Featured for the absolute truth.
banzaisebastian has taken the words right out of my mind.
Written by banzaisebastian, and reposted with permission:
Let's put it very simply. Wanting to preserve canon is not stifling the imagination. Period. It's recognizing what's already fact (or at least implied by fact, yay subtext) by respecting it.
Let's back up, though, by first asking, "What is canon?" That part's easy. Canon is simply the truth according to the world of a fandom. For example, Ash Ketchum is a canon character because he's actually mentioned by official media as being a character. The fact that, in the game's universe, Team Rocket disbanded is also canon because it actually happened. The love between Ash and Misty is not canon but is instead fanon because fans have guessed that it existed based on what information they drew from canon. Your original character, meanwhile, is nowhere near either fanon or canon.
Okay, so why do we respect canon? Um, because it's not our choice to. We, as fanfiction authors and fanartists, are naturally bound by the concept of canon. If we don't follow these binds, then our work can no longer be considered either good or a work of fandom. The purpose of producing fanart or fanfiction, the very concept that is often forgotten by the overzealous fanmasses, is that we work out of love and respect. After all, there's a reason why it's called fanfiction and fanart. Therefore, we must acknowledge that the universe we choose to work with was not of our creation, and we can't change elements within it just because it doesn't suit our desires. Fanfiction doesn't work like that. Nor does fanart. In fact, bending that rule not only is a recipe for creating a bad AU or a Mary Sue, but it's also a little disrespectful towards the original creator. It's a sign of arrogance in that you believe that what is canon just isn't worthy of your consideration, so you tromp on it and attempt to claim freedom of imagination for basic concepts that weren't yours to change.
So you say we're canon nazis because we believe you're attempting to disregard canon, make canon characters act completely opposite of how they canonically act (prime example: Hot Topic Hermione Granger or hormonal Steven Stone), and generally turn what started out as a fanfiction into an original fiction that just happens to have [insert extremely basic element of fandom, e.g. Hogwarts, names of characters, Pokemon] in it. Personally, to that, I say go write original fiction. It's quite obvious that your love for the fandom apparently doesn't extend to respecting what is, so I really don't understand why you continue to claim you love the characters and the concept when what you portray really isn't either at all.
As another point, respecting canon does not have to be a restriction of the imagination. It's simply a different application of it. Whereas original fiction allows you to be bound only by the laws of science and literature (and even then, those laws can be challenged), fanfiction and fanart force the creator to exercise a limberness of creativity. The creator can't change what is already there, so instead, they're challenged to work around those facts to create an entertaining story or a beautiful piece of art while still acknowledging the presence of canon. In that sense, fanfiction and fanart are actually more challenging fields than original branches because any wrong step would be a violation to the boundaries by which the author or artist is forced to walk within and because the writer or artist is challenged to create something new and fresh from something the people viewing their work is already familiar with.
So, canon really isn't a bad thing. It's merely a bad thing to the eyes of people who lack the creativity to know how to work with it or the respect to know that they should work with it.
All of this, by the way, is probably a more polite version of this. I just felt like I needed to rant as well after all of the drama because there's nothing I hate more than angsty little pissants who can't handle concrit and so blame it on a nazi.
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TIP's response:
That is my take on fandom down to every last point. It also explains my shipping preferences, and why I get aggressive/upset at many shippings--it's not the idea of romance between the characters that upsets me; it's the canon butchery required to achieve that romance. Little-known fact: I'm open to any and all shippings (or other forms of fanon interpretation of canon) that don't butcher characters beyond all recognition.
And as a corollary to that, yes, I recognize that even ships that work perfectly within canon can be interpreted in ways that butcher canon. I have experienced this with certain interpretations of Originshipping, and I can safely say that canon butchery parading under the name of a canon-compliant ship is just as repulsive to me as a ship that butchers canon by default (read: Originshipping may be t3h OTP, but not when it's t3h OOC lulz rhyme). Why? Because canon is THAT IMPORTANT to me. It's what got me liking the chars in the first place. If I wanted to have characters that did only and exactly what my fantasies wanted, I'd have long abandoned fandom for my own original characters.
*On a side note, I'm open to crack and all its butchery of canon in the name of a good laugh, but it kills me when people take what is obviously crack and attempt to treat it as something serious and meaningful. This latter includes wanking when people make fun of your crack. What, you mean it wasn't purely for the lulz?
Written by banzaisebastian, and reposted with permission:
Let's put it very simply. Wanting to preserve canon is not stifling the imagination. Period. It's recognizing what's already fact (or at least implied by fact, yay subtext) by respecting it.
Let's back up, though, by first asking, "What is canon?" That part's easy. Canon is simply the truth according to the world of a fandom. For example, Ash Ketchum is a canon character because he's actually mentioned by official media as being a character. The fact that, in the game's universe, Team Rocket disbanded is also canon because it actually happened. The love between Ash and Misty is not canon but is instead fanon because fans have guessed that it existed based on what information they drew from canon. Your original character, meanwhile, is nowhere near either fanon or canon.
Okay, so why do we respect canon? Um, because it's not our choice to. We, as fanfiction authors and fanartists, are naturally bound by the concept of canon. If we don't follow these binds, then our work can no longer be considered either good or a work of fandom. The purpose of producing fanart or fanfiction, the very concept that is often forgotten by the overzealous fanmasses, is that we work out of love and respect. After all, there's a reason why it's called fanfiction and fanart. Therefore, we must acknowledge that the universe we choose to work with was not of our creation, and we can't change elements within it just because it doesn't suit our desires. Fanfiction doesn't work like that. Nor does fanart. In fact, bending that rule not only is a recipe for creating a bad AU or a Mary Sue, but it's also a little disrespectful towards the original creator. It's a sign of arrogance in that you believe that what is canon just isn't worthy of your consideration, so you tromp on it and attempt to claim freedom of imagination for basic concepts that weren't yours to change.
So you say we're canon nazis because we believe you're attempting to disregard canon, make canon characters act completely opposite of how they canonically act (prime example: Hot Topic Hermione Granger or hormonal Steven Stone), and generally turn what started out as a fanfiction into an original fiction that just happens to have [insert extremely basic element of fandom, e.g. Hogwarts, names of characters, Pokemon] in it. Personally, to that, I say go write original fiction. It's quite obvious that your love for the fandom apparently doesn't extend to respecting what is, so I really don't understand why you continue to claim you love the characters and the concept when what you portray really isn't either at all.
As another point, respecting canon does not have to be a restriction of the imagination. It's simply a different application of it. Whereas original fiction allows you to be bound only by the laws of science and literature (and even then, those laws can be challenged), fanfiction and fanart force the creator to exercise a limberness of creativity. The creator can't change what is already there, so instead, they're challenged to work around those facts to create an entertaining story or a beautiful piece of art while still acknowledging the presence of canon. In that sense, fanfiction and fanart are actually more challenging fields than original branches because any wrong step would be a violation to the boundaries by which the author or artist is forced to walk within and because the writer or artist is challenged to create something new and fresh from something the people viewing their work is already familiar with.
So, canon really isn't a bad thing. It's merely a bad thing to the eyes of people who lack the creativity to know how to work with it or the respect to know that they should work with it.
All of this, by the way, is probably a more polite version of this. I just felt like I needed to rant as well after all of the drama because there's nothing I hate more than angsty little pissants who can't handle concrit and so blame it on a nazi.
---
TIP's response:
That is my take on fandom down to every last point. It also explains my shipping preferences, and why I get aggressive/upset at many shippings--it's not the idea of romance between the characters that upsets me; it's the canon butchery required to achieve that romance. Little-known fact: I'm open to any and all shippings (or other forms of fanon interpretation of canon) that don't butcher characters beyond all recognition.
And as a corollary to that, yes, I recognize that even ships that work perfectly within canon can be interpreted in ways that butcher canon. I have experienced this with certain interpretations of Originshipping, and I can safely say that canon butchery parading under the name of a canon-compliant ship is just as repulsive to me as a ship that butchers canon by default (read: Originshipping may be t3h OTP, but not when it's t3h OOC lulz rhyme). Why? Because canon is THAT IMPORTANT to me. It's what got me liking the chars in the first place. If I wanted to have characters that did only and exactly what my fantasies wanted, I'd have long abandoned fandom for my own original characters.
*On a side note, I'm open to crack and all its butchery of canon in the name of a good laugh, but it kills me when people take what is obviously crack and attempt to treat it as something serious and meaningful. This latter includes wanking when people make fun of your crack. What, you mean it wasn't purely for the lulz?