Real Person Slash (RPS)
From Fan History Wiki
Real Person Slash (RPS) draws its "characters" from a variety of sources, inluding professional sports, political and cultural personalities, actors, actresses, and popular musical groups. Like its counterpart Real Person Fic (RPF), Real Person Slash (RPS) is frequently a hot topic among fans who either find it intrusive and libelous or, as defenders of the genre maintain, the "characters" as portrayed in such stories are no more or less fictional than any other character.
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[edit] Historical definitions
The following definition dates to the Roswell fandom on June 27, 2001:
- RPS: a subgenre of actorfic - stands for Real Person Slash [1]
The following definition dates to July 6, 2002 in the Big Wolf on Campus fandom:
- RPS stands for 'Real Person Slash'. It's like slashing Brandon and Danny, rather than Merton and Tommy. I'm not aware of any BWOC RPS at the moment. It's not to everyone's taste.[2]
[edit] History
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was an anti-RPS attitude in media fandom. It can be characterized by a David Boreanaz fan who said in September 2003:
- 5. I'm a big David Boreanaz fan. I'm going to write a fic about him...
- Not if I find you first.
- When I first started reading fanfic, I was almost put off for life by reading a story posted in about 5 chapters, which was basically the tale of the author getting together with DB. I cringed as she described him intimately. I winced as she dissected his friends and co-workers. I vomited as he declared his undying love. Not only was this prime "evil Mary-Sue", it was also embarrassing and invasive.
- It's stuff like this that gives fanfiction a bad name. Real Person fic is second only to being a stalker in my mind.
- We can write about the characters. We know them intimately. Their thoughts, feelings and histories have been played out for us. We know them better than their own mothers do.
- We cannot write about the actors. We do not know them. Anything we do know is garnered from publicity and hearsay. They are real people. Imagine how you would feel to have a total stranger making stuff up about you. I shudder at the thought that one day DB may come across a story like that detailed above and think that all fic writers are that deluded.
- That said - some of the RPS and RPG around in recent times has attracted some incredible writers and is actually very good and rather funny. It's all to do with the mindset, you see. I think the key is whether or not your plot includes you (or someone who is mysteriously rather like you), and whether it has any sense of humour.
- shrug* [3]
- That said - some of the RPS and RPG around in recent times has attracted some incredible writers and is actually very good and rather funny. It's all to do with the mindset, you see. I think the key is whether or not your plot includes you (or someone who is mysteriously rather like you), and whether it has any sense of humour.
[edit] Examples
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[edit] External Links
[edit] See also
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