Swan Queen, shipping, and boundary regulation in fandom

Abstract

There are a number of fan activities and practices that are subject to regulation. The mechanisms of regulation in shipping, however, are not always clear. Shipping, the fan activity of romantically pairing two fictional characters, has become a popular and contentious facet of fan interaction. The case that will be examined in this article is that of the Swan Queen ship, which pairs two female characters from Once Upon a Time (2011–). The lengths that fans have gone to support and promote this ship led to rather intense discussion and infighting among members of the Once Upon a Time fandom. I utilize comments and posts made on Tumblr to examine the mechanisms that dictate inclusion and exclusion in shipper communities. In doing so, I hope to identify the kinds of shipper activities that are subject to regulation and the kinds of boundaries that this regulation establishes. Shipping is dictated not only by fans' imaginations but also by boundaries that are performed and regulated on digital forums.

Imaginary Engagement, Real-World Effects: Fiction, Emotion, and Social Cognition

“…Beyond the formation of parasocial relationships and personally identifying with fictional characters, readers of popular fiction may emotionally invest in stories in a variety of ways, including becoming highly invested in fictional relationships (e.g., Gonzalez, 2016) or wishing to visit or know more about a given fictional world (e.g., Mittell, 2009, 2013). Regardless of the exact way in which a reader emotionally invests in a fictional story, it seems likely that any enduring emotional connection to a work of fiction may increase a given reader's motivation to imaginatively engage with the narrative.…”

Contentious Storytelling Online: Articulating Activism through Negotiation of Metanarratives

“…More recent studies observe that this is not always the case. These studies find that discrimination and marginalization are common in fan communities and these conflicts often lead to the fragmenting of fandoms into smaller communities with niche interests (Boethe 2014; Gonzalez 2016).…”

Introduction: The Reactionary in the Fan and the Fan in the Reactionary

“…Kristina Busse (2013) contends that both gender and sexuality are policed in fandom, with feminized practices considered inappropriate and women’s sexual desire marginalized by contemporary moves toward mainstreaming fans as ideal consumers. More intensively, Julie Levin Russo (2017, 160) is critical of the ways fan studies “positions not necessarily queer-identified women writing about not necessarily queer-identified men as more queer than people who are queer.” Indeed, Victoria Gonzalez (2016, 1.1) contests the baseline idea of fandom as sexually progressive, pointing out that “within fandom communities not all ships or shippers are created equal and some are in fact deemed more rabid than others”—and these ships tend to be the queer ones.…”

“… 2. There is, however, a growing body of research on antagonism (Johnson 2007) and inequality (Busse 2013; Gonzalez 2016; Pande 2016; Stanfill 2018) in fandom. …”