Remix - Fanlore

Remix

You may be looking for the Star Trek: TOS zine Remix.

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Contents

General

A type of fanfiction challenge, a story produced as the result of such a challenge, or the writing methods used by participants in such a challenge.

In a remix challenge, the moderators assign to each writer another participant's work. Each writer selects and rewrites at least one of their assigned participant's stories, with the expectation that another participant will do the same to one of the writer's own stories. Some fanfiction authors permit or encourage other writers to remix their stories at any time, without the structure of an organized challenge. Other fanfiction authors believe that unauthorized remixes are a violation of their moral rights as an author. Remixes should not be confused with a certain type of responsefic.

Remixing techniques include (but are not limited to): retelling the same events from a different character's point of view, switching the narrative voice (e.g. from first to third person), changing the tone of a story, focusing on a different point in time in the same sequence of events, covering a smaller or larger scope of events, or writing an AU. Writers sometimes incorporate the dialogue or description of the original work into their remix story. Most remix challenges require the plotline of the remix to stay the same as that of the original. The remix challenge may also require that the ending of the original story be preserved; this does not necessarily mean that the remix and the original must end at the same point.

The word 'remix' to describe this rewriting and re-telling practice was chosen as a riff on the practice of remixes in pop music, where the vocal and instrumental tracks of a song are rearranged in time, speed, duration, or possibly entirely replaced. Some fans have argued that a more apt analogy would be the song cover, where one artist or musical group re-records a song previously commercially released by a different musical act.[1]

The first remix challenge was We Invented the Remix in popslash fandom. It was begun by MI (2003-04), continued by zvi (2005-06), and then bossymarmalade (since 2007).

Since 2003, Victoria P has run We Invented the Remix... Redux, an annual multifandom FPF remixing challenge.

Controversy

Though remixing in both fanfiction and vidding has become enormously popular, not all fans embrace the concept. Negative perceptions of remixes can range from boring and unoriginal (it's just the same stuff, done over again with a slight tweak) to insulting (the remix is fixing their writing, or changing things that someone else found lacking) to disrespectful (ignoring that the author had specific character or plot developments in mind and felt they were final), among many other beliefs. Though some fans feel any story is fair game for remixing, others believe that permission should be gained from the author first before using their work as a jumping-off point. Many fans feel it's hypocritical to reuse the original creations of the copyright holders in the canon while protesting that anyone should be allowed to remake their fanworks.

And feelings about remixes can be dependent on either the type of work being remixed or even the specific, individual piece. For instance, a fan may embrace the concept of remixing in fan writing, but not in vidding, or vice versa. Or she may be fine with having some stories remixed, but particular stories are off-limits to the idea. Some fans may object to having a certain genre of stories (slash, gen, het) remixed in a different genre (this can be particularly problematic when fan writers who don't approve of slash find their gen or het stories remixed into a slash piece). This can be a particular problem, as well, in shared universes, where one single story can become a huge universe that nearly defines the fandom, such as in The Magnificent Seven fandom.

Related Links

We Invented the Remix

We Invented The Remix Redux

Other Remixes

Multifandom:

For specific fandoms:

References

  1. ↑ Victoria P., you can hear 'em in the back room strumming, 26 April 2007 (Accessed 2 October 2008.)
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