Real enough: Power and politics in real person fiction

Abstract

In the age of artificial intelligence, deepfakes, cheap fakes, and similar developments that make the distinction between reality and simulation more difficult to identify, real person fiction (RPF)—narratives that treat celebrities as characters and subsequently depict them in various imagined circumstances—provides an essential inroad to understanding how and why audiences (niche fans and mainstream consumers alike) both create and consume fantasies about public figures. These works reflect the deeply complex and contradictory relationships that audiences have not just with the subjects of RPF but with the broader political implications and power dynamics that fantasies around these subjects illuminate.