DEBATES OF A PROFANE WOMAN: A DIALOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF BELLA SWAN IN THE FIC BLOODY LIPS
Fanfiction. Character Construction. Social discourses. Woman.
This research conducts an investigation into the constitution of the character Isabella Swan in fanfiction Bloody Lips. Based on studies by the Bakhtin Circle (2011, 2015a, 2015b, 2016), considering fanfic as a text that is in dialogue with a matrix, this relationship is inseparable, as the meaning of that can only be established by this connection. In addition, the subjects who perform this scriptural practice subvert the matrix texts in order to insert their marks of subjectivity in this matrix. Thus characters, narrative universes, and storylines are appropriated and shaped from the fans' ideological and value positions. In this research, the focus is on the construction of the female character, as it refracts social discourses about women as well as the constitution of the character in the matrix text (Twilight Saga, written by Stephanie Meyer). To understand the process of character construction, the theoretical-methodological assumptions of the Bakhtin Circle were used, especially regarding the prima philosophy, language, the concrete utterance, the dialogical relations, the bivocality and the constitution of the subjects (the notion of workmanship and incompleteness). In addition, discussions by Henry Jenkins (2009; 2015) about fandom and fan practices, and Anne Jamison (2017) about fanfic's historical constitution were added to the discussion. To complete the theoretical framework of the research, feminist studies, with emphasis on the texts of Heleieth Saffioti (1987) and Naomi Wolf (1992) were introduced. The choice to use studies from different areas is justified by the fact that this research is inserted in Applied Linguistics, an area of knowledge in which research is carried out at the borders with other areas of the Humanities. In the end, this research understands that Isabella Swan, in Bloody Lips, is a subject under construction that is complete in its relations with others (BAKHTIN, 2011) and, therefore, is multifaceted and heterodiscursive (BAKHTIN, 2015b).