Fluidity in Shoebox Project by Kasandra Arthur A thesis presented to the University Of Waterloo

232 Pages·2017·3.82 MB·English

We Are Having All Kinds of Fun: Fluidity in Shoebox Project
by

Kasandra Arthur

A thesis
presented to the University Of Waterloo
in fulfilment of the
thesis requirement for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in
English

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2018
© Kasandra Arthur 2018
Examining Committee Membership

The following served on the Examining Committee for this thesis. The decision of the
Examining Committee is by majority vote.

External Examiner Katherine Larsen
Teaching Assistant Professor

Supervisor(s) Neil Randall
Associate Professor

Internal Member Aimée Morrison
Associate Professor

Internal-external Member Nicolas Gauthier
Assistant Professor

Other Member(s) Beth Coleman
Associate Professor

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Author’s Declaration:

I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including
any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners.
I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public.

iii
Abstract:

Made public on LiveJournal between 2004 and 2008, Shoebox Project (SBP) is a multimedia
fanfic written by ladyjaida and dorkorific. The plot takes place before that of the Harry Potter
novels, detailing the last two years of Hogwarts for the Marauders – Remus, Sirius, James, and
Peter – conveying its narrative through prose, dialogue, handwritten letters, handwritten notes,
pictures, and hand drawn sketches. SBP represents evidence of its authors negotiating of Remus
Lupin. Specifically, through the layered processes of reading and writing, dorkorific and
ladyjaida interpret and construct their understanding of authorship and their perception of the
Potterverse. In so doing, they make clear the inherent fluidity of these concepts. However,
despite the fluidity so central to SBP and to its fannish context, ladyjaida and dorkorific also
work to actively reiterate binaries around gender, sex, and desire in their construction of Remus
and Sirius’s sexuality. The specific content of SBP reflects this: the phrasing, references, and
fanart among a myriad of other particularities shape this fluidity or lack thereof. The ways in
which dorkorific and ladyjaida engage with the HPfandom through SBP’s content also reflect
this. Moreover, their playful engagement with the concepts of reading and writing, authorship,
the Potterverse, and desire signal ladyjaida and dorkorific’s masterful engagement with fannish
traditions in such a way so as to reaffirm those very same fannish traditions.

iv
Acknowledgements:

I want to extend my gratitude to the many people who facilitated this project. I want to thank Dr.
Neil Randall for his supervision, and committee members Drs. Beth Coleman, Nicolas Gauthier,
and Katherine Larsen. I’d particularly like to extend my gratitude to Dr. Aimée Morrison, also a
committee member, for working so extensively with me. I’d also like to acknowledge the support
of the administrative staff of the department of English Language and Literature who have
consistently helped me throughout my tenure as a doctoral student and candidate.
I would also like to thank those who have supported me beyond the university walls. I
owe a debt of gratitude to my friends and colleagues who have talked with me about the subject
matter of this project, sometimes out of genuine interest, sometimes out of shared fannish
fascination, but mostly out of an understanding that I needed to talk about it. Additionally, I
would like to thank my employers, especially Broadview Press, who have ensured my livelihood
throughout this degree and, in so doing, have facilitated the financial, mental, and physical health
necessary to complete this project.
I would like to thank my partner, Kyle Wright. His constant emotional, intellectual,
domestic, financial, and technical support has been absolutely integral to the completion of this
project as well as to my health and happiness.
Finally, I would like to thank the fandom communities which I study and in which I
participate. The thoughtful, nuanced, critical, and gleeful engagement of these communities has
inspired me both personally and academically since my childhood and continues to do so daily.

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Table of Contents

We Are Having All Kinds of Fun: Fluidity in Shoebox Project .................................................................... i
Examining Committee Membership ......................................................................................................... ii
Author’s Declaration: ............................................................................................................................... iii
Abstract: ................................................................................................................................................... iv
Acknowledgements: .................................................................................................................................. v
Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................................... vi
List of Figures: ....................................................................................................................................... viii
List of Abbreviations: ............................................................................................................................. xii
Introduction: I Solemnly Swear That I’m Up To No Good .......................................................................... 1
Shoebox Project ........................................................................................................................................ 2
HP and the HPfandom ............................................................................................................................ 14
SBP as it relates to HPfandom ................................................................................................................ 18
Fanfic ...................................................................................................................................................... 20
Studying fanfic ........................................................................................................................................ 23
What, specifically, is my work? .............................................................................................................. 27
Fluidity .................................................................................................................................................... 30
Methodologies......................................................................................................................................... 31
Chapter One: Reading, Writing, and Meaning ........................................................................................... 34
Fanfic and Negotiating Meaning............................................................................................................. 34
Writing Meaning onto Readings ............................................................................................................. 39
Remus Language ..................................................................................................................................... 49
Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 72
Chapter Two: Navigating Authorship ......................................................................................................... 73
Fanfic and Authorship: SBP’s Context ................................................................................................... 73
Negotiations Enacted .............................................................................................................................. 79
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 119
Chapter Three: The Potterverse ................................................................................................................ 121
Objects and Subjects of Fandom ........................................................................................................... 121
Reading Dorkorific and Ladyjaida’s Potterverse .................................................................................. 129
Building the Potterverse ........................................................................................................................ 141
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 144
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Chapter Four: Gender, Sex, and Desire in SBP ........................................................................................ 145
The Heterosexual Matrix and Fag Positionality ................................................................................... 145
Constructing and Policing Binaries in SBP .......................................................................................... 148
The Queer Context of SBP ................................................................................................................... 183
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 194
Conclusion: Mischief Managed? .............................................................................................................. 195
References ................................................................................................................................................. 202

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List of Figures:

Figure 0.1: Notes passed between characters, dorkorific and ladyjaida 5.19
Figure 0.2: Notes passed between characters, dorkorific and ladyjaida 5.21
Figure 0.3: Notes passed between characters, dorkorific and ladyjaida 5.22
Figure 0.4: Notes passed between characters, dorkorific and ladyjaida 5.23
Figure 0.5: Notes passed between characters, dorkorific and ladyjaida 5.25
Figure 0.6: Notes passed between characters, dorkorific and ladyjaida 5.26
Figure 0.7: Image of the Marauders, dorkorific and ladyjaida 26.23
Figure 0.8: Image of the Marauders, dorkorific and ladyjaida 26.24
Figure 0.9: Image of the Marauders, dorkorific and ladyjaida 26.25
Figure 0.10: Image of the Marauders, dorkorific and ladyjaida 26.26
Figure 0.11: Image of the Marauders and Lily, dorkorific and ladyjaida 26.27
Figure 0.12: Photo booth images of Remus and Sirius, dorkorific and ladyjaida 25B.18
Figure 0.13: Image of Remus and Sirius touching sock-clad feet, dorkorific and ladyjaida 24.1
Figure 0.14: Image of Remus and Sirius, damaged but preserved, dorkorific and ladyjaida 24.26
Figure 1.1: Note where Sirius teases James, dorkorific and ladyjaida 17.4
Figure 1.2: Image of Sirius and Peter, dorkorific and ladyjaida 5.38
Figure 1.3: Images of Sirius and James wrestling in various states of undress, dorkorific and
ladyjaida 2.9
Figure 1.4: Image of Sirius and James falling asleep on one another, dorkorific and ladyjaida 7.7
Figure 1.5: Image of Sirius wearing only a leaf, dorkorific and ladyjaida 14.11
Figure 1.6: Image of Sirius dancing topless with an unnamed girl, dorkorific and ladyjaida 17.5
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Figure 1.7: Image of Dumbledore addressing students, with Professors Hagrid, Snape, and Lupin
in the background, Prisoner 24:50
Figure 1.8: Image of Remus arriving at the Ministry of Magic, Order 1:55:41
Figure 1.9: Image of Remus leaning against a rail as he speaks with Harry, Prisoner 45:43
Figure 1.10: Image of Remus leaning against a door behind Sirius as he embraces Harry, Order
15.17
Figure 1.11: Image of Remus looking down as Tonks is about to announce her pregnancy,
Hallows1 12:01
Figure 1.12: Image of Remus looking at Sirius, Order 17:10
Figure 1.13: Image of Remus, Sirius, James, and Lily as they look at Harry, Hallows2 1:27:10
Figure 1.14: Image of Molly and Arthur, with Remus and Sirius paralleling their position behind
them, Order 15:10
Figure 2.1: Image of the first page of Remus’s essay about werewolves, dorkorific and ladyjaida
17B.1
Figure 2.2: Image from Remus’s dream journal, dorkorific and ladyjaida 13.22
Figure 2.3: Image from Remus’s dream journal, dorkorific and ladyjaida 13.23
Figure 2.4: Image showing the interwoven nature of fanart and prose fic, dorkorific and ladyjaida
14.2
Figure 2.5: Image showing the interwoven nature of fanart and prose fic, dorkorific and ladyjaida
1.11
Figure 2.6: Handwritten Valentines, dorkorific and ladyjaida 8.19
Figure 2.7: James’ handwriting, dorkorific and ladyjaida 3.1
Figure 2.8: James’ handwriting, dorkorific and ladyjaida 17.6
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Figure 2.9: Peter’s handwriting, dorkorific and ladyjaida 3.4
Figure 2.10: Peter’s handwriting, dorkorific and ladyjaida 17.2
Figure 2.11: Remus’s writing, dorkorific and ladyjaida 3.4
Figure 2.12: Remus’s writing, dorkorific and ladyjaida 5.16
Figure 2.13: Remus’s writing, dorkorific and ladyjaida 12.9
Figure 2.14: Sirius’s writing, dorkorific and ladyjaida 5.13
Figure 2.15: Sirius’s writing, dorkorific and ladyjaida 5.14
Figure 2.16: Sirius’s writing, dorkorific and ladyjaida 17.1
Figure 2.17: Sirius’s writing, dorkorific and ladyjaida 8.20
Figure 2.18: Initial disclaimer, dorkorific and ladyjaida 1.15
Figure 2.19: Later disclaimer, dorkorific and ladyjaida 19.20
Figure 3.1: Map design, dorkorific and ladyjaida 19.1
Figure 3.2: Map design, Prisoner 59:53
Figure 3.3: Map details, Prisoner 2:15:56
Figure 3.4: Map details, dorkorific and ladyjaida 19.6
Figure 3.5: Newspaper clippings, dorkorific and ladyjaida 15.2
Figure 4.1: Image of Lily and James, dorkorific and ladyjaida 17.13
Figure 4.2: Image of Lily and James, dorkorific and ladyjaida 21.1
Figure 4.3: Image of Lily, dorkorific and ladyjaida 25.10
Figure 4.4: Image of Lily, dorkorific and ladyjaida 25.11
Figure 4.5: Images of Lily, dorkorific and ladyjaida 8.1
Figure 4.6: Image Sirius lunging toward a stag, dorkorific and ladyjaida 5.2
Figure 4.7: Image Sirius and Remus pointing, dorkorific and ladyjaida 16.20
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