Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Fan Fiction & Poetry
Open Discussion of RPS Stories in Light of Heath's Death
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: louise van hine on January 29, 2008, 03:28:49 pm ---I believe that since many people find RPS very offensive morally, and since it is considered by legal advisors as invasion of privacy, defamation of character, and libel, if the stars chose to confront a writer in a legal forum, those who write and read it feel very sensitive about being criticized.
--- End quote ---
OK, I know I'm being judgmental, but for the legal reasons detailed--in my opinion, well they should feel sensitive.
--- Quote ---However, there are real ethical questions about whether fans really do have a "creative right" to use the names and biographies of people we revere and respect, and write detailed sex fantasies about them. RPS, peculiarly, seems to focus far more on sex than on a story plot, or on other aspects of the actors lives. Some of them bring in other actors and family members, such as Maggie Gyllenhaal, her husband Peter, Jake's friend and fellow actor Austin Phillips, and other A-list stars like Ewan McGregor, Christian Bale, etc. I saw one story (and did not finish it) involving group sex between several of these male actors, and the story consisted of little more than this.
My opinion is that most RPS stories are masturbatory fantasies that are almost purely devoted to sex.
--- End quote ---
Thanks, Louise. That's more or less what I suspected when I first became aware of RPS.
But then it was explained to me early on that that's what the "S," the "Slash," meant: The subjects having sex.
MaineWriter:
Louise,
Do you know if there is any standard on when a person can move into the realm of fiction? I have read plenty of historical fiction novels with all sorts of real person characters--kings, queens, presidents, senators--most recently, an architect in the form of Frank Lloyd Wright in "Loving Frank." The story takes place between 1904-1914 and is based on real events in Wright's life. What's made up are conversations (which had no way of being recorded, of course) and imagined interactions. Historical fiction is a well established and popular genre of writing. At what point does it make the transition from being "real people stories" to "historical fiction"? When the main characters are dead? Something else?
Leslie
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: MaineWriter on January 29, 2008, 05:19:39 pm ---Louise,
Do you know if there is any standard on when a person can move into the realm of fiction? I have read plenty of historical fiction novels with all sorts of real person characters--kings, queens, presidents, senators--most recently, an architect in the form of Frank Lloyd Wright in "Loving Frank." The story takes place between 1904-1914 and is based on real events in Wright's life. What's made up are conversations (which had no way of being recorded, of course) and imagined interactions. Historical fiction is a well established and popular genre of writing. At what point does it make the transition from being "real people stories" to "historical fiction"? When the main characters are dead? Something else?
Leslie
--- End quote ---
Tell you what, I was kind of wondering about that, too. I've even read a murder mystery once that featured Tallulah Bankhead as an amateur sleuth! It was pretty good, too. ;D I think she was dead by the time the story was published, though.
louisev:
--- Quote from: MaineWriter on January 29, 2008, 05:19:39 pm ---Louise,
Do you know if there is any standard on when a person can move into the realm of fiction? I have read plenty of historical fiction novels with all sorts of real person characters--kings, queens, presidents, senators--most recently, an architect in the form of Frank Lloyd Wright in "Loving Frank." The story takes place between 1904-1914 and is based on real events in Wright's life. What's made up are conversations (which had no way of being recorded, of course) and imagined interactions. Historical fiction is a well established and popular genre of writing. At what point does it make the transition from being "real people stories" to "historical fiction"? When the main characters are dead? Something else?
Leslie
--- End quote ---
very good question. I think that the three legal risks I mentioned - invasion of privacy, defamation of character and libel, no longer apply when a person is deceased, and a fiction is based upon research into their life in the past. But in a case such as this, where the death just happened, writing about a person as though they had not died, and postulating relationships with people still living, would be subject to those risks.
But if the work is billed as "fiction" and the person has died in the past and there are no heirs to raise a ruckus, then I do not believe there is much legal recourse. There may be slander and libel provisions that heirs can use to some limited degree, but writing about people who are long dead, I think that no longer applies. But it is something to consider.
louisev:
Here is a link I found where the family of Rosa Parks sued Outkast for their song "Rosa Parks." I am not sure how much insight it gives but clearly the family was able to gain relief from the courts for the misrepresentation of Rosa Parks' place in history by the band's song.
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/stevecarper/bull160.htm
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