Known for its ardent fan following, CW’s Supernatural has twice incorporated female fans as characters within its canonical text: Becky Rosen, self-professed superfan of the Supernatural book series who writes Wincest fan fiction, and Charlie Bradbury, a nerd-cool computer hacker with a penchant for live-action roleplay. Although Becky’s three appearances—especially her most recent in season 7—generated unease amongst much of the show’s primarily female fanbase, Charlie’s four (and counting) appearances have been hailed by many fans as presenting a laudatory example of geekdom and a model of much-needed queer representation within the Supernatural text.
At first glance, the difference in fans’ reception of the two characters is understandable. Becky is often read as the apotheosis of the excessive, obsessive fangirl, driven to delusion by her lust for Sam Winchester. Charlie, by contrast, is a queer woman with interests far more diverse than Becky’s, whose fannish poise and command of pop-culture knowledge not only lead her to be crowned queen in the LARP of her choice but also prove life-saving to the Winchesters. However, the apparent fluidity of Charlie’s character belies the ways in which Charlie and her “queer” positionality within the text function as agents of constraint for female fans.
Thus, building on Suzanne Scott’s concept of the “quality fan,” this paper will argue that Supernatural constructs Charlie as a template for female fan engagement, one that erases fans’ heterosexual desire and exercise of textual authority—the characteristics that define Becky Rosen and have dominated Supernatural fans’ practice for nine seasons. Further, we will contend that the reconstruction of the female fan within Supernatural’s narrative and the subsequent reproduction of that model by the show’s fans themselves has wider, troubling implications akin to what Mel Stanfill refers to as the increasingly industrial orientation and “containment” of fandom.
About the presentersKT Torrey
KT Torrey is an independent scholar who wrestles with feminist theory, sophistic rhetoric, and porn studies. Her current research combines these approaches to explore evangelical rhetorics about female sexuality. She also write extensively (sometimes even academically) about metatextuality, fan fiction, and the American television show Supernatural.
Shannon Cole
Shannon Cole holds a BS in Media Studies and an MA in English from Northern Michigan University. Her work as an independent scholar is rooted in fan studies and she has previously presented on Wonder Woman, Supernatural, Star Trek (2009). She serves as VP of Exhibits & Advertising for MAPACA. Shannon is the executive director of the Vermillion Cultural Association, a nonprofit dedicated to the inclusion of arts in everyday life for a small town in South Dakota, which mostly means she helps operate a movie theater. She’s also freelance copy editor.