MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

In early 2015, Tumblr user elizabethrobertajones created a post that would become the inspiration for the No Homo Intern (NHI). A caricaturized representation of Supernatural writer-then-showrunner Jeremy Carver, and then as writer Robbie Thompson, the NHI disguises himself as an intern to encourage the textual validation of slash ship Destiel (Castiel/Dean Winchester). The conception of the NHI manifested as a frustration of the show’s narrative arc, creating a fandom within the previously existing Destiel-Supernatural fan community. Aptly referred to as ‘fandom fandom’, content produced and shared within this community was dedicated to the speculative goings-on in the Supernatural writer’s room, both specifically regarding Destiel and its homoerotic subtext, as well as other narrative decisions such as the death of queer character Charlie Bradbury.

Fandom fandom gave fans agency over unsatisfying and at times deeply upsetting content—particularly as that content pertained to issues of queerbaiting. Long suspected as a tactic within the Supernatural writer’s room, queerbaiting is a term conceived and used by media fans to describe the use of homoerotic subtext in order to gain and keep queer viewership with no intention of validating queer identities (Collier 2015). As such, the No Homo Intern was an invaluable coping mechanism to process the feelings of invalidation that queerbaiting inherently created within queer and allied viewers. The sarcastic, irreverent and humorous nature of the NHI allowed the writer’s room to be viewed as secondary in importance to the goings-on in fandom, which established safe spaces for queerness to be validated and explored in an otherwise hostile heteronormative narrative. Thus, this case study not only supports existing evidence that queerbaiting is harmful, but additionally demonstrates fandom’s ability to act as a safe queer space.