Fanthropology - The Study of Fandom

Media references to fanfic, the week ending 7/04/09

2009-07-06T01:39:58Z

If journalism is dying, why is it that it's not the fittest who are surviving? Witness Nadya Vlassoff on The Deadbolt, who messes up simple math, thinks life ends at 20, and writes Unlike other shows or films, fans of BTVS have continued to support the show through online forums and fan fiction without any new live-action project.

But at least her grammar is decent, in contrast to the following gem by John Winn on The Celebrety Café on Hustler-produced porn parodies: Sold under the "This Ain't..." brand--as in, "This Ain't the Brady Bunch" or "This Ain't the Flintstones"--the titles are widely seen as an attempt to cash in on nostalgia for a simpler, if less smutty period, as well as fan-based fiction already circling in the Internet, especially slash fan fiction, for which "Trekkies" has become well known.

This, however, I liked. Writing on Desicritics.org, Meenakshi described the fandom surrounding Indian soap operas: An entire world of make belief made "real". In an already world of illusion, as the idea of Maya would have it another Maya nagari is established and supported from every side. Another layer to this world of fiction is the fiction created by viewers. It is like the old idea of the mirror within the mirror, reflecting each other off into infinity.

Also liked: Wonkette called John Pipkin's Woods Burner, a novel about the aftereffects of a forest fire accidentally set by Henry Thoreau, transcendentalist fan fiction.

Okay, this confused me. The Ranger seems to be the college paper of San Antonio College and associated community colleges, but it seems to be staffed by seventeen-year-old HS students. One of these is Karen Becerra, who, according to a biography written by fellow staffer Maribel Molina, writes short stories for a site called fanfiction.net. Where she gets more reviews than I do.

What's a week without an Examiner ref? Ascot Smith, in a review of Barack the Barbarian: Quest for the Treasure of Stimuli #1, written by Larry Hama, wrote But unlike the get-rich-schemes of recent "Obamics" this is an entirely devoted current affairs spoof that at times reads like a fan-fiction love letter to President Obama.

Finally, hauntmeister pointed me to David A. Brewer's 2005 The Afterlife of Character, 1726-1825, which reconstructs how eighteenth-century British readers invented further adventures for beloved characters, including Gulliver, Falstaff, Pamela, and Tristram Shandy. Far from being close-ended and self-contained, the novels and plays in which these characters first appeared were treated by many as merely a starting point, a collective reference perpetually inviting augmentation through an astonishing wealth of unauthorized sequels. Characters became an inexhaustible form of common property, despite their patent authorship. Readers endowed them with value, knowing all the while that others were doing the same and so were collectively forging a new mode of virtual community. By tracing these practices, David A. Brewer shows how the literary canon emerged as much "from below" as out of any of the institutions that have been credited with their invention. Indeed, he reveals the astonishing degree to which authors had to cajole readers into granting them authority over their own creations, authority that seems self-evident to a modern audience. If I could, I'd give Brewer a cookie.

Note: Crossposted to http://as-others-see-us.dreamwidth.org/2898.html.

Media references to fanfic, the week ending 6/27/09

2009-06-28T02:51:35Z

On Salon, in an article on the role of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the development of urban fantasy, Laura Miller wrote Though it's been off the air for six years now, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" lives on, in the theses of hundreds of culture studies grad students, in a series of comic books by creator Joss Whedon, in persistent rumors that some or all of the TV show's cast members may unite for a film (with or without Whedon), in seemingly countless spinoff novels, and of course, in fan fiction. But Buffy persists in other, less obvious ways, as well.

Coming Through the Rye (the unauthorized Catcher sequel) continues to generate fanfic mentions, including one in Reason (originally published on RealClearPolitics) by Kathy Young, who wrote [s]ome areas of copyright law are so murky that no one quite knows what is and is not legal. There are intellectual property experts who believe that fan-written fiction based on popular works, from Star Trek to Harry Potter, qualify as "fair use" as long as it's non-commercial. (Young gets mega bonus points to linking to her own Xena fanfic from the article.) On FindLaw, Julie Hilden wrote To some extent, fights over fanfic are […] about both control and money, as there's at least a chance that someday, an especially talented fan will sell books that preempt the market for the original. And, on Newser, Michael Wolff wrote This is fan fiction of the kind that piggybacks off many best-sellers and pop-culture characters with obsessive followers—and Catcher in the Rye, at 22 million copies and counting, has always had its obsessives. It’s probable that such explicit Holden sites and Holden fan fiction already exist—so much for my new pastime. And so much for doing any research whatsoever.

In an article on The Christian Science Monitor's book blog on Trek lit that could have been much better, Matthew Battles wrote Star Trek has spawned a burgeoning bibliography of spin-off novels, short stories, and novelizations; fan fiction in book, film, and comic form; critical works and technical manuals. And like any sacred literature, the Trek canon ranges from the authorized to the pseudepigraphical to the apocryphal.

And what's a week without some Examiner refs? This past week, Julianne Draper spoke with author Terry Odell, who said her "training ground" was Highlander fan fiction; and Samantha Holloway, in an article on a new method of tracking the popularity of TV shows based on mentions on social networking sites, wrote The Internet […] has provided an easy and contained platform for fans to talk about their favorite shows, offer suggestions and ideas of what it might all mean, spin off fanfic and discussion-- and for the most enterprising writers and producers (cough-JJ Abrams-cough) to keep up the buzz between seasons and to create shows entirely for Internet consumption, entirely on their own terms (cough-Joss Whedon-cough).

Finally, on thaindian.com, GD reviewed the Twilight fic 'Bella’s End of the Bargain' by TrustYouToKillMe, for reasons which are not made clear.

(Note: Cross-posted to http://as-others-see-us.dreamwidth.org/2657.html.)

Media references to fanfic, the week ending 6/20/09

2009-06-21T04:57:10Z

On Essential Writers, Kathleen Inglis described the play One Man Lord of the Rings, written by and starring Charles Ross, as a form of frenetic fan fiction fuelled by sheer bravado.

There were a couple of mentions on Examiner.com. Megan Wedge shared some of her favorite sexy "Twilight" fanfiction, and Erin Nolan, in a piece on how to connect with Grey's Anatomy fans on Facebook, wrote that one group is a notable […] for welcoming fan fiction in its discussion board.

On Daily Kos, keirdubois wrote the following, which I am too tired to try to make sense of, let alone contextualize: Fanfic writers have nothing on me. I wrote fanfic about my life, bitches. Was that good enough for UCI's Fiction MFA, long long ago? Of course not, but even though they were right to reject it, they can still go pound sand—because the best part of this is the book behind the book: all the other half-assed verbal barf I've written to warm up and cool down from doing fiction. In other words, blogging.

On the Watch with Kristin Blog on E! Online, Team WWK asked readers to choose their favorite TV friendship, adding We're strictly talking canon here, so any slashy business happens on your own fanfic-writing time...)

Finally, desertport pointed me toward a piece by Theresa “Darklady” Reed on m/m romances in Just Out: However it’s spun, fan-fiction demographics, especially those associated with gay-loving fiction, have long consisted predominantly of females of the straight or bi persuasion. Alas for writers within the genre, a messy little thing called trademark protection has kept those with genuine talent from releasing their erotic male pop culture icon work to the public at large.

(Crossposted to http://as-others-see-us.dreamwidth.org/2477.html.)

Media references to fanfic, the week ending 6/13/09

2009-06-14T02:37:08Z

In a review of True Blood in the Boston Globe, Mark A. Perigard wrote Vampire-human love is all the rage these days, and creator/writer Alan Ball throws down the fangs with a sequence Sunday that “Twilight” devotees can only imagine in their most secret fan fiction: a sex scene that is both sensual and bloody between stars Paquin and Moyer.

Nick Gillespie opined on Comin' Through The Rye in the online version of Reason, reflecting that, when The Wind Done Gone came out, After running through a list of takeoffs ranging from Nobel Prize winner J.M Coetzee's revision of Robinson Crusoe (called Foe) to Star Trek fan fiction, I argued: None of these literary knock-offs, it is safe to say, has in any way weakened the audience or market for the works that inspired them.

On Examiner, Jolie du Pre, in a short piece on the release of Yuri Monogatari 6, quoted the site Yuricon: Yuri can be used to describe any anime or manga series (or other thing, i.e., fan fiction, film, etc.) that shows intense emotional connection, romantic love or physical desire between women.

And, the Rogers Hometown News (Arkansas) reported that The Anime Club meets [at the Rogers Public Library] on the second Saturday of each month, from noon until 2 p.m. Snacks and an episode of an anime program are provided, as well a chance to share anime artwork, fanfiction or conversation. This event is for grades eighth through 12th and their guests. Sign up at the library or online.

(Crossposted to: http://as-others-see-us.dreamwidth.org/2119.html.)

Article on fanfiction in the London Evening Standard, 8June

2009-06-09T04:19:00Z

There's a lengthy article in this evening's London Evening Standard, rrelatively non-judgemental and non-patronising.

A couple of years ago I was phoned by someone at NME asking: “What do you think of slash'?” Treading water, as any Professor Trendhound does in such situations, I said that I could live with it, if done by Cronenberg, but thought Saw and Hostel were nasty. “No, no,” it was explained. “Slash — as in fanfic.” I didn't know Fanfic from Harpic.

Media references to fanfic, the week ending 6/06/09

2009-06-07T02:45:44Z

Although there was no specific reference to fanfic (or its common synonyms), there was much reporting this past week on attempts by J. D. Salinger and his representatives to suppress the sale of "J. D. California's" Coming Through the Rye. Irish Independent (among others) reported that Salinger's lawyers branded the attempted sequel as "a rip-off pure and simple." California got sympathy in some quarters, including from The Huffington Post's Vickie Karp, who wrote Laws will prevail, but the more interesting questions are the ethical ones. Catcher in the Rye is a touchstone. It is published. It is no longer wholly and only the author's. Beyond this, general feeling among readers is that books 50 years or older naturally lean into fences of privacy until they pretty much touch down on public domain.

In other news…

In a press release picked up by a number of gaming industry publications, Roundhouse Interactive and Frima Studio announced the latter has been selected as the programming partner for The Game Cartel, as it develops the industry's first player-conceived console video game. Taking its inspiration from online games, The Game Cartel lets members conceive, develop and vote on the creation of what will eventually be commercially-available console games. Like the fan fiction-based Star Trek film, this is a historic first in the industry and will certainly lead to a more constructive and creative dialog between gamers and developers.

Yielding another press-release-driven flurry of stories, FEARnet.com announced a 'Sweepstakes' to send "one lucky fan (and a guest)" to Comic-Con 2009. With hundreds of stars from the worlds of film, comics, television, fan fiction and more scheduled to make appearances and more than 120,000 fans expected in attendance, Comic-Con 2009 (July 23-26) promises to be one of the best gatherings to date.

A Wattpad press release, picked up here and there, also had a fanfic reference (as usual).

Kel Munger, writing in Sacramento News & Review, has discovered m/m romance novels. The straight feminine fascination for man-on-man action has a historical precedent; the first romantic fan fiction—stories written by fans about characters from a television show or film—consisted of love stories that featured Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock (of Star Trek fame). Their well-defined friendship wasn’t enough to meet the emotional needs of female fans, who scripted a romance that is alive and well on the Internet. zabira pointed me to Lindy West, of Seattle's The Stranger, also discovering m/m romance: I do know that there are straight women out there who enjoy watching gay-male pornographies. I am also aware of slash fiction (dirty gay fanfic about, like, Harry Potter touching Voldemort's magic johnson), which is also mostly by/for straight women. I wonder when someone's going to notice that many female slash writers do not, in fact, identify as straight?

On The Age, Jake Wilson profiled several Star Wars fans, including writer Mary Borsellino. Borsellino, who works in the philanthropic sector, has published Star Wars fan fiction online, but she is not a fan only of this series. She has campaigned against sexism in comics, undertaken academic research on the TV series Supernatural, and is about to publish the first in a series of young adult novels titled The Wolf House, which she describes as "Twilight for punks".

In Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sharon Eberson, in a story on the Penguins' Sidney Crosby, wrote His on-ice exploits aside, the Penguins' captain has inspired fans to make his No. 87 jersey a top seller as well as to create online forums dedicated to whether he has a girlfriend and reams of fan fiction. This guy gets ficced and Tiger Woods doesn't? ☹

On The Examiner, Terrell Harris, in a piece on 'Online vs. the console gamer,' wrote Console gamers are a particular bunch. […] We dress up like our favorite game characters. We collect figures, art and toys. We write fan fiction.

On Daily Kos, BruceMcF, in an article on what newspapers can learn from micro-niche publishers, had an fanfic reference it would take me a couple of paragraphs to contextualize.

Angela Gunn, writing in International Business Times, reported that McAfee has put out a list of search terms that turn up malware-infecting sites. Each category reveals a keyword that is, on average, the most dangerous thing you can search on in that realm. For the US, those words are irs stimulus checks (in the economics category), free music downloads (in "free"), phentermine (in health), lyrics (in lyrics), lowest (in shopping), and zelda twilight princess walkthrough (an outlier in the "Twilight" category; for searches actually connected to the cheesy movie, fanfic and reviews led the pack).

Finally, in Irish Independent, Andrea Smith, in a review of Sarah Rees Brennan's The Demon's Lexicon, wrote One reason for the interest in her work is Sarah's huge presence in the cyber world. She started a blog at 18, and now has 5,000 registered followers of her book reviews, movie parodies, original stories and fan fiction, plus mega thousands who follow, but haven't registered.

(Note: Cross-posted to http://as-others-see-us.dreamwidth.org/1827.html.)

Media references to fanfic, the week ending 5/30/09

2009-05-30T23:14:06Z

In UCSB's Daily Nexus, Hunter M. Daniels reviewed Terminator Salvation, saying It’s barely passable as Internet fan-fiction. Stay home and study for finals, you’ll have more fun that way.

Though I couldn't access the article, there's a piece in The Chronicle of Higher Education by Nine Ayoub titled Fan Fiction? Will and Bess; Screen Queens, on fictional meetings between William Shakespeare and the first Queen Elizabeth.

On Wired's Underwire blog, in an article on movie tie-in products, John Scott Lewinski wrote Now you can kick off your Star Trek shows, climb into Star Wars bed and read the fan fiction you stored on your Transformers flash drive — all thanks to the summer’s more creative movie-marketing merchandise.

A Maureen Dowd column in The New York Times (and other places) has been referred to as fanfic by Gawker. Kinda sorta; I guess I just don't speak celebrity or snark well enough to get the subtleties.

- - - - -

Fanfic is frequently mentioned in some media sources I don't usually include here, including the gaming, comic, and movie industry press. It also gets frequent mentions on Examiner.com ("the insider source for everything local"), a site which, which up to now hasn't seemed broadly-focused enough (i.e., too bloggy) for constant inclusion (though I've linked to it a few times, including earlier this month)). Examiner seems to be growing in popularity and scope, though, so this week I'm including more recent refs.

One that caught my eye this past week was Amanda Bell's Is literary fan fiction copyright infringement for series like Harry Potter? which is a nice overview of the question. Bell also had a piece on Twilite, a Twilight parody by Stephen Jenner, in which she wrote As copyright law tends to protect (albeit loosely, but still) parodies of copyrighted original works such as Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, Jenner's "book" probably falls within allowability, unlike (perhaps) the publication of fan-fiction that utilizes the same character names and events.

Much less coherent was Alek Bock's Fan-fiction: It's not literature from a few weeks ago. (I've news for you, dude - what you write ain't journalism.)

In a review of all things Star Trek, Deborah Smith Ford observed The franchise also extends to dozens of computer and video games, hundreds of novels and instances of fan fiction, several fan-created video productions, as well as a themed attraction in Las Vegas. (Really, hundreds? Wow.)

Paige Crutcher wrote, in a piece on author Marie Nicole Ryan, that One of her deepest and darkest secrets is that she loved the TV show ‘La Femme Nakita.’ It was after watching the show that she was struck by inspiration. The hero and heroin of the show “captured her imagination,” so she wrote “what happened in between a scene” filling in a part that was left out.” Writing in her style and voice, she let the inspiration guide her. For fun, and because she was such a fan, Marie posted the story on a story board for other fans to read. Happenstance would connect Marie to another well-published writer who was burnt out from her career. This author was writing fan fiction and had published 30 books with Harlequin Silhouette. And the story continues ☺.

Another author interview, of Barbara Elsborg by Fran Lee, featured the quote I started writing when I was in my teens – fan fiction but all the plots were romantic. Poor abused young girl, who coincidentally happened to look exactly like me, saved by mouthwatering hero.

And Jennifer Willson, in a short review of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith (not sure how else to credit it), wrote It’s an excellent example of the “fan fiction” genre that’s 85% original text, 15%“ultraviolent zombie mayhem.”

And this isn't even all of them! What I love about the Examiner refs is that they show that fanfic is something that real people really do, for all sorts of reasons, and that it's a part of the little-c-culture if you're not too high-falutin' for it.

(Cross-posted to http://as-others-see-us.dreamwidth.org/1764.html.)

"Twilight" fandom and gender differences on NPR

2009-05-28T02:35:57Z

In which a (male!) author confesses his love for the "Twilight" series. On NPR's All Things Considered for 27 May 09.

I thought it was interesting, and I thought it might also interest (some) members of this comm.

Media references to fanfic, the week ending 5/23/09

2009-05-25T02:48:20Z

Annie Barrett reported on Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch blog that My ultimate career goal of seeing my Pillsbury Doughboy fan fiction play out on the big screen just became a lot more realistic: There will be a freaking movie based on inexplicably eye-patched processed food mascot Bazooka Joe.

In The Times (London), Andrew Lycett wrote, in a story about Sherlock Holmes fandom, Sub-genres of fan fiction proliferate, such as drabbles (renderings of exactly 100 words) and slash (a branch of pornography posited on same-sex relationships - not too difficult with Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson).

The Boston Globe (and Manila Bulletin) published a piece by Ty Burr on 'Why we love prequels': Biblical scholars consider the Book of Ruth an after-the-fact prequel of sorts to the life of King David, and, indeed, the Bible is the source for a wide-ranging body of recent novelistic explications, from Anita Diamant's "The Red Tent" to Eva Etzioni-Haleby's "The Song of Hannah" and its prequel, "The Garden of Ruth." This is faith as fan fiction, acting on a deep desire to know more and, if no one else steps up to the plate, to create more for oneself.

In Northwestern's North by Northwestern, in a review of a recent episode of Greek, Patrick St. Michel wrote The whole episode had a fan fiction vibe going through it.

Finally, in The Globe and Mail (Canada), Lynn Crosbie wrote, in a piece on Twilight's Robert Pattinson which I'm quoting at length out of semi-outrage, It isn't only teen girls who love the aloof, elegant vampire/actor: When director Catherine Hardwicke was casting Twilight, she stated that "everybody had such an idealized vision of Edward" and were "rabid" about who would be chosen. "Like old ladies," Hardwicke recalls, "saying 'You better get it right.'" When I read this I flashed on the middle-aged, exhausted-looking woman who works at a tawdry drugstore in my neighbourhood and the day I saw her reading a soft, pulpy copy of Twilight, with a tasselled "Edward" bookmark jammed in its pages; of the drab, shy women at Blockbuster buying "Edward" T-shirts and music boxes; of the reams of fan fiction online, obviously composed by mature women, that tell breathy, naughty stories about Edward and Bella's first time, or are composed as "Edward's Poetry": The Taliban in Afghanistan,/ More wars./ The launch of the internet,/ Very clever./ The Millennium/ Then Her/ How she lit my sky/ It all pales into insignificance/ Compared to Her. I have long assumed that teen female mania about Tiger Beat-ish boys is the result of complicated relationships with masturbation: If sex-ed classes brought out and patiently explained shower-heads, vibrators and Frisky Fingers, teen idols would not exist.

Note: Crossposted to http://as-others-see-us.dreamwidth.org/1510.html.

Media references to fanfic, the week ending 5/16/09

2009-05-17T00:55:11Z

On Comic Book Resources, Greg Hatcher posted an excellent overview of the numerous incarnations of Star Trek over the years, and included the ref Then Bantam tried publishing a few original novels (several were literally reprints of fan fiction from Star Trek ‘zines) and those did pretty well.

This is interesting (and if the writer interpreted things correctly, explains a lot): On MTV.com, in a piece on plans for future Star Trek movies, Larry Carroll wrote "I'm already going back and reading some of the books I've missed," [cowriter Roberto Orci] said of "Trek" tales and fan-fiction that have been written in past years, which could be reinterpreted for their new universe. "I'm trying to read every 'Star Trek' book I can get my hands on. We did that a lot for the first movie. ... I'm starting to re-immerse myself again in what's come before."

On the National Post's The Ampersand blog, Steve Murray gave the advice Imagine if Kirk's friends were sycophants who hung off his every word! His ego would consume the universe like some sort of Doomsday Machine! Having a Spock to your Kirk will keep you humble, but it may unfortunately result in some very strange, sexually charged fan fiction from your other friends. Be warned.

Andrew O'Hehir opined on "Why the original Star Trek still matters" for Salon.com: Of course "Star Trek" can never be the cultural lodestone it once was. Having spawned four official follow-up series, 11 feature films (and counting) and countless non-canonical works -- if you haven't heard about K/S porn or the immense and disputatious fanfic universe, I'm not helping you -- and inspired an entire genre of serial intergalactic futurism from "Space: 1999" to "Babylon 5" to "Battlestar Galactica," the novelty of Gene Roddenberry's creation has pretty well worn off.

In New Haven Advocate and other CT papers, in a review of Star Trek, Ann Lewinson wrote But then Star Trek is really the most expensive fan film ever made, deploying the devices of fan fiction — alternative universes and altered relationships — to make the characters its own, which is fitting since "slash fiction" originated in the late '70s with romances between Kirk and Spock.

On Wired's Geek Dad blog, Ken Denmead wrote, of his earlier involvement in ST fandom, We were all part of something called Borderlands: Federation and Empire, billed as a play-by-email role playing game, it was really more like collaborative fan-fiction set in the future of the Star Trek universe, and was a ton of fun.

In things non-Star Trek, Alysia Gray Painter wrote Fan-Created Trailers Add to Fan Fiction Universe for the website of NBC's LA affiliate.

On PC World, in a review of Wattpad for the iPhone, Ben Boychuk wrote Wattpad is a place not just for mainstream fiction and nonfiction, but also short stories, poetry, technical manuals and reams of fan fiction. (Obviously, you take the good, you take the bad.) Love you too, Ben!

Finally, on LewRockwell.com, J. L. Bryan had an interesting article on intellectual property, Intellectual Property 'Theft': Not Just for Disney Anymore, which ref'd fanfic.

Note: Crossposted to http://as-others-see-us.dreamwidth.org/1169.html.

Star Trek fandom on WNYC's "On The Media"

2009-05-17T00:54:59Z

Of possible interest to this comm: a long piece (~16 minutes) about Star Trek and its enduring fandom on WNYC's "On The Media" radio show. Describes fans' role in preserving the franchise, and eventually (~11:30) brings in fanfic (incl. slash).

No transcripts yet (site claims they'll be up Monday afternoon) but streaming audio is available, as is a download (.mp3).

Bonus: Kate Mulgrew speaks.