[ SECRET POST #2419 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2419 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Way early because taking dog to the vet. :c

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 075 secrets from Secret Submission Post #346.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[thene]

It's a good thing that the author is dead, then, isn't it?

(Snark aside, I believe in fandom as an expression of the death of the author, and I find your way of thinking pretty creepy because it restricts us from criticising authors. I love fanfics that serve as commentary on and criticism of canon, going into points that canon shied away from, or challenging canon's resolutions. I think it's important to give those fanfics room to exist. Centralising the author in the conversation at all times just isn't how I want to culturally exist, sorry.)

[(Anonymous)]

I don't quite see how it's creepy. One can still say that an author is a crap author, that their works are bad, that there are areas the works fail in - or what would reviewers do? I get how fanfic can work and serve as useful analysis (it was one of the main reasons I used to write it, after all).

While I do believe in Death Of The Author to a large extent - people can interpret things however they want, especially if those interpretations are due to the author's own failings in their writing - as long as there's actual evidence for that interpretation - I am also very aware that there is (or was at one point) someone out there producing the media I consume, with thoughts and feelings of their own.

Someone in the thread took my comments as saying that I think fanfiction is morally wrong. Here's the thing: I do. It's the closest thing other than plagiarism to actually stealing ideas. The way I see it, people have the right to have the final say over things that originated in their head and that they've sweated to make. I don't get what's so wrong with that.

[thene]

I disagree, mostly because culture doesn't work that way. For example, I don't get how you could object to fanfic of the TV show Merlin, because none of the characters in it are original to the TV show. This goes for quite a number of other fandoms outright, and tons more make use of longstanding cultural concepts if not specific characters. The idea of there being a 'final say' due to authors on account of their sweat is more of a legal construct than a cultural reality. It certainly doesn't hold in most other mediums, where copyright is often held by a corporation rather than a writer - for example, Rob Liefield's meltdown when Shatterstar (a Marvel character he created) came out as gay years after Liefield had stopped working on the character. No really read this, it pretty much describes how awful your stance can end up IRL. And that was about canon, not fanfic, but morally there is no less reason why Liefield should have 'final say' about his characters' orientations than any individual author. Thank god he doesn't, is all.

Also, I imagine most authors would have their thoughts and feelings hurt far more by everyone calling their work crap than they would by fanfics, and you've said you're fine with that? I don't get how you can justify your stance on fanfic, given that.

The creepy factor stems partly from real-life examples, eg. Liefield, and other people who've stated that they're anti-fic but then been either hypocritical or creepy about it - Jo Walton's 'fanfic is rape' rant, Anne Rice's...well, everything she's ever done since the internet was invented but especially her saying that fanfic is wrong and then immediately turning round and writing tons of Bible fanfic containing zero original characters. Authors who are against fics of their works have this way of showing themselves up.

[(Anonymous)]

And in my fandom the author has specifically said he doesn't care what is done with his characters by others. So by your argument fanfiction in my fandom is A OK, not to mention my author has been dead for 80 years.

Pwned.