Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Fan Fiction & Poetry
Fan Fiction - Popularity Contest or Formula for Orthodoxy?
notBastet:
--- Quote from: Marge_Innavera on August 15, 2006, 08:40:41 am ---What the discussion in this case is essentially about is the tendency of many to take the route in insisting that it isn't what would make the reader or writer 'happy' or what would be the most rewarding to them - even though fanfic writers know there will be no financial rewards forthcoming - but rather toeing the line on what plotlines, interpretations or even, in the case of some 'ultra-orthodox' authors, what reactions are "acceptable" and what not "acceptable". The result, if that approach gets its way, can be people quite wasting their time and creative energy trying to fit their reading or their work into an arbitrary mold. And when that approach gets its way, whether one compares it to a small town or uses any other metaphor, you might as well put creativity through a shredder and flush it down the toilet.
After all, in the end what good came out of the campaign to stamp out "decadent art"? :P
--- End quote ---
I have enjoyed reading all the recent comments. I'm not sure I have anything of substance to add, but alas, never one to keep my mouth shout... what worries me, is when readers, writers, whoever, start throwing out terms like Marge mentions, such as acceptable and not acceptable, it starts feeling way too much like discrimation/censorship to me. Isn't that what part of Brokeback Mountain is about... trying to move beyond labels of acceptable and not acceptable? What's wrong with loving, as long as there is no harming? It's fine if you don't like something, or it's not your cup of tea, but I find rules about writing and reading to be very scary.
louisev:
Yes, Marge's point is well taken. While it is clear, and unavoidable, that the majority of fan fiction readers take the route of a "happily ever after Jack and Ennis", the commitment to an orthodoxy model means that this majority dictate what constitutes an "acceptable plot." One of the concepts is the concept of the "One true pairing" which means that the only pairing that is acceptable to be depicted, and the only one that makes the story "a real BBM fanfic" is a Jack and Ennis pairing.
But since Jack dies in the source story, the possibilities for writing in this pairing are limited to the period in which they were alive (infrequent meetings), or after Jack dies, which convicts Ennis to a life of lonely mourning. Not exactly a wide field for exploration of same sex relationships if one follows this model.
The fan fiction philosophy here is that if it is based upon or uses characters from BBM - then by all means write it and post it. My limitation in writing fan fiction stories is that I can't find it in me to rewrite Annie's ending of the story, and so therefore, Jack dies. Even though I have deeply enjoyed writing Jack flashbacks, and Jack-as-a-ghost in my first story "A Warm Wind Blows", somehow, the idea of resurrecting Jack or diverting the end of the story... eludes me to date.
I may eat those words at some future time, but please nobody hold their breath.
mvansand76:
I was writing to David (David925 whom you all know on here who will be back soon) that after reading a few fanfictions I almost got tired of Jack-and-Ennis happy endings. I thought to myself "Did I really just write that?". I don't know where that came from.
Anyway, when I read fanfiction (I don't write fanfiction, I only read):
*I think I do prefer a Jack and Ennis story (that doesn't mean there has to be a happy ending)
*I want the story and the settings to be as close to the original story and movie, no Jack and Ennis in San Francisco or Germany in the 1930's
*I like it when the dialogue is plausible and when there are references to the original story and movie
Scott6373:
--- Quote from: louisev on August 16, 2006, 05:30:34 am --- My limitation in writing fan fiction stories is that I can't find it in me to rewrite Annie's ending of the story, and so therefore, Jack dies. Even though I have deeply enjoyed writing Jack flashbacks, and Jack-as-a-ghost in my first story "A Warm Wind Blows", somehow, the idea of resurrecting Jack or diverting the end of the story... eludes me to date.
I may eat those words at some future time, but please nobody hold their breath.
--- End quote ---
I know exactly what you mean. I can read AU fanfics and enjoy them terrifically, but when I write, I almost feel an obligation to remain within the parameters that AP has set...out of respect.
Seom:
Reading this post has got me thinking, i don't know if this answer is exactly along with view taken, but anyway...
I personally enjoy the stories that are not happily ever after. I don't know why, but i'm a fan of tragedy. I think that BBM was perfect the way it was, but I'll admit to wanting it to be different. I WANT Jack to live, i want them to live happily ever after, but that's what makes the story so powerful. Just the fact that they can't wrenches my heart out. Maybe it is for this fact that I personally don't like reading those "happily ever after" stories. The heart wrenching story that BBM is is very dear to me. It takes a very well written happily ever after fan fic to get me hooked. I think i enjoy the stories that end sad simply because they stay true to the movie. Just my two cents ignore them if you'd like. ;)
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