Creative Concerns about RPF
One of my favorite fanfiction communities just announced a new RPF site. I said, "Huh?" Then I did a search. Google gave me a lot of "Renal Plasma Flow," which seemed unlikely. But Wikipedia came through: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_person_fiction.
Apparently RPF = Real Person Fiction, fanfiction about the actors as opposed to the characters.
On the one hand? I am, as ever, amazed by the variety and creativity of the fanfiction world. Creativity = Good! Who's got the right to complain about people who enjoy writing or reading a story about Brad Pitt at a shopping mall or Elijah Wood having a bad day (other than, perhaps, Brad Pitt or Elijah Wood--according to Wikipedia, Wood has praised the creativity of fans involved in these endeavors).
Erotica doesn't bug me (nor even the occasional well-written porn). I might not enjoy Mal/Jayne slash, based on Firefly, but it's not even a blip on my emotional/moral/whatever radar. Others don't like my fave pairing of Jayne and (adult) River, and I don't begrudge them that. To each their own, right?
But we're not talking Mal/Jayne. We're talking Nathan Fillion/Adam Baldwin. Not necessarily having a bad day (wink wink, nudge nudge).
When RPF turns into erotic fiction or even slash, I discover a surprisingly prim old lady residing in me. Said sourpuss wants to lecture about how wrong, WRONG it is to show a real person in a situation about which said real person had no say. This may just be my own personal button. I hate being put into any situation without having agreed to it. I hate surprise parties. I still resent getting braces because "it would be good for me." To me, consent is everything.
Almost everything. (Occasionally, someone actually knows better than me).
Then again, the actor isn't being put into those situations. A fictionalized avatar of the actor is... and here it gets metaphysically complicated.
So what sacred cows of mine may be mooing in distress about this?
1) Characters are not Actors, and Actors are not Characters
I firmly, FIRMLY believe this, which is why I don't care much about getting celebrity autographs. I even avoid most celebrity interviews. I have no problem with gay actors playing straight characters, and vice versa. I smirk in bemusement when fangirls wail about their favorite actor getting engaged or married (as if you had a chance?)
Characters exists in a Fictional World. Fictional World is a rich and wonderful place where I have not only a summer home but a private island, a ski chalet, a small castle, and an understated but elegant temple for relaxation and personal worship. It goes by many names--Neverland, Wonderland, Faerieland, Dreamworld, etc. It permeates our own world, so to say it's "not here" isn't quite correct, but it doesn't physically exist in our dimension, and nor do the characters. I love Doug Ross, not George Clooney. I want to see Sheldon & Penny together, not Jim Parsons and Kaley Cuoco. Jon Erik Hexum may have tragically died in the 1980s, but my relationship to Phineas Bogg is still going strong.
I've come to realize, over the years, that the actor owns a character almost as much as the writer who created said character. When a TV or movie character springs to life, they do so using the life force--the essence--of the actor. So their pairing is symbiotic, to say the least.
But they are different beings.
We fans know the characters very well, spend time with them weekly, get to know their foibles and relatives and favorite foods. We don't know the actor, only what essence that actor puts into his or her characters.
Is my hesitation because RPF could be seen as confusing the two?
2) Names (and Thought Forms) Have Power
Maybe it's just my years of research into magickal theory--which I think is strongly metaphorical of scientific truthes we just can't explain as simply (or at all). "Psychic Vampires" may sound wild, but we've all been around drama queen crazymakers who thrive off of attention and leave their companions exhausted, so neither are they unrealistic. And the idea of a "Thought Form" as a magical being who must do the magic-user's bidding sounds right out of Faust, but you've got to admit, there's something to be said about the power of joint belief.
I mean--if one person makes up a character named Jimmy and decides the guy is a risk-taker, it's not a blip on the universal radar. On the other hand, if millions of people watch movies and TV and cartoons and read books about a guy named Captain James T. Kirk, then that character takes on a reality beyond his initial writers or actors. Joint belief empowers Santa Claus and Harry Potter, rendering them not just "characters" but "thought forms" with the power to excite, dismay, engage, and soothe countless real life, real-world individuals.
Or look at the magical belief that names have power. Some cultures don't give a child a name until s/he reaches puberty, because of this. Some don't name a child after a relative who still lives, as if sharing a name will weaken the life force. In the Harry Potter universe, there's a reason only the bravest people say Voldemort's name out loud. The idea that you could hurt someone by burning their name may be far fetched, but I wonder if there's any effect--any at all--to creating a fictional representation of them, with their likeness and their name, and bending said representation to your will?
Besides, the people writing RPF rarely if ever wish their subjects any ill will.
So is my problem with RPF merely my superstitions?
My Inconclusive Conclusion:
Again--I'm not saying there's anything wrong with writing or enjoying RPF. I won't protest unless and until someone starts writing RPF about me, which exists in an unlikely universe indeed. May everyone involved get hours of creativity and enjoyment from it.
I'm just trying to figure out....
Why is THIS where I draw the line?