meta | The Evolution of Fanon

[expositionary]

Explanations and Clarifications

This wasn't intended as an argument so much as a conglomeration of many of my thoughts on fanon and fanfiction, in terms of evolution. I've tried to organize my ideas as clearly as possible in writing, but apologize beforehand in being verbose (the meaning of "less is more" is lost on me). It's helpful, but not at

Comments

[bearpaw9]

**Interestingly, ideas regarding certain characters tend to be similar within tightly-knit communities, and slightly different from the ideas about the same character in the next community over.**

That does sound kind of biological; I'm picturing each fandom as an island evolving it's own flora, fauna (finches!) and it's own fanon. But I think there's a lot of truth in what you say.

[expositionary]

Exactly -- that was what started it, actually. I was studying diagrams of the Galapagos finches in my bio textbook, and suddenly the idea "fandom communities" occurred to me. (Yeah, it was really late at night...) ;)

[musesfool]

Fanon = an elision of the term "fan canon." I believe iamsab is credited with coining it back in...1996? 1998? something like that. I know I've seen it cited.

Here via the daily_snitch, btw.

[expositionary]

Thank you. :) I know it's silly that learning the etymology of a word that isn't even in the dictionary should make me so happy -- but somehow it does.

[etrangere]

I'd agree that fanon is a fascinating study.

The universe of fanon, however, is as inherently organic and mutable as language (well, all languages except for Latin, anyway).
You don't know latin much, do you ? XD

For example, it isn't canon that Remus Lupin tends towards the studious and bibliophilic side of the spectrum
God, I hate that bit of fanon >_<

Remus is a natural choice in the minds of many, considering the studiousness he exhibits in the brief MWPP-era flashback (OotP; chapter: Snape's Worst Memory), his prefecture in fifth year, and the fact that he later becomes a professor.
Or not, given that Remus is the most practical and exemple based teacher that Harry has ever had. Sorry, pet peeve.

I can't actually remember if, according to canon, Regulus Black was indeed a Death Eater
Yeah, he was. And got killed for wanting out, according to Sirius (confirmed by... I don't remember if it's Moody or Remus, but it's refered again in HBP.

a sense of competition and hostility between Regulus and his brother XD got hang out at

[expositionary]

An, well, seeing as I ship R/S myself, I'd consider its pervasiveness more of a blessing than an annoyance. ;)

And, ah, no. I don't know any Latin, really -- but I thought being termed a "dead language" essentially meant that it had more or less stopped evolving?

[etrangere]

What I mean is I wouldn't dislike R/S if it wasn't written as "canonical" by lots of people (you often don't find even warning for the pairings in fics that are gen otherwise)

I actually like that pairing when it's well written. I just sometimes want to bash the writers with a James-shaped stick ^_^ And well, previously mentioned dislike of fanon bookish, shy Remus. (but that's just as bad with my favourite Remus pairing, so heh)

I'm not very knowledgeable about Latin, but it's a language that's had a long life full of mutations... Middle Age latin isn't Roman Empire latin isn't Republique era latin etc. In many ways the language is also very active in the making of new words in lots of scientific fields (even if it's then sometimes bastardized with Greek.

[expositionary]

Oh -- see, what I meant is that Latin is dead now. Sorry for the confusion.

Well, I wish that R/S was canon, but it's obviously no more canon than H/D -- or are people writing that as canonical these days, to? ;) (I most definitely hope not.)

[unlikely2]

I think part of the process of evolution is the growth of the strong hypothesis, for example 'Tonks is clumsy because she's a metamorphmagus'.
This makes sense because children and teenagers are often clumsy, specially when growing quickly. Once this idea has been suggested it can make sense to those who read and write to incorporate it and the idea (trope?) spreads. It can evolve further, for example, the longer Tonks remains in a particular form the less clumsy she is.
Such ideas then interact into a sort of web on which fics may be constructed.
Different webs evolve from different views and premises.
Bit like real life.

her via daily_snitch

[jandjsalmon]

Intersting ideas. I do have to disagree about one thing though...

Canon is definite-what an author writes as fact in his/her universe is what is; there is no discussion, there are no uncertainties, and there is no autonomous development of characters and concepts.While I DO agree that with canon we at least have concrete facts, even canon is biased. For example. JKR hates Draco. Harry Hates Draco. Until HBP Draco was a stereotypical, cardboard cutout of a character. That was what he was in canon. all those fanon writers out there that fleshed him out into whatever they wantedhim to be were not only NOT going against canon (though I've had to fight about this with my hubby for ages) but just developing a character than canon nearly ignores. JKR writes primarily about the good guys and even most of them are noe dimensional. Once new canon is developed (AKA -- Sunlit days proves H/G is canon -- or at least was canon in Harry's 6th year) it will changethe way fanon is, but not necessarily for the better

[expositionary]

You raise a good point -- I suppose there is no definite listing of canon, because all facts in the universe have to be interpreted by the author, and the author does have biases. I do understand what you mean about the Draco hate; that's something that bothers me, too, especially in HBP. What I'm trying to say, then, is that there is no development of canon... JKR has biases in her canon, and she will continue to write based on her interpretations of her world, and her biases. Fanon allows us to subvert those interpretations which we don't particularly like (and I love fanfiction for that).

[jandjsalmon]

I love fanfiction for that too! ;)