Remake it, Remix it, and Queer it Up

Abstract

This thesis analyzes fanfiction and the community surrounding fan made media as a source of comfort for queer youth. A large majority of those who read and write fanfiction are queer and include their own relationships with queerness in their writing. The people writing fanfiction spend their own time and energy to share stories about their favorite characters for free, giving anyone access to read their works. I argue that queer youth who lack representation in mainstream media turn to fanfiction in order to find characters and narratives they relate to and that fanfiction helps build communities. Using All the Young Dudes as a case study, I examine how queer youth read and respond to works of fiction written about characters they already know, but through the perspective of queer people. I will be using research that has been done about queer mental health (Duggan, Andreassen, Dajches and Llewellyn) and more general research that has been conducted about the impacts of relying on fiction for emotional regulation (Benko, Hill & Hum, Risch) to inform my analysis throughout this thesis. Additionally, I will be using comments left on the fanfiction by readers to support claims I make about how ATYD can – and has impacted queer readers.