Audience Participation, Adaptation and the MCU

 Introduction

The Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU, is a collection of media that expands across films, television, merchandise and theme parks based on the characters and universe of the Marvel comics. It functions as an example of transmedia with the ‘story unfolding across multiple media platforms… each new text making a valuable contribution to the whole.’ (Jenkins, 2007) The franchise has accumulated a large fanbase since its conception in 2008 with many fans taking part in what Henry Jenkins has coined ‘participatory culture,’ where they ‘assert their own right to form interpretations, offer evaluations and construct cultural canons.’ (Jenkins, 2013) Some of what this entails can be perceived as adaptation or even readaptation. As Johannes Fehrle and Werner Schäfke-Zell (2019) put forward, ‘a convergence environment… further destabilises received notions of authorship and reception’ and fan works can be viewed as part of an ‘interconnected text cluster’ (Fehrle + Werner, 2019) surrounding the pieces of media as opposed to there being a distinction between official and unofficial additions to the wider universe. These ideas can be related to the character Bucky Barnes and his depiction in ‘fanon’ or fandom canon, with fans applying aspects of comic canon which had previously been disregarded in the character’s onscreen adaptation such as Jewish and queer representation, to the MCU through mediums such as fanfiction and fanart. This reflects the ‘dynamic media environment of convergence culture’ (Fehlre + Werner, 2019) where fans can further experiment and interact with different aspects of the greater universe, picking and choosing the elements they wish to associate with characters or events, often related to representation of race or sexuality as these are the elements typically missing from mainstream media. (Koehm, 2018) Through this they create their own ‘cultural canons.’ (Jenkins, 2013)

Theories

In his book Convergence Culture, Henry Jenkins (2006) explores the idea of fandom and the participation of its members, facilitated by the development of technology allowing for a greater level of collective sharing and community. He describes fan culture as ‘defined through the appropriation and transformation of materials borrowed from mass culture’ (Jenkins, 2006) which presents the perspective that what separates fans from merely being audience members is the ability to engage with the material in a more active way as ‘a superficial encounter won’t leave them satisfied, they’ll want to go deeper.’ (Rose, 2012) A significant example of how this kind of participatory culture (Jenkins, 2006) is often achieved is through fanfiction where writers within the fandom tell their own stories using elements of the media. This can be to ‘explore underdeveloped subtexts’ or ‘offer original interpretations’ (Jenkins, 2006) for example. By forming their own narratives within the canon universe, fans can be seen to contribute to the ‘hyperdiegesis’ (Hill, 2002) of the media where, with the creation of ‘a vast and detailed narrative space, only a fraction is ever seen or directly encountered within the text.’ (Hill,2002) The remaining gaps are then left to be filled by the audience and within a fandom this becomes a collective venture, with ‘interpretations shaped and reinforced through ongoing discussion.’ (Jenkins, 2013) Common narrative tropes within fanfiction are often then formed through the ‘power of repetition’ (Busse, 2017) where ideas that don’t explicitly exist within the main canon of the text, often defined as what is produced by the rights holder, are repeated across fans’ work to the extent that they become part of ‘fanon’ and are commonly accepted across the community.

Fehlre and Werner liken this to being under the umbrella of adaptation which in its simplest terms can be described as ‘a process whereby stories are lifted from one medium and replanted in another.’ (Connor, 2007) Therefore, in the case of fanfiction for the MCU for example, authors are taking aspects from both the visual media of the films and TV shows as well as potentially the source material of the comics and adapting them into written stories.  As this is an unofficial form of adaptation, one not licensed by the copyright holder, this can be viewed as a form of ‘textual poaching’ where consumers of media go through the text and ‘take away only things that are useful or pleasurable to the reader.’ (de Certeau, 1984) However, it’s important to note that while ‘poaching’ has the connotation that these writers only take away from texts, if viewed from Fehrle and Werner’s perspective they are instead contributing to the greater narrative surrounding the media, expanding upon the ‘hyperdiegesis’ (Hill, 2002) to create new, interesting stories. Often a key element of fan interpretation relates to representation within the text that they ‘seek to generate.’ (Simpson, 2021) This links to the idea Jenkins presents of certain topics going unvoiced within the ‘dominant media,’ (Jenkins, 2013) such as the representation of minorities and therefore fans seek to fill that gap by addressing those aspects themselves in their adaptations of the text.

Case Study

In general, superhero adaptations ‘rarely pluck stories in their entirety from comics but, rather, borrow from a broader expanse of material, remixing elements from popular series.’ (Proctor, 2019) This is particularly relevant in the case study of the character Bucky Barnes, first introduced in The First Avenger (2011) His character, as initially presented in the MCU, can be described as a blend of two comic characters: the child sidekick Bucky Barnes and Captain America’s friend from childhood Arnie Roth. First introduced in 1941, the comic version of Bucky bears only a minor resemblance to the film adaptation, being a young sidekick usually portrayed as having grown up on a military base.

Simon, J. and Kirby, J. 1941, Captain America. Issue #1.

Captain America: The First Avenger, 2011

 In contrast, many similarities can be drawn between him and Arnie Roth, from him protecting Steve Rogers from bullies from a young age and even going on double dates together.

Gruenwald, M. 1968, Captain America. Issue #350. 

Captain America: The First Avenger, 2011

However, despite taking lots of elements of Arnie Roth’s character, not everything about him was carried over to form the MCU’s iteration of Bucky, namely his ethnic Jewish identity as well as his queer sexual orientation, with Roth being the first gay character introduced in Marvel comics in 1982. Whilst the MCU has faced criticism for its erasure of ethnic minority identities, for example, Scarlet Witch is a Jewish Romani woman in the comics and yet portrayed as neither in her film or television appearances, in this instance, it isn’t a clear-cut case of targeted omission and instead, an element of adaptation with the studio selecting the elements of comic canon they wanted to be portrayed on screen. Bucky Barnes’ character in the MCU was never going to be a complete copy of Arnie Roth or they would have simply adapted the latter. Additionally, even in a lead role in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, his character development was side-lined slightly in favour of Captain America’s, leaving less time to add personal details.

It is important to note though that it’s only in recent years that the MCU has begun to meaningfully diversify, with almost 70% of the main characters up to 2018 being white (Karim, 2018) and there being little to no representation of disability or different sexualities until the past year. This is where fans play a role in contributing to the narrative in a different way, not being satisfied with the surface level depiction of the character compared to the greater wealth of details in the comics and wishing to ‘negotiate identities and experiences they are denied through canon works.’ (Simpson, 2021) Fans can be seen to ‘express anti-commercial beliefs,’ (Hills, 2002) and where Marvel Studios may have initially shied away from presenting identities that they believed would alienate portions of their audience, the newest installation to the franchise Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has gone on to be banned in Egypt explicitly for its depiction of queer identities as well as China one of the biggest box office markets, fans have had the freedom to explore these characteristics unencumbered in their own communities. 

An example of this is through applying more of Arnie Roth’s comic backstory to the MCU Bucky Barnes and portraying him as Jewish in their work.

Elkleggs, 2022

Currently, on the popular fanfiction site Archive of Our Own, there are hundreds of stories tagging Barnes as being Jewish, with the most popular having over 200,000 hits. This demonstrates how elements of fanon have a large reach to other fandom members and can influence their interpretation of the character, becoming what can be described as a trope within the community which then ‘demonstrates the modes of representation fans seek to generate.’ (Simpson, 2021) Additionally, until the introduction of Moonknight in the MCU in March 2022, there weren't any Jewish characters portrayed on screen and therefore Jewish fans had to look to the comic canon to find representation to transplant onto one of the characters already existing in the text which is an example of adaptation and 'transposition from one media to another.' (Fehlre + Werner, 2019) 

Hoffman, 2021

The other aspect of Arnie Roth’s character that some fans had hoped would be carried over into the MCU is his sexual identity, with many reading into some of the queer subtext The First Avenger (2011) provides. One instance is a scene in which Bucky and Steve share a drink at a bar before going off on a mission. In the background There’s a Tavern in The Town, a folk song is being sung and the editing of the shot timings to match up with the lyrics has Steve sitting down next to Bucky with the line “my true love sits him down” and when Peggy Carter approaches the pair “he left me for a damsel dark” is sung in the background.  

Captain America: The First Avenger, 2011

Moments like this in MCU canon have led to fans speculating about Barnes’ orientation. Bucky is also often positioned in the way a female love interest is within a narrative. He’s usually the catalyst for Steve’s decisions and can even be seen to function as Propp’s ‘princess’ archetype, (Propp, 1968) needing to be rescued by Steve in the war, from Hydra in The Winter Soldier (2014) and then from Zemo and the government in Civil War. (2016) This sets him apart from the typical representation of a male protagonist (Steele, 2019) and opens up room for a queer reading of his character. Their relationship is the beating heart of the Captain America trilogy and therefore it’s understandable that fans choose to develop it further, expanding on canon through mediums like fanfiction. On the site Archive of Our Own alone, there are over 50,000 stories which explore a romantic relationship between the two characters, demonstrating the scale of the investment in the pairing as well as how so many choose to diverge from canon in their participation in the text, creating a different kind of adaptation where the narrative is expanded by fans beyond what is represented in either the cinematic or comic universe. 

Archive of our own, 2022

Esther, 2018

Despite the Marvel comics having numerous queer characters, the cinematic universe has only confirmed a few, all in the past couple of years, despite having existed for almost 15. Therefore, fans have needed to take it upon themselves to adapt the diversity of the comics into the MCU and use the characters like Bucky to represent aspects of themselves. Particularly for younger participants, ‘the creation of such representation allows queer youth to identify themselves within the context of mainstream media providing them a space where they can celebrate their budding identity free from harassment.’ (Warwood, 2015) This freedom of expression allows for both new readings of ‘underdeveloped subtexts’ (Jenkins, 2006) as well as an expansion of the world of the MCU by adding an element to the narrative.

Reflection 

Having grown up being part of different fandom spaces, it has always been something I've been aware of and that has seemed like a natural progression when forming a particular interest in a piece of media. It's therefore been interesting to look at fan culture from more of an outside perspective and reflect upon the relationships between the owners of the content and those who rework it and create something new as well as how that can be seen as a form of adaptation within a wider textual universe. Also, specifically, as a Marvel fan who has engaged in fanfiction and fanart, I was previously unaware that the character of Bucky Barnes wasn't canonically Jewish in either The First Avenger (2011) or in any of the comic runs as it was something I had seen associated with his character on multiple occasions. I therefore hadn't realised it was actually an element of 'fanon.' This highlighted to me how participatory culture is very collaborative and can actually change how you view the original text, as details from fan works and 'headcanons' blend with what is perceived as canon. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, what is unique to a cross-platform text like the MCU is that with so many different stories and alternate representations of characters making up the overall Marvel universe, fans can not only contribute new elements to the ‘hyperdiegesis,’ (Hill, 2002) such as pairing Bucky and Steve together romantically, they can also rework the MCU adaptations within the confines of the greater Marvel canon. By choosing to incorporate the Jewish and queer aspects of Arnie Roth in the comics into their MCU characterisation of Bucky Barnes, fans aren’t doing anything differently to the people employed by the studio who initially adapted the character for The First Avenger. (2011) Instead, they are partaking in ‘participatory culture,’ (Jenkins, 2006) adapting the comics in different, creative ways to produce representation that can reflect theirs and other experiences, contributing to the ‘cluster’ of texts (Fehlre + Werner, 2019) which make up the vast narrative space (Hill, 2002) of the Marvel universe.

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