Philosophy of Fan Fiction
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| Title: | Philosophy of Fan Fiction |
| Creator: | Deva |
| Date(s): | Aug 6, 2001 |
| Medium: | online, Barbelith webzine |
| Fandom: | |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | archived link to essay |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Philosophy of Fan Fiction is a 2001 essay by Deva. It was published in an online webzine.
This essay was linked to and discussed by slash writers sand readers on diaryland and other blogs. It mentions Buffy, Batman and Blake's 7.
It generated 8 pages of debate on the webzine forum. These comments are, sadly, not archived. [1]
About the Webzine
The Webzine is a place for writing longer pieces about things that fascinate or annoy our community. The subjects are pretty varied - so there should be something of interest to everyone. The only things they have in common is that they're generally philosophically or politically conscious and that they are based - at least in part - around the idea that the world could be - should be - a more interesting, exciting or fairer place to live.[2]
Excerpt
How can you decide where 'fanfiction' begins and 'literature', 'textual criticism' or 'multiple authorship' ends, without recourse to the law of copyright or the hierarchy of institutions and genres? Is Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea fanfiction, or James Joyce's Ulysses? Are all writers on Buffy or Sweet Valley High or Batman or the 'X' titles (other than their 'creators') legalized fanfiction writers? Why is an academic paper on the homosexual subtexts in The Merchant of Venice legitimate criticism and a narrative about the sexual relationship between Kirk and Spock moronic 'fanfiction'?...In other words, fanfiction as concept and practice can be central to one of the most important political / cultural / aesthetic problems of our time: is it possible to create anything new?
The answer (for someone who's as big a fan of poststructuralism as me) is: yes and no. No, because in order to be legible and/or livable, any creation, whether of a new gender, a new political order or a new artwork, must refer to the system within which it was created (for example, the language and narrative conventions within which fiction is written). Yes, because no system can successfully and completely determine and police what is sayable or livable within that system.
References
- ^ Forum page (archive)
- ^ About (archived)