The DeMina Codex (season one)


Presuppostions:

1. Mina and Arc are meant to resemble Bertie and Jeeves, with two obvious deviations: they are female, and Mina cannot be as inarticulate as Bertie, since she’s supposed to have achieved BNFdom through her writing. She is, however, oblivious to her own flaws and inconsistencies, as mofic described so well in fanthropology.

2. Mina is, as the Clives have noted, a fast-food worker. She lives in a grotty little apartment, alone.

3. Mina has convinced her fans she is a member of the aristocracy and lives at the Malfois Estate. She also aspires to Britishness. Arc, who actually is both wealthy and wellborn, knows better, but tolerates and supports Mina’s falsehoods for...reasons of her own.

4. Because this is about fandom, and not about the things-we're-fans-of, there are relatively few direct references to specific fandoms (other than made-up versions), and most action is about the fans, not the stars/writers/etc. This will be more obvious later, I hope.

Mina de Malfois and the Snailmail Affair

1. The archive is named Penn’d Passion as a subtle sneer back at the people who sneer at female fanfic authors for writing out of pent-up lust.

Mina de Malfois and the Charitable Impulse

1. Trying to get people to pay money for a fic seems to be a BNF stock-in-trade.

2. Arc is from Canada because my favourite character in Bimbos of the Death Sun, Diefenbaker, was from Canada.

3. Sharper than a serpent’s tooth is not originally from Star Trek; it's Shakespeare. King Lear (1:4).

4. White Man's Burden is Kipling.

Mina de Malfois and the Young Blood

1. Sanguinity stands for every game, ever, and also for all vampire fantasy. Weirdly, when I added "sanguinity" to mina_de_malfois’s interests list, I saw she wasn’t the only person who listed it, so sanguinity must be a real thing. I have no idea what, though. A book? A game?

2. The "death of the author" defence for writing wildly OOC Harry Potter fic makes the rounds periodically. In a larger sense, the use of bullshit, couched in litcrit terminology, to defend idiocy seems to be a cross-fandom thing.

3. The PB/J and PB/P shippers stand for all shippers, everywhere.

4. Warr1or is your typical rabid anti-slasher, though like many rabid anti-slashers, Warr1or secretly reads a lot of slash, and this is a source of deep personal shame and inner conflict.

5. As fans sometimes do, Mina has focussed on the "villain" of the game instead of its protagonists, because he is aristocratic and she envies wealth.

6. life would have been one of those glorious medleys of song, as the Romanian ruling class used to put it is Mina failing to understand that the last line of a Dorothy Parker verse was meant sarcastically.

7. The expensive mail-order scents with the insanely pretentious names are a poke at BPAL.

8. Booters: playstation uses PBP to start itself up. Sammiches: peanut butter and jelly, of course.

9. PrinceC (Prince Charming, of course) stands for every devastatingly attractive but sadly underaged young man you’ve ever caught yourself lusting over in fandom.

10. Okay, I made up all the convention names. ConFanLitCon stands for "'conventions in fantasy literature' convention."

11. Mina’s face goop and hair goop are probably Lush products.

12. Lots and lots of second and third generation fans have Trek-loving parents. Trekkies must reproduce like Tribbles.

13. PrinceC’s original female character, Lady Horatia Marianna Wilhelmina de Malfois, is based on Mina herself.

Mina de Malfois and the Twee Little Maids

1. "Jolly Hockeysticks" is a phrase used to describe bluff, hearty, schoolgirl-story type women.

2. The Girl Scout song is used as a Sekrit Lesbian Signal in Mabel Maney’s brilliant Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse. There’s a song:

"I'm a Girl Scout, I'm a Girl Scout,
How 'bout you? How 'bout you?
Can't you tell by looking?
Can't you tell by looking?
I'm one too, I'm one too."

So, no, Xenalvr and Arc are not talking about the Girl Guides; they are trying to tell Mina something else.

3. "Twee Little Maids" is a Mikado pun. Sorry.

4. ChaletGirl, MalTowers4ever, and AnnMarlow, whereas on the Sammich side of the equation we had NawtyestGrrl, BalletChic, and RowanMarlow. In order, these are fans of the Chalet School books, Malory Towers, Antonia Forest’s Marlow series, Blyton’s Naughtiest Girl series, and Noel Streatfeild.

5. Xenalvr is, obviously, from Xena fandom; like Arc, she has ties to the Girl Scouts. ;)

6. Thanks to redpiratemel, I now know that there's a real fic archive called the Girls' Dormitory.

Mina de Malfois and the Old Guard

1. ‘Sindarin Syntax for the Purist’ and ‘Practical Reconstructions of Quenya’ are, believe it or not, actual things that Tolkien fen argue about. The purist/reconstructionist divide is deep.

2. although I’ve often been told that my use of French words and phrases in my fanfiction is striking Fangirl French strikes me, personally, as even more pretentious than fangirl Japanese, though that’s a matter of taste.

3. it did open my eyes to some damned pretty men An even deeper divide is the one between Tolkien book fans, particularly those who read the books before the movies came out ("trufen"), and Tolkien movie fans, or Ringers, who are often accused of only being in the fandom because of their shallow attraction to the actors.

4. Warr10r had even written two long, footnoted essays arguing that the spiritual purity and sexual monogamy of the Elves of Middle Earth I bet if you google "sexual purity"+"Tolkien" you’ll find actual essays.

5. and the deliciously unwashed tangled-haired men Oops, my own shallow attraction to one of the actors seems to be showing. *blush* Actually, in all fairness, some of the Tolkien fen are also rather yum.

6. The ‘Elvish Linguistic Fellowship,’ actually exists.

7. John Myers Myers’ Silverlock was released and read in the U.S. at around the same time LotR was. As a result, older American Tolkien fen are, remarkably often, also conversant with Silverlock.

8. Find a person sniggering over the female form or coining ‘clever’ new names for the characters, like ‘All-a-gone,’ I hate to say it, but adult male Tolkien fans of A Certain Age do go in for this rather often.

9. grok: to understand fully, completely; from Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land. If I had a nickel for every time an adult male had asked me if I "grokked" something "in fullness," I’d have...a dollar or two in change.

10. ‘I love Orly!’ The cry of the Orlando Bloom fangirl; is received by serious Tolkien fen as proof of idiocy.

Mina de Malfois and the ConFanLitCon Con
1. ‘Then longen folk to go on pilgrimages.’ Chaucer, of course.

2. her ‘sketches’ and ‘paintings’ as just so much copying, screencapping, and photoshopping. See Crystalwank. See also this.

3. by photoshopping PrinceC’s head onto a screencap of Jab. See footnote two. His hed is pastede on yay!

4. the folks who put together the DSM-IV The various editions of the DSM categorize mental illnesses by symptom.

7. a box of sex toys and assorted intimate gadgets A group of Smallville fen actually did this.

Mina de Malfois and the House of Mourning

1. The first recorded instance of pseuicide I could find happened in 1941.

2. At this rate, a gamespace Malfois estate wouldn’t be much more affordable than a real one. Bloody SecondLife.

3. BalletChic’s last post, her pseuicide note, is inspired by the note Amy Player left her parents. See Jeanine Renne's book for more on that whole...thing. Truth really is stranger than fiction.

4. sold out of both ‘Final Resting Place’ and ‘Ashes of Grief.’ A BPAL deathwank reference. [1]

5. A few of them also sent me burned copies of a Very Special Podcast dedicated to BalletChic. I recently listened to a Very Special Podcast; my immediate response to said podcast was to roll my eyes and denounce it as sheer, attention-garnering horseshit. There are a lot of real tragedies in life; there are a lot of fake tragedies online.

6. weaving bracelets out of their own hair and mailing these off to people they especially wanted to be remembered by. Not only did the Victorians make hair wreaths, but Americans, during the Apache wars, made and wore hair jewellery. No, really. An amateur historian friend of mine once creeped me out rather badly when he asked me to...no, on second thought, I’m not finishing that story.

7. a sort of Shade of Fraud. I could not resist a “schadenfreude” pun.

8. BalletChic’s recently departed plebeian soul. Arguably an Anne Rice shoutout.

9. By next morning, mourning’s minions From GM Hopkins: "I caught this morning morning's minion..."

10. I've been unable to find any internet hauntings, but I did find some weirdness involving bringing a character over from the astral plane.

11. Prince Choronzon Erik Vladimir de Gravina: Choronzon was the 'demon of chaos' Crowley claimed to have raised; Erik is of course the Phantom of the Opera; and Vladimir is a shout-out to Dracula fans (as, arguably, is Mina).

Mina de Malfois and the Honey'd Briar

1. Tent jokes ahoy. Sorry about that: tent jokes make me snicker.

2. The Elizabeths are, as well as Ciyerra supporters, big fans of Pirates of the Caribbean. Specifically, they are that kind of PotC fan who, while envying Elizabeth her moments with Will and Jack, hate her with a frightening intensity. [1]

3. I remember reading once something about ‘to thy haunts kindred spirits flee,’ The quote is actually "to thy haunts two kindred spirits flee," and it's from Keats' "On Solitude."

4. Some of you may have noticed that the Cult of the Gay Unicorn resemble these folk (and thanks are in order to narcissam for compiling that wiki entry). In a larger sense, they also stand for het/femmeslash-hating slashers.

5. Inspiration for the Cult of the Tented *snicker* Tartan comes from these people. And these people. And these people. And rabidly-het fangirls in general. [1]

6. he haunts wakes, fairs, and bear-baitings: is from Shakespeare’s “the Winter’s tale.”

7. ded. reckoning is “deducted reckoning,” but beyond that I can’t help you. Ask some knowledgable Age of Sail fan.

8. Now she ded from reckoning is of course a reference to now he ded from coke.

9. a rose-scented bath of improbable milk is featured in Goodbye, which I warn you is explicit erotica, and therefore neither work-safe nor child-suitable. [1]

10. pledging our love to the fictional males of our choice really goes on. No, really. Scroll down and read the unbreakable vow.

11. The doll, and, alas, the chocolate sauce, were inspired by this. [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]

12. The bulls, you see, are venomous is a reference to the venom cock.

13. Ohhh, so we risk incurring PrinceC’s displeasure? Some rabid het-devotees are much addicted to the idea of a sort of romanticized BDSM, which they write into thinly-veiled fantasies stories about Snape, the Phantom of the Opera, or whichever fictional male they’re currently devoted to.

14. a rose garden-cum-maze: multiple shout-out to PotO roses, rose-scented baths, the maze in Labyrinth (and in countless romance/fantasy novels), and all those fanfiction readers who loathe the word “cum.”

15. As readers and the Clives have pointed out, the doll with the tuxedo and the white mask could be Tuxedo Mask. I was thinking Phantom, but Tuxedo Mask would make just as much sense for het fangirls, so picture whichever one creeps you out the most.

16. the cultists were busily erecting a sort of open-air tent made out of some shiny, silver material It’s a tinfoil tent. Like a tinfoil hat, but bigger.

17. Christine and Meg are clearly PotO phans; Gerry’sGirl would be a Gerard Butler fan, Darla a Spike an Angel fan, and Mrs.Sev a Snape fan.

18. The reciprocal civility of authors Samuel Johnson: “The reciprocal civility of authors is one of the most risible scenes in the farce of life.” Johnson is also, arguably, a pun.

Mina de Malfois and the Staffing Problem

1. a few isolated slutstorms probably need no further explanation.

2. moaning about How Mean Fandom Had Become: the eternal moan of those being called out on their own bad behaviour.

3. gardener slash gamekeeper Warr1or may, possibly, be expecting more excitement from his in-game job than Mina meant to imply would be there.

4. non-number-specific pronouns While I have met ‘multiples’ online, this is actually poking fun at the arguments over ‘non-gender specific’ pronouns.

5. She was more popular than Jebus John Lennon once said something like this about the Beatles. Jebus, of course, comes from the Simpsons.

6. Having given her airy nothingness a habitation and a name “And give to airy nothing a local habitation and a name.” Shakespeare, MND Vi15-17.

7. fact of the identical IP address: an admiring reference to my beloved Charlotte Lennox.

8. Quieta movere magna merces videbatur Roughly, “They thought it good to stir things up.” Sallust, on the Catiline Conspiracy. I owe temaris for correcting my attribution on that.

9. Whither thou goest Ruth to Naomi: “Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.” Ruth 1:16.

10. an additional turn of the screw is of course a reference to Henry James' the Turn of the Screw.

Mina de Malfois and the Attempted Coup

1. a tragic drapery faux pas: RIP, Sirius.

2. Platinum RavingWench. That would be Silver Ravenwolf, of course.

3. profic authors: such as Lee Goldberg, thorough professional. *rolls eyes* [1]

4. Josh Amos gets his name from Josh Groban and Tori Amos. Speaking of Josh: look, an article on Grobanites.

5. He didn’t call them fans--he called them ‘Nomadic Listeners,’ shamelessly ripping off Tori Amos, who once called her fans “ears with feet.”

6. It was as if he’d nailed the Ninety-Five Symptoms to fandom’s front door, and then gone off to eat worms, as is traditional.
Yes, that’s a Diet of Worms joke.

7. an impassioned rant by Warr1or : inspired by the anti-MWPPslash rant, though I think we can safely say Warr1or's motivations are different from that other gentleman's. In a strange but lovely coincidence, mskatonic, who first reported that to Fandom Wank, is reading these stories. [1]

8. during the course of which one of them insisted hysterically that another guest had threatened her with a metaphor. The specific metaphor was your ass is grass. [1]

9. she’s a total Henry Jenkins fangirl, and approves of Textual Poachers.

10. Warr1or is basing his look on Lady Chatterley's Lover, of course.

11. PrinceC sat down patiently on the monument. "Patience on a monument, smiling at grief" is a quote from Jeeves Shakespeare, Twelfth Night (2:4).

Mina de Malfois and the Spiritual Renewal

1. Temple of Resonance *cough*Harmonians*cough*

2. one emerald-green island visible from our cliff This would be the island the Sanguinity non-player characters of the De St. Aubyn family (and Jab) inhabit.

3. Neo-Table Rappers are probably a lot like their Victorian counterparts.

4. Temple prostitutes were real; the Cult of Nice and the Cult of Mean need no introduction; the Fraternity of Siblings and Cousins would be 'cest-ficcers; the Box of Shadows exists; Think of the Children is not actually a summer camp, and WIKTT is not a school.
The New Animist Lodge, the Otakukin Awakening, the Reincarnated Veterans of Historic Wars, the Cult of the Gay Unicorn, the Sacred Order of Typists, the Ark of the Otherkin, and the Whispering Assembly of Soulbonds and Muses are not actual organizations, though they represent 'fandoms' or philosophies of sorts. The huge plaid tent belongs to the Cult of the Tented Tartan, obviously.

5. a shrine to the Dark Schoolmaster like this one.

6. the blonde wore a conservative business suit and the pink-haired one was tricked out as a rock star because they're channelling Jerrica and Jem (which is bound to lead to conflict, as they're the same character).

7. Josh Amos was lounging near the entrance, dressed in blue and white like a Prince of Tennis character.

8. Of course, all that gang aft agley. "The best-laid schemes o' mice an 'men gang aft agley," according to Robert Burns in "To A Mouse."

9. the stomach-flutters continued fluttery is a shameless act of highly-disguised homage to Oscar Wilde: "Today I broke off my engagement with Ernest. I feel it is better to do so. The weather still continues charming." (The Importance of Being Earnest," Act Two).

10. holding her lantern aloft just like a heroine in a Gothic novel or like Diogenes of Sinope.

11. and a dusty portrait of some handsome warrior, all of which seemed strangely familiar because they're the very things Henry Tilney lists for Catherine in chapter twenty of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey.

12. a sailor-suited blonde is meant to be suggestive of Princess Serenity.

13. I can't tell you where Dr. Zerubbabel's name comes from, because a secret society would send out trained assassins, or at least trained book thieves, if I dared list my source.

14. Without another word he followed her, lamblike, towards the Mint and Shift. There's rather a lot of lambing going on in that sentence. Google 'Mary had a Little Lamb,' recipes using mint sauce, and 'Lamb Shift' to learn more.

15. he was at KawaiiKon last year with a pack of absolute nutcases. Without in the least meaning to suggest that I share PrinceC's opinion, I will just say that one hears interesting stories about Sailor Moon cosplayers.

16. sombre mourning attire as described here.

17. Those are the proverbial grains of salt. They go well with the internet.

18. ‘I am perfectly serene!’ shrieked Rabbit. Princess Serenity pun.

Mina de Malfois and the Reality Check

1. Camp Silver Lake is from Gordon Korman’s I Want to go Home.

2. Ami Jenever. The Jenny-short-for-Jenever thing is a blatant ripoff of homage to JKR’s Ginny-short-for-Ginevra.
For more on LotR fandom’s most infamous Amy, see here.

3. playing tennis in somebody’s attic. It was actually badminton ghoodminton.

4. St. Scholastica was the foundress of siblingcest a convent. St. Scholastica’s is the rival of the Chalet School.

5. the Patricic Rim is a reference to Aristasia (using ‘Patrician’ instead of ‘Aristocratic’).
Participants are quite firm that this is not a spanking group, really not. Really, they only wrote the books that way to increase sales, and ’girls who do not find it of interest can easily take part in Aristasia without encountering it at all (providing they are good, of course).’. [1]

6. The Virtual Girls Annual is a reference to Girls Annuals and to Ju Gosling’s brilliant Virtual World of Girls.

7. dressed in a black tuxedo and a ruffled white shirt something like Rei Asaka (Hana no Saint Juste).