I thought our discussion last night was so interesting and funny. I feel that everyone, depending on their level of technological love, can put a different spin on convergence culture.
I became more and more interested in fanfiction after our discussion. Before and during class, I just felt “it’s like kids making up stories in their diaries, it’s just entertainment and shouldn’t be taken seriously.” But after class, I got thinking about what Allison and Ryan were saying about authorship and people who cannot distinguish between what is in the “canon” and what was written by some fan. That is a bit scary. I think on one hand, an author has to be excited that their work has generated such interest and a tremendous following. However, I would not like people taking the characters I molded and formed to play a specific role for a specific reason and changing that up on a whim. Then the author runs the risk of having their work misinterpreted or become a shadow in the light of fanfiction.
In this day and age, I’m sure parents and teachers push for kids to take part in things like fanfiction because it’s pretty much the same as having a penpal. Kids are writing and using their brains all the while communicating with many different people around the world. I guess that is better than sitting on the couch eating cheeto’s. All the same, it still stresses me out that kids who take part in fanfiction use a different language online than in print. As we discussed in class, there is a certain protocol when penning words to paper. Online, it is much more lax, and people understand that. My main concern is as kids become more and more fluent and comfortable with online vernacular, will that translate onto the hard paper? Can kids make the distinction between presenting clear, articulate thoughts on paper and having an informal conversation online?
This is why I think books are still vitally important. Books are the guideline and a model to follow for all kids, whether they want to be English majors or not. Everyone on the planet has to be able to communicate their thoughts and ideas and a certain level of understanding between people or they will not be successful. A person can’t be in a job interview and when the employer says something funny, the candidate can’t laugh and say “LOLOLOLOLOL!!!!”
The thing that I like about the fanfiction is the beta part, but still, I have to wonder who these people are who are critiquing one another’s work. I suppose subjecting kids early to constructive criticism and the revising process is a good thing, but I would prefer it was done by a teacher or parent, not another 6 year old who just received a gold star that day for reading. I still insist on boundaries and I don’t think the book will go out of style because we need it and rely on it whether my boy at MIT likes to think of us as “addicts” or not.
February 3, 2008 at 12:55 am
Hey Julie,
I have to admit that I felt the same way you did about fan fiction. I had never given it a second thought and had never read any of it. I used to think, “what’s the point?” When I read some of the examples of Harry Potter fan fiction in Jenkins, I was annoyed. When the one girl said she was Harry’s sister, I was like, “That’s complete bullshit, Harry doesn’t have a sister.” But after our discussion, I agree with the majority of the class that, if for no other reason, fan fiction is beneficial because it at least gets kids thinking, imagining, and writing. Fan fiction offers them a comfortable outlet for doing this.
As some people pointed out in class, though, I wonder where we draw the line between fan fiction and infringement, especially when it is adults writing it? I think if I was the authore, I would have a mixed reaction. I would be flattered because people were invested in my work enough to write their own stories about. However, I would worry that the people reading the fan fiction may start to believe that the stories they read on line are actaully part of the original work, or if the fan fiction alters how they originally felt about the book in some way. As Ryan said in class, his friend sometimes forgets what actually happned and what was simply fan fiction.