sermocinare (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sermocinare) wrote2010-01-13 11:05 am
sermocinare) wrote2010-01-13 11:05 am
Entry tags:
Canon, fanon and those bloody natzees
(x-posted from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fireez for fun and profit and for being relevant to the interests of this journal, cut for the benefit of those on both f-lists)
Oh hey, it's another one of those "Fireez can make a whole post about something she read on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
fandomsecrets" things.
This one's about this secret.
My reply was:
"Meh. Dan being Jewish is fanon, not canon. For all we know, he could be a Christan, an Atheist or even a gorram Druid. So I don't see a reason to automatically stamp a fic as "bad" just because it has Dan celebrating Christmas. You don't have to be Christian to celebrate Christmas - I'm pagan, my brother's an Atheist, and we still do it, because for us, it has always been primarily a family holiday with gifts and good food. Jesus never figured into it, really.
That said, if it bugs you that much, OP, then don't read. Sometimes, somebody else's character interpretation can be so jarring with one's own that it's just too much to really be able to enjoy the fic. That doesn't mean they're OMG WRONG or anything, but just that some things aren't for everybody. Like, oh, Adrian being hetero :P."
It seems I'm one of the very few people in Watchmen fandom who see it that way. Or maybe I'm wrong and there are more people like me and I just haven't seen much of them yet.
Anyway, I'm very liberal when it comes to character interpretation in fandom. Or rather, I'm liberal with the details. Because, let's face it, anything that's not stated explicitly in the source is FANON. As in, us fans made it up. Sure, we made it up from the clues left behind by the author, but as a wannabe writer myself, I know that sometimes, your readership interprets something you wrote as a hint in an entirely different way. Communications theory and all that jazz, remember?
So basically, the only person who has the right to say "you writing Dan as celebrating Christmas is WRONG" is Alan Moore. And even then, we don't have to listen to him. Hell, if fandom listened to Alan Moore, we'd be out of a job.
And honestly, fanon nazis annoy me more than canon nazis do. Seeing your interpretation of a character as the ONE TRUE WAY, even if it is supported by the majority of fandom, is nothing short of arrogance. Maybe it's because I don't have a ONE TRUE WAY interpretation of the characters, but for me, half the fun of fanfic and fandom is exploring the different ideas people have about the characters. I'm a character whore. I don't really care that much about plot if the characters are interesting, three-dimensional and engaging. And so, discussing and re-interpreting them makes me one happy fangirl. And it would make me one happy writer, too, if I ever published anything that gained a fan following.
That said, I reserve the right to discuss your interpretation of character with you. Not as in "omg you're wrong!", but as in "you know, I always saw X as being more like this, what led you to see him like that?". I also reserve the right to simply not read, or not like your fic if it does jarr with my interpretation of the character too much. Like, oh, Adrian being hetero ;). But what you won't see me doing is telling you you're wrong. At least not if you have good reasons for writing a character the way you do.
fireez for fun and profit and for being relevant to the interests of this journal, cut for the benefit of those on both f-lists)Oh hey, it's another one of those "Fireez can make a whole post about something she read on
fandomsecrets" things. This one's about this secret.
My reply was:
"Meh. Dan being Jewish is fanon, not canon. For all we know, he could be a Christan, an Atheist or even a gorram Druid. So I don't see a reason to automatically stamp a fic as "bad" just because it has Dan celebrating Christmas. You don't have to be Christian to celebrate Christmas - I'm pagan, my brother's an Atheist, and we still do it, because for us, it has always been primarily a family holiday with gifts and good food. Jesus never figured into it, really.
That said, if it bugs you that much, OP, then don't read. Sometimes, somebody else's character interpretation can be so jarring with one's own that it's just too much to really be able to enjoy the fic. That doesn't mean they're OMG WRONG or anything, but just that some things aren't for everybody. Like, oh, Adrian being hetero :P."
It seems I'm one of the very few people in Watchmen fandom who see it that way. Or maybe I'm wrong and there are more people like me and I just haven't seen much of them yet.
Anyway, I'm very liberal when it comes to character interpretation in fandom. Or rather, I'm liberal with the details. Because, let's face it, anything that's not stated explicitly in the source is FANON. As in, us fans made it up. Sure, we made it up from the clues left behind by the author, but as a wannabe writer myself, I know that sometimes, your readership interprets something you wrote as a hint in an entirely different way. Communications theory and all that jazz, remember?
So basically, the only person who has the right to say "you writing Dan as celebrating Christmas is WRONG" is Alan Moore. And even then, we don't have to listen to him. Hell, if fandom listened to Alan Moore, we'd be out of a job.
And honestly, fanon nazis annoy me more than canon nazis do. Seeing your interpretation of a character as the ONE TRUE WAY, even if it is supported by the majority of fandom, is nothing short of arrogance. Maybe it's because I don't have a ONE TRUE WAY interpretation of the characters, but for me, half the fun of fanfic and fandom is exploring the different ideas people have about the characters. I'm a character whore. I don't really care that much about plot if the characters are interesting, three-dimensional and engaging. And so, discussing and re-interpreting them makes me one happy fangirl. And it would make me one happy writer, too, if I ever published anything that gained a fan following.
That said, I reserve the right to discuss your interpretation of character with you. Not as in "omg you're wrong!", but as in "you know, I always saw X as being more like this, what led you to see him like that?". I also reserve the right to simply not read, or not like your fic if it does jarr with my interpretation of the character too much. Like, oh, Adrian being hetero ;). But what you won't see me doing is telling you you're wrong. At least not if you have good reasons for writing a character the way you do.