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Transformation fiction explores radical physical or psychological changes in characters, such as shape-shifting or gender reassignment. It can promote various themes, both positive and negative, and can chart slow internal changes in a character’s personality and outlook on life.
Transformation fiction is a type of fictional literature that has transformation as its main theme or plot development. Radical change can be physical or psychological in nature. Examples include shape shifting in a science fiction or horror story and genre shifting in a mainstream novel. Authors can use transformation to promote various themes, both uplifting and critical.
Shapeshifting is a common plot device in the science fiction and horror genres, and thus is a well-known type of transformation fiction. This practice occurs when a being physically transforms into another type of being. The transformation may be desired by the character or it may occur involuntarily.
In the first example, an alien entity might possess the natural ability to resemble any human or other earthly creature, as in the science fiction classics The Thing and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. A popular representative in the vein of involuntary transformation is the story of the werewolf. An example in classical literature would be Franz Kafka’s Metamophosis, which describes the inexplicable transformation of a young man into a large insect.
Gender reassignment is another common device in makeover fiction. This process may involve the aforementioned magical and mystical abilities associated with shape shifting, particularly in mythology and folklore legends. It can also involve metamorphoses of a more psychological nature. Transgender fiction emerged as a subgenre in 20th-century literature. These works explore the journey of an individual feeling trapped in the wrong body and may include actual physical changes from male to female or vice versa. Jeffrey Eugenides’ 20 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Middlesex is a prime example of this.
On a more subtle level, transformation fiction can chart the slow internal change of a character. Personality, values, and general outlook on life can be significantly altered in a fictional protagonist’s journey from the beginning to the end of a story. An extreme symbolic offer is found in the novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, in which the main character of the story swings between a good, law-abiding side and an evil, law-breaker side. Much contemporary fiction documents less drastic mental and emotional journeys.
Themes in transformation fiction can be positive or negative. Loss of control, lack of free will, and alienation can emerge as negative aspects of involuntary transformations. Sometimes the characters are also forced to undergo a transformation as punishment, as in the fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast”. An individual who chooses transformation, on the other hand, can become the symbol of liberation and escape conventions or expectations. Willful transformation can also, however, indicate abuse of power and deception.
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