What We (and TV) Owe To Each Other

According to data found from Statista, the COVID-19 pandemic gave Nielsen TV ratings some of the biggest jumps they knew they needed, struggling against streaming platforms for a while. Before people hunkered down at home, there were still spaces that demanded time and attention- perhaps displaced by Tumblr strife and the ending of several pillars shows that the platform relied on. But since the pandemic's start in March 2020, there hasn't just been a television renaissance for even the unlikeliest of network shows, but in fanworks about those shows. Ao3 site traffic spiked heavily moving into April and continued to increase throughout the initial phase of quarantine, showing substantial growth throughout the end of the year and into 2021.

During the darkest of times, the toughest "real life" can get, in the middle of a global pandemic, people lost connection. They lost interaction, busy lifestyles. They turned to their television screens to rectify that loss.

According to Insider, "Authors are using fan fiction as a means of coping with the situation, putting their favorite characters in situations that invoke classic fan fiction tropes." This is the effect TV has on the masses- and we can even see a renaissance in older fans coming back to the art. Lively conversations are still taking place on every platform about responsible community building, and organizing akin to a political movement. The fanpeople are getting older, yes; but they're sticking around, and more are created every day.

What we're owed is smart, intentional, representative TV. Shows like One Day At A Time, Never Have I Ever, and Sex Education are creating new waves of interest on all of the most important platforms. With the involvement of older fans, fans that have seen what unhealthy Internet culture can look like, there's new infrastructure being built to encourage a more responsible, inclusive community.

What we're owed is responsible creating, and safe spaces to channel the love we have back into our favorite shows. We owe ourselves, more than anything, a way to create and enjoy the works we love. There are even scientific benefits to it.

According to Brianna Wiest of Teen Vogue, “Connecting with people over shared passions and interests is good for mental and emotional health because it helps to create a fraternity-like or family-like sense of security. It's also generally fun to scheme and get excited about something with others, and gives them a subject to talk about that they know will always be well received.”

Maybe the connotation behind a word like "fanatic" will never change. Maybe platforms like this one are destined to remain the joke in the cultural landscape, rooted in stereotypes about silly teenage girls and shows that have been off the air for years. I'd argue that the data we have to back up this growing interest and commitment to fandom is one of the most impressive things a group of people can display, akin to political mobilization.

And we might just be getting started.

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Buchholz, K., & Richter, F. (2020, March 19). Infographic: Virus outbreak gives TV ratings a boost. Statista Infographics. Retrieved December 11, 2021, from https://www.statista.com/chart/21175/network-tv-ratings-most-popular-shows/.

Haasch, P. (2020, March 17). Coronavirus is starting to show up in fan fiction, placing iconic characters in quarantine. Insider. Retrieved December 11, 2021, from https://www.insider.com/coronavirus-fan-fiction-quarantine-social-distancing-shipping-escapism-ao3-2020-3.

Organization for Transformative Works. (2020, May 9). AO3 Statistics 2020: A Look Behind the Scenes. Archive of Our Own. Retrieved December 11, 2021, from https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/15931.

1. Canon

Think of this as the source material, or the official details of the storyline and plot of the show you're watching.

Example: "I can't believe Frank and Laurel are actually canon in HTGAWM! I didn't think the writers would actually let them get together..."

2. Shipping

Of the word "relationship", the fan belief that two characters should be or will be together. A very hot topic in most fandoms, shipping requires fans to root for characters to enter into a (usually) romantic relationship, despite some not being particularly likely to be canon. Ships are attached with a portmanteau of the characters' names for ease of reference and tagging within fandom platforms.

Example: "I love how Greg and Rebecca banter on CXG. I definitely ship Grebecca!"

3. OTP

"One True Pairing", your OTP is your favorite relationship within a fandom, above all others.

Example: "As much as I love Sherlock and Molly, my Sherlock OTP is 100% Johnlock, obviously. I can't help but love them."

4. TPTB

"That Powers That Be", otherwise known as those with control over our favorite shows, whether it be writers, showrunners, or producers. Throughout fan history, we've seen TPTB have increasing relationships with audiences (specifically since most fandoms took up homes on social media), allowing creators to hear fan ideas and concerns (whether or not they listened to them).

Example: "TPTB really listened to Brooklyn 99 fans after it got canceled! This is the one time they actually listened to us."

5. The Fourth Wall

Best described as the boundary between fictional characters in a show and those that watch it. Usually means that show characters are aware they're in the show, breaching the divide that most shows keep up.

Example: "My favorite episode of Supernatural is when they are thrown into a world where they are actors in a show called Supernatural. It completely breaks the fourth wall!"

6. Headcanon

A fan's own interpretation of existing canon, taking it one step further to express a belief of something that could've been true about a storyline, but was your own inference.

Example: "Eleanor hustles Chidi in a game of Scrabble the first time they play? Headcanon accepted."

7. Queerbaiting

A ploy showrunners use to appeal to an LGBTQ+ audience by hinting at a character's "ambiguous" sexuality, but never actually following through with meaningful representation.

Example: "I really liked Supergirl at first, but the writers really took advantage of our love for Kara and Lena. They would have these long romantic speeches and stick "friend" at the end, even in the series finale! I'm tired of waiting."

8. Slash

Slash is the popularized slang term for a genre of fanwork that features characters of the same gender in a romantic relationship, whether or not it's canon.

Example: "All I read this weekend was Clarke/Lexa slash. I'm obsessed."

9. Fic

Short for "Fanfiction" or "Fanfic" (but never, ever "fan fiction" is a fan-made piece of writing based on existing work (which can be virtually anything), using the existing characters and plotlines for inspiration. Taking the story further with one's own imagination, no longer relying solely on canon to fully enjoy a work of fiction.

Example: "I've spent hours on my ODAAT fic and I'm only on the fifth chapter! Would you mind reading it and letting me know what you think?"

10. RPF

RPF, or "Real Person Fic" is fanworks created about real people, rather than the fictional characters they play. Frequently done for those that play characters in a popular ship, but for the real, personal figures of those actors or celebrities.

Example: "I love Supernatural so much, I can't imagine that Jensen and Misha aren't actually together, right? I could write RPF about them all day."

Although many modern television shows have plenty of fans that are active on online platforms, Supernatural is an absolute outlier, averaging fairly low viewership while it was on the air (2005-2020), yet incredibly high social media engagement. According to Dana Reback, writer for Medium, a large majority of Supernatural fans were women under 24, the group most likely to flock to social media to live-tweet, the lifeblood of the fandom’s organizing. During an episode’s airing, succinct hashtags would be created and decimated across the fandom, and older fans would create spaces in order for everyone else to participate in talking about the episode in real-time, showing the CW that Supernatural was making waves on the platforms, despite plateauing in Nielsen ratings. Twitter was the starting point for fans to connect directly with the cast, producers, and directors, and a very untraditional influence became noticeable: fans could actually alter the show’s storylines, and for the very first time, “fandom” was a component of the Winchester brother’s lives. In episodes such as season six's "The French Mistake" and season ten's "Fanfiction", plotlines involved superfan ship names for characters, how they became obsessed with iconic moments in show history and examined the interest that Supernatural had garnered over the years. By communicating directly with fan bases and noticing the massive organizing taking place, Supernatural could become tongue-in-cheek when it came to referencing the show’s massive pop culture impact on-screen, and gave the viewers even more of a reason to participate in online forums because they felt heard and seen by those that were in the position to change the outcome of their favorite show.

While this direct fan-to-writer’s room conversation impacted a lot of what did happen to the characters of Supernatural, a lot of the dialogue contributed to what exactly didn’t happen in the monster-hunting adventures of Sam and Dean. The show’s major flashpoint, and the reason for most controversy, came from shipping, or a fan’s desire to see characters in an on-screen relationship. The main Supernatural ship was a male/male relationship between Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak, which fans referred to as “Destiel”. Destiel was the target of many fanworks, such as fanfiction, fanart, and entire blogs, and according to Tumblr Fan Data, Destiel remains one of the top ten discussed ships on the entirety of the platform to this day, even after the show has finished airing. The issue for many fans was the queerbaiting (i.e., a ploy showrunners use to appeal to an LGBTQ+ audience by hinting at a character's "ambiguous" sexuality) that took place throughout the entirety of the show’s run. According to Insider, "for some queer Supernatural fans, the show eventually became unwatchable because of its willingness to tease a relationship between two men without ever following through". To many, it felt like the show was simply hinting at LGBTQ+ subtext without ever being willing to provide meaningful queer representation, forcing fans to continue to watch on the premise that something "may" happen one day for their favorite couple. Supernatural had a history of not handling LGBTQ+ representation well, regularly engaging in classic stereotypes, such as killing off multiple LGBTQ+ characters after they either come out or declare their love for someone, once again absolving the show of having to meaningfully showcase the character’s story arc. While Destiel might have had the slightest finality in their story, it was by far the biggest conversation between fans, most of which felt as though after all of the pandering, they were owed some kind of gratification from the years of love they had put into the series.

Finally, despite the struggles the fandom went through in the fifteen years of Supernatural’s airing, it would be remiss to leave the fanbase’s major steps in creating long-lasting infrastructure for fanworks, and the concrete recognition they still receive for the work they did in ensuring other fandoms could use the mold in encouraging healthy, inclusive spaces, holding one another accountable in something as uncontrollable and turbulent as the Internet. An entire language of ship names and canonical references was created by teenage girls, and gave a creative outlet to many that wouldn’t have otherwise found one. Additionally, fan content creation can be immeasurably healthy and positive, especially for young fans who might be struggling with mental health. According to Dr. Janina Scarlet, licensed clinical psychologist, "Fandom... gives us a sense of voice and self-expression that might otherwise be missing. In seeing our own pain reflected in the characters, it can give us the permission to build compassion and understanding toward our own suffering". Now that the show has finished airing, these fans can go create for other shows, building up small networks of support, and providing an online infrastructure made up of possibilities.

Supernatural will never win an Emmy- unless the “Academy” is made up of fans at home. But what the series does garner is an impressive fan community that has lasted almost two decades, and has culminated in the creation of countless art projects, reaction gifs, novel-length fanfics, and entire movies dedicated to a simple CW monster-hunting show. Despite the difficulties and controversies with in-show representation and the questionable fan-showrunner relationship, it is clear Supernatural unequivocally has drawn in a vast community of fans that love to watch and create, and with this, Supernatural will outlast countless other television shows, with the community continuing to grow solely because of the passion and dedication of the fanbase.

Works Cited

Fandom. (2020, December 7). 2020′s Top Ships. Fandom on Tumblr. Retrieved November 18, 2021, from https://fandom.tumblr.com/post/636856116682375168/2020-top-ships.

Hrebenak, M. S. M. (2020, November 16). Supernatural: The power of fandom for Mental Health. Progressive Counseling Services. Retrieved November 18, 2021, from https://www.meredithlpc.com/blog/mental-health-and-fandom.

Reback, D. (2016, December 8). Supernatural Gets It. Medium. Retrieved November 18, 2021, from https://medium.com/chaotic-good-studios/supernatural-gets-it-4b94f0215d18.