Chat: Fanwanking, Headcanons, Fanon, etc.

[de_nugis]

I've been thinking a lot lately about those in-between spaces that aren't exactly transformations of canon through fanworks but also aren't strictly interpretations of the canonical text. Individual fans and fan communities tend to be very conscious of what they bring to the show as well as what the show brings to them, and we have the terminology

Comments

[citrusjava]

Yay, chat

[balder12]

That's a really interesting take on fanon characterization! I've certainly noticed that a particular 'version' of a character will recur across multiple writers, but I never thought about it as a deliberate choice on the writers' part to depart from canon. I always figured it was more of an unconscious process--you like another fic writer's angle on the character, so you take it and exaggerate it, and then the next person does the same, until eventually like a game of telephone a particular section of fandom is devoted to what's essentially a collectively created OC, like glam Draco.

I'm not sure that fanon characterization is necessarily less complex. That's certainly true sometimes, but especially for a show like SPN where canon itself can be rather two-dimensional, I think the fanon characterizations can actually add depth. For instance, I don't find canon Sam terribly interesting after S4, but I find the fanon Sam of later seasons a fascinating character to read and write about.

[citrusjava]

I agree that there are many places in between, where it's probably less of a conscious thing. I believe at first it's mostly emphasizing a certain characteristic that does exist in the character over others, where just the balance is a little different than canon's, and perhaps canon itself does that sometimes too. But when it develops - I do have a hard time believing people assume, for instance, that book-Draco openly wears makeup around school. Not that that couldn't be awesome, but I'm pretty sure it would have been mentioned, if only cause the wizarding community is not very trans-friendly, nor is the muggle world so many people come from

[balder12]

I think I may have mistaken what you had in mind with fanon characterization because I'm only glancingly familiar with HP canon (I know who Draco is, but not any of the other people you listed), and not at all with the fandom. I took fanon Draco as people at least somewhat thoughtfully exploring the character's gender presentation in ways that canon ignores or elides, and that's what I meant about fanon sometimes being richer than canon

[monicawoe]

I have so much headcanon I can't even remember it all. Here are two of my favorites