Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Fan Fiction & Poetry
Fan Fiction - Popularity Contest or Formula for Orthodoxy?
MaineWriter:
--- Quote from: pastorfred on July 28, 2006, 04:40:47 pm ---I recognize what opinions are like, since everybody has one, but in my not so humble opinion, there is a gold standard in alternate universe fanfiction, and that is the not so orthodox lazylfarm, A Love Born from Steel.
The gold standard for canon fanfiction is the Laramie Saga, beginning with Taking Chances, by Louisev, links to be found under Chez Tremblay on the Ennis and Ellery thread.
--- End quote ---
While I am flattered to be considered as a gold standard, it think this is somewhat of Louise's point. Those fics that adhered to the orthodoxy and by extension, their authors, are the ones that become popular. Rather than have it be a popularity contest, maybe it is better to judge each story on its own merits. My writing style may not appeal to others, just as X's writing style does not appeal to me, even though that fic might be wildly popular.
Leslie
notBastet:
I don't have much to contribute but have really enjoyed reading everyone's comments. I never heard of fan fic/slash before Brokeback. I find it fascinating that what seems to be happening in the Brokeback world has happened in other fan fic worlds. (I can't think about it too deeply right now or I sorta get myself all freaked out... is it merely a parallel for what is happening the world over?)
magicmountain:
I read with interest your theory regarding orthodoxy in fan fics and tend to agree with this analysis. True Love along with the Environment, Peace and Human Rights often substitute for religion in this secular age.
Marge_Innavera:
--- Quote from: MaineWriter on July 28, 2006, 06:30:57 pm ---While I am flattered to be considered as a gold standard, it think this is somewhat of Louise's point. Those fics that adhered to the orthodoxy and by extension, their authors, are the ones that become popular. Rather than have it be a popularity contest, maybe it is better to judge each story on its own merits. My writing style may not appeal to others, just as X's writing style does not appeal to me, even though that fic might be wildly popular.
--- End quote ---
I've read fanfiction before, especially ffc for the Earth's Children saga ("Clan of the Cave Bear" was the first and best-known). But this is the first time I've read any significant amount of it, and followed readers' reactions. And there are definite differences between fanfiction and conventional fiction, other than restrictions related to copyright. Those mostly center around the fact that the writer is dealing with characters and a background story that is already established and already known. Readers come to it with certain expectations.
e.g., in an independent fictional work, you could have Jack die and Ennis move on in various ways, with fewer and fewer references to Jack over the years. The reader can reasonably assume that Ennis wouldn't have forgotten him but that's just the reality when someone dies. No matter how much you loved someone, if you outlive them for a significant amount of time there gets to be a higher and higher percentage of your life that they're not actively a part of. And the part of it when they were significant recedes further and further into the background.
But with BBM fanfiction specifically, the basic story is Ennis and Jack, and when Jack disappears from the story it gets more and more problematical. Some stories deal with that by putting in flashbacks (Widower) or having Jack in the story postmortem as a spirit (Louise's Warm Wind Blows, still my favorite of her fics). Or a combination of both, in the case of what I'm currently attempting.
Orthodoxy when applied to anything creative is, IMO, a foreshadowing of decline if people take it too seriously. What makes me uneasy about anything being touted as the "gold standard" is that it inevitably leads to a pattern of judging work mainly in the context of how well it imitates a previous creative work that's already finished.
Getting a little far off in left field here, but you can see that happening in entertainment when something is hugely successful and it's followed by a procession of thinly veiled imitations and "spinoffs", generally becoming less and less interesting with every repetition.
magicmountain:
--- Quote from: Marge_Innavera on July 29, 2006, 10:59:00 am ---I've read fanfiction before, especially ffc for the Earth's Children saga ("Clan of the Cave Bear" was the first and best-known). But this is the first time I've read any significant amount of it, and followed readers' reactions. And there are definite differences between fanfiction and conventional fiction, other than restrictions related to copyright. Those mostly center around the fact that the writer is dealing with characters and a background story that is already established and already known. Readers come to it with certain expectations.
e.g., in an independent fictional work, you could have Jack die and Ennis move on in various ways, with fewer and fewer references to Jack over the years. The reader can reasonably assume that Ennis wouldn't have forgotten him but that's just the reality when someone dies. No matter how much you loved someone, if you outlive them for a significant amount of time there gets to be a higher and higher percentage of your life that they're not actively a part of. And the part of it when they were significant recedes further and further into the background.
But with BBM fanfiction specifically, the basic story is Ennis and Jack, and when Jack disappears from the story it gets more and more problematical. Some stories deal with that by putting in flashbacks (Widower) or having Jack in the story postmortem as a spirit (Louise's Warm Wind Blows, still my favorite of her fics). Or a combination of both, in the case of what I'm currently attempting.
Orthodoxy when applied to anything creative is, IMO, a foreshadowing of decline if people take it too seriously. What makes me uneasy about anything being touted as the "gold standard" is that it inevitably leads to a pattern of judging work mainly in the context of how well it imitates a previous creative work that's already finished.
Getting a little far off in left field here, but you can see that happening in entertainment when something is hugely successful and it's followed by a procession of thinly veiled imitations and "spinoffs", generally becoming less and less interesting with every repetition.
--- End quote ---
Some thought provoking points there Marge. I would add the thought that while the basic story is about Ennis and Jack, Ennis does emerge as the principle character (reflecting this weighting, Heath was nominated as leading actor while Jake was nominated as supporting actor). The main drama revolves around Ennis struggles, his marital dramas and divorce, his relationships with his daughters, his attempts at a relationship with Cassie, his relationship with Jack, his tragic loss and his agony in the aftermath of that. Jack's story shadows that of Ennis as a parallel but subsidiary drama. Of course the grand, doomed love affair is the centrepiece. But when Jack dies we are invited contemplate Ennis continuing his story alone, albeit haunted by Jack and spiritually still connected to him.
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.
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