I believe that one of the biggest gains to an artistic work or franchise can be found in fan works. From a commercial standpoint, fan works serve as free marketing, and are in some ways a positive feedback loop of people being interested. More importantly though, in a lot of ways, fan interaction legitimizes the original, official works. Especially high quality fan-works are proof that something has inspired the fans to a point where they wanted to create too. Sure, there’s plotless porn and sandwiches flooding the internet, but isn’t that a small price to pay for the occasional diamond in the rough?
What do you think? Now that the semester has all but finished, are fan works good for creative endeavors? Or does the bad outweigh the good?
Here's the thing for me. I think that the source is cool and all, and i'mma let you finish, but Beyonce had the best Album-
ReplyDeleteWhat was I talking about?
Oh, yeah. Well for me I find this to be a great way of making Fandom sound...uh..."appealing" to people who are new to the concept but I think that its a lot messier than, "Woah, That show was boss. Let me draw a sick drawing, yo."
Lets look at Teen Wolf. Teen Wolf is a GARBAGE show. It is bad from start to finish, and not even in the way that Syfy original movies are, just straight up bad. So why the fuck do I still watch it? What can I possible gain from this pile of poop?
The key is, I'm not in it for the show. I'm really not. I'm in it for the fan works. The porn, emotional fics, fan videos, and the kick ass art are why I'm there. And I am not the only one. Many, many "fans" of Teen Wolf will admit to the show being shit but they still watch it because maybe they won't get a reference in the fic their reading if they don't.
Sometimes there is a ship so strong that it just draws people into the fandom and they kidnap the characters and put them in something well written, thought out, and intriguing. Sometimes that is pornographic or sometimes its a novel length masterpiece, and lots of times it is both at the same time.
I don't think that it comes from the source so much as it comes from the fans. I would never say that good fan works legitimize the bad source of Teen Wolf. Its more like earnest people trying to spoon feed a sick baby vulture. It's a hideous, stupid little thing but there is something about it that they like enough to keep it from dying. I have no idea if that metaphor made any sense, but I tried damn it.
I think that fan works are a great way for fans to express their love for a text and their own creativity. Whether I enjoy fan fiction or not, I think people should write it. I think it's great and, as you said, free marketing.
ReplyDeleteThere have been shows that I watch only because of the things I see about it on Tumblr.
Short answer, yes, fan fiction is a valuable creative outlet. It is defiantly worthwhile to exercise those skills and processes, though that does not mean that I want to read it all. A lot (if not all) creative endeavors start with reading, rereading and really getting into someone else’s work. We could say that all poems about classical Greek and Roman mythology is fan fiction. I would be perfectly happy to read a fan fic someone brings to my attention, but truth be told I probably won’t go delving myself. It’s either because I am too lazy or too busy reading and rereading the same things myself.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to disagree with you on this Shane. I find that the original text, beyond being the source material and the impetus for the fan work, often has little to do with the why of fans and their creations. Not speaking for every fan ever, but the reason for their creations are because of a stray idea while reading, a question about a half-formed canonical event, reimagination of characters to suit the fan's need, The idea, in most cases, is to make something of our own with the characters that inspire, enrage, move us.
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