Annie Proulx's still pissed...

[Brown Eyes]

This interview is a rehash of her earlier "pornish rewrites" rant. 

Anyone who's read Annie knows she's not big on happy endings.  However, having written the story, with all its ambiguity, and the nerve she struck in so many people, she'll just have to get used to the fact that, although she "owns" the characters, Jack and Ennis now belong to the world. 

It's bigger than her.  Of course people get that it's about homophobia.  It just doesn't end there.  It's a springboard for all kinds of things. 

Heya Paul,

I agree with your perspective here.  This little bit of interview makes Annie almost seem short-sighted about what BBM can mean or what J & E mean.  She may own the copyright to the short story, but it's very true that she can't expect to control how the story or characters impact readers or other aspects of culture. 

No artist or writer can reasonably expect their art or story to be contained within a sealed bubble.  Once it's sent out in the world it's out there, and you can't dictate how folks will react or respond, especially when it comes to a popular story read or seen my millions of people.

I think these interviews by Annie are really, really unfortunate.

[SFEnnisSF]

If she didn't want it interpreted in different "fantasy" ways, she shouldn't have left those "open spaces" then...

[injest]

no matter HOW anyone feels about the characters in a story, if a writer says she is not interested in seeing fan fic, that should be respected. No one has a write to harass someone to the point they feel they have to live behind a fence.

she isn't trying to keep anyone from writing it..she just doesnt want to be bothered.

[Lynne]

If she didn't want it interpreted in different "fantasy" ways, she shouldn't have left those "open spaces" then...

Respectfully, I really don't think she did, Eric.  I have the short story handy next to the bed, of course...

"So now he [Ennis] knew it had been the tire iron."

In the short story, I find Ennis a reliable narrator.  I would guess that in Annie's opinion, this one sentence should settle it.

Edit:

And in the sentence about 'open spaces' - the space is "between what he [again Ennis] knew and what he tried to believe".  The use of the word 'tried' makes me think that Ennis sees Jack's fate as murder, although he tries hard not to.  This doesn't come through quite the same way in the film.

[SFEnnisSF]

I don't think this is just about fan fic.  (And nobody put a gun to her head and said "read this pornish rewrite" BTW...)

It's about how her audience interpreted the story in their own ways.  She deliberately left "open space" in the story for it to be interpreted by the reader.  And now she's upset with some of the interpretations.  Why should they bother her?  Yes, the reader got initially what the story was about.  They read her work.  IMO, she should be grateful for that.  

But because a few folks took their interpretations a few steps further than how she would have, she now condems everybody and the whole story and wishes she never wrote it?  Oh come on, what a temper tantram fit for a bitchy drama queen!!

I actually feel kind of insulted by her.  She first gave us this gift of a movie that touched us all (in many different ways, as she intended it to with her "open spaces") and now she wants to take it all back from us?  I used to have respect for her, but now I think I just wanna bitch slap her...  OMG lady, let it go...

[SFEnnisSF]

Respectfully, I really don't think she did, Eric.  I have the short story handy next to the bed, of course...

"So now he [Ennis] knew it had been the tire iron."

In the short story, I find Ennis a reliable narrator.  I would guess that in Annie's opinion, this one sentence should settle it.

Edit:

And in the sentence about 'open spaces' - the space is "between what he [again Ennis] knew and what he tried to believe".  The use of the word 'tried' makes me think that Ennis sees Jack's fate as murder, although he tries hard not to.  This doesn't come through quite the same way in the film.

Oh come on Lynne.  It's written as an open-narrative.  Everybody has a different reaction to it all.  You have to admit that... we could go on and on and on debating what this meant or what that meant, but we've already done that.  Thus, you have to admit there is definitely lots of "open space" here for interpretation!!

[Brown Eyes]

Something interesting to consider... the film is already a form of fanfiction.  Any element in the movie that wasn't in the short story (the lives of the women, any added details, details that were removed, etc.) were written by other writers and were made up by other artists.

If she felt so strongly about the manipulation of her story, I wonder why she consented to having the film made to begin with?  If this was really a matter of principle, she should have put a stop to the films of both BBM and The Shipping News.  Did she want the publicity?  Did she want money?

I think it's singularly boring of her to try to all of a sudden assert some kind of definitive meaning on BBM in these bitter interviews.  It diminishes the story for her to even try to do that.  The open spaces idea is so elegent... and just because some fanfic writers go over-board with it doesn't mean that the original concept should be diminished.  Also, as many of us know there are lots of fanfic stories that deal with issues contained within the original BBM wiith a subtlty and nuance that Annie clearly wouldn't expect.

These cranky interviews by Annie make me really angry at her, and they go a long way towards a strong urge of mine not to read any more of her writing.  


Also, now having read a lot of Larry McMurtry's writing with a comparison to BBM in mind... it's amazing to me just how strong McMurtry's voice is in the screenplay.  He was not a passive participant in writing the film.

[SFEnnisSF]

I completely agree with Amanda...

[southendmd]

Respectfully, I really don't think she did, Eric.  I have the short story handy next to the bed, of course...

"So now he [Ennis] knew it had been the tire iron."

In the short story, I find Ennis a reliable narrator.  I would guess that in Annie's opinion, this one sentence should settle it.

Edit:

And in the sentence about 'open spaces' - the space is "between what he [again Ennis] knew and what he tried to believe".  The use of the word 'tried' makes me think that Ennis sees Jack's fate as murder, although he tries hard not to.  This doesn't come through quite the same way in the film.

I have to respectfully disagree here.  Ennis isn't the narrator at all.  The ambiguity is even on a higher level; i.e. how do we know what we know?  In this case, Ennis is reacting to OMT's comment about Jack's ranch neighbor coming up with him.  I think he's reacting to the shock of Jack's being with another man, and/or the fact that OMT knows about it.  Ennis's natural reaction has got to be violence.  

There's plenty of open space.

****

As to the fanfic, whatever happened to Annie's statement about "finishing the story..."?  If she didn't like how some people finished it, she could very well keep it to herself.  Hell, I get plenty of unsolicited junk mail every day.  If she considered it junk, she could simply toss it out with the recycling.  

Her whining is not becoming.

[brokeplex]

no matter HOW anyone feels about the characters in a story, if a writer says she is not interested in seeing fan fic, that should be respected. No one has a write to harass someone to the point they feel they have to live behind a fence.

she isn't trying to keep anyone from writing it..she just doesnt want to be bothered.

\

Why isn't this an issue of Proulx's intellectual property rights being violated by the authors of FanFic  based on her copyrighted characters?