Metafandom debate
Ran across this: http://synecdochic.dreamwidth.org/385476.html?format=light
I never thought of fandom being a collective 'hive' mind before, though I suppose there are limits to how many ways you can tell the same story. See the brain crack candy that is the entire Romance section of your local bookstore for proof there. Or any Star Trek episode of any series. Or the Star Wars movies (the good ones not Those Things).
One person mentioned the Sherlock Holmes fandom and how they worried that their spin on it was nothing new - 100 year old fandoms were hard to come up with new ideas for.
I'd also never thought of the Miles Vorksorgian series as being "The Hobbit: The Space Opera" before either. Looking back, however..it's so true. Was LMB ripping off Tolkein when she wrote her series? Nah. Yes, there's similarities, but I can name five other books or series that have similar themes to them. (Small person goes on big adventure and learns important life lessons being a rather over used them at that.)
So is there any new ideas or do we just mishmash and retell the same ones but with different language, characters and settings over and over? I'm starting to lean towards the Mishmash. Some of the most beloved stories are simply retelling of older ones. If so, then can anyone ever say it's an original idea for a fandom and thus theirs alone?
I never thought of fandom being a collective 'hive' mind before, though I suppose there are limits to how many ways you can tell the same story. See the brain crack candy that is the entire Romance section of your local bookstore for proof there. Or any Star Trek episode of any series. Or the Star Wars movies (the good ones not Those Things).
One person mentioned the Sherlock Holmes fandom and how they worried that their spin on it was nothing new - 100 year old fandoms were hard to come up with new ideas for.
I'd also never thought of the Miles Vorksorgian series as being "The Hobbit: The Space Opera" before either. Looking back, however..it's so true. Was LMB ripping off Tolkein when she wrote her series? Nah. Yes, there's similarities, but I can name five other books or series that have similar themes to them. (Small person goes on big adventure and learns important life lessons being a rather over used them at that.)
So is there any new ideas or do we just mishmash and retell the same ones but with different language, characters and settings over and over? I'm starting to lean towards the Mishmash. Some of the most beloved stories are simply retelling of older ones. If so, then can anyone ever say it's an original idea for a fandom and thus theirs alone?