A Fanfic Rant

[sinanju]

Edit: This post is occasioned by amand_r's rant confession on her own livejournal and the comments thereon.

I do not believe in canon. Not in the "there is no god" sense, but in the "it's more of a guideline than a rule," sense. Yes, without the efforts of the creators, there'd be no Buffy the Vampire Slayer for fans to write about. No Highlander, no X-Files, no Angel, no Stargate: SG-1, etc. That doesn't mean that everything they create is wonderful. As beccadg noted in the comments, even the creators disavow some of the canon they create, and they change the backstory sometimes.

Why shouldn't fanfic writers do the same?

X-Files was swell for a while. Three, maybe four seasons. But I stopped paying attention when it became clear to me that Chris Carter did not have a master chart of the conspiracy on the wall in his office. He was making it up as he went, and the shape of the conspiracy Fox Mulder was trying to unravel changed from week to week to suit the needs of this week's story. Which meant that the 'arc' stories were, in fact, nothing of the kind. I continued watching X-Files for a while longer, but only the non-arc MOTW (monster of the week) episodes. And at that, I gave up on the show completely two or three seasons before it lurched to a halt.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended after Season Four in my universe. The introduction of Dawn was a cry for help, a confession of creative bankruptcy, and a harbinger of doom. The Emperor's New Clothes. A big, steaming pile dumped rudely in the middle of hte living room carpet. Need I go on, or has my distaste for Dawn and all that follows been adequately expressed? I know that there are many fans who loved the last three seasons of Buffy, and some who think it was never better. To them, I say Are you mad? Whatever floats your boat, I guess. But I feel no obligation to let that stuff infect fanfic I write (or read).

Angel lasted only two seasons. My feelings about Connor's addition to the show are almost identical to my feelings about Dawn on BtVS. What the hell was Joss's sudden fetish for magical teenage siblings/offspring? Or, in this case, for the sparkless, cliched Joanie loves Chachi Cordy loves Angel stuff? For God's sake, people, if anyone was smart enough and self-aware enough to know how bad an idea that was, it was Cordelia. Even if--and it's a big if--she fell for Angel, she's smart enough to bury that self-destructive longing under a heavy layer of self-preservation. Then there was Cordy n' Connor, ever-increasing cast bloat, and... No. Two seasons, tops.

Highlander ran only four and a half seasons. There was no Ahriman arc. Richie is alive and well and living on the banks of the River Denial. And this isn't only about Richie. The Ahriman storyline butchered four and a half years of carefully written shades of gray, a "talmudic discussion with swords" as someone put it once (of right, wrong, good and evil, and how to make hard choices in an imperfect world) and replaced it with a silly black and white morality play wherein Eeevil (in the form of a demon) was defeated by a Long-Prophesied Hero (tm) employing the awesome power of Tai Chi meditation. Argh.

There've been some good fanfic stories written that took these canon events as, well, canon and made the stories work. I won't deny that. But fanfic is all about taking the basics of someone else's stories and running with them. Different characters, alternate endings, crossovers. There's no reason to be bound by any particular point of canon, and especially not the most egregiously dumb parts.

Comments

[amand-r.livejournal.com]

Hey now, I didn't rant. I confessed.

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

Your correction is duly noted.

[seawasp]

I'm a believer in canon. I'll permit you to pick and choose your canon, to a point, but there are limits. Sometimes it's obvious when the limits are being exceeded, sometimes it takes a bit of thought. Many anime fandoms go over the line constantly (the Gundam Wing fics where the only similarity between the original characters and setting were the names of the characters, for instance).

(Connor in Angel was Van from Escaflowne, in case you're really wondering. Joss did Buffy based on Sailor Moon to a large extent; Escaflowne had its influence in Angel)


By the way, for some reason your LJ -- and, so far, ONLY your LJ -- shows on my screen as single-word lines (so one post is many screens long).

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Maybe it's the formatting I used that's screwing up the format for you, though it looks okay to me.

There's no excuse for Connor or Dawn, in my opinion. None. No matter who or what Joss was cribbing from.

And I'll agree with your follow-up that you can go too far in the buffet-style approach to what is or isn't canon. That's why I say the various series ended where they did. Anything prior to that remains in canon, though I may employ artistic license to simply not refer to a story/event I think doesn't make sense. Just because I concede that it happened, I don't have to address it. But the cut-off points come when something happens that is simply unbearable.

A bit more detailed point...

[seawasp]

There've been some good fanfic stories written that took these canon events as, well, canon and made the stories work. I won't deny that. But fanfic is all about taking the basics of someone else's stories and running with them. Different characters, alternate endings, crossovers. There's no reason to be bound by any particular point of canon, and especially not the most egregiously dumb parts.

I would say more that it's about taking someone else's creation from a specific point -- be it the ending of a series you want more of, or a branch point in a particular season/book, etc -- and working from there. In my view, you SHOULD adhere to the canon up until your departure point.

There are a few exceptions I can think of (Bishoujou Senshi Sailor Ranma), but I think that if the writer is ever in the position of thinking "Well, none of this is really canon" that should be raising a huge red flag surrounded by neon "DANGER! DANGER WILL ROBINSON!" signs.

Well...

[seawasp]

... The format problem only seems to happen when I'm at home, using my Powerbook.

I feel that ANY reference to Escaflowne is a justifiable excuse -- though, to be honest, I never watched Angel more than about 5 minutes; never cared for Angel in the FIRST place, so a whole series around him was definitely not going to make it for me.

I liked Dawn. I thought her addition was very clever (and the actress was cute). Glory was ... uneven. Flawed execution with some very nice ideas and approaches. The Geeks From Hell just sucked beyond mortal belief, though the Grand Finale with Giles' return was worth watching.

Adam was a sorta-neat idea, with references I thought to Dark Shadows, but the execution didn't work for me. The Mayor was probably the best.

Re: Well...

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

I must confess that I started watching Angel mostly because of Cordelia. Charisma Carpenter is seriously hot. But the early Angel (S1, some of S2) was funny and well-written. As the seasons went on, though, it underwent the same transformation that Buffy did--it got too serious, too self-involved, and I lost interest. I thought that Dawn and Connor were both very big mis-steps, and indicative of a flailing for direction. (I don't think Joss ever really thought about where Buffy would go after high school--probably never expected the series to last that long).

Glory was an interesting concept, but a flawed execution (as you say). I also think that Dawn should have died on the tower; the "Summers blood" was the most blatant deus ex machina I've ever seen.

The Geeks were awful, I agree. I'd stopped watching by the end of the sixth season, so I know about the finale only second-hand.

[beccadg.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking a bit more about creators and fandom. I wasn't sure where to put this. I hope you won't mind my putting it here.

I mentioned George Lucas's repeated rewriting of the original Star Wars. It wouldn't bother me as much as it does if he'd allow the original release to be available along with his rewrites. Just as he's been losing my respect, Spielberg gained some from me when I heard he had allowed the original release form of E.T. to be released along with his rewritten version. You mentioned here, "But fanfic is all about taking the basics of someone else's stories and running with them." It goes nicely with the quote from Emma Bull I've been thinking of. It goes as follows...

"What War for the Oaks means to me matters less, now that it's done and out of my hands, than what it means to whoever's reading it. A book makes intimate friends with people its author will never meet. I'm not part of those people's lives; Eddi McCandry is, and the Phouka, and Willy Silver, and the Queen of Air and Darkness. How can I describe or explain the relationship, when I'm not there to see it? ...the novel can, and should, speak for itself, and your relationship with it is as true as anyone else's, including mine."

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

Yes, I too am appalled by Lucas' looseleaf notebook approach to the story of Star Wars. I'll never forgive him for Greedo shooting first, but that's only the worst of many sins. Yes, it is his property, but he's certainly got no moral standing to complain if other people reject his canon (though plenty of legal standing, I suppose).

I suppose my view boils down to the notion that canon is descriptive, not prescriptive. A reader (or a fanfic writer) is nonetheless free to reject the story in part or in total, or to follow it to a given point but no further. It is no different than assembling your own take on Arthurian myth or Robin Hood or Dracula (aside from the creator still being alive to take issue with your antics if you really, really annoy him).

[beccadg.livejournal.com]

I'll never forgive him for Greedo shooting first, but that's only the worst of many sins.

*Nods.* I think I've watched the '97 revision of Stars Wars, but not of The Empire Strikes Back, or Return of the Jedi. I've got a set of the original version of the trilogy I'm nursing. I'm afraid to look at the DVD release. I hear it has Gungans at the celebration on Endor.

Yes, it is his property, but he's certainly got no moral standing to complain if other people reject his canon (though plenty of legal standing, I suppose).

I don't believe he has any moral standing. I know he's got legal standing. I wonder some days with the state of copyright law if the corporation will continue to deny the world the original version after he's passed on.

It is no different than assembling your own take on Arthurian myth or Robin Hood or Dracula (aside from the creator still being alive to take issue with your antics if you really, really annoy him).

*Nods.* I like that quote from Emma because I think her saying she isn't part of the readers lives but the characters are, and, "your relationship with it is as true as anyone else's, including mine," show that she understands the readers are going to assemble their own views. I agree that the reader or the fanfic writer is free to assemble their take however they like.

Fanfiction Freedom

[mzlizzy.livejournal.com]

Ah, the canon debate. Much more fun and involving that the political versions -- especially since I can't listen to some politicians without having a sour stomach from their second sentence.

While I applaud anyone who attempts to write fanfic completely within canon since it's a challenge to remember all the things they've said about any character in a long-running show, I prefer fanfiction where the writer has taken the liberty to shake things up at least a little bit.

I find it amusing when people try to argue 'canon' on shows where they've contradicted themselves, or where characters act differently in different episodes.

X-files didn't really draw me in, I watched it sporadically and was highly disappointed by the grand kill-off of the last season. It's fine to wrap up storylines, but do they all need to be in body-bags?

Buffy was at it's best in season three. Season four still had some good points but five went downhill (yes, Dawn should have died, or Buffy and Dawn together.) Season six was both horrible and dumb with only the musical episode as a reward for putting up with the stupidity, and seven can be chucked straight out the window.

Angel was a show I watched without any real desire to re-watch. The best character on it was Wesley who underwent a wonderful progression of growth including fucking up massively and having to live with the consequences. While I was sad he died at the end I thought his death was like Spock's in WoK -- tragic for the character but appropriate for the story. Angel himself never drew me in. He was a lout and a wretch as a human, a bastard as a soulless vamp and a drama queen as an ensouled vamp. Who cares?

As for both Connor and Dawn, it seems to me that they were created specifically to try and milk the teenage demographic that was so interested in stupid shows like Dawson's Creek.

As for Highlander, I love the idea of the universe but Duncan MacLeod is a self-righteous bastard who's philosophy is that everything I do is right and justified, but don't do the same or I'll kill you. Richie, my favorite character (with Methos a close 2nd), suffered from conflicting viewpoints of the writers. Some of them wrote him as a viewpoint character or sidekick, but others simply used him as comic relief, making him look like he was either retarded or suffering from multiple personality disorder.

The owners of the Highlander name and characters have never been able to make up their minds how they want it to work. Every movie and tv series has had different 'canon' ideas. I'd feel sorry for the originator, except that it was his master's project for college and how many people out there are making royalties off of what they wrote in college?

I'm a big fan of well-done crossovers and AUs. I love it when a fanfic writer does a good job of writing the characters out of a corner the show painted them into -- Such as Welcome Back by Dawn Cunningham.

There are good writers in fanfiction and they shouldn't feel that they have to stick with canon if they can write a good story by ignoring parts of it, or twisting it to fit their needs. After all, paid writers do the same thing. Did anyone really think that Spike's nickname of 'William the Bloody' was due to him being a bad poet when he first showed up?

The story is more important than getting every detail to fit within the 'canon' of what was broadcast.

Re: Fanfiction Freedom

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Buffy peaked in season three. Season four was uneven, but overall still fairly good. But S5-7 blew mightily in my opinion (and in yours, it seems). And "William the Bloody" was not named for his bad poetry!

I enjoyed Angel the first couple of seasons, though I confess I mostly watched for Cordelia. So the butchery on her character was intolerable. Then they added Connor, and the whole thing went to hell. Wesley's death (I watched the finale) may have been fitting in the context of the series as written, but I'd so lost my taste for it by then that I didn't care much one way or the other. It was like _watching_ rather than merely reading bad fanfic by that point.

I didn't dislike Duncan as much as you did. He was judgmental, certainly, but he tried to do the right thing most of the time (and a couple of the best episodes revolved around how his efforts to do good made things worse, which I liked).

As for Highlander canon in general, yeah, it's been all over the map. Some of that was a deliberate decision (and for good reason, I think). Specifically, movie immortals Just Don't Die, Period. Except by decapitation. You can knock them down and maybe stun them, but they're never "dead" even briefly. The series changed that deliberately to make them easier to identify with (and more vulnerable), from what I've read. And that one change brings interesting ramifications. For one thing, movie immortals can't fake their deaths the way series immortals do. They're never indisputably dead even for a moment, so that bystanders/doctors can swear to it; makes changing identities much harder. There's fiction potential there, I think.

Re: Fanfiction Freedom

[mzlizzy.livejournal.com]

I don't have a problem with the die/don't die question on immortals. The first movie was never planned to be the beginning of a franchise, and lots of things got changed for the series. Things had to work for TV logic. The 'proximity alert' isn't evident in the first movie, as well as the 'no really, they never die!' factor. Face it, if the 'proximity alert' quickening were in effect in the first movie every sane immortal would have left New York shortly after the Kurgan got there!

Sometimes I think Duncan's ok -- someone who struggles to do what he sees as right and tries to face up to his failures. Other times (like last night) I see him as a self-righteous git who's still stuck in a 16th century mindset. I tend to like the way some fic authors have handled him over the way the show writers did.