Of headcanon

[vampirenaomi]

I think it's generally agreed that fighting about headcanon is pointless. Live and let live and all that. However, you can't just make shit up and say that nobody can argue about it because headcanon is sacred. In order for an idea to qualify as headcanon, it needs to work with actual canon. That's the whole point. It's something that's not

Comments

[hoshiko_2000]

'In order for an idea to qualify as headcanon, it needs to work with actual canon.'

No, not necessarily. Some of my headcanon for various fandoms involves basically re-writing some elements of plot/canon. Headcanon is headcanon. It can be as cracky/non-sensical as you want. I saw one person's headcanon which was that Denmark was a mermaid and would swim around the world. Because it's just canon that exists in a person's head. I'd just never go and insist/argue that my headcanon was true, but it, well.......isn't. When people go and insist that their headcanon is canon, then that's a different manner, and that does piss me off as well. But I think that's more to do with 'opinion whoring' than the issue of plausibility; i.e. 'My opinion, is right, yours is wrong - don't question it ):< !!'. My problem with headcanon is when people insist that their headcanon is unquestionable gospel truth, and if you question it/disagree/think otherwise you are an idiot, that it is better/truer/more intelligent than other people's, if there is an offensive element to their headcanon, or if their headcanon has to be at the expense of other people's (i.e 'Prussia soooo likes Italy, not Canada :P!!').

[vampirenaomi]

Then we have completely different definitions of headcanon. In all fandoms I've ever been in, headcanon has meant something that has to work with canon. If it doesn't, I see it just as a cool/funny/cracky/etc. idea that you like. There's nothing wrong with those, but when I see someone say "X is my headcanon", to me it automatically translates as "X is plausible within the framework created by actual canon and is what I consider my personal canon about this issue".

[hoshiko_2000]

Well, I've always personally defined headcanon as ideas that you hold in your head which you like, and link at least vaguely to the plot. Or rather, as I see it, there are two types. The kind that is based on canon, and based on plausible (or semi-plausible) elements of the plot. And then the kind that may or may not have any place in real canon, or could even involve re-writing elements of established canon, but are just simply ideas that that the fan likes. If you are going to state that you believe that your headcanon is true however, then it of course needs to be able to be plausibly backed up by established plot or canon. But I'd be interested to see how other people define it :).

[vampirenaomi]

I guess terms develop differently in different fandoms. In one of my fandoms, I got into wank about the term OTP. To me, that means someone's personal favourite pairing, but to the other person it meant someone's personal canon pairing, so they threw a massive fit when people kept referring to non-canonical pairings as their OTPs.

About headcanon, to me it has always been something that you consider canon while accepting that it's not real canon, so others can disagree and have different opinions about it. Like saying that you think America's favourite ice cream flavour is vanilla but admitting that it's okay if someone else thinks it's chocolate.

Rewriting elements of established canon (such as bringing dead character back to life with crazy plot points) is one of my favourite things to do in fanfiction, but this is the first time I see anyone refer to it as headcanon. I've never had a term for that, just "wow, this would be cool!". Interesting. :D

[hoshiko_2000]

I always thought 'OTP' meant Only True Pairing as well 0.0. I guess that argument was probably an symptom of 'Canon-pairing' snobbery - i.e. that individual didn't consider any pairing that 'wasn't' canon as fullfilling the 'criteria' for 'OTP' status.

Yeah, some members of the fandom take serious matters like this so seriously it's almost humorous T_T.

[vampirenaomi]

That person had OCD that manifested itself with an obsession with his favourite pairing, which happened to be canon. While I could sympathise with his problems, his behaviour was just ridiculous. For example, he insisted that everyone who shipped either of those characters with someone else should have their human rights taken away from them and be executed. Just because they shipped a different pairing.

[hoshiko_2000]

Did the guy say he had OCD? Because even if he really does suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder, while it could account for an obsessive need for everyone to share the same pairing as his, or has trouble blurring the line between fiction and reality (i.e slight against a fictional character = slight against a real person), it would have nothing to do with saying that people who didn't should have their human rights taken away and be executed. That's just being a dick, and is disgusting, even if simply said in jest. I'm pretty sure that violates the 'abuse' rules in whatever site that was.

[vampirenaomi]

Yeah, he said he had been diagnosed. Despite his horrible behaviour, I felt more sorry for him than anything. Before his pairing became canon, he said he often cried himself to sleep because he was so scared that the pairing may never become canon and stuff like that. It must be miserable when fandom controls your life like that. Plus, he was perfectly decent and reasonable when the topic was anything else but that pairing. It was ridiculous how he would go into rage if someone even mentioned other pairings but how he could participate in mature discussions about topics like abortion and politics without any problems.

[hoshiko_2000]

That's actually very sad. I've suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder since childhood, which has been pretty severe through most of my teens, but it's never manisfested itself in such an extreme form as that. As much as his behaviour is horrible, I also do feel sorry for him. It really must be awful to have something like that taking over and controling your life :(. Psychologically, a lot obviously rests on that pairing being canon for him. His vile behaviour (not that I condone it even so) is probably down to the need for that pairing to be true (i.e. the concept of contradiction is terrifying for him). Having suffered from OCD myself I can imagine the kind of fear he must associate with the concept of the pairing being untrue, and how this must take over his life, so yes, I do feel sorry for him. I hope he's getting help.

[vampirenaomi]

Yeah, you just described him perfectly. He left the fandom, and according to him it was because he wanted to get over the pairing, so I have no idea how he's doing nowadays. I can only hope he's okay.

[hoshiko_2000]

Yeah, I was thinking that removing himself from the fandom may be a good course of action. The problem though is the fact that, speaking from experience, if you overcome one particular OCD, then it will usually be replaced by another one. I wouldn't be surprised if he's got over this pairing only for the same thing to happen with another pairing in another fandom. And even so, it's something that can take literally years to get over. But yeah, I hope he's doing better :(.