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

[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.