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Fairy‐Tale Fan Fiction and Questions of Women's Consent
Author(s) -
Roots Jaime W.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the german quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.11
H-Index - 10
eISSN - 1756-1183
pISSN - 0016-8831
DOI - 10.1111/gequ.12180
Subject(s) - metanarrative , folklore , adventure , literature , reinterpretation , resistance (ecology) , fandom , history , popular culture , narrative , art , aesthetics , art history , ecology , biology
Often the silent prize for adventurers, female characters in traditional fairy‐tale versions are reduced to the role of waiting to be rescued. Yet within modern revisions, women writers have worked to refocus the fairy tale. With changes and developments in technology, the fairy tale has developed and even flourished online: notably in fan fiction. This paper explores the “Grimms Märchen” fandom on FanFiktion.de and its metanarrative engagement with the fairy‐tale genre as a site of resistance to patriarchal norms in traditional fairy‐tale versions. The essay looks specifically at how women re‐imagine traditional fairy‐tale versions to foreground the often‐problematic treatment of feminine consent (or lack thereof) to male advances. It likewise highlights the relevance of fan fiction to the study of fairy tales and folklore today as a space for the fairy tale to adapt and evolve in a medium which thrives on reinterpretation and revision.