Written By Blaise Riley

Edited By Lauren Bullock

Romance permeates the oxygen we breathe, tarnishes the book pages we read, and paints the lyrics of our favourite songs. In modern society, romantic love is everywhere, bringing its own rigid set of societal pressures and values to everyone’s table. As such, aromantic individuals,  which the Aromantic-spectrum Union for Recognition, Education, and Advocacy (i.e., AUREA)  (2021) defines as “[…] [people] who [experience] little to no romantic attraction,” may feel lost and misunderstood in this romantic love-crazed world, and may attempt to seek out representation in cultural  productions as a way to cope with potential sentiments of loneliness and alienation. Although, aromanticism is a spectrum which crucially lacks accurate representation in mainstream media, specifically considering the abundant misinformation, disregard, and disrespect associated with it. Thus, in this paper, I argue that, due to their tremendously strong influence in online communities, fanfictions, or “[…] stories produced by fans based on plot lines and characters from either a single source text or else a ‘canon’ of works” (Thomas, 2011, p. 1), are the key to prompting established producers, directors, and writers to feature aromantic narratives and cultures in their work. More concretely, I assert that fan works compose the only way for aromantics to obtain proper and accurate representation because of (1) their ability to portray and expand on surface-level platonic relationships from media sources’ original stories, and because of (2) their great emphasis on the “found family” (also known as “chosen family”) fictional trope, which, I firmly debate, aromantic people heavily depend on. 

Stranger Things’ (2016-) Steve Harrington and Robin Buckley form a peculiar duo: often mistaken for a couple due to their closeness and reliance on physical touch, the two constantly claim that they are “platonic with a capital P” (Duffer, et al., 2022). While we can see their friendship unfold and grow throughout the last two installments of the series, its depiction often falls flat and lackluster, understandably due to the main themes of the story being adventure and horror. Effectively, the television series never really delves into ‘normal’ situations the two might be in, like eating out or going to the arcade after work; rather, it utilizes their bonding as a way to advance its main story. As such, the plot cages the two and obliges them to defeat demogorgons–monsters with rafflesia-like faces and razor-sharp teeth. Yet, the Stranger Things fandom (i.e., fan community) manages to throw “stobin” (in reference to Steve and Robin) under the aromantic spotlight in a multitude of fan projects, since fans recognize that they might be more than friends, but not significant others; what if they were a queerplatonic relationship, after all?  

As described on AUREA’s (2021) website, “queerplatonic relationship,” or “QPR” for  short, is a term which was coined by Dreamwidth users kaz and meloukhia (2010) and defines “[a] committed non-romantic relationship that departs from what is the subjective cultural norm for a friendship.” It is important to note that QPRs are crucial to aromantic individuals because they offer a solution to the complexity of our society’s relationship hierarchy and allow people to experience tight knit bonds while remaining on the spectrum. Tumblr user judaluffy (2022) mentions: “As a person who wants a QPR and not a romantic relationship in life, what Steve and Robin have has me drooling. I’m jealous alright?” Through these fan-made depictions, then, the Stranger Things fandom proves that, once explored in full detail, platonic relationships have a considerate impact on audiences of the aromantic community or not. For instance, the Twin Stars zine (2023), as well as countless fanfictions, namely HMSLusitania’s (2022) “Weakened Like Achilles, with You Always at My Heels,” illustrate how Steve and Robin depend on one another in their own special way—a ‘I-will-reshape-the-entire-world-for-you-if-I-must,’ non-romantic kind of way. Always present for one another, grounding their amicable love through hand grabs and hugs, Steve and Robin are way more than friends, though they are far from lovers. While the fanfictions themselves may focus on Steve’s romantic relationship with Eddie Munson, the high school metalhead who has been attempting to graduate for two years, most probably considering the fandom was tired of seeing Steve force himself to fall head over heels for girls who did not reciprocate his feelings, they nonetheless demonstrate how not relying on the source material enable creativity and success. More specifically, Eddie and Steve barely interact in canon (or, as Thomas puts it, “[is a term] used almost exclusively in relation to the source text(s) […] and related materials”) (2007, p. 2), yet the pair still gains lots of traction and kudos on Archive of Our Own (or “AO3”), one of the biggest fanfiction websites on the Internet. Therefore, it is fair to say that fanfictions which concentrate on the reshaping of mainstream works’ platonic relationships mediatize concepts and cultural elements proper to aromanticism, including QPRs, accordingly encouraging well-known authors to consider bringing aromantic narratives in their projects. 

The pandemic’s lockdowns allowed online entertainers to thrive, pointedly because huge amounts of people were stuck inside, spending hours on the internet. In fact, Minecraft YouTubers (commonly referred to as “MCYT”)—content creators who specialize in producing materials in relation to the game—quickly obtained popularity, especially because of Survival Multiplayer (i.e., “SMP”) servers. Such servers permit a multitude of people to build all sorts of infrastructures, invent characters, and shape their traits, motivations, and backgrounds based on the server’s events. At the height of the virus’s first wave, the most popular SMP was the Dream SMP; in the midst of fictional wars and bloody battles, four characters, and consequently four MCYTs—Wilbur Soot, TommyInnit, Technoblade and Philza Minecraft (i.e., Phil Watson)—grew closer through their collaborations and their mutual lore, and formed a quartet named Sleepy Bois Inc, or “SBI.” As they come from diverse backgrounds both in real life and in the Dream SMP’s storyline, spectators were curious to see how their relationship would evolve over time, if potential betrayal and arguments would eventually separate their group or not. In the end, they became a family of sorts, with Philza acting as a father figure, Technoblade a long-time family friend, and Wilbur and Tommy brothers, thus all four forming a “family of choice.”  

“Chosen family,” a concept first interpreted by Kath Weston (1991) in Families we choose: lesbians, gays, kinship, refers to a family unit composed of nonrelative members. Weston specifies: “By opening the door to the creation of families different in kind and composition, choice assigned kinship to the realm of free will and inclination” (1991, p. 110). Differently said, such families give agency to their members. Fundamentally, chosen families are intrinsically meaningful to aromantics; whenever our friends leave us for their romantic partners, or our blood-related family abandons us, we can seek comfort in the arms of our selected family members. Therefore, as an anonymous Tumblr user (2021) states on the “aro culture is” blog: “Aro culture is loving the found family trope.” The found family media trope not only provides reassurance and hope to aromantic audiences, but it also enables them to feel seen, heard, and represented, as the relationships they initiate and maintain fall outside the norms inherent in normalized kinships, romances, and friendships. SBI fanfictions reflect this importance because the “Wilbur Soot & Techoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson” tag on AO3 counts more than twenty-thousand works—its most popular one, thcscus’ (2021) “passerine,” has amassed more than eighty-six-thousand kudos in the previous two years. In addition, the relationship in question was at the top of AO3’s relationship (i.e., “ship”) statistics both in 2021 and 2022, respectively being at the ninth position (centreoftheselights, 2021) and second position (centreoftheselights,  2022) on charts covering one hundred ships. As a result, SBI-centred fan works illustrate how non-mainstream media productions can successfully bring recognition of ideas and structures proper to aromantic cultures and can gain notoriety by focusing on non-romantic plot lines. 

The Stranger Things (2016-) and MCYT fandoms show that some stories do not require love, and that they are perfect that way; platonic relationships deserve to be represented, recognized, and cherished as much as romantic ones. Hence, considering the praise and acknowledgment fanfictions have gradually been receiving throughout the last few years, specifically those shedding a light on the aromantic spectrum through their inclusion of QPRs and families of choice, mainstream productions should consider adding aromantic narratives to their work. Not only would doing so encourage alloromantic (i.e., non-aromantic) individuals to further research the community, its background, and its values, it would also enable people on the aromantic spectrum to feel seen, heard, and respected. Plenty of topics and relationships deserve the spotlight, not just stories à l’eau de rose!

References 

Anonymous. (2021, May 29). (No title) [Online post]. Tumblr.  

aro culture is — Aro culture is loving the found family trope (tumblr.com) AUREA. (2021, October). All terms: Alphabetical collection of all terms. AUREA.  https://www.aromanticism.org/en/all-terms 

centreoftheselights. (2021). “AO2 Ship Stats 2021.” Archive of Our Own, 31 July.  

AO3 Ship Stats 2021 – Chapter 2 – centreoftheselights – No Fandom [Archive of Our  Own] 

centreoftheselights. (2022). “AO3 Ship Stats 2022.” Archive of Our Own, 4 August. 

AO3 Ship Stats 2022 – Chapter 1 – centreoftheselights – No Fandom [Archive of Our  Own] 

Duffer, M., Duffer, R., Trefry, K. (Writers), & Antal, N (Director). (2022). Chapter five:

  The Nina project [Television series episode]. In X (Producer), Stranger Things. Los   Gatos, CA: Netflix.

Duffer, M., & Duffer, R. (2016-). Stranger Things [Television series]. Los Gatos, CA: Netflix

judaluffy. (2022, October 3). (No title) [Online post]. Tumblr.  

https://judaluffy.tumblr.com/post/697123464295956480/as-a-person-who-wants-a-qpr and-not-a-romantic 

kaz, & meloukhia. (2010, December 24). A/romanticism [Online post]. Dreamwidth.  kaz | A/romanticism (dreamwidth.org) 

HMSLusitania. 2022. “Weakened Like Achilles, with You Always at my Heels.” Stranger Things 

fan fiction. Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson slash. Archive of Our Own, 9 October. https://archiveofourown.org/works/41086575/chapters/102982446 

Organization for Transformative Works. (n.d.). Archive of our own: Home. Archive of our own.  https://archiveofourown.org/  

thcscus. 2021. “passerine.” Dream SMP fan fiction. Archive of Our Own, 9 April.  https://archiveofourown.org/works/28755084/chapters/70509990 

Thomas, B. (2007). Canons and fanons: Literary fanfiction online. Dichtung Digital: Journal für  Kunst und Kultur digitaler Medien, 37(9), 1-11 

Thomas, B. (2011). What is fanfiction and why are people saying such nice things about it?  Storyworlds: A Journal for Narrative Studies, 3(1), 1-24 

Twin Stars A Platonic Stobin Zine [@StobinFanZine]. (2023). Tweets [Twitter profile].  Retrieved October 7, 2023, from https://twitter.com/StobinFanZine 

Weston, K. (1991). Families we choose: lesbians, gays, kinship. Columbia University Press.