Open Texts
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
| Synonyms: | |
| See also: | Authorial Intent, Resistant Reading |
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Open texts are those that "allow plenty of room for interpretation", while closed texts are those that "permit little interpretation on the part of the audience".[1]
Open texts may be created deliberately "to express ideas or feelings which may be interpreted in different ways and at different levels"[1], or may be unintentional, e.g. the result of internal flaws or a lack of coherency in the text.
Importantly, for fannish purposes:
The open text invites a sense of participation in the reader or viewer and the interaction which occurs between creator, creation and audience is one in which "right answers" are less important than the possibility of a proactive response; and this may be subject to flux in differing instances and at varying times.[1]
While the worst examples of closed texts include propaganda, in which there is only one "rigorously preferred meaning"[1], closed texts can make for excellent reading or viewing due to the high quality and coherence of the content.
Therefore, there can be "good" and "bad" open texts in terms of quality, as well as "good" and "bad" closed texts; but it's the open texts that most often prompt a fannish response.
Examples of Open Texts
Buckaroo Banzai (1984) film and novel
Both the film and the novel work as slices of many bustling lives. In this way, while the original writing is high quality, the text remains open and therefore fan-friendly. There are unexplained moments in the film ("Why is there a watermelon there?" - "I'll tell you later.") and glimpses of past lives, other characters, other adventures, etc, in the novel - any of which can prompt as many fanworks as you can imagine. A number of memorable and enigmatic lines ("No matter where you go... there you are.") likewise provide hooks for the fannish imagination ... [2]
The Buckaroo Banzai screenwriter and author, Earl Mac Rauch, also considers the film and novel to be open texts:
Dan Berger (interviewer): Twenty years is a long time, and Buckaroo as a character has been around even longer. Where does Buckaroo fit in the broader context of your life since you first dreamed him up?Earl Mac Rauch: I doubt that Buckaroo has anything to do with my life. 'The death of the author, the birth of the reader'...that kind of thing. Buckaroo is part of the ether, that's all. He belongs to you as much as to me. Interpret him as you will. ...
What I do find strange is how Buckaroo has managed to live on in the popular culture, especially the internet culture, based on only one movie and a paperback novelization twenty years ago. I'm constantly hearing lines from the movie and seeing production design ideas that have obvious Buckaroo origins. It's really people like you who have been driving the simulacrum, keeping him alive. It's like I've said: you can write him as well as I.[3]
Merlin (2008-2012) TV series
BBC Merlin (TV series) is well loved by fans, and includes a hugely popular OTP - but the text's weekly stories, backstories (e.g. Arthur's conception and birth) and overarching 5-series plot often raise more questions than they answer. Luckily for we fans, we're happy to leap in and fill in the gaps.
The first season of Merlin was particularly open in terms of Shipping, as there were no canonical romantic relationships involving the six main characters, except for Uther's marriage to Ygraine which ended with her death twenty years before. Sure, Gwen was crushing on Merlin, Arthur was admiring Morgana, and Lancelot immediately fell for Gwen - but with even the most basic knowledge of the Arthurian legends, viewers could assume that all of these (with the honourable exception of Lancelot) would prove transient.
Examples of Closed texts
Edge of Darkness (1985) TV series
[This miniseries] was utterly brilliant. It was one of those works that are just so good that they push everything up to the next level. I loved it deeply, and still do – but its sheer brilliance made it very difficult for me to write this fan fic. Which brought home to me (then or maybe later) why we fans often passionately love the more shambolic works: their imperfections give us plenty of room in which to play. When working with Edge of Darkness – even while trying to bring something new to it (i.e. slash) – I felt like a miner carefully chipping away with my neatest pick, working in the smallest of crevices to find my way to something precious. (Pretentious, moi…?) But this show remains one of my favourite examples of a (good) closed text, as opposed to open texts or (badly done) closed texts.[4]
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007) novel
This was the seventh and final volume of the Harry Potter novels - a series which had created a relatively open text, and certainly prompted a huge fannish response. This last volume, however, ended with an Epilogue set twenty years in the fictional future, which neatly tied up the relationships and even the offspring of the main characters - thus closing the text in ways that many fans were not happy about. This has created the Epilogue? What Epilogue? genre of fanworks, which prefers to ignore the author's envisaged future.
Footnotes
- ^ a b c d James Watson & Anne Hill, Dictionary of Media & Communication Studies, 5th edition, Arnold (Hodder Headline Group) London, 2000.
- ^ Buckaroo Banzai page, accessed June 6, 2020.
- ^ An Interview with Earl Mac Rauch (Fall 2004) on Buckaroo Banzai FAQ.
- ^ Stew, Notes on AO3 fic Into the Shadows, 1991.