Marian, Tavia, Marian:
My only aim was to bring up one aspect which I felt
had been neglected in the debate, namely the fact that in writing fanfiction, we are hijacking characters that other people created.<<
One teensy thought here. Hijacking implies physically taking some object and removing it, with the effect that the object is not available for others to enjoy.
<<grin> Challenging the wording of a statement when you can't challenge its content is a well worn tactic. :-)
So's using an emotive word for a non-emotive concept :-) --- which is what I was complaining about.
Taking your statement as quoted above at face value, it appears to challenge the whole existence of fanfic, which I personally find odd in someone I know to have written fanfic. Do you care to elaborate, so that we can examine the content rather than just the wording?
Tavia
----- Original Message ----- From: Dana Shilling dshilling@worldnet.att.net
From Marian:
My only aim was to bring up one aspect which I felt
had been neglected in the debate, namely the fact that in writing fanfiction, we are hijacking characters that other people created.<<
The frivolous answer is that they did a jolly poor job creating them in some cases, which is what gives us a lot to talk about.
Dana, if I thought you meant that, I'd come battering down your door :).
The serious answer is that the nature of broadcasting is that certain persons, who are considered reasonably imaginative, get paid to disseminate some of their fantasies to the public. I don't think that there's any implied contract that people who view the broadcasts view the action or characters in the same light as the writers, directors, actors, etc.--nor that the viewers refrain from having fantasies of their own.
I'd agree with you on that-- else the Estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would be a damn sight poorer :). However, I suspect what this boils down to is the relation of one text to another text. Fanfic is a fantasy, but one by its nature linked to, and based in, an earlier fantasy written by someone else-- the series. So when you are writing fanfic, you have to make a decision at some point as to what relation your text should be to the original, and why.
Fiona
The Posthumous Memoirs of Secretary Rontane Available for public perusal at http://nyder.r67.net
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Fiona said:
The frivolous answer is that they did a jolly poor job creating them in some cases, which is what gives us a lot to talk about.
Dana, if I thought you meant that, I'd come battering down your door :).
Oh, well, you can e-mail off-list for the address.
So when you are writing fanfic, you have to make a decision at some point as to what relation your text should be to the original, and
why. Sure. In my case, not very close, and because I think that a lot of the most interesting things don't appear in canon.
-(Y)
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Dana Shilling -
Fiona Moore -
Tavia