Harry Potter, Fanfiction, and Fandoms

My first experience with fanfiction, as I said in class, was Harry Potter. At the time, I really had no idea what I was getting into or even what it was called. I can’t even tell you where I found it. I have no idea. I wasn’t really on any fan sites all that much. But I do remember reading it and feeling really conflicted. Fanfiction is a really great outlet for creative expression and for interaction with a text. I think it’s a healthy way for people to get involved in a fandom — not that there are a lot of unhealthy ways…but I’m sure there are…I don’t know. 

I was conflicted because I was afraid that it would ruin the books for me, even more than a movie adaptation of a book ever could. Because it’s something that could happen, but it doesn’t. It’s not canon. I didn’t like that. I was under the impression that canon was important and anything else is just wrong and not worth my time. But, I liked it, too. It was a really weird place for me to be. I’m almost positive it was a Draco/Hermione fanfic. At the very least, it was Hermione. And I read it. And I read some more. And then, I eventually forgot about fanfiction. 

I still don’t really read it. I’ll read those short little blurbs on Tumblr. You know, the “what if Sherlock…” or “CAN YOU IMAGINE IF LESTRADE…” (I do love my Sherlock) I still feel slightly guilty about reading things that aren’t canon. It’s just weird. It’s not “right.” But, then I’ll read something that is really interesting and well-written, and I wonder if I’m just overreacting. Maybe I’m too conventional about my fandoms. 

I also remember, way back when, that there was a fan video that I really liked. It was a Hermione/Ron/Harry love triangle video. I loved it. And that is, in a way, fanfiction. This is the video: 

I am only slightly ashamed that I loved this as much as I did. It also made me want to watch all the movies they used to clips: Ballet Shoes (which I love!) and Driving Lessons (which I also love!) 

I also remember seeing a lot of artwork for Harry Potter ships. I mean a lot. I can picture a Hermione/Draco one in my head. I wish I had kept these in links somewhere. 

Harry Potter was, probably, the first real fandom that I was a part of. I spent so much time on mugglenet.com and watching videos and listening to Tom Felton’s music — I bought a few. They’re really good. And now, when I listen to them, all I can think of is Harry Potter, my experience watching and reading them way back when, and all the other movies. I just loved Harry Potter so much — I still do. 

I don’t know what it is about Harry Potter, but it has a massive effect on the fans. It’s been a while since the last movie came out, and there is still so much hype and so many new things coming out on Tumblr, and I can’t imagine that it’ll fade away for a long time. 

I think that the Harry Potter fandom also had a direct and huge impact on other fandoms. I feel like it is one of the earliest fandoms for people around my age and is the reason that things like The Hunger Games and Twilight had such huge and vocal followers. It revolutionized the fandom. 

Harry Potter rules!

The Little Mermaid

For my research paper, I’m writing about The Little Mermaid. I knew it was going to be very different from the Disney version that I grew up with and loved, but I didn’t realize that the ending would be completely different. 

I think it’s really interesting how Disney has taken classic stories and changed them. I know that the story behind Frozen had the Elsa character as evil, and she wasn’t portrayed as evil at all. Misunderstood, yes. It happens with them all. Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, all of them. 

The idea that Disney has to change Hans Christian Andersen’s stories so much. These were stories for children, but now they’re not “Disney-appropriate.” 

The little mermaid’s reason for making the prince fall in love with her was not just because she was in love with him, but because she wanted an immortal soul, which she could only get by making a human fall completely in love with her. In Disney’s adaptation, it was similar. She wanted to become a human. In the story, she also had permission to go to the surface and see humans interact, while in Disney’s adaptation she could not because her mother died by humans (That’s in The Little Mermaid III: Ariel’s Beginnings). It is definitely darker than the Disney movie in some aspects. The sea witch is about the same. I think I was actually more surprised by the similarities of the two stories than the differences. 

I’m only focusing on The Little Mermaid for my paper, but I will definitely be reading other stories for myself, and possibly for reference in the paper. I highly recommend that everyone reads at least one original story and thinks about how it’s different from Disney and why they’ve been changed over time. 

I love Disney, and I LOVE the Little Mermaid. But, the original story was so different and, after I read it, I continued thinking about it for the rest of the night and the next day, and OMG it was just really cool. The Little Mermaid was my favorite Disney movie as a kid, and to read the original story now is just so weird, but really great.

Austenland

I heard about this book a few years ago, but never read it. Now, there's a movie. Go figure. So, this weekend my friends and I watched Austenland. I'm going to be honest; I loved it. We laughed. We said, "this is ridiculous!" and all that good stuff. It was just a lot of fun all around. A few days later, my friend even said, "I could watch Austenland again right now."

 (I love Mr. Darcy, too!) 

The premise is that Jane (lol) is obsessed with Pride and Prejudice and unlucky in love, so she goes to Austenland, a resort of sorts where actors interact with guests and bring Jane Austen's world to life. I saw many parallels between what the actors were doing and saying and various scenes in Austen's novels. Catching those moments is always a bonus.

I still want to read the book, and I'm sure that I will. I think this is an interesting "take" on Austen in that it shows how people today still have strong reactions to her novels, because they do. Much like the Jane Austen Book Club, which I also like. It's one of those movies I can watch whenever I feel like it and not get bored. It's just so cute. I can get a bit of an Austen fix without watching or reading any of her books or their incarnations on film.

I genuinely enjoy the films that aren't modern adaptations of the novels but modern films where the books or films are incorporated. Lost in Austen is another one. The main character actually gets transported into Pride and Prejudice.

(All four episodes of Lost in Austen are available to stream for free and legally on Hulu right here; yay! -- I think I know how I'm spending my Friday night!)

The modern adaptations of the books are great fun, too: Clueless, Bridget Jones' Diary, and the good old Lizzie Bennet Diaries or the follow-up series of Emma.

Austen's novels have been interpreted in many ways and changed drastically for some of them. I will watch any Austen interpretation I can get my hands on.

I'm gonna go read some P&P fanfiction now.

Romeo + Juliet: The Ultimate in Forbidden Romances

I, like many people, have always been of the mind that Romeo and Juliet were children who made a rash decision that ended in death based on hormones and that they really didn’t know what love is and couldn’t possible have loved each other. After reading last class, I’m not sure. Who is to say they didn’t really love each other and that they wouldn’t have been happy ever after? Maybe they didn’t. Maybe the really believed that they were in love. But, maybe they were. I think I’ve become a little bit cynical about this kind of stuff, especially in teenagers. I remember when I was 13 how I felt. I had crushes. I was totally enamored with a boy or two when I was in middle school. I wouldn’t have killed myself for any of them, but I remember how I felt. So, it’s entirely possible that Romeo and Juliet would have quickly moved on, as Romeo did with Rosaline. But, maybe not. Maybe we don’t give them enough credit. I mean, look at these faces: 

(I pulled these from Google. I take no credit for these sad gifs)

Maybe they were in love. And I think that’s why Romeo and Juliet has lasted so long and is such a common first exposure to Shakespeare. It has everything: romance, fighting, angst. Some people are totally on Romeo and Juliet’s side (even though it was, what? three days that they knew each other?), and others think they’re stupid children. And, I think, that because there is a chance to have different opinions on it, it’s successful. When I was 14 or 15, I met this guy on a missions trip. I knew him for three days. And I was totally head over heels. I cried when we left. We kept in touch. He was my “boyfriend” long distance for like two months —no need to expand on how that turned out — but I really liked him! I barely knew him. So, I’m not totally surprised that Romeo and Juliet would have felt in love and wanted to get married. I did not want to marry this boy that I had just met. Don’t worry. But, I guess I kind of see where they were coming from. Who is to say they weren’t in love? 

Romeo and Juliet is a forbidden romance, and that has appeal too. Keeping things like relationships a secret makes it that much more intense. It’s a fairly common occurrence in fiction, the more that I think about it. Experiencing Romeo and Juliet at 21 has definitely been different than when I was 13 or 14, and I am so glad that we did. It makes a lot more sense now. I wasn’t one of those girls who thought it was an epic love story that I wanted to play out in my own life. I see things online of people wanting to find their “Romeo” and there are always comments about how that’s not really a good thing. I thought they were really stupid for killing themselves, and I still do, but I didn’t think the entire thing was ridiculous either. 

Romeo and Juliet will probably continue to be one of the most famous love stories ever written.

King Arthur for Children

Growing up, the most exposure I had to King Arthur was through children’s shows. Go figure. I watched Disney’s “The Sword in the Stone,” but not often enough to remember it for class. I’ll have to watch it soon. I vaguely remember an episode of Wishbone with the adorable dog in chain mail, though that may have been the Joan of Arc episode. There was a book, so I’m sure they made an episode of it. 

And I remember an episode of Arthur where they go to a Medieval Fair with contests and a sword in a stone. (I have found the episode!)

Sidenote: In class this past Tuesday, I realized that most of my knowledge about classic literature comes from Wishbone: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (by far the best and scariest episode there ever was), King Midas, Don Quixote, and Rip Van Winkle, among many more. If anything, I desperately want to watch the episodes that I have now read the books they were based on to see if they were done justice. I think shows like Wishbone were a great way to introduce children to literature, and maybe it played a part in my English Majorness. We need more television shows like this. It is also interesting to look at how certain books were adapted to be fit for television and children and to star a dog. It’s a pretty amazing example of crossing over. Like our discussion about Star Wars Uncut: Is it still Star Wars? With Wishbone, are those stories still those stories? Perhaps it’s a little different. But, with any adaptation it’s important to think about these things. We’ll be reading and watching various forms of Romeo & Juliet; are those still Romeo & Juliet? Adaptations are my favorite thing to study because there are so many variations for so many things. How far can we stray before it is no longer considered the same story? 

King Arthur. The first King Arthur reading I did was Geoffrey of Monmouth for British Literature. I was excited because, as we said in class, everyone (or almost everyone) knows the names King Arthur and Excalibur. We could probably throw in Lancelot and Merlin, too. After Geoffrey, I wanted to read more, but I didn’t until this class. I was surprised by how little Merlin was featured in our passages and by how much face time Lancelot received. I expected it to be about King Arthur and not the Knights of the Round Table. There is so much of King Arthur that doesn’t get show through other texts. I can’t say I’m surprised that these things are left out, but there is so much I did not know. Reading Malory’s accounts of King Arthur was enlightening. I would definitely like to read the rest. I also feel the need to power through the last few episodes of Merlin. I know. But, I like it. At least the earlier seasons. 

My Star Wars Story

I was introduced to Star Wars pretty late in comparison to everyone I knew at the time. The sixth movie, third episode, whatever you want to call it, had come out. My sister’s friend took her, and after seeing it, my sister bought all three of the original trilogy, if that’s what you want to call it. She went on and on about how great it was, so we watch them. We went through all of them really quickly, and then started again. We rented the first two of the second trilogy, and then we went to see Episode III in theaters, and I loved it. We watched them all the time. When the last film came out, she bought that trilogy, too, and we watched all of them repeatedly for weeks. We dreamt about Star Wars. We talked about Star Wars. It was all I could think about. We quoted the films and watched them all the time. It was addicting. There was nothing else. We watched all of the DVD extras, and would find our favorite parts again. I bought her a lightsaber for Christmas. My parents went to Disney World without us, and all I wanted was the little, stuffed Ewok. I love him. 

My mom told us that she remembers seeing Star Wars in theaters. She said, “There weren’t other episodes, and it wasn’t called Star Wars: A New Hope. It was just Star Wars.” It was clear that she held some resentment about the renaming of the movie. It’s just Star Wars. She liked the other movies, but not as much as the first one. She won’t watch the new ones. She told me that while all the other girls had pictures of Mark Hamill on their walls, she always thought Harrison Ford was cuter, and I agreed. These conversations with my mom add to my love for Star Wars. It’s something that we are able to share. 

Even 40 years later, Star Wars still has similar effects on new viewers. When it first came out, it only showed in a few hundred theaters because no one thought it would do well. Now, there are 6 films, three more on the way, and parodies all over. While I’m not saying everyone likes Star Wars, it is something that has universal appeal. It’s still extremely popular and loved, and appeals to all kinds of people.

I think it’s really interesting how much of Star Wars has been integrated into other pop culture. I watch Wreck-It Ralph this weekend, again, and there’s a scene where Ralph is under a lake of chocolate, breathing through a Pirouette, and it sounds like Darth Vader’s breathing. Family Guy has Star Wars episodes. There are quotes that get integrated into other shows and movies as a nod to the films. 

Watching Star Wars again this weekend has reminded me of all the feels I had the first time! It’s been a few years, I think, since I’ve watched any of them, and I desperately want to steal the rest from my sister and watch them all. I think a Star Wars marathon is in order.