Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Fan Fiction & Poetry

Fan Fiction - Popularity Contest or Formula for Orthodoxy?

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twistedude:
Is that THE Magic Mountain? (Had an echo of it in one of my stories, but that part of the stoiry didn't work out, so it's--pretty much gone. Love Thoimas Mann). There are also all sorts of ways to treat Jack--fill in the blanks: someone is doing a whole sereies of the 4 lost years; there's pre-Ennis, and Jack makes a nifty ghost. There are other, apparently small, blanks that can occupy much space. These are all orthodox tratments--cannon faithful. Othwerwise, the story is frequently treated as a non-tragedy, as has already been mentioned. .

Marge_Innavera:

--- Quote from: magicmountain on July 30, 2006, 09:27:54 am ---In the novel The Forsythe Saga the heroine Irene has a similarly doomed grand love affair with Philip Bossiney who also dies. She goes on to marry Soames Forsythe and we trace her fortunes as well as other members of the family in subsequent years. I guess it depends where we train our focus and whether we stop at one segment of Ennis' life - the Love Affair of which both Ennis and Jack are integral parts - or whether we continue on with Ennis as the main protagonist as he journeys through different parts of his life.


--- End quote ---

There are a number of fanfics that center around his family relationships over the subsequent years.  But if the story is to continue past the point of the original ending, then Jack not being physically present has to be dealt with some way or another. Or there are the alternatives of "pre-quels" (not very common but some out there), fill-ins of scenes and characters not developed (e.g. Randall, the vacation at Don Vroe's cabin only mentioned in passing in the film) or AU. I've read examples of all these and some work, some don't just like in any other kind of fiction.

Sometimes the orthodoxy centers around how crushed Ennis is "expected" to be, and how intransigent his fears and homophobia are perceived as being. The film in particular leaves all that unresolved, as well as the question of how much Ennis is going to be affected by changing attitudes toward homosexuality, or whether he'll be affected by it at all, how his relationships with his daughters are going to evolve over time. There does seem to be a certain percentage of resistence to the idea of his being able to do anything but grieve, drink and feel guilty; and there's a limit to where a plot line can go with that.

And some of that orthodoxy is essentially a reflection of the question: whether that closet door where the shirts are at the end represents a retreat into fear or an enshrining of the relationship and what it meant. If it's the former, then there's the question of how to apply that to Jack, as he had the shirts much more hidden than Ennis does, and that isn't addressed very often.

louisev:
I am pleased that there is such a varied and in depth discussion of the ideas of orthodoxy.  Some of you here have far more experience in fan writing and participating in "fandoms" than I do - which is very little! - and the more I learn, the more fascinated I am.

BBM Fan fiction is a very new thing, barely six months old.  In January 2006 there were barely any stories... and now they are breaking out all over.  One of the most fascinating things for me is how such a wildfire phenomenon could develop a strict orthodoxy so rapidly, and so intransigently.  I am looking forward, as a co-moderator of Bettermost's expanding Fan Fiction forum, to nurturing all visions and all types of BBM plots - even crossovers with other fandoms.  I have had a rumor from one of my own readers that she has a crossover fic nearly completed, and I would be very interested to see what that one holds!

notBastet:
Do you guys think this orthodoxy thing is strictly a product of the fan fiction world? Or do you think there are parallels throughout society, and thus it happens in fan fiction cause we are products of our world?  (And perhaps a better question, do the first two questions make any sense?)

Kelly

Marge_Innavera:
IMO it's definitely a reflection of human society at large. Something starts out in an undefined creative field; and eventually both power claims and fear of not being in control narrow that field down with dicta about the "right" this, the "wrong" that, this or that guru or icon who is not to be questioned, you name it. It happens with religions with depressing regularity, and they continue on their momentum for centuries after their clergy are essentially suckling a dead litter.

That means, among other things, that it's vitally important to keep as much diversity as possible.  When a significant number of people refuse to accept the power of orthodoxy at the beginning, it's less likely to metastasize past the point of no return.

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