Open Collections

Kato-Hopkins, Minori

University of British Columbia

In 1993, Henry Jenkins wrote that slash fanfiction reveals “aspects of traditional masculinity which prevent emotional expressiveness of physical intimacy between men” in the ways that it allows one to “imagine what a new kind of male friendship might look like” (Jenkins, 1993, as cited in Green et al. 2006). But what male friendships are portrayed in fanfiction outside of slash, that is, in non-romantic contexts? Furthermore, what might those friendships look like in fanfictions of the shōnen manga genre, which traditionally reproduces Toxic Masculine attitudes regarding male gender expression? Building on an interdisciplinary foundation of gender studies, fandom and affinity space studies, education, and children’s literature, this thesis investigates Kohei Horikoshi’s My Hero Academia (MHA) (2014-) and its most popular work of fanfiction on Archive of Our Own, PitViperofDoom’s Yesterday Upon The Stair (YUTS) (2016-2019). Using a mixed-methods approach that combines close-reading and data-driven analyses, I compare the selected texts for their respective depictions of crying and the attitudes surrounding such expressions of emotional vulnerability by male characters. Through this analysis, I explore how fanfiction narratives such as YUTS represent fan intentions to critique and challenge the gendered tropes of the popular shōnen manga, My Hero Academia, as well as how YUTS’ restorying (Thomas & Stornaiuolo, 2016) serves as a counter-narrative against gendered assumptions in the shōnen manga tradition and its fandom activity more broadly. The findings show that YUTS provides an alternative approach to shōnen narratives that preserve the genre’s narrative structure while overtly challenging its attitudes regarding masculinity. YUTS’ in-narrative discussion of the sexualization of characters and their relationships speak directly to the fanfiction reader, posing questions about what attitudes regarding gender are perpetuated in fandom activity and in their official, “canon” counterparts. This thesis concludes with a discussion of the limitations and implications of this study, and a call to action for fandom members, academics, and the YA industry to challenge its approaches to masculinity in young adult media.

Text

2023-07-06

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/85202

Children's Literature

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/