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Fanon Bernie Sanders: Political real person fan fiction and the construction of a candidate

Authors

  • Rachel Winter University of Central Florida

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2020.1679

Keywords:

Archive of Our Own, Candidate branding, Political fandom, US presidential election

Abstract

Writers of Bernie Sanders fan fiction incorporate elements of both canon and fanon in their characterization. Canon elements largely reflect the mediated reality of the senator and showcase the impact of media-produced narratives on followers. Writers incorporate fanon elements as a manner of altering unsatisfying realities and participating in communities in which they are not typically welcomed, such as politics. Engaging in writing political real person fiction enables fans to envision altered realities and gain a greater understanding of politics, a phenomenon which was especially evident during the unpredictable 2016 election season.

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Published

2020-03-15

Versions

Issue

Vol. 32 (2020): Fandom and Politics

Section

Praxis

License

Copyright (c) 2020 Rachel Winter

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

TWC Nos. 25 onward are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC by 4.0). For an explanation of the journal's reasoning, see the TWC editorial Copyright and Open Access. TWC Nos. 1 through 24 are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0) license, with TWC, not the author, retaining copyright.

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