Racebending and prosumer fanart practices in Harry Potter fandom

This paper examines the dynamic relationship between fanartists and originary texts by examining the racially diverse fanart of the Harry Potter fandom, born as a reaction to the visually-supported narrative. There have been several strong analyses of fanart as a method of expression, its cultural impact, and the benefits that artists can draw from the practice. This paper focuses on the artworks themselves, analysing the way that the artists appear to have interacted with the originary texts, and the visual techniques used to express the artist’s fandom preferences. Whether the fanartists are reacting against hegemonic representations of beloved characters, or whether they are filling what they consider to be a descriptive gap in the story, their creative motivations appear to be based in their own personal, social, and cultural context, as opposed to a desire to produce a carbon-copy to the originary texts. The Harry Potter book series was adapted into eight films which provide a visual confirmation of the expectation of whiteness in the series, but a selection of fans have reacted against this by ‘racebending’ main characters – drawing and editing them as racially diverse. Some fanartists argue that they remain faithful to the series because, although the movies cast the main characters as predominately white, the books never specify race.