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[markeyisapunk]

legality of fanfiction, the place of fanfiction in the world, age-old debate about whether fan-fiction writers are worthless hacks and should shoot themselves immediately...I was looking for a quote I stumbled across many years ago... I believe the person quoted was in academia. the gist of it was that fan fiction was a way for people to take back

Comments

[masqthephlsphr]

God. Word! I get so tired of every relationship getting sexualized. Some relationships are actually much more complex if you take the time to ask yourself what draws the two characters together *other than* sexual attraction.

[markeyisapunk]

you are right, and yet, it is also true that EVERY form of tension can and will be discussed in a sexual context. for example, when a research topic is trendy/in style/likely to get funded/ that area of research is often described as "sexy." because sex is central to the human condition, it becomes the metaphor to describe anything intense or desirable. like food, which is also central, and thus "hunger" is a powerful motiation for anything... so yeah, it's not always about copulation, but (like it or not) everything does come back to sex (metaphorically if not literally) eventually.

[theantijoss]

It'd fascinating stuff, isn't it? Unfortunately, I've only met a handful of "real" authors who don't think fanfiction writers are a bunch of copyright sucking losers. Which is total BS, imo. Personally, I think you can tell a lot about the security of a creator by how they feel about fanfic.

I, for one, would pay good money to have people write shitty fanfic about my original fiction. *G*

As for the chemistry thing? That's an unfortunate product of our culture's Puritan love-hate relationship with sex. But I won't start yammering about that in your LJ. *G* Thanks for the links!

OH! I almost forgot, is this the quote you were looking for? I found it here (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/11/01/1036027033529.html): "Fan fiction is a way of the culture repairing the damage done in a system where contemporary myths are owned by corporations instead of owned by the folk."

[markeyisapunk]

that is SO the quote I was looking for, thank you! it's inspiring isn't it? the idea that we are not soul-less thieving developmentally retarded losers, but rather people engaged in a grassroots effort to reclaim authorship over cultural icons.

also, you can rant about puritan love-hate relationships with sex in my LJ anytime.

[theantijoss]

It is inspiring. I feel the similarly about romance novels, which are at the bottom of the fiction heap. They are little slices of women's lives at the time, reflecting values and stories that that a lot of average women share, but are disdained by the larger, still highly masculine, literary culture. Folk art, in other words.

I know my experience of fanfiction is definitely one of active participation -- I started writing fic to "fix" what I thought Joss was doing wrong! ;)

[markeyisapunk]

I never thought of romance novel sthat way--but it makes perfect sense. romance novels also seem like they might be trying to "fix" the problems inherent in male/female romantic relationships occuring in the context of a patriarchal culture. or something :)