The Contentious Debate Around Real Person Fiction

There’s a controversy within the fanfiction community that’s been happening for a long time: Is Real Person Fiction (stories written about real public figures) harmful? On any given day, there’s a debate happening in one fandom space or another. Some fanfiction websites have banned RPF while others have embraced it. Pick any fan at random, and they’ll probably have an opinion on the topic.

Real Person Fiction’s Place in Fandom

If RPF was any work written about real people, then RPF has existed for a long time. In fact, many famous works are about real people. Shakespeare wrote about Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, and British kings. Even today, many published works, especially historical fiction, are about real people. “The Crown” is a popular Netflix show about members of the British royal family, many of whom are still alive. In early Hollywood, some stars released novels about themselves as a publicity method.

But RPF is usually considered RPF only in a fandom context, i.e., when it’s fanfiction.

Many historical fanfiction milestones happened thanks to Star Trek fanzines, and RPF is no exception. Many of the works featured in the zines were about the fictional characters in the show, but as early as the 1960s, some Star Trek zines were publishing RPF. As the internet became a bigger factor in fandom communities, RPF came to flourish there as well, but it continues to be controversial, with fans harboring a wide variety of views over the ethics of it.

Pro-RPF Arguments

Many fans who read and write RPF have strong opinions about why it doesn’t harm anyone.

RPF is only fiction

A sentiment often repeated by RPF supporters is that RPF is fiction. It’s even in the name. While the characters in RPF are based on real people, many RPF writers acknowledge that they’re writing about public personas more than they’re writing about the people themselves.

The vast majority of RPF readers and writers are well aware that the stories they’re creating and reading have as little to do with a person’s real life as other fanfiction has to do with its source material. No one is under the impression that they’re reading biographies, and few RPF writers are trying to accurately document someone’s life. In fact, too much speculation about a public figure’s personal life is frowned upon by some in the RPF community.

RPF is for fans and only fans

Many RPF writers are also vocal about who their work is and isn’t for. The vast majority of them don’t want their work to be read by the people it’s about.

This doesn’t stop some fans from crossing boundaries and sending fanfiction to the people it’s about, but this behavior is condemned by most other fans. Most fans are also adamant that public figures shouldn’t be searching for RPF themselves either, especially if reading it is going to bother them. This “let people write what they want and ignore it if you don’t like it” mindset is found throughout fanfiction, and it’s repeated frequently by RPF fans.

RPF has been around a long time

Proponents of RPF will also point out that there are many celebrated works about real public figures. The Netflix series “The Crown,” which follows the life of Queen Elizabeth II, is a recent example. The show has even received backlash because of its portrayal of the royal family, but some commentators and Netflix themselves were quick to point out that “The Crown” is merely fiction. It’s not hard to see the parallels between “The Crown” and RPF. Both admit to being fiction despite being about real people, and no RPF work has yet to receive the amount of public attention that “The Crown” has.

The Broadway musical “Hamilton” is another recent example of a celebrated work that’s about a real person, and RPF even goes back much further than that. The Brontë sisters wrote RPF for their own amusement back in the 19th century, and many of Shakespeare’s works were about real people.

Arguments Against RPF

Those against RPF tend to do so out of a sense of morality, not just personal dislike.

RPF fans assume too much about celebrities

When writing RPF, fans often make assumptions. It’s impossible to know the ins and outs of a public figure’s life, but RPF writers fill in the gaps with their own ideas. Sometimes these ideas spread and become common among fans, whether they are true or not. This may create a false belief among some fans that they know the public figure more than they actually do.

Parasocial relationships have become a target for criticism, and while most people understand that RPF is fictional, there will always be some who write it believing that they have a strong insight into the public figure’s private life.

Violation of privacy

Some also view RPF as a violation of privacy. In RPF, public figures are often portrayed in private situations that, though fictional, might feel violating for the person they’re about.

This is particularly true when it comes to smut, the common fanfiction term for stories with explicit sex scenes. Even people who are otherwise okay with RPF sometimes draw a line at such stories. Though it would be wrong to characterize all fanfiction or RPF as smut, it is popular.

Potentially outing people

While all kinds of relationships are portrayed in RPF, stories about male same-sex couples, usually called “slash” in fanfiction, are particularly popular. The real life people these stories are based on often haven’t spoken about their sexuality or have stated that they’re straight.

In the past, some fans took offense merely at the idea that public figures who were either straight or assumed straight were being written as queer at all. These days, some still act like being portrayed as gay is inherently offensive, but the potential of outing someone closeted before they’re ready has become a larger concern.

There are many RPF writers who are upfront about their stories not reflecting anyone’s real relationships, but there have been instances of fans becoming convinced that public figures are gay and confronting them about it. An infamous example of this is Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles from the boy band One Direction. Some fans worry about such speculation having a negative impact on real life friendships or the mental health of public figures.

Of course, this speculation happens outside of fanfiction as well. In fact, what usually gets the public figures’ attention is direct questions or posts on social media rather than the fanfiction that is usually kept to fan-only spaces, but those against RPF believe that RPF nonetheless contributes to a fandom culture that they consider toxic.

Puts negative attention on fanfiction communities

There are also fans who are concerned about RPF because of the negative attention it can bring to all fanfiction. Though RPF is only one branch of a huge network of fanfiction communities, many people outside of fanfiction don’t know much about it. Because of this, any negative attention gets extrapolated onto fanfiction as a whole.

When RPF is covered outside of fandom, it’s often in a negative way, and this can make the fanfiction community wary of it even if they don’t have other qualms.

As with many hot topics in fandom, fans on both sides have strong, deeply held opinions. The RPF debate is unlikely to go away anytime soon.