1980
From Fan History Wiki
1980 and more fen are getting in on the fun. Things are happening and interesting stuff going on abounds. More and more fan fiction communities were coming into existence as new, different shows and movies attracted different audiences. Communities that were in existence were being revitalized and attracting new audiences as new things were created in those universes. Oh, and slashiness abounded.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture was released this year. This would cause tension in the community as some fen left as they were disillusioned by the movie. The community seemed to lose a number of members but managed to retain its core base. Reviews of stories were beginning to overwhelm zines that existed merely to publish these letters. Slash was discussed at a panel at Media West.
The Starsky and Hutch community in England veers into the land of slash. This happened when “Forever Autumn” was published in March. According to Langley and K. S. Boyd, this type of content later caused a disruption in the community as members worried about the reaction of the actors, networks and producers to this material if fen were to publish slash zines. They feared that those parties would acquire these materials and begin a crackdown to prevent the proliferation of this material.
The Professionals community started as a primarily slash based community. This was different than a number of previous communities. Star Trek, Starsky & Hutch, Doctor Who, Star Wars all were founded as gen or het based fan fiction communities and only after an initial period, sometimes involving years, did they become more slash oriented.
The Blake's 7 fan fiction community, based out of Australia, was going through a phase that other communities had gone through before. This period involved the writing of a Mary Sues with these stories being published in a number of fanzines. This phase would last several years.
Led Zeppelin fan fiction was circulating in fanzines. The early zines used the names Tris and Alex instead of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. This material was being circulated with an awareness on the part of the parties involved and was slashy in nature. The fen who were writing it had not idea that this material would be considered, in other fan fiction communities, rather taboo.
Breaking into fan fiction communities took work during this period of time. According to Amy Sturgis, if you did not know some one, it was very difficult to become involved. Fannish involvement was and still is dependent on being networked with others.
See also:
- Canon released in 1980
- Conventions held in 1980
- Fan fiction awards given in 1980
- Fanclubs founded in 1980
- Fanzines published in 1980
- Technology innovations in 1980
