Queering Into The Unknown

A Digital Scrapbook for Queer Studies 304 by Angela Levitan

[queeringintotheunknown]

Week 12: Creative Product + Social Media Response = A Dual Authorship

[queeringintotheunknown]

A Deep Dive into the World of Popstar Fanfiction: One Direction

Fanfiction is a fan-created phenomenon that has long made its way into the various canons of pop culture products. With the rise of social media, fanfiction has taken on a new, more widely accessible form. But what exactly is fanfiction? Fanfiction is a piece of fiction written by fans, for fans, which feature characters from TV series, movies, or even real-life people. My personal introduction to fanfiction was through WattPad, a website and app that publishes user-written stories, which is known for being the world’s largest provider of fanfiction. From ages thirteen to sixteen I was fully immersed in the world of One Direction fandom, spending my days scrolling through the depths of Tumblr and Twitter as if my life depended on it. Because of this, I was thoroughly exposed to my fair share of fanfiction. One of the most popular and widely known One Direction fanfictions is Larry Stylison. If you were a One Direction fan in the year 2012 there was no escaping the phenomenon that was Larry Stylison. Larry Stylison was the “ship” name given to the pairing of Louis Tomilson and Harry Styles. This idea that Louis and Harry were secretly romantically involved took the internet by storm and teenage girls everywhere fantasized about the two popstars’ forbidden love affair. Countless fanfictions were written about Louis and Harry’s queer relationship, most of which explicitly detailed their sexual encounters. Fans would also grasp onto any inkling of evidence that this relationship might be real, pointing out a brief adoring glance Louis gave Harry, picking apart interviews, or decoding One Direction song lyrics, hoping to find anything remotely queer. The Larry Stylison frenzy among One Direction fans was so widespread that it has become a permanent part of their canon and cultural history, queering both One Direction and their fandom. This fanfiction has even made its way into other forms of media. For example, the hit HBO drama, Euphoria, details one of it’s main character’s rise to fame as the internet’s most prolific Larry Stylison fanfiction writer (scene linked below). In 2020, this queering of popstars through fanfiction can easily be seen in K-Pop fandoms all over the world. Although fanfictions have become more ingrained within the cultural zeitgeists of recent years, the queer popstar fantasy has been a mainstay throughout pop culture history.

[queeringintotheunknown]

Kat’s Introduction, Euphoria (dir. Sam Levinson, 2019)

[lickboo]

[panevanbuckley]

bitches will see their otp casually touch and be like "it's canon". it's me. i'm bitches.

[queeringintotheunknown]

A Brief History of "Larry Stylinson"

“Going as far back as 2011, long before it was announced that Louis Tomlinson was going to be a father, and before Harry Styles began dressing as a young witch, a group of One Direction fans coined a term for them: ‘Larry Stylinson.’”

“’Larry Stylison’ is the name of what some Directioners claim is a secret relationship between the two members and when you Google the made-up name, almost 800,000 results come up. And a Tumblr search propels you into a Gravity-sized black hole of screenshots, photos and other "proof" that Larry is real.”

“What makes this fantasy so interesting is that these fans aren't imagining themselves in relationships with the members of the band, but instead are imagining the boys together.”

“We've come a long way from the time when millions of young girls had their hearts broken when Lance Bass came out on the cover of People Magazine. Now it seems like the fans would like nothing more than if one of the members of One Direction did the same.”

[styloueh-deactivated20240314]

Dancing together to Sweet Creature

[ilyrozanov]

wasn’t it love as soon as we knew each other properly? living ‘bout half right 'til a certain person got to me. nothin’ is secret, everything’s sacred, how it ought to be.

[queeringintotheunknown]

[shelsbeauty]

i can’t believe that we're in 2020 and there's still people who dont believe in larry

[youreyesonlarry]

cutie pies <3 for the sake of halloween month, im pretending these are alien bfs learning how to take a selfie, or maybe zombies before they get all gross jfkjfjkfdsjkdsj

[tomlinsonhazz]

omfg this had me cracking up skslksjdks 🤣🤣

[louislut]

➳ larry fanart lockscreens

➳ like/reblog if you save them

➳ all the love

[goldenbyhs]

the hug ultra hd

[louielle]

God when he made Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles:

[martsart]

“We’re just two ghosts standing in the place of you and me Trying to remember how it feels to have a heartbeat”

[comebackassholes]

Lips Like Sugar (3.5k) by  dimpled_halo

Harry is gorgeous, always has been since the moment Louis laid eyes on him all those years ago in uni. He’s wearing a white suit with a glittery silver button-down underneath and black braces. Rings adorn nearly every finger and a pearl necklace decorates his neck. But that’s not what takes his breath away, no. Harry is wearing dark maroon lipstick on his luscious lips and eyeliner smudged around his eyes.

It’s the first time Louis has ever seen Harry with lipstick. Harry’s lips are naturally pink and always so kissable. Now, they look even more mouth-watering and Louis is almost positive Harry’s trying to kill him.