Random thought of pondering

[effervescible]

Prompted to post by this wank but it's something I've thought about before. When anti-fanfic people say that ficcers steal characters and situations, I keep wondering. What have they lost?

I'm not sure whether this is a discussion question or just me thinking out loud.

Comments

[cantspell.livejournal.com]

When anti-fanfic people say that ficcers steal characters and situations, I keep wondering. What have they lost?

That's a good question. I highly doubt they're losing money, because if anything I think fanfic increases interest in the original book/show/movie/etc. If people think they're losing their characters or whatever...I can see their POV but hey, that's the way of the world. Once I put a thought out into the public domain, whatever it may be, in a way it belongs to the reciever as much as the original messenger. Is it shady and unethical and illegal to profit off of someone else's creation without their permission? Sure. But in the case of fanfic...like I said, that's how the world works. Ever since the days when we were running around chasing dinosaurs or whatever the hell we did, we've been taking characters that we ourselves did not create and spinning tales about them. I really do strongly believe that fanfic has become the closest thing we have to modern-day mythology.

Besides...I mean, I've never been in the position where people have written fanfic about anything I've created, but I think that more than anything those people should be honored that people are inspired enough by their characters to want to continue the story, as it were. Fanfic is such a labor of love for so many people, and I would just be so humbled and delighted if someone decided to base fanfic on a creation of mine. But I'm also an attention whore. And yeah, there's always going to be really weird shit in any fandom you could possibly imagine...but yet again, that's life! You have the choice to just pretend it doesn't exist if that makes you feel better. My entire philosophy is just hey, if this *insert squicky genre here* fic is keeping people off the street and off drugs, so be it. *shrugs*

It's late and I've rambled on too long, but I just think this was an interesting topic. Apologies for cluttering your journal with my thinking-out-loud... :P

[lul1aby.livejournal.com]

I think what they feel they have lost is control/authorial intent. It is all good and well to sit around in classrooms and posit that text is a collaboration between the author and the reader and that interpretation is as/more important than authorial intent, but fanfic is a real application of that idea and it makes some authors uncomfortable. I can imagine that when someone creates a universe, populates it with characters, and decides their fate, s/he feels that their version is the Truth and then fandom appears to be an unwelcome intrusion and a bastardization of that universe. The original work is legitimized through publication/peer criticism/market mechanisms and fanfic is not, which makes the published author an authority on the true interpretation - deservedly so. Also, fanfic is both a tribute to the original work and a criticism of it (because a ficcer is saying "this ending was wrong" or "this relationship should've happened"), and it's the criticism aspect that anti-ficcers worry about. I don't think it's financial losses that concern them, because anyone can see that there aren't any.

[buttercup0222.livejournal.com]

The wank you linked to is gone, so I shall just stare at Elijah. rarr.

[sarahtheboring.livejournal.com]

Well, there's "steal" in the sense of plagiarism, i.e. "you didn't make that up from the start, but you're using it." Like "omg, you ho, you stole my sweater and put it back and THOUGHT I wouldn't notice, didn't you." It's not a case of taking something away forever so much as borrowing it without asking.

'Course they usually have more complaints (like "you tainted the original with your evil speculation!!"), but I think that's where the "stealing" bit comes from.

[yma2.livejournal.com]

I think that this is basically an entirely erronious argument anyway. To 'steal' something you take something without permission. True, the authers have never said, 'sure, you can borrow this,' but most haven't said that they'd rather NOT, either. The basic point is that if people really minded that much, they'd say. If you look on FFN net and check up the list of authers/people who've expressly said they don't want their work used, you'll find it's a very short list. Most authers honestly don't have a problem with fanfic, some won't read it, but very few have said they'd rather people didn't write it. And since it's the authers that matter, then what's the fuss about?