Open Discussion of RPS Stories in Light of Heath's Death

[louisev]

I know that this is a controversial subject.  However, hundreds of tributes, expressions of sorrow and a wide gamut of expressions of grief have emerged from the entire fandom around Brokeback, and among the fans of Heath Ledger, since hearing of his sudden death.  However, I am aware that open discussion of the future of fan fiction is very much affected by it, and that more than a few authors, as well as many readers, have felt uneasy about the subject of Real-Person Slash, fan fiction stories about Heath and Jake in a sexual relationship.

I myself wrote one, very reluctantly, a series of drabbles that speculated on the process Heath went through in "becoming" Ennis, and its affect upon him, and the possibility that he would have battled attractions to Jake as Jack, and was haunted by the character's secret desires.  My very first reaction, within minutes of hearing of Heath's death, was the need to remove that story from where I posted it in the Brokebackslash community.  A few other authors announced their intention to put their RPS stories on temporary or permanent hold, and many readers expressed mixed emotions - some feeling as though they wanted to keep the stories as a memento, and others that they could not bear to read them.

But because discussion has been largely quelled in other forums, I thought it was important to give the readers and the authors here a forum to express their own feelings about the future of RPS fiction, and also about general slash fiction if they wish.  I have very strong feelings that writing any new RPS stories is disrespectful to the dead.  Others feel completely differently about it.  However you do feel, please feel free to express your opinion here, and be mindful of our policy of No Personal Attacks.

[mvansand76]

Thank you for starting this thead, Louise. Other than responding to your post on bbslash I have personally hardly participated in the discussions on (the continuation of) RPS stories.

I don't read or write RPS and the idea of RPS has always made me uncomfortable. In the wake of Heath's death that feeling of discomfort about seeing RPS stories pop up has only increased.

[souxi]

This is a good subject to discuss. I myself have read an awful lot of RPS, but, I,m in full agreement with Louise. I think to write it, let alone read it now, would be extreemly disrepectful. So I won,t be reading any more RPS and I would hope other fan fic authors, who I know have written it, would follow suit.

[louisev]

As a matter of perspective, I found the following site set up for the Fanfic Symposium addressing the legal implications of writing Real Person Slash:

http://www.trickster.org/symposium/symp78.html

The warnings are dire.  The possible charges that could be leveled against a publisher (any internet distribution) of real person slash include defamation of character, slander, libel, and invasion of privacy.  And this legal source warns that penalties could be severe:

All of these words I'm defining and explaining describe activity that a judge and jury may well consider as illegal. How illegal? You could go to prison for it, or pay million-dollar fines. If you don't believe me, go to any legal database or law library -- or any newspaper archive or online news site -- and look up judgments and fines and damages in court cases concerned with libel, slander, invasion of privacy or defamation of character.

By contrast, the implications of writing a fanfiction about Ennis and Jack is a question that lies in the unproven grey area of copyright law concerning the Fair Use doctrine.  There is no case law at present that would guide fan fiction writers in whether one or another piece of fan fiction constitutes "fair use", however such considerations are not black and white.  However, with RPS, there is a very hard line, and that line constitutes a misdemeanor or possibly felony conviction for the writer who distributes their RPS.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I'm probably out of line putting my two cents in, because even when Heath was alive I felt that RPS crossed a line, but I think it's a good idea of you, Louise, to bring this up for discussion, and I completely agree with the following:

I have very strong feelings that writing any new RPS stories is disrespectful to the dead.

[mariez]

Thank you, Louise, for your respectful post.  I concur wholeheartedly. 

I'm probably out of line putting my two cents in, because even when Heath was alive I felt that RPS crossed a line...

I don't think you're out of line at all, Jeff.  I've never read RPS before, either, for that very reason.  And Heath's death only increases my feelings. 

Marie

[louisev]

no Jeff, not at all out of line.  I myself felt very conflicted about writing the RPS drabbles that I did, and only proceeded because I felt I wanted to consider the aspect of method acting in the development of Heath's portrayal of Ennis.  While there were intimate situations, I could not write a scene of Heath having sex with Jake, because I don't believe that it could or would happen.  At some point, I had to break it off and tell the people who were asking "when are they going to get it on?" that I was not able to write something that I knew was untrue.  Everything else I wrote, though fictional, could possibly have occurred, and that is how I justified the story to myself.  In other words, if I were sued by Jake G., my possible defense could be even though the conversations they had were clearly not real, writing about him kissing Heath as rehearsal did actually happen, and therefore could not have damaged anyone's reputation.  That fact was published.  I might have gotten away with a misdemeanor!

But at this point, the idea of fictional Heaths having fictional sex with fictionalized Jakes, seems to me to be outrageous, not to mention pointless.  And it occurs to me that making such "fictional speculations" is no different, substantively, from John Gibson claiming Heath was "a weirdo" and a "substance abuser", which is equally fictional, and the effect is not lessened by the good will or positive motivation behind it.

[mvansand76]

I don't think you're out of line at all, Jeff.  I've never read RPS before, either, for that very reason.  And Heath's death only increases my feelings. 

I agree with Marie that you're not out of line, Jeff. Because as you can read in my first reply on this thread, I am in the same position as you are, I have never read or written RPS either and have had the same opinion about it ever since I found out about the existence of it.

However, I think we should respect fanfic readers/writers who have always read or written RPS and who have now decided to stop reading/writing because they feel it isn't respectful to Heath.

[louisev]

I agree with that wholeheartedly, Snavel.  I know that without a lot of cajoling from readers who were RPS fans themselves and who enjoyed my fanfic, I would never have ventured into writing "Falling in Lust", and I think there is a very strong peer pressure factor.

[mvansand76]

I agree with that wholeheartedly, Snavel.  I know that without a lot of cajoling from readers who were RPS fans themselves and who enjoyed my fanfic, I would never have ventured into writing "Falling in Lust", and I think there is a very strong peer pressure factor.

And I think that peer pressure factor is still very strong. I saw on bbslash that people are begging writers to continue their RPS stories. I never knew it was so popular.