文章基本信息

标题：Killing off Lexa: ‘Dead Lesbian Syndrome’ and intra-fandom management of toxic fan practices in an online queer community
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作者：Mar Guerrero-Pico ; María-José Establés ; Rafael Ventura 等
期刊名称：Participations
印刷版ISSN：1749-8716
出版年度：2018
卷号：15
期号：1
页码：311
出版社：Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies, University of Wales
摘要：This article contributes to the debates around toxic fan practices by focusing on the regulation and management strategies activated intra-fandom in order to combat fan toxicity. In particular, the social media boycott campaign against the teen series The 100 (The CW, 2014-) is examined after the death of a popular lesbian character in March 2016. This event propelled an online movement termed ‘LGBT Fans Deserve Better’, dedicated to improving the representation of lesbian and bisexual women on television and of characters infamously subjected to the occurrence of the ‘Dead Lesbian Syndrome’ trope. To frame this study, we discuss television representation of lesbian love and its effects on young queer females, and draw some necessary conceptual distinctions within what we call the spectrum of conflict formed by fan-tagonism, anti-fandom, and toxic fan practices, and how that spectrum relates to current research on fan activism. Then we apply a qualitative methodology based on grounded theory, discourse analysis, and reception studies to the study of The 100 fans’ online interactions in a lesbian forum and on Twitter in the wake of the character’s death. The results confirm the existence of a toxic fan faction that harassed producers on social media. However, three key self-regulation strategies are exemplified at the same time. First, fear of industry retaliation based on internalised social prejudices towards LGBTQ individuals; second, strategic thinking; and third, the common good of achieving a positive LGBTQ representation over time.
关键词：toxic fandom; fan activism; anti-fandom; fan-tagonism; LGBTQ representation; The 100