online relationship. The inclusion of a pie is a TWoP discussion, too, allows fans to explore these in-joke, acknowledging fans’ own involvement questions, in a safe environment that is similar in creating the Clex.26 Alax demonstrates how to the most familiar of feminine territories, the seemingly unrelated objects can be invested with spoken text.21 These factors may at least partially new meaning through fans’ communal efforts. account for the popularity of message boards like The sight of a Ty Nant bottle in real life may TWoP among women. cause a fan to experience pleasurable thoughts To understand the motivations behind this of Smallville and the TWoP boards, while the reading and its capacity to transform, we must reappearance of any of these props in the show first examine the notion of “seeing queerly.” In creates a feeling of pleasurable empowerment, her work on queer spectatorship, Melanie E. S. as the fan recognises a communally established Kohnen identifies seeing queerly, viewing a text symbol of Clex that would be recognizable only to in such a way as to unhinge the heterosexual those within the community. trajectory of the narrative, as both a position and a practice.22 Spectators are positioned to see queerly The Transformative Power of Slash through formal mechanisms in the text, but they Fandom can also choose to consciously identify and highlight queer elements. Where Alexander Doty Seeing queerly does, however, have a permanent assumes that heterosexual, straight-identifying effect; as Tigress35 writes, “once you see you can people will feel anxious when they experience never go back.”27 In fanfic, art and discussion, queer moments,23 Kohnen, explicitly examining Smallville slash fans create a new, if temporary, the TWoP Smallville “Homoeroticism, Yay!” environment in which they take on the role of thread, shows how straight spectators seek out, producers, an inverse world where (usually) highlight and celebrate these queer elements. women are in charge and young attractive men are their playthings. Most of the stories I have Far from the recoilment that Alexander encountered are sexually explicit. Many, but by no Doty hypothesizes, these spectators means all, Clex stories place the men in a mostly

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to scenarios that would typically be unavailable to the fans. Slash stories can excite both as extensions of female sexuality, and as windows into the alien sexuality of gay men.30 Because they are products of fans’ desires and interactions, they can also contain interesting parallels with the joys, limitations and practices of being a fan. Smallville fans know that Clark and Lex are destined to become enemies. The show tells viewers that this is primarily because their relationship is built on secrets and lies, and is therefore “doomed to fail.”31 Both characters have powerful reasons to keep the truth from each other. Only something exceptionally potent can overcome these issues and transform their future from one of enmity to one of solidarity, and for Clex fans, that something is ‘hot gay sex.’ Fans are aware that this is never going to happen onscreen; their intervention is required. In “The Puppeteer,” by Pun, the meteor mutant Desiree Atkins uses her powers to make Lex seduce Clark while she watches from behind a screen. Here, Desiree stands in for the slash author in her role as pornographer. Desiree In addition to writing fanfiction, many fans creates a scenario that she finds arousing, and her engage in other creative pursuits. These dolls own gratification occurs alongside that of the men were customized by fan Penny Baker. she watches. Secondary characters, however, should happy, lifelong romantic relationship. Fans refer never accord themselves too much power, or to this subgenre, which recalls the conventions attractiveness, lest they be exposed as “Mary of romantic fiction, as “Rift, What Rift?” Other Sues.”32 And Desiree, apparently having crossed stories are self-consciously tragic, while many are that line, is punished for her transgression. written exclusively for their erotic appeal. On one Moreover, she has failed to read the clues, level, such Clex slash is no more, and no less, than which tell a discerning fan that Clark and Lex pornography for women (and men) who like the are actually in love with each other. During his idea of men having sex together.28 On another, it “performance,” Lex stops playing to Desiree and provides opportunities for fans to create a space starts communicating directly with Clark. His wherein they can safely explore their own sexual penetration of his best friend sparks recognition of and emotional desires. his true feelings, and his declaration is “breathed Slash pleasures are notoriously complex out like a prayer.”33 The transformative power and difficult to define, and an in depth look at of hot gay sex, in this instance, returns control to slash is outside the scope of this project.29 What the characters, while suggesting that Clex is an I examine here is the often-presented notion that inevitable outcome of fan intervention. Desiree’s sex can reveal hidden truths, and in doing so, dismissal of the characters as mere bodies results transform people’s lives. While this is a common in her losing control over the pleasurable spectacle theme in heterosexual romance, what slash seems she has created. The fans’ control over texts, too, to offer that heterosexual romance does not is a is only temporary. However, their influence has release from the limitations of male/female power changed its meaning forever. As slash fans’ stories dynamics, as well as a certain voyeuristic access and commentaries are shared around the Internet,

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the notion of Clark and Lex as a romantic pairing infiltrates even slash-resistant parts of Smallville fandom (where it is reviled, but acknowledged), and is also recognised by the show’s producers and cast (actor Michael Rosenbaum refers, with some amusement, to “Clex” on the Season 2 DVD commentary). The moment when Clark and Lex’s desire changes from homosocial to homosexual is a crucial one, and indeed “first times” are some of the most popular stories in fanfiction. Fanfiction allows readers and writers to position this key transformative moment anywhere they like in the timeline of Smallville, and to enjoy it over and over in various settings. That they do this at least partly suggests an understanding that, like adolescence or the act of viewing the show, the initial disruption of Clark and Lex’s (heterosexual) trajectory towards tragedy is a liminal event. It can only happen once. By recreating it over and over, fans create multiple Smallvilles in which aspects of the outcome may vary, but in which they can continue to exert control over the show and re-experience the pleasure of this transformative event. Combining male same-sex friendship with intense sexual passion may offer straight women a chance to experience a kind of vicarious gayness, but this does not explain lesbian enjoyment of male/male slash, or straight women’s enjoyment of lesbian slash. What slash offers all readers, however, is a model of intense pleasure and possibility which forces participants into occupying a marginal place in society. Thus, when Clark and Lex have sex in fanfiction, they enter a realm not only like that of the queer, but also like that of the fan, who uses the “hot gay sex” activities I have identified to build a relationship with other fans. This recalls Matt Hills’ idea of media fandom having neoreligious elements, which occur as “an effect of fan discourses and practices” (original italics).34 He suggests that fans use the discourses of religion and new religious movements, which represent an already stigmatised group, in anticipation of their stigmatisation as fans. I Above: Michael Rosenbaum as Superman’s future have found that these fans may use discourses of nemesis Lex Luthor on the WB’s Smallville. Below: gayness to achieve the same ends. Tom Welling as Smallville’s teenaged Superman. Slash stories can therefore reflect the validation fans may experience when they become part of a fandom (as well as provide a sexual dynamic

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which they find more appealing than mainstream read—the passion and hilarious creativity—I just romance). The Lana of “Cherry Blossom Conduit” wanted to be part of it. I never imagined the degree experiences unexpected joy and acceptance of her to which it would invade my life.” Yet without the own marginalisation in her role as both site and show, there would be no fandom. Amanda Straw enabler of a first-time Clex scenario: “This was described “a sort of ‘contact high’ from watching electricity in her veins, this was a charge pulsing even the very worst [episodes] simply because through her and rushing her toward something that it’s Smallville. Part of that high, though, is about she always knew was inevitable, but, Jesus, had sharing reactions with fellow fans on the TwoP never known would feel so good and so right.”35 boards and in people’s L[ive] J[ournal]s.” As This event reinforces Clark and Lex’s difference part of a fandom, fans seem to feel more confident from and eventual inaccessibility to her, but also about their love for a show that, while initially makes them part of a marginal group; they are popular, was never considered prestige viewing. simultaneously like and not like the fans. In This complex relationship that fans have, Livia’s “Twenty One,” being seduced by Clark both with the show and with their own fandom, both changes how Lex sees himself and gives him is further complicated by their recognition that the confidence to enter mainstream Smallville life. Smallville contains many negative images of Both men are positioned in marginal spaces—“the fan-like activity. If fans are the sort of people outskirts of town,” or “between the chair and the who develop unhealthy obsessions, then a lot of fireplace grating”—throughout. Sex with Clark fans live in Smallville. Female characters are not only reveals to Lex his own true nature, but routinely stalked by delusional acquaintances Clark’s alien one as well. The new, secret bond who turn violent when their affections are not they have formed changes Lex’s self-questioning returned. Clark, for example, has been besotted introspection into an acceptance of “his own with Lana since childhood, going so far as to freakishness.”36 use his telescope to spy on her. While the show As fans learn in the pilot, neither Clark nor does not present Clark’s clearly obsessive “love” Lex is exactly “normal,” and it is their mutual for Lana as unhealthy, it does make it clear that recognition of each other’s peculiarity that draws other, less good-looking, boys with abnormal them together. This self-conscious recognition of abilities who also “love” and spy on Lana are outsider status can be read as queer; it can also be to be seen as obsessed and dangerous. Lex, read as fan-like. Coming together on the basis of destined to become an arch-villain, is himself a mutual marginalisation, fans find social support as fan; he collects “Warrior Angel” comics, proudly well as an outlet for their creative efforts. This displaying a framed original panel in his house.37 social component of fandom is crucial because In the episode “Stray,” he tells an orphaned boy it normalises behaviour that might otherwise how his attachment to this superhero character seem peculiar. Indeed, finding others who share (who, like him, is bald) helped him through his their enthusiasm for analysing television, or for own miserable childhood. He is also obsessed viewing Smallville queerly, is a major reason fans with uncovering the truth about the accident give for liking TWoP. Respondents to a small that brought him and Clark together, an event he email survey I conducted during 2003 indicated describes in transformative terms: “It was the that the fandom was more important to them than most exhilarating two minutes of my life….[F]or the show. DCookKC started watching only after the first time, I didn’t see a dead end. I sawa having encountered the TwoP Smallville boards: new beginning.”38 The extent of Lex’s “fandom” “I was so impressed and intrigued by the posts I surrounding this event is revealed in the second

GET A LIFE?: FAN CULTURES AND CONTEMPORARY TELEVISION 79 THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF “HOT GAY SEX” season, when we learn he has devoted an entire and powerfully affectively engaged. While in room to Clark, the accident, and the possibility the main I feel these fans use their fandom to of alien landings in Smallville. Thus fannish negotiate, rather than resist, hegemonic norms, and behaviour is selectively valorised and condemned as a basis for creating new social groups, for them, within the show itself, both embracing fans and taking a queer/fannish view remains a small but subjecting them to ridicule. satisfactory act of defiance. Smallville is the story TWoP fans gave voice to their ambivalent of Superman, a figure so iconic, so hypermasculine, relationship with their own fannish desires and and so powerfully associated in modern times with activities in “Enrique, Manservant of Evil,” the official ideology of the United States, that to a multiply-authored “diary” thread that was these fans the idea that he might be gay or bisexual subsequently archived on its own site. Enrique seems deliciously subversive. Gay and bisexual is the name a group of fans gave to a Hispanic- people, women and teenagers are all subordinated looking, non-speaking extra who played one groups in the society Superman represents, just as of Lex’s household fans are subordinated staff in the episode in their relationship “Cool.” In the fan with the texts and their story he developed into producers. It is therefore a flamboyant, cross- unsurprising that many dressing commentator of these fans are women on the show with a (or gay men), who passion for Chupa align themselves with Chup lollipops and a the characters to which crush on Lex. Enrique they most relate on the is obsessed with the screen. They may not idea of licking Lex’s self-identify as queer, head (for which the Chupa Chups are a substitute), but they are drawn to a reflection of what is queer and with collecting Lex’s discarded Ty Nant in themselves. bottles and toenail clippings. At one stage he For these fans, Clark and Lex are both objects gleefully fools Amy (a teenager with a crush on of desire and, as a unit, a site where the marginal Lex, who builds a shrine to him in “Shimmer”) subject is celebrated. Removed from their original, into believing someone else’s discarded tissue masculine genres of comic books, sci-fi and action belongs to Lex.39 Through Enrique fans were able adventure, they offer a model of unorthodox to indulge in as well as and poke fun at, excessive bonding in the margins, where obsessions are fan behaviours. resolved, and the abnormal can be beautiful. As Smallville slash fans, then, recognise that their a site where transformation occurs, the Clex of show contains queer-codable elements, which seem fanfiction reflects the space which TWoP and other to invite them to play, as well as pathologised images online spaces offers fans to experience personal of fannish behaviour which seem designed to repel. transformations—from powerless viewer to Their relationship with the show is thus complex, active producer, from lone watcher to admired fan both resistive and empathetic, both dismissive community member.

BRIGID KELLY is a journalist and a graduate student in the University of Canterbury cultural studies programme in New Zealand. She is interested in fan cultures, film and television, and gender representation in the media.

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Notes

1 Heavy promotion in a variety of media which emphasised both Tom Welling’s model good looks and the story of young Superman drew 8.33 million viewers to the pilot episode, the highest-rated premiere in the WB’s seven year history. Smallville subsequently became the network’s highest rating programme, and, in terms of audience makeup, American primetime’s most gender-balanced show – a coup for the heavily female-oriented network. See Rick Kissell, “Smallville Bow Super for the WB,” in Variety (online edition), October 17, 2002: http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117873383&ca tegoryid=14; Rick Kissell, “New Series Struggle to Impress,” in Variety (online edition), May 12 2002: http://www.variety.com/ index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117866742&cateogryid=14. 2 TWoP was extremely popular with Smallville slash fans in the show’s early days, but the fandom has since shifted mostly to LiveJournal (www.livejournal.com), where fans operate individual blogs with message board capacities. The giddy playfulness of the first season has also given way to a more serious and critical approach. 3 This comment was made by user TGC-64, in the “Homoeroticism, Yay!” thread in the TelevisionWithoutPity Smallville forums. 4 “Clex” (Clark and Lex) is not the only slash pairing in Smallville; fans have put practically every character into a same-sex relationship at some stage. They also support heterosexual pairings. Clark and Lex was the chief pairing at TWoP at the time this study was made, however, and my paper focuses on them. 5 See for example Henry Jenkins, Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture (London and New York: Routledge, 1992); Camille Bacon-Smith, Enterprising Women: Television Fandom and the Creation of Popular Myth (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992); or Patricia Frazer Lamb and Diana Veith, “Romantic Myth, Transcendence, and Star Trek Zines,” in Erotic Universe: Sexuality and Fantastic Literature, ed. Donald Palumbo (New York: Greenwood, 1986): 235-55. 6 Sherry Turkle, Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995), 14. 7 Jenkins, Textual Poachers, 281. 8 Mary Ellen Brown, Soap Opera and Women’s Talk: The Pleasure of Resistance (London: Sage, 1994), 113. 9 Brown, 112. 10Commercial success, or even quality, seem to be minor factors in fans’ decisions to actively engage with a show. “The worse the show, the better the fanfiction” appears to be a widely held fan belief, presumably because a show they find well-written and produced needs less fixing. Thus, shows that fans consider poor (Smallville among them is one of them) can and do spawn large and lively fandoms. 11 This comment was made by user Venusboi79 in the “Homoeroticism, Yay!” thread of the TelevisionWithoutPity Smallville forum, August 9, 2002. 12 During the first season Lex’s drive towards greatness and his problematic relationship with his powerful father was explicitly paralleled with that of Alexander the Great. Fans also saw a parallel in the relationship between Alexander and boyhood friend Hephaistion, with whom he is thought to have had a sexual relationship. By Season 2, all such references had disappeared. Whether this was in response to regular online discussion of Alexander’s sexuality (the show producers are known to have read TWoP), or perhaps to high-profile plans for movies about Alexander that were announced at that time, one can only speculate. 13 Not all online fandoms use this form of shorthand but it does appear to be particularly prevalent amongst Smallville fans, possibly because so many characters share the same initials (“L/L” could denote any of Lex/Lana, Lana/Lois, Lex/Lois, Lex/ Lionel, Lionel/Lana and so on.) It is believed to stem from Japanime fandom and is growing in popularity. 14 Comment made by Joyfulgirl41 in the “Homoeroticism, Yay!” thread of the TelevisionWithoutPity Smallville forums, August 26, 2002. 15 Thamiris, “Domestic Penetration: Queering the Home in Highlander, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, The Sentinel and Smallville”: http://www.livejournal.com/users/thamiris/143735.html. 16 Tulloch, John and Alvarado, Manuel, Doctor Who: The Unfolding Text (London, Macmillan, 1983), 2. 17 Rhiannonhero, “Cherry Blossom Conduit”: http://www.rhiannonhero.net/rhi/Smallville/ConduitSeries/cbc.htm. 18 Mary Ellen Curtin, “The Learning Curve: Hypertext, Fan Fiction and the Calculus of Human Nature”[conference paper], Media in Transition: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1999: http://www.alternateuniverses.com/TLCpaper.html. 19 Curtin, “The Learning Curve,” 2. 20 Curtin, “The Learning Curve,” 2. 21 Brown, 66. 22 Melanie E. S. Kohnen, “Do You See What I See? or Seeing Queerly, 101: Towards a Concept of Queer Spectatorship(s).” Unpublished manuscript. (Providence, Rhode Island: Brown University, 2003), 11. 23Corey K. Creekmur and Doty, Alexander, eds,. Out in Culture: Gay, Lesbian, and Queer Essays on Popular Culture (Durham: Duke University, 1995): 73. 24 Kohnen, “Do you see what I see?,” 14-15. 25 Miss Windy. “Trek as an Exceptional Fandom and Other Fanfic Award musings.” (2003): http://www.liverjournal.com/users/misswindy/75022.html (now deleted). 26 Writing a Clark diary in response to the popular spoof Lex’s Diary (in which Lex is presented with the thoughts and emotions of a 13 year old girl), one fan demonstrated Clark’s thirteen year old mentality by having him show more interest in dessert (“yay, pie!”) than his alien origins and powers. Fans seized upon this phrase and before long, TWoPers had added the notion that Clark is obsessed with pie to their Smallville metatext. 27 Tigress35 in the “Homoeroticism, Yay!” thread of the TelevisionWithoutPity Smallville forums, August 9, 2002.

GET A LIFE?: FAN CULTURES AND CONTEMPORARY TELEVISION 81 THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF “HOT GAY SEX”

28 I refer to slash as pornography not as a way of passing judgment, but because these fans do. The term “erotica” is rare in this context. Slash stories are frequently more explicit, and use cruder terminology, than seems to be acceptable in commercial erotica aimed at a female audience. Fans delight in talking about their “porn” which, in addition to stories, can include photographic manipulations that show the actors/characters engaging in explicit homosexual acts. 29 Both fans and academics agree that slash represents a way of rethinking and rewriting traditional masculinity. It is also sometimes straightforwardly pornographic. In Textual Poachers, Henry Jenkins writes that slash often focuses on sensuality and touch rather than penetration and ejaculation (Jenkins, Textual Poachers, 129), but most Smallville slash dwells upon the latter. Indeed, explicit descriptions of penetration and ejaculation are prominent in nearly all of the slash stories I have encountered. In addition, these stories minimize distress surrounding homosexual feelings, possibly because Clark and Lex are quite young in the show (though not always in the stories), because Lex canonically acts flirtatiously with both sexes, or possibly because Clark’s identity as a (literal) alien offers many opportunities for exploration of alternative sexualities. 30 Shoshanna Green, Cynthia Jenkins and Henry Jenkins (eds.), “Normal Female Interest in Men Bonking: Selections from the Terra Nostra Underground and Strange Bedfellows,” [online] 1998: http://web.mit.edu/21fms/www/faculty/henry3/bonking.html. 31 “Tempest,” Smallville, The WB, 2002. 32 A “Mary Sue” (or the male version, “Marty Stu”) is an original character that is an obvious fantasy projection of the author. Such characters are generally looked down upon by fans. 33 Pun, “The Puppeteer,” http://pun.popullus.net/puppeteer.html. 34 Matt Hills, Fan Cultures, (London and New York: Routledge, 2002), 119. 35 Rhiannonhero, “Cherry Blossom Conduit”. 36 Livia, “Twenty One”: http://smallville.slashdom.com/archive/2/twentyone.html. 37 “Warrior Angel” is a fictional superhero invented for Smallville. The comics contain stories about hero Warrior Angel and his former friend, subsequent nemesis, Devilicus. 38 “Pilot,” Smallville, The WB, 2001. 39 “Enrique, Manservant of Evil’s Diary,”: http://thingsthathappentome.tripod.com/enrique/main.htm.

82 SPRING 2005