James Potter loves Snape in Japanese fan comics. Any idea why that's so?

[unjapanologist]

My Ph.D research focuses on narrative differences between Japanese fanwork (dojinshi) and English-language fanwork (fanfics). To find out whether there really are significant differences between these two media, content-wise, I did a small-scale test using six fanfics and four dojinshi, all of them James/Snape. I compared only a small number of narrative elements (will be more in the 'real' research) and tried to list them in a nice clean data set. Below I list the narrative elements I looked at, summarize the resulting data, and offer a short first assessment -possible explanations, remarks, and ideas for further inquiry. I'll continue adding to them, and would love to hear any insights or ideas from others. You can view the complete data set in full screen here (please read next paragraph before clicking). If any of this catches your eye, let me know what you think!

Important notes before analyzing fun begins: Please don't link directly to the full-screen version of the data set, as there's no way to include this text there. The summaries of the fanfics and dôjinshi included in the set were written by me for the purpose of contrasting the narratives, and they contain SPOILERS for the stories. The ratings/warnings are the original author's; please pay attention to them before clicking any links, since the stories may contain adult material. If you think I've misrepresented or misinterpreted something, please let me know and I'll correct the information right away. If you're the author of a fanfic/dôjinshi included in the data set and you feel this is cruel and unusual abuse of your work, or you just don't want it mentioned anywhere, drop me a note and I'll remove identifying information from the entry (author name, title, link, summary) or remove the entry altogether.

• Ship (based on anecdotal evidence)
  Data: The ship/kappuringu of James Potter and Severus Snape appears to be relatively common in dôjinshi, while it occurs only very infrequently (a “rarepair”) in fanfic.
  In HP canon, the idea of this pair of characters being in a romantic relationship is unthinkable. Are fanfic writers less inclined than dôjinshika to tackle a kappuringu/ship they know is a flagrant violation of HP canon? Are there more of these “strange” kappuringu/ships in dôjinshi than in fanfic?
• Dominant/submissive partner
  Data: A constant in all fanfics and dôjinshi is that James is the dominant and Snape the submissive partner.i
  In canon, James and his friends bully Snape while they attend school,casting Snape as a victim during his acquaintance with James. However, as an adult Snape becomes a powerful figure of authority and is cast as the dominant partner in many fanfics featuring him in another “ship”. Anecdotal evidence suggest that in dôjinshi, he continues to be cast as the submissive partner as an adult, far more often than in fanfic. Are dominant-submissive roles in dôjinshi really that much stricter than in fanfic (once submissive, always submissive)?
• Narrator
  Data: James is narrator in all dôjinshi, with Snape taking over in only a few scenes. Snape is narrator in all fanfics while James narrates only a handful of times there.
  There is little canon information about James, who died a decade before the chronological starting point of the HP series. Do dôjinshika feel more comfortable than fanfic writers in fleshing out a minor character that is almost a blank sheet? Why do they consistently prefer this narrator over Snape, a character with a distinctive voice in canon?
• Initial relationship
  Data: James and Snape start out from some form of enmity in five out of six fanfics, while all four dôjinshi have them start out on neutral or friendly terms.
  Four out of six fanfics begin with mention of a scene from canon, reminding readers of the bad blood between the characters. None of the dôjinshi start out by referencing a canon element (though one does in the middle of the story). Do dôjinshi use fewer elements from canon such as key incidents or locations in order to situate characters? Why?
• Outcome of relationship
  Data: Three out of four dôjinshi end with Snape and James in a (budding) relationship. A fourth dôjinshi depicts them apart but still acting in a protective manner towards one another. None of the six fanfics have a happy ending. In one fanfic, Snape loves James, but both die; in two fanfics, they terminate a purely sexual relationship; three fanfics end with James forcing Snape into non-consensual sex and thus deepening the hatred between them.
  Only one fanfic even makes mention of “love”, while three out of four dôjinshi do. Are dôjinshi writers more keen to write relationships involving affection, in spite of the fact that such sentiments have no basis whatsoever in canon?
• Presence of canon love interest
  Data: In the dôjinshi examined, the canon girlfriend/later wife of James Potter, Lily, is simply nonexistent while James happily woos Snape. In the fanfics, she plays a significant (off-screen) role in five out of six fanfics, always in a context of James being involved with her or choosing her over Snape.
  Do dôjinshika ignore Lily because they see little value in sticking close to canon, or because women almost never feature in yaoi stories? Most of the characters Snape is paired with in fanwork have canon love interests. Do all of these women simply disappear in dôjinshi?ii
• Sexual acts
  Data: Three out of four dôjinshi feature no more than some kissing and groping, while five out of six fanfics show explicit scenes involving penetration
  These dôjinshi do not confirm the medium's general reputation for sexual explicitness. Other HP dôjinshi I have perused seem, mostly, equally lacking in explicit scenes. Is this characteristic of this particular kappuringu, of HP dôjinshi in general, or of women-authored dôjinshi?
• Consent during sex
  Data: In dôjinshi, the sexual activity between the two main characters is obviously consensual in three out of four cases; only one dôjinshi has the two in a sexual situation that involves a hint of dubious consent. In the fanfics there is clear mutual consent in three cases, one case of extremely dubious consent, and two sexual situations that are clearly non-consensual.
  Are there really comparatively few depictions of non-consensual sex in dôjinshi (made by and for women)? Why? (Note: fanfics tend to make it quite clear whether a sexual encounter is “dub-con” or “non-con”. However, in dôjinshi it is extremely common during sex scenes that “submissive” partners, male or female, utter exclamations such as “stop” or “no” throughout the proceedings, and such lines are not taken to indicate a lack of consent from the submissive partner, making it hard to determine whether a dôjinshi sex scene is “dub-con”.)
• Adherence to canon (based on anecdotal evidence)
  Data: Dôjinshi deviate far more radically from the canon of the source work than fanfics.
  Fanfic writers tend to be praised for adhering closely to canon.iv Concern with adhering to an established factual canon seems much less marked in dôjinshi. What is the relationship between dôjinshika and source work authors in Japan? Do dôjinshika actively dislike adhering to canon?
• Appearance of characters
  Data: In all four dôjinshi, both characters are drawn to appear attractive. Five out of six fanfics make some negatively worded reference to Snape's appearance, while no fanfic describes him as good-looking. James is described as handsome in two fanfics, while four do not mention his appearance.
  In the original HP books, James is said to be a handsome young man while Snape is described as physically unattractive. In dôjinshi, Snape acquires all the hallmarks of a bishônen -the androgynous “beautiful boy” figure that has been a staple of Japanese media throughout centuries. His most conspicuous facial feature in canon, an overlarge hooked nose, is nowhere to be seen in dôjinshi. Why do dôjinshika try so hard to prettify Snape?

Check out the data here.

Comments

[fanficforensics.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I hope you find something great to do for your Ph.D. The last few years I see more and more undergraduate students at my university picking pop culture-related subjects for master's theses and such, and many of them wonder at first if they'll be "allowed" to study games/manga/whatnot, or if it's "useful". It doesn't matter what subject you pick, really, so long as you have enough trustworthy sources to work with and actually have something intelligent and meaningful to say about it. Good luck to you too!

Oh, do I know what you mean about how different those stories sound. The first HP dj I picked up was so discombobulating that I just had to find out more. It's even more striking if you actually see the djs. (There are scanlation sites...)

The racism debate made me realize what a clueless arse I can be and how little our institutions of learning actually teach us. Probably would've taken me another ten years to realize if I hadn't started hanging around here. *hugs LJ* It made me think a lot about how white Japanese studies people like me actually approach the non-white people we've made a livelihood out of studying. But I'll post about that once I've finished thinking it through.

[splintercat.livejournal.com]

I can't even get my head around most of the racism debate - my rule is just to keep reminding myself that I'm a clueless white person and I need to let people who know what they're talking about do the talking. The position we're in, being white and studying Japan, is something I've also been considering - but I don't know what to say about it, besides sometimes joking that I'm majoring in cultural appropriation. It's complicated, to say the least.

:) LJ has taught me so much - about race relations, about writing and literary criticism, about academia, but most of all, about how not to make a complete idiot out of myself most of the time. *also hugs LJ*

[fanficforensics.livejournal.com]

majoring in cultural appropriation

Er. We kind of are, aren't we? *shudder* Definitely need to think on this more.