DOCSLIB.ORG

An Analysis of Fanfiction and Its Influence on Sexual Development

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
An Analysis of Fanfiction and Its Influence on Sexual Development “AND THEN THEY BONED”: AN ANALYSIS OF FANFICTION AND ITS INFLUENCE ON SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT By Lindsay Mixer A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Humboldt State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Sociology Committee Membership Dr. Meredith Williams, Committee Chair Dr. Mary Virnoche, Committee Member Dr. Meredith Williams, Program Graduate Coordinator May 2018 ABSTRACT “AND THEN THEY BONED”: AN ANALYSIS OF FANFICTION AND ITS INFLUENCE ON SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT Lindsay Mixer The purpose of this research is to demonstrate how young adults come to understand their sexuality (from sexual and gender identities to sexual likes and dislikes) through reading and writing fanfiction. Previous studies show that fanfiction promotes non-heterosexual orientations, but little research has been done on how it contributes to overall sexual development. In conducting an online survey of fanfiction readers, I explore how fans use these works to generate an understanding of themselves as sexual beings. Explicit stories make up a sizable portion of the fanfiction available, and there is a wide range of sexual acts depicted in those stories; ones that readers may not have been introduced to otherwise. Fanfiction can also facilitate discussion of sexuality and gender identity, topics that may not be appropriate in other social spheres, which can assist further sexual development. This study looks at just how influential fanfiction, and the fanfiction community, can be on sexual development. Keywords: Fanfiction, fandom, sexually explicit material, sexuality, sexual development, lgbt, queer, pornography, media i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To my fellow fans, without whom none of this would have been possible. The whole-hearted welcome I have felt in fandom, first as a fan and then now, as a researcher, cannot be overstated. Thank you for your support. I feel humbled and blessed to be part of this community. To Dr. Meredith Williams, my chair, my teacher, my hero in every way possible. You are superwoman. Don’t ever forget that. To my family, my parents and brothers, for supporting me in every possible way. To Kelsey and Kayla, my best friends and biggest fans. Every time I felt like giving up, it was you two that kept me going. Thank you for simply existing in my life. And finally, to my cats Thor and Sif, for always knowing just when I needed my work forcefully shoved from my lap. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. vi LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... vii LIST OF APPENDICES .................................................................................................. viii CHAPTER ONE ................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 Glossary .......................................................................................................................... 7 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ............................................................. 10 Sexuality ....................................................................................................................... 11 Fanfiction ...................................................................................................................... 18 Fanfiction as a psychosocial moratorium ................................................................. 22 Pornography .................................................................................................................. 26 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY ......................................................................... 33 Studying Fandom: Access and Trust ............................................................................ 33 Survey Instrumentation ............................................................................................. 36 Measurements ............................................................................................................... 39 Fanfiction reading habits ........................................................................................... 39 Gender identity and sexual orientation ..................................................................... 40 iii Masturbation and sexual experiences ....................................................................... 40 General demographics............................................................................................... 41 Data Analysis ................................................................................................................ 42 CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS ........................................................................................ 43 Fanfiction Demographics .............................................................................................. 43 Interacting Identities ..................................................................................................... 46 Interactions of gender and sexual orientation ........................................................... 46 Interactions of gender, sexual orientation, and fanfiction habits .............................. 48 Interactions of gender, sexual orientation, and sexual experiences .......................... 51 Fanfiction and Masturbation ......................................................................................... 53 Fanfiction and Sexual Acts ........................................................................................... 55 CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ................................................ 58 Discussion ..................................................................................................................... 58 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 60 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 63 SURVEY........................................................................................................................... 70 The Formation of Sexual Behavior through Fanfiction ................................................ 70 General ...................................................................................................................... 71 Reading Fanfiction .................................................................................................... 72 Writing Fanfiction ..................................................................................................... 76 Gender and Sexual Identity ....................................................................................... 79 Background Questions .............................................................................................. 84 RECRUITMENT .............................................................................................................. 86 iv COMPLETE TABLES ..................................................................................................... 87 v LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Sample Demographics ........................................................................................ 44 Table 2: Fanfiction Habits ................................................................................................ 45 Table 3: Sexual Experiences ............................................................................................. 46 Table 4: Gender and Sexuality* ........................................................................................ 47 Table 5: Gender, Sexuality, and Fanfiction part 1* .......................................................... 49 Table 6: Gender, Sexuality, and Fanfiction part 2* .......................................................... 50 Table 7: Gender, Sexuality, and Sexual Experiences* ..................................................... 52 Table 8: Fanfiction and Masturbation Analysis ................................................................ 54 Table 9: Fanfiction and Sexual Experiences Analysis ...................................................... 56 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: A typical search result for sexually explicit Star Trek: The Original Series fanfiction ............................................................................................................................. 1 vii LIST OF APPENDICES APPENDIX A ................................................................................................................... 70 APPENDIX B ................................................................................................................... 86 APPENDIX C ................................................................................................................... 87 viii 1 CHAPTER ONE Introduction Figure 1: A typical search result for sexually explicit Star Trek: The Original
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Gender and Consent in Supernatural Fanfiction's Alpha/Beta/Omega
    i Just Go Find Yourself a Nice Alpha: Gender and Consent in Supernatural Fanfiction’s Alpha/Beta/Omega Universe by Tessa Barone A THESIS submitted to Oregon State University Honors College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Honors Baccalaureate of Arts in English (Honors Scholar) Honors Baccalaureate of Arts in History (Honors Scholar) Presented May 28, 2019 Commencement June 2019 ii iii AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Tessa Barone for the degree of Honors Baccalaureate of Arts in English and Honors Baccalaureate Arts in History presented on May 28, 2019. Title: Just Go Find Yourself a Nice Alpha: Gender and Consent in Supernatural Fanfiction’s Alpha/Beta/Omega Universe. Abstract approved:_____________________________________________________ Rebecca Olson Shows, books, and media are constantly negotiating power with their fans. Who decides what is canon? To whom does the story belong?? The answer has traditionally been in favor of producers. However, in the age of the internet, fans now hold considerably more power than they ever have before, and some shows, like the CW’s Supernatural, respond by participating in “fanservice.” Many fans of this show strongly support slash and incest pairings, and by allowing such interpretations to be acknowledged in the narrative Supernatural makes increasingly transgressive readings available to the audience. The trope known as “Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics” is extremely popular, borderline pornographic, and virtually eradicates women from the narrative—instead depicting a relationship between men that is highly heterosexual in dynamic. This trope deconstructs the gender binary by assigning gender roles based on behavior, rather than biology, and appeals to an animal code of ethics in order to indulge in problematic, sexist, and abusive sexual situations.
    [Show full text]
  • Digital Fanfic in Negotiation: Livejournal, Archive of Our Own, and the Affordances of Read-Write Platforms
    Digital fanfic in negotiation: LiveJournal, Archive of our Own, and the affordances of read-write platforms. Introduction Fanfiction is the unauthorized rewriting or adaptation of popular media narratives, utilizing corporately owned characters, settings and storylines to tell an individual writer’s own story (self-ref, 2017). It is often abbreviated to fanfic or even fic, and exists in a thoroughly grey legal area between copyright infringement and fair use (Tushnet 1997, McCardle 2011). Though there were a few cases of cease-and-desist letters sent to fan writers in the twentieth century, media corporations now understand it is useless to attempt to prosecute fanfic writers – for one thing, there are simply too many of us,1 and for another it would be terrible publicity. Though modern fanfic can be reliably dated to the 1960s (Jenkins 1992), it is now primarily an online practice, and the fastest growing form of writing in the world (self ref). This paper uses participant observation and online ethnography to explore how fanfiction archives utilize digital affordances. Following Murray, I will argue that a robust understanding of digital read-write platforms needs to account for the social and legal context of digital fiction as well as its technological affordances. Whilst the online platform LiveJournal in some ways channels user creativity towards a more self-evidentially ‘digital’ texts than its successor in the Archive of Our Own (A03), the Archive encourages greater reader interactivity at the level of archive and sorting. I will demonstrate that in some ways, the A03 recoups some of the cultural capital and use value of print.
    [Show full text]
  • The Reading Habits and Preferences of LGBTIQ+ Youth Rachel S
    St. Cloud State University theRepository at St. Cloud State Library Faculty Publications Library Services 2019 The Reading Habits and Preferences of LGBTIQ+ Youth Rachel S. Wexelbaum Saint Cloud State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/lrs_facpubs Part of the Library and Information Science Commons Recommended Citation Wexelbaum, Rachel S., "The Reading Habits and Preferences of LGBTIQ+ Youth" (2019). Library Faculty Publications. 62. https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/lrs_facpubs/62 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Library Services at theRepository at St. Cloud State. It has been accepted for inclusion in Library Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of theRepository at St. Cloud State. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Reading Habits and Preferences of LGBTIQ+ Youth Rachel Wexelbaum, St. Cloud State University, USA Abstract The author of this article presents the available findings on the reading habits and preferences of LGBTIQ+ youth. She will discuss the information seeking behavior of LGBTIQ+ youth and challenges that these youth face in locating LGBTIQ+ reading materials, whether in traditional book format or via social media. Finally, the author will provide recommendations to librarians on how to make LGBTIQ+ library resources more relevant for youth, as well as identify areas that require more research. Keywords: LGBT; LGBT library resources and services; reading; social
    [Show full text]
  • A Mixed Methods Study of Internet Pornography, Masculinity
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Public Access Theses and Dissertations from the Education and Human Sciences, College of (CEHS) College of Education and Human Sciences Fall 10-26-2018 "I imagine the male isn't in the video and it is me:" A Mixed Methods Study of Internet Pornography, Masculinity, and Sexual Aggression in Emerging Adulthood Christina Richardson University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cehsdiss Part of the Counseling Psychology Commons, and the Gender and Sexuality Commons Richardson, Christina, ""I imagine the male isn't in the video and it is me:" A Mixed Methods Study of Internet Pornography, Masculinity, and Sexual Aggression in Emerging Adulthood" (2018). Public Access Theses and Dissertations from the College of Education and Human Sciences. 328. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cehsdiss/328 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Education and Human Sciences, College of (CEHS) at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Public Access Theses and Dissertations from the College of Education and Human Sciences by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. “I IMAGINE THE MALE ISN’T IN THE VIDEO AND IT IS ME:” A MIXED METHODS STUDY OF INTERNET PORNOGRAPHY, MASCULINITY, AND SEXUAL AGGRESSION IN EMERGING ADULTHOOD by Christina Richardson A DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Major: Educational Psychology (Counseling Psychology) Under the Supervision of Professor M.
    [Show full text]
  • Front Matter Template
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by UT Digital Repository Copyright by Birch Griesse 2019 The Report Committee for Birch Griesse Certifies that this is the approved version of the following Report: Mediating Conflicting Values in a Community Archives Setting APPROVED BY SUPERVISING COMMITTEE: Amelia Acker, Supervisor Patricia K. Galloway Mediating Conflicting Values in a Community Archives Setting by Birch Griesse Report Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Information Studies The University of Texas at Austin May 2019 Acknowledgements I would like to thank Dr. Amelia Acker for her hard work in helping me navigate the process of researching and writing this report, including helping me overcome several obstacles along the way. I would also like to thank my mother, Janet Titus, for her continuous love and support. iv Abstract Mediating Conflicting Values in a Community Archives Setting Birch Griesse, M.S. Info. St. The University of Texas at Austin, 2019 Supervisor: Amelia Acker This report examines conflicts within the user community of the online fanwork repository Archive of Our Own (AO3). The site is a nonprofit venture with the ambitious goal of serving the large heterogeneous community of fandom writ large. Tensions among subsets of the Archive’s user group have flared up at various points in its ten-year history, forcing its volunteer-based staff into the position of arbiter of community values. These conflicting values have influenced, sometimes asymmetrically, the functionality of the Archive and are now embedded in its design.
    [Show full text]
  • Sexualized Spaces Revisited
    Queerspace: Sexualized spaces revisited Queer a formerly pejorative term reclaimed by nonheterosexual and/or antihomophobic subjects, signifies an open, multiperspectival, and fluid--if slippery--conceptual space from Diepiriye Sungumote Kuku-Siemons which to contest more effectively a heteronormative and heterosexist social order. (Martin and Piggford 1997) (Przestrzeń odmieńcza: znowu w miejscach seksualnie Space freedom nacechowanych) Greenspace STRESZCZENIE: Snując rozważania wokół doświadczeń, na Parmindar and I first met one Sunday evening at Nehru Park. It is an jakie endemiczna i powszechna homofobia narażała go przez cały expansive park, complete with a kidney bean shaped lake, large, okres dzieciństwa na południu Stanów Zjednoczonych, ta osobista smooth boulders, lightly forested acreages, rolling hills of trimmed opowieść autorki/-a rozpoczyna się w momencie, gdy odnalazł/-a green grass, healthy green foliage, whirling cement and pierwszego sojusznika w najmniej oczekiwanym miejscu. Jego well-treaded paths throughout. The roads on all sides are wide in najlepszej przyjaciółce jako pierwszej w całej klasie zaczęły rosnąć both directions, reducing the standard honking and buzz of auto piersi i wydawało się, że świat się dla niej zawalił, podobnie jak cały rickshaws of Delhi traffic. Anyway, the park sits on the edge of the świat odwrócił od niego z powodu jego zniewieściałości. Ta sparsely populated diplomatic area; the park is unusually tranquil opowieść w pierwszej osobie jest pierwszym rozdziałem książki and manicured for its size in this city. It was pitch dark, indicating that traktującej o płci kulturowej, rasie i klasie na południu Stanów the police would soon abruptly arrive to close the area. The park is Zjednoczonych, w połączeniu z krytyczną refleksją osoby open until 8PM in the cooler months and till 9PM during the six months z mniejszości etnicznej, która przemierzyła świat i zamieszka po of summer.
    [Show full text]
  • Sfiff 2019 Program Here
    SantaFeIndependent.com 2019 team and advisory board 2019 SFIFF TEAM Jacques Paisner Artistic Director Liesette Paisner Bailey Executive Director Jena Braziel Guest Service Director Derek Horne Director of Shorts Programmer Beau Farrell Associate Programmer Stephanie Love Office Manager Dawn Hoffman Events Manager Deb French Venue Coordinator Chris Bredenberg Tech Director Allie Salazar Graphic Designer Blake Lewis Headquarters Manager Castle Searcy Festival Dailies Adelaide Zhang Box Office Assistant Sarah Mease Box Office Assistant Eileen O’Brien MC Sage Paisner Photographer 2019 SFIFF ADVISORY BOARD Gary Farmer, Chair Chris Eyre Kirk Ellis David Sontag Alexandria Bombach Nicole Guillemet “A young Sundance” Alton Walpole —Indiewire Kimi Ginoza Green Paul Langland Beth Caldarello Xavier Horan “An all inclusive Marissa Juarez resort for cinephiles...” —Filmmaker Magazine “Bringing the community together” 505-349-1414 —Slant Magazine www.santafeindependent.com • [email protected] 418 Montezuma Ave. Suite 22 Santa Fe, NM 87501 3 AD AD welcome WELCOME Dear Santa Fe Independent Film Festival Visitors and Community, Welcome to Santa Fe, and to the festival The Albuquerque Journal calls “The Next Sundance.” The Santa Fe Independent Film Festival (SFIFF), now in its eleventh year, has become one of Santa Fe’s most celebrated annual events. I know you will enjoy SFIFF’s world-class programming and award-winning guests, including renowned ac- tors Jane Seymour and Tantoo Cardinal. I encourage you to investi- gate the many activities, museums, galleries, restaurants, and more that Santa Fe has to offer. The Santa Fe Independent Film Festival fills five days with screen- ings, workshops, educational panels, book signings, and celebra- tions.
    [Show full text]
  • Audiences, Gender and Community in Fan Vidding Katharina M
    University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2011 "Veni, Vidi, Vids!" audiences, gender and community in Fan Vidding Katharina M. Freund University of Wollongong, [email protected] Recommended Citation Freund, Katharina M., "Veni, Vidi, Vids!" audiences, gender and community in Fan Vidding, Doctor of Philosophy thesis, School of Social Sciences, Media and Communications, Faculty of Arts, University of Wollongong, 2011. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/3447 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] “Veni, Vidi, Vids!”: Audiences, Gender and Community in Fan Vidding A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree Doctor of Philosophy From University of Wollongong by Katharina Freund (BA Hons) School of Social Sciences, Media and Communications 2011 CERTIFICATION I, Katharina Freund, declare that this thesis, submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy, in the Arts Faculty, University of Wollongong, is wholly my own work unless otherwise referenced or acknowledged. The document has not been submitted for qualifications at any other academic institution. Katharina Freund 30 September, 2011 i ABSTRACT This thesis documents and analyses the contemporary community of (mostly) female fan video editors, known as vidders, through a triangulated, ethnographic study. It provides historical and contextual background for the development of the vidding community, and explores the role of agency among this specialised audience community. Utilising semiotic theory, it offers a theoretical language for understanding the structure and function of remix videos.
    [Show full text]
  • We Control It on Our End, and Now It's up to You" -- Exploitation, Empowerment, and Ethical Portrayals of the Pornography Industry Julie E
    Student Publications Student Scholarship Spring 2017 "We control it on our end, and now it's up to you" -- Exploitation, Empowerment, and Ethical Portrayals of the Pornography Industry Julie E. Davin Gettysburg College Follow this and additional works at: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship Part of the Film and Media Studies Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, and the Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons Share feedback about the accessibility of this item. Davin, Julie E., ""We control it on our end, and now it's up to you" -- Exploitation, Empowerment, and Ethical Portrayals of the Pornography Industry" (2017). Student Publications. 543. https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship/543 This open access student research paper is brought to you by The uC pola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of The uC pola. For more information, please contact [email protected]. "We control it on our end, and now it's up to you" -- Exploitation, Empowerment, and Ethical Portrayals of the Pornography Industry Abstract Documentaries about pornography are beginning to constitute an entirely new subgenre of film. Big Hollywood names like James Franco and Rashida Jones are jumping on the bandwagon, using their influence and resources to invest in a type of audiovisual knowledge production far less mainstream than that in which they usually participate. The films that have resulted from this new movement are undoubtedly persuasive, no matter which side of the debate over pornography these directors have respectively chosen to represent. Moreover, regardless of the side(s) that audience members may have taken in the so-called “feminist porn debates,” one cannot ignore the rhetorical strength of the arguments presented in a wide variety of documentaries about pornography.
    [Show full text]
  • Harry Potter Fanfiction on the Internet
    POTTEROTICS: HARRY POTTER FANFICTION ON THE INTERNET By CATHERINE TOSENBERGER A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2007 1 © 2007 Catherine Tosenberger 2 To my grandparents Edward and June Hard, and Michael and Katherine Tosenberger 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I must thank the Harry Potter fandom, and all the fans who gave so generously of their talent and expertise. I have met an enormous number of brilliant, funny, creative and wise people through my interactions with this community. The following, in no particular order, have been especially kind and helpful, and I am honored to call them friends: Amy Tenbrink, Hallie Tibbetts, Kathryn Loup, Heidi Tandy, Sarah Benoot, Anna Milton, Cassandra Claire, Pogrebin, Marvolo, Ravenchel, Katiebec, Rhoddlet, Fleur, Mireille, Kayla Gagnet Castille, Sabrina Chin, Jane Glaubman, Aja Romano, Carlie Webber, Anatsuno, Rennie Guedel, Ebony Thomas, V, Folk, Kay Taylor, Katie B, Vicki Dolenga, Ellen Fremedon, Anne Kustritz, Rene, Amatia, Sharon Goetz, Executrix, Resmiranda, Kristi Brownfield, Glockgal, Flourish, Darkrose, Calico, Metempsychosis, Cathexys, Cyg, Vali, Lolaraincoat, Chris Dickson, and Meg Milford. There are others whose names have escaped me, and I hope they won’t hold it against me. I thank the mods and denizens of Fandom Wank, for continually reminding me that fandom is, indeed, fucking funny. This project would never have begun, and would certainly not have finished, without the intellectual and emotional support of my director, Kenneth Kidd, the kindest and best of men. He has been a mentor and a dear friend.
    [Show full text]
  • Sameness Attracts, Novelty Disturbs, but Outliers Flourish in Fanfiction
    SAMENESS ATTRACTS,NOVELTY DISTURBS, BUT OUTLIERS FLOURISH IN FANFICTION ONLINE APREPRINT Elise Jing1, Simon DeDeo2, and Yong-Yeol Ahn3 1Department of Informatics, Indiana University 2Social and Decision Sciences, Dietrich College, Carnegie Mellon University 3Department of Informatics, Indiana University April 17, 2019 ABSTRACT The nature of what people enjoy is not just a central question for the creative industry, it is a driving force of cultural evolution. It is widely believed that successful cultural products balance novelty and conventionality: they provide something familiar but at least somewhat divergent from what has come before, and occupy a satisfying middle ground between “more of the same” and “too strange”. We test this belief using a large dataset of over half a million works of fanfiction from the website Archive of Our Own (AO3), looking at how the recognition a work receives varies with its novelty. We quantify the novelty through a term-based language model, and a topic model, in the context of existing works within the same fandom. Contrary to the balance theory, we find that the lowest-novelty are the most popular and that popularity declines monotonically with novelty. A few exceptions can be found: extremely popular works that are among the highest novelty within the fandom. Taken together, our findings not only challenge the traditional theory of the hedonic value of novelty, they invert it: people prefer the least novel things, are repelled by the middle ground, and have an occasional enthusiasm for extreme outliers. It suggests that cultural evolution must work against inertia — the appetite people have to continually reconsume the familiar, and may resemble a punctuated equilibrium rather than a smooth evolution.
    [Show full text]
  • TWO CASES of CHINESE INTERNET STUDIES a Thesis
    TWO CASES OF CHINESE INTERNET STUDIES A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by Yuan Liang August 2019 © 2019 Yuan Liang ABSTRACT This thesis consists of two parts. Chapter 1 concentrates on one genre of Chinese online literature and its relationship with gender and sexuality. It aims at exploring the diversity of Chinese danmei fiction and relating it to the gendered self- identifications of young and educated women in contemporary China. It argues that while danmei fiction in China creates a channel of gender and sexual expressions, it also reflects the difficulties and contradictions that women encounter and experience when they try to place themselves into the current social and economic structure. Chapter 2 studies Chris Marker’s documentary Sunday in Peking and its reception in contemporary China. It closely examines the internet reviews on a Chinese website from the perspectives of idealization and exoticization, and contends that both the filmmaker and his Chinese audiences are under the influences of stereotypes that their society, culture or ideology impose on them. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Yuan Liang was born and raised in Chengdu, China. She started her undergraduate studies at Beijing Normal University in 2013 and earned her bachelor’s degree in Chinese Language and Literature in 2017. In the same year, she joined the M.A. program in Asian Studies at Cornell University. She is expected to receive her master’s degree in August 2019. After graduation, she will become a Ph.D.
    [Show full text]