So, with Turning Red bringing diabetes rep to the big screen, I’m curious about the different ways fans can interpret the representation we currently have.
projecting your own experience of t1d onto canonically diabetic characters VS
sticking strictly to what we get in canon regardless of realism VS
headcanoning non-diabetic characters as diabetic in the same world as a pre-existing diabetic character
Disclaimer: in this rambling post, I am talking about works with canonically diabetic characters only.
Option 1: Projection onto Canon
(Almost) everybody loves a good projection character. Every person with t1d has different experiences from diagnosis to their usual symptoms to their emotions about it, just like every person has a slightly different experience with food, exercise, sports, etc.
There’s only so much you can get across in any type of canon material, even if the t1d character has their own POV. Using the diabetic character as a blank slate to overwrite your own experience is personally rewarding and can spread awareness more thoroughly.
This is a particularly positive way to participate in fandom because, no matter how much we wish otherwise, diabetes rep is rare. And we all know that good diabetes rep is even rarer.
By taking advantage of the canonically diabetic characters out there and overlaying real-life experiences onto them via fanfic or headcanons, not only are we supporting diabetic representation, we also have the opportunity to “fix” it.
Obviously fandoms, no matter the size, do not have the ability to rewrite source material and actually fix bad or vague rep. Creating our own fic from it, however, can help spread awareness to others in the fandom who don’t necessarily know better—and that’s important.
Honestly the only downside to this is if you don’t like canon, be it plot, world, or the characters themselves.
If you don’t like AUs, the options are limited to canon compliant fics, original fiction, and possibly diabetic OCs in otherwise compliant fics.
As I said above, quality t1 diabetes rep is sadly lacking, and I’m not aware of any diabetes-centric original fiction that’s actually written by a diabetic. The closest I’ve seen is a non-diabetic relative writing for a diabetic family member or a diabetic being part of a larger creative team.
While I’m a firm believer that anyone can write whatever they like, t1d is an incredibly complicated illness and most people don’t even know where to start.
Now, knowing what you’re writing about does not mean you know how to write it well. Alternatively, very good writers don’t necessarily need to know everything about a subject to write it convincingly. Most of the time good representation takes a mix of the two.
I forgot where I was going with this.
I’ll end this point by saying I can see a lot of potential for canon-compliant fics of inaccurate representation via missing scene fics or alternate POVs. Give us that little bit extra, expand on something that was left open, name the correct medicine instead of having the characters inject a mystery miracle.
Of course, there are also the stories out there that show us a decent portrayal to start with.
Option 3: Alternate Universe - Additional Representation
This whole post was inspired by seeing someone headcanon a Turning Red character as diabetic—a canonically non-diabetic character in a film that openly showed two characters with infusion sets.
Personally, I think that’s awesome. I love connecting to a character so much that you imagine them having shared experiences with you. I love using more characters than we were given to further explore the diversified experiences people with t1d have. I just love it.
Why do this? Shouldn’t we be content with diabetic characters who have time, research, and effort put into them?
Think about how often diabetic characters are the main character or get to show their point of view. It does happen, but it’s more commonly a side or minor character with just enough screen time to show diabetics exist in canon.
Or maybe I just don’t like the diabetic character.
The star of DC’s YA graphic novel Twin Branches: Swamp Thing by Maggie Stiefvater, Alec, is type 1 diabetic. He’s ok for me, but he’s weird and asocial and generally creepy; I like him as a character but like his non-diabetic twin better.
In the YA contemporary novel Lucky Few by Kathryn Ormsbee, I can’t stand how the MC handles her diabetes. Mostly, she doesn’t. I consider the story to have bad rep, as t1d isn’t even mentioned until over 100 pages in and the MC finishes the book in the hospital (even the anguish and burnout of chronic illness is poorly portrayed, in my opinion. You’re better off reading tfios).
Compare these two to the (slightly) infamous Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, which has more medical inaccuracies than it does monsters. However, I adore the movie and have seen it maybe a dozen times.
There’s no accounting for taste, apparently.
In the end, it’s all fictional. It’s fanfic. It’s fun. Enjoy what you want, headcanon what you want, and let’s work on getting accurate rep out there.
Stories mentioned or GIFd in the post by order of mention: Pixar’s Turning Red, the Baby-Sitters Club tv show, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, DC’s Swamp Thing: Twin Branches by Maggie Stiefvater, and Lucky Few by Kathryn Ormsbee.
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