Woo hoo!!!

[caitri]

My paper proposal got accepted for PCA.

This is my abstract:

Everybody's Bi in the Future: Constructing Sexuality in the Star Trek Reboot Fandom

Star Trek fandom is notorious as one of the early progenitors of slash
fiction-even more so since Gene Roddenberry, the creator of the show,
coyly worked in some references to the genre in his novelization of
the first Star Trek feature film. The body of Trek slash literature,
particularly K/S or Kirk/Spock, published from the 1970s to the
current day is thus vast indeed. The 2009 feature film ostensibly
seemed to negate this history by introducing the heterosexual
relationship between Spock and Uhura. However, this led to several
offshoots in fandom: the K/S faction (sometimes called "Spirk") which
aims to continue the historical tradition; the Kirk/McCoy fandom; and
the Spock/Uhura fandom who at the least have the benefit of being canonical.

What's more, a historical and contemporary overview of Star Trek fan
literature displays a fascinating wealth of viewpoints about viewers'
intimations of characters' sexuality. Unsurprisingly, attitudes
regarding non-heteronormative relationships have changed dramatically
in the past forty years and this is reflected in both the
characterization and plots within fanfiction. This paper will discuss
historical and contemporary K/S, the advent of Kirk/McCoy and
Spock/Uhura fandom, as well as the fan-generated views of other
characters such as Gaila, Pike, and Chekov.

~

Watching North and South again. Thornton has a Bones thing going on. Kinda want an AU now. My brain.

Comments

[abigail89.livejournal.com]

I want to read your paper. Definitely.

[caitri.livejournal.com]

:D

When I get it written I'll send it to you.Or if I flake out, feel free to pm me.

[nikki4noo.livejournal.com]

Well done! It sounds like a really interesting paper.

What actually gets me is that the Threesome is canon to Gene's mind but people still struggle to get their heads around a loving relationship that deals with three people together that has no real jealousy to it. I can understand how back in the 70s that was a situation that was so unusual to people that they would not be able to get their heads around the dynamics. What I find interesting is that we like to think of ourselves as a progressive society nowadays but there is still a little confusion about the dynamics of a threesome.

[caitri.livejournal.com]

Because we NEVER see threesome dynamics presented in pop culture. EVER.

You don't even really see it in TOS fandom. You see metric tons of K/S, truly negligible K/Mc, very little K/S/Mc.

Reboot fandom is a lot of K/S, a lot of K/M, a lot of S/U, and negligible K/S/Mc.

Wish I had access to enough stuff to be all quantitative rather than anecdotal. Sigh.

[nikki4noo.livejournal.com]

And that is a shame because in TOS the dynamic between the three is so great.

I fully believe that the TOS K/S is inspired more from the movies than from the actual series. I know that there was the epic clips of all the K/S moments that someone went through and created last year, but I bet if you looked for K/M, S/M or the threesome there would be just as many and possibly more moments than the K/S. I mean, when I re-watched all three seasons I went looking for the K/S moments and kept finding the others and not as much K/S as I was told was there.

Lies, damn lies and statistics ;) Sometimes they help out though.

[caitri.livejournal.com]

Oh see I think there are some hefty K/S moments in the series, a number of which just kill me every time. Kirk's embarrassment at discovering it's a yeoman and not Spock giving him a massage in "Shore Leave" (and how much do I love that "Harder, Mr Spock! Dig it in there!" is actual TEXT!),Spock's look of absolute ecstasy when he finds Kirk alive at the end of "Amok Time"; the subtle bits like how he tricks Kirk into going on vacation in "Shore Leave" and doing a mind meld so he won't feel so pained at the end of, I think, "Elaan of Troilus." And then the K/Mc stuff--McCoy is the only one who ALWAYS calls Kirk by his first name, he's ALWAYS at Kirk's side. They were joined at the hip in TOS. S/Mc I think is much smaller--they seem to have much more of a true sibling vibe to me.

[nikki4noo.livejournal.com]

The episode with Nancy that was the 'first' episode kills me with Kirk's actions in it. He acted like McCoy's boyfriend the whole time. Also interesting that Kirk never sees Nancy as the 'thing that he loves most' as the first time he meets her, both the boys are there already. He can't what he loves most twice in front of him can he?

McCoy doesn't always call him by his first name. ;) Whenever he called him "Captain" I think that was a hint to everyone else to start running because the fight was going to be epic.

There is a really strong teasing vibe with S/M that I can see how some can see it as sibling. They fight epically and yet they respect each other deep down. They know the perfect way to push each others buttons unlike any one else.

Overall I love the three of them together as they just understand each other pretty well and will do anything for each other.

[caitri.livejournal.com]

yeah, I always wondered from that ep if how Kirk saw her had to do with his ESPer rating, cos it was pretty high.

[nikki4noo.livejournal.com]

It's an interesting episode because they hadn't set upon his ESP rating at that time, I think, when it was written. Also did they really think through the implications of him not being able to see her and why? I don't think they did. In Elaan they set up it was his love of the ship as to why her tears didn't fully work. So would he have seen Nancy as the Enterprise then? What got me though is that he didn't see her as the Salt Monster, he saw her as an old woman. So he fully didn't see the truth of her. He saw her as an older version of a woman that McCoy would have dated.

And this is why I love sci fi series. They give us answers that then lead to more questions and possibilities.

[caitri.livejournal.com]

Indeed!!

Okay so I think his ESPer thing was down then because "Where No Man" was written and filmed first, even though that one (blanking on title) aired first.

[nikki4noo.livejournal.com]

The Man Trap ;) (only cause my discs are in the unit near me and I looked it up.

Be interesting to look into what was written when to compare the changes to the characters that each did. Really I would love to get my hands on the bible and what were seen as the essential points to each character and then how the writers interpreted and put their own ideas to add more to the characterisation.

[caitri.livejournal.com]

I think it was reprinted...somewhere... Sleepy brain forgetting where though. Something from the 90s with the 25 th anniversary.

[nikki4noo.livejournal.com]

ooh *grabby hands*

I have the 365 book that has excerpts from it. Also David Gerrold's book also has some great insights, like Chekov being a Kirk in training that made me look at how I write him to fit in with this idea.

[ithiliana.livejournal.com]

Yay!

I still has not heard!

(I assume you submitted to the fandom area? Because that's where I submitted). *chews fingernails nervously*

[caitri.livejournal.com]

So it's not an official email, but the Chair is also editing a book with a chapter by me, and so I emailed her just to check. She said she was going to get official emails out by the end of the week.

(And H to the Y it's the Fan Area. :D)

[caitri.livejournal.com]

I got my official acceptance email this afternoon. You? Apparently there's also going to be a roundtable on teaching fan studies as well as a a new journal launching on fan studies.

And sorry I haven't written back to you about the vampire stuff yet, we've been shorthanded at work so I'm behind on a lot of things!!!!

[tocourtdisaster.livejournal.com]

Congrats, bb! That's so exciting! :D It sounds like a super fascinating topic and I'd love to read it.

[caitri.livejournal.com]

Hee, thanks!! I'll totally email it to you when it's done!

[gadgetorious.livejournal.com]

Can't wait to read that sucker!

[caitri.livejournal.com]

*G*G*

[avictoriangirl]

Oooh, looking forward to reading that!

[caitri.livejournal.com]

*G* I'll send it to you when it's done! :)

[avictoriangirl]

YAY! \o/

[caitri.livejournal.com]

I think so. It seems like there was a push for more True Blood stuff this year. I may be on a "Bad Vampire Boys" panel as the Spike expert--we're waiting to hear on that still.

Sorry to hear about your funding problems. :( I'm lucky it's almost local this year.

[zauzat.livejournal.com]

Sounds fascinating, I'd love to read that.

[caitri.livejournal.com]

Cool, I'll send it to you when it's done. :)

[amine-eyes.livejournal.com]

*High fives*

Congrats! And now to sit and watch every episode and movie and read all the fanfiction write the paper ;D

This sounds very exciting indeed :D

[caitri.livejournal.com]

*grins* I'm excited. I got to talk about reboot fandom more generally last year. PCA is ridiculously fun!

[morfin.livejournal.com]

Did you ever read the story in one of the "Star Trek: The New Voyages" anthologies (published pre ST:TMP) where a small corrider betwen Kirk and Spock's quarters was closed off and turned into a common room for them? They kept a chess set in there, so that either one could go in when they had the time and make a move. As I recall, the room was only accessible from their respective bathrooms.

[caitri.livejournal.com]

No way! That's awesome! I'm going to have to see if I can track that down, I have at least the first one at home, and it looks like there were only two of them if the internet is right. *G* Oh fandom is such a wonderful thing! I also recently discovered via the fanlore wiki that there were not one but TWO fanzines containing poetry by Deforest Kelley. It is now my mission to track these things down!!!

[caitri.livejournal.com]

OMG! Volume 2 has a genderswap story that is pretty heavily K/Mc! I may have shrieked a little in the stacks. <_<

[dianak.livejournal.com]

I just read that title to Zach... he said "Good old fanfiction... Why Counselor Troi, I never knew!"

[caitri.livejournal.com]

Pfft, Counselor Troi was a Bedazoid, COME ON ZACH! They had nude weddings and stuff! Sheesh!

[aadarshinah.livejournal.com]

congrats!

[caitri.livejournal.com]

*G* Thanks!!!!!

[greek-jester.livejournal.com]

Congrats! That brings back memories. Nowhere near as impressive as your level, but I did do my project in Sociology on equality of the sexes...

[caitri.livejournal.com]

Cool!!!

Women and sexuality in scifi is my research specialty. It's really fascinating stuff!!! If you haven't read it, you should check out Helen Merrick's "Secret Feminist Cabal" which is a book-length study of women in scifi and it is fabulous!!!

[greek-jester.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the rec! I've just added it to my wishlist.

I actually had a good gossip with my teacher over the project - he said I was the first female he'd taught to cover Star Trek. He was fun, was our daft Manchester slap-head (his words!)

[caitri.livejournal.com]

Awesome. I'm really lucky in that I'm the second scifi curator here, so admin people just look at it as another of the odd things I do. I know in other departments people look askance at stuff like this though.