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Comment On Fan Fiction Article
Jul. 9th, 2011 02:22 pmTime magazine, which believe it or not still exists, published a piece on fan fiction in the wake of the final Harry Potter film's release.
Just for once, I'd like to see these kinds of articles on fan fiction do the following differently:
1. Not everybody who writes fan fiction is out to seize control of the culture from greedy copyright-holding gatekeepers, despite what Henry Jenkins thinks.
2. Not everybody who writes fan fiction has a political/social agenda behind what they do. While there are people like that--they're mentioned in "Enterprising Women," which examined fan fic culture in the 1980s--I definitely don't see it in SW fan fiction or most other genres for that matter.
3. Acknowledge the most obvious explanation for why people write fan fic...they love the stories and characters.
4. Don't say something like, "fan fiction writers aren't what you think" or "they're just like you and me" and then introduce to us as a typical fan fic writer a lesbian activist cat-owning blogger who lives in NYC.
The guy is very favorable to the concept and did his research. Media fan fiction started with "The Man From U.N.C.L.E" in the '60s (literary fan fic goes back further) and took off like a jackrabbit with "Star Trek" a year or two later. He correctly cited the first known Trek fanzine, "Spockanalia." He knows all about fan fiction's ugly little dark corners but like most of his media kind, won't make any sort of judgments about that sort of thing, even stories with "underage" action.
It is interesting to note that media-savvy and super wealthy authors like J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer don't mind fan fiction while most of the people who object, except for the Game of Thrones guy, hit the big time decades ago. Is it a generational divide? I think so. Rowling's first bestseller was in 1997; Meyer's first Twilight book dropped in 2005. They get the internet. They get media synergy. They get fan fiction helps a fan culture develop, which helps keep the whole party going for as long as possible. Older authors probably want more control over what happens to their stories and characters, even among fans.
Here's the article if you haven't seen it yet:
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2081784-1,00.html
Just for once, I'd like to see these kinds of articles on fan fiction do the following differently:
1. Not everybody who writes fan fiction is out to seize control of the culture from greedy copyright-holding gatekeepers, despite what Henry Jenkins thinks.
2. Not everybody who writes fan fiction has a political/social agenda behind what they do. While there are people like that--they're mentioned in "Enterprising Women," which examined fan fic culture in the 1980s--I definitely don't see it in SW fan fiction or most other genres for that matter.
3. Acknowledge the most obvious explanation for why people write fan fic...they love the stories and characters.
4. Don't say something like, "fan fiction writers aren't what you think" or "they're just like you and me" and then introduce to us as a typical fan fic writer a lesbian activist cat-owning blogger who lives in NYC.
The guy is very favorable to the concept and did his research. Media fan fiction started with "The Man From U.N.C.L.E" in the '60s (literary fan fic goes back further) and took off like a jackrabbit with "Star Trek" a year or two later. He correctly cited the first known Trek fanzine, "Spockanalia." He knows all about fan fiction's ugly little dark corners but like most of his media kind, won't make any sort of judgments about that sort of thing, even stories with "underage" action.
It is interesting to note that media-savvy and super wealthy authors like J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer don't mind fan fiction while most of the people who object, except for the Game of Thrones guy, hit the big time decades ago. Is it a generational divide? I think so. Rowling's first bestseller was in 1997; Meyer's first Twilight book dropped in 2005. They get the internet. They get media synergy. They get fan fiction helps a fan culture develop, which helps keep the whole party going for as long as possible. Older authors probably want more control over what happens to their stories and characters, even among fans.
Here's the article if you haven't seen it yet:
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2081784-1,00.html
