Canon vs Fanon
It's something that crosses my mind very often lately.
Why is it that fanfictions are popular?
I mean, we've had several websites for submitting our own version of the story: Livejournal, Fanfiction.net, Archive of our Own, etc. There are thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions users out there.
Thinking about it, it's quite clear to me that it's because we have this 'view' of the character that we adore. For example, I like Yama-chan for the cheerful and rather bratty attitude that he has. An adorable combination, in my opinion. But there are also sides of him that is very serious, although he could be very childish at times.
The same with our favourite characters in animes or mangas.
And we like for that certain characteristic to be... pointed out, I guess. To be expressed more. That and for our favourite character to be the main character in the story.Thus, fanfiction.
The problem that I face is that, sometime when I read a story where this character is expressing a certain quality, I got rather disappointed when I read the original again. Chronicles of Narnia's Edmund is a very good example of that.
I infer how his character is like from the books, then I read some fanfiction about him expressing a certain quality more and confirm that someone also noticed him about it. But then after, when I read the original, it becomes more subdued, not as clearly seen.
Then this user in FF.net was talking about canon and fanon. How people often mistake the two and got them all confused. And how people often criticized another for not 'sticking into canon characteristics.'
But wasn't that the whole point why it was fanfiction? Because we're not entirely satisfied with the original, hence we wrote our own version?
But does it even matter? I mean, what I wish to read, but not happening in the original story, I search in fanfiction. When i found a good story, I rarely think 'Oh, this character is ooc.' And the author really did make the story better, at the very least for the fan of the main character.
I did find some really, really great writers in FF.net, whose stories just simply blew my mind! The story-lines, the diction and the way they wove the words together, it's just- Wow!
And you know what's interesting? The same story line, but with different way of expressing it, can make a totally different impression on the readers.
Why is it that fanfictions are popular?
I mean, we've had several websites for submitting our own version of the story: Livejournal, Fanfiction.net, Archive of our Own, etc. There are thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions users out there.
Thinking about it, it's quite clear to me that it's because we have this 'view' of the character that we adore. For example, I like Yama-chan for the cheerful and rather bratty attitude that he has. An adorable combination, in my opinion. But there are also sides of him that is very serious, although he could be very childish at times.
The same with our favourite characters in animes or mangas.
And we like for that certain characteristic to be... pointed out, I guess. To be expressed more. That and for our favourite character to be the main character in the story.Thus, fanfiction.
The problem that I face is that, sometime when I read a story where this character is expressing a certain quality, I got rather disappointed when I read the original again. Chronicles of Narnia's Edmund is a very good example of that.
I infer how his character is like from the books, then I read some fanfiction about him expressing a certain quality more and confirm that someone also noticed him about it. But then after, when I read the original, it becomes more subdued, not as clearly seen.
Then this user in FF.net was talking about canon and fanon. How people often mistake the two and got them all confused. And how people often criticized another for not 'sticking into canon characteristics.'
But wasn't that the whole point why it was fanfiction? Because we're not entirely satisfied with the original, hence we wrote our own version?
But does it even matter? I mean, what I wish to read, but not happening in the original story, I search in fanfiction. When i found a good story, I rarely think 'Oh, this character is ooc.' And the author really did make the story better, at the very least for the fan of the main character.
I did find some really, really great writers in FF.net, whose stories just simply blew my mind! The story-lines, the diction and the way they wove the words together, it's just- Wow!
And you know what's interesting? The same story line, but with different way of expressing it, can make a totally different impression on the readers.