Snapewives
Snapewives or Snapists were a small fandom community and religious movement during the 2000s, based around deification of the fictional character Severus Snape from the Wizarding World media franchise.
The Snapeism movement were only ever consisted of a handful of individuals, of which three were the most prominent and best documented.[1] The adherents were generally middle-aged women who communicated on LiveJournal and various online forums. They were ridiculed by other Wizarding World followers who perceived the movement as extreme and delusional.
Its adherents generally believed that Severus Snape (referred to by first name or as "master") exists as a spiritual being, existing independently of the works in which he is described, who has the power to interact and communicate with his believers through channelling. They described Severus as an omniscient and omnipresent deity to whom they professed deep romantic, sexual and emotional love towards, and described their relationship to him as a marriage.[2][3] They also believed that Severus inspired author J.K. Rowling to write her books, but that he was ultimately misrepresented and wrongly described as an antihero who ultimately dies.
The movement has been attributed to many causes, including the portrayal of the character by Alan Rickman in the film series.[4] The movement has been cited as an example of modern-day religious beliefs,[5] misogyny against female fandom and female sexuality,[4] the crossover between religion and fandom,[6][7] the comparative legitimacy of faiths,[8] and the difficulty in defining religion as a concept.[9]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ Alderton, Zoe (3 March 2014). "'Snapewives' and 'Snapeism': A Fiction-Based Religion within the Harry Potter Fandom". Religions. 5 (1): 219–267. doi:10.3390/rel5010219. eISSN 2077-1444.
- ↑ Monteith, Andrew (1 February 2022). "Transhumanism, Utopia, and the Problem of the Real in Ready Player One". Journal of Religion and Popular Culture. 34 (1): 1–15. doi:10.3138/jrpc.2018-0054. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
- ↑ Brady-Brown, Annabel (1 November 2016). "Still wild about Harry". Big Issue Australia (524): 14–17. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
- 1 2 Reese, Ashley (8 October 2020). "Consider the Snapewife". Jezebel. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
- ↑ Wong, Liz (2024). 2D and the Sacred: Exploring the Reorientation of Desire and Love (PDF) (Master of Arts thesis). Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Sydney. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
- ↑ Cusack, Carole M.; Kosnáč, Pavol (18 November 2016). Fiction, Invention and Hyper-reality: From popular culture to religion. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-317-13549-4. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
- ↑ Cusack, Carole M. (2016). "Spirituality and self-realisation as 'other-than-human': the Otherkin and Therianthropy communities". Routledge: 54–71. doi:10.4324/9781315582283-11. ISBN 978-1-315-58228-3. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
- ↑ McKillop, Hannah (2020). Harry Potter and the Creation of Spiritual Technologies (Master of Arts in Religious Studies thesis). Faculty of Arts, University of Ottawa. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
- ↑ Cook, Tanya; Joseph, Kaela M.; McCoy, Ruby T.; Bongar, Bruce (2025). "Fandom and Religion". Encyclopedia of Religious Psychology and Behavior. Springer, Cham. pp. 1–8. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-38971-9_2009-1. ISBN 978-3-031-38971-9. Retrieved 26 May 2026.