Unserious adaptation : fan modes and the creation of Little Women retellings
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In this dissertation, I generate an understanding of text-based adaptations. This project argues that 1) Fan culture and fan behavior lead to text-based adaptations (retellings), 2) Retelling novels are adaptations and should be read as such, and 3) Retelling novels result from the intensification of fan behaviors from the 19th century. I ground this project in Little Women; therefore, I first examine the use of fan modes by the March sisters. The first mode of fan engagement examined is the mode of “mirroring,” wherein characters read and subsequently live out the plot of a text. Mirroring mode texts show teens who must adopt the values of Little Women to escape its plot. Then, I examine the mode of “acting out,” wherein characters consciously replicate aspects of Little Women in book club settings. Acting out highlights the role of roleplaying and imagination in the construction of identity, and the role which literary characters have in identity construction. Finally, I examine the approach of “racial reimagining” wherein Black fans reimagine Little Women to have Black protagonists. Racial reimagining highlights the different roles of community for Black and white girls across American history while using the fan modes discussed. In all of these cases, I show that the more intense the use of these modes in a text, the more of a retelling the text becomes, therefore explaining the continuum from fan text to retelling.
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Ph. D.