How do you guys feel about fan-fiction, and why do you think it comes about? Is it positive or negative?
I've seen people say it is a harmless product of engaging with a story, and others say it is simply lazy writing for those lacking in the originality to actually invent their own stories and characters.
I'm very much torn on this. Although fan-fiction has existed for a long time, its modern form is often distinctly different from its origins. Instead of seeking to expand and develop aspects of stories and characters fanfic writers felt were neglected in the official canon, characters and scenarios are now frequently taken entirely out of the context of their original canon. Why these characters/settings are used instead of more appropriate characters, or even original characters created by the writer, is, I think, at the core of fanfiction, and raises some interesting questions.
When fanfiction was just developing, through fan magazines and such, it was a way to add more depth and texture to the setting/characters of the original. Personally, I quite like this idea - I like the idea of a group of people all organically growing and defining a fictional universe, each of them doing so with a different flavour. I imagine that many of you on this forum are like me in terms of loving lore and the background of fictional universes, and I feel fan contributions to this are a positive thing. In the modern form, however, this is absolutely not what is being done much of the time. What is the motivation for borrowing characters and settings from alternate universes, especially when the context makes no sense?
Of course, one answer is obvious: that, having watched a show or read a book, the writer becomes attached to the character and therefore, for obvious reasons, wants to continue to use and develop that character, particularly knowing that others out there - other members of their fandom - will immediately be engaged with the characters and will feel an attachment.
In this case, do you view this as lazy writing, a way to avoid having to put in time and effort to create relatable characters, or as a natural result of engaging with the stories that are presented to us through several mediums every day? If the latter, then it's easy to argue that it's no different from the original goal of fanfiction - to expand characterisation and plot beyond the scope of the canon. If the former, I ask: what, then, when it is only the facade of the characters that is taken?
Often it is not as if the writer is trying to accurately represent the characters' personalities from the canon, but has instead created their own character and simply slapped the name of a known character on it. As an example, I once read a fanfiction that borrowed character names and themes from The Phantom of the Opera, set in France about the time of the revolution. It was utterly fantastic, and written extremely well - but had absolutely fuck-all to do with Phantom. The characters were well-crafted, and the "Phantom" still had a scarred face, and Christina could still sing beautifully, but in personality of the characters and in terms of plot, the fanfiction differs utterly. This writer wrote a fantastic piece of work, lovingly created characters that readers could engage with, and yet for some reason pasted the names of Phantom characters over the top, seemingly unnecessarily. Admittedly, the two works share similar themes, but that is no reason to appropriate the names. This cannot be accused of being lazy writing, as having been a cheap way to get readers engaged or as being a lack of originality, so perhaps the only explanation is, again, a deep personal engagement with the characters.
This would explain why people often appropriate beloved characters for wildly unlikely scenarios that play out like the writer's own fantasies. Of course, in their fantasy, they're going to use those they feel connected to.
The thought that prompted me to make this thread, however, is a somewhat darker one. It's fairly undeniable that we, as a society, have fallen into an increasingly consumerist attitude. Whether this is a good or bad thing is an issue for another time, but so-called "turbo-consumerism" has an iron vice on us. More and more, we are seeing people desire less to create or change things, and desire more to passively absorb. Is it possible that the increasing fanfiction phenomenon is a result of this? That the misappropriation of beloved characters is a sad reflection of a society in which we do nothing but consume and absorb, and thus can only create from that which we take in? Does our society have that much of an effect on our innate thought processes? Stories have been around since the dawn of language as a way of teaching and entertaining - they are intrinsic to human spirit, and the potential for language is now strongly hard-wired into our DNA, as is our response to stories and parables. Is it possible for that to be overridden by a modern society that discourages the creation required for new and engaging stories, and arguably encourages absorption and regurgitation of other works? A similar phenomenon can be seen in the film and gaming industries - two other ways in which we tell and share stories in today's world - with the constant, never-ending onslaught of reboots and sequels. Are we in danger of seeing a similar crisis in even our literature and writing?
I suppose the above is simply a twist on the "lack of originality" argument, but it certainly got me thinking. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter. I don't think this touches on anything too sensitive (religion, politics, etc. etc. blah-di-blah), but you guys have a way of turning anything into an argument (iloveyoureally), so I'll just put a warning here: please do not lose thy collective shit at any point. Calm, rational discussion does far more for you and for humanity as a whole, no matter how moronic you think someone else is being.
