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Where's the canon love?
As far as fandom is concerned, canon is an endangered species.
As I read fics and essays, there seems to be little appreciation of it.
Now, I have nothing against meta or AU fics, nor disagreeing with JK Rowling. (Well, okay, the last one depends on the reasoning. Will get to that). But it seems like people have forgotten canon, period. I see more fics about the romance between Sirius and Remus than the friendship between Sirius and James, even though the latter is far more a significant plot point. While Remus/Sirius can make for a great fic, it seems that there's more of that, and less of James. If James and Sirius are focused on, they have to be lovers. Why so few stories that show them as brothers? *
Speaking of love, it also strikes me as ironic how we have all these fanon ships (yes, ones that weren't 100% canon until HBP count), yet you don't see a lot of writing on the canon ships. Arthur and Molly - they love one another so deeply, don't they? Yeah, okay, nobody wants to write smut about two people possibly older than their parents - but honestly, smut isn't everything. And what about Bill and Fleur? That would be a great relationship to explore. And they're not so much older or younger than a great number of the fans!
Then there's mentors, or lack thereof. I see a lot of fics where Hagrid's importance to Harry is minimized to an
extreme. Now, you may see him as irresponsible - up to you. But to Harry, Hagrid is the world. He was
how Harry found out he was a Wizard, and although Harry knows Hagrid's irresponsible at times, he
won't laugh about it at a bar.
Other mentor relationships never get explored either. James's parents and Sirius, Andromeda and Sirius (though
that gets more emphasis than others, especially in the "Tonks writers" circle - we're actually a bit obsessive about it),
Remus and Dumbledore, Dumbledore and Hagrid... all of those. They have such potential, yet nobody seems to
explore it.
Then there is the sect of fans that have rejected JKR altogether, decided she doesn't know what she's talking about.
Not to be harsh, but how is that possible, given that she wrote the books? It's one thing to say you wish she'd gone
a different direction, but when people claim they know, say, Lucius Malfoy better than her... that disturbs me, it really
does.
So, why the lack of canon? I'm honestly interested. And I have to admit, alot of the points I made are things I've recognized myself not looking at. I've been a Remus writer for years, yet it wasn't until his anguish in HBP that I really
thought through his devotion towards Dumbledore. And quite honestly, I really didn't see Bill and Fleur actually
staying canon. Why?
Is it because we've gotten into fanfic/fandom? Because we've grown up and subconciously moved away from certain
elements?
I'm interested to see what everyone thinks. Generally, I feel in some cases it's fandom, and others, simple taste.
So, what do you guys think? Is this even an issue to begin with?
* I am in no way, shape, or form saying James and Sirius can't be with people. Lily, anyone?
Not to mention I'm in an RPG where Sirius also has a girlfriend, one he's not getting rid of
anytime soon. ;) I am only saying that I'd like to see Sirius and James explored, as well as their romantic
relationships if it is part of the plot.
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Also, to me, reading and writing Draco/Ginny uses my imagination so much more than if I read or write a fic about, say, Molly/Arthur. Molly/Arthur is already there, we know what it is - whereas D/G is an unknown quantity. It makes you think a lot more.
People like reading epic romance, angst and passion and a mention of the happily ever afters - not the happily ever afters themselves, because happily ever afters make dull reading. The majority of fans would prefer to read a good adventure featuring Draco/Ginny than a quiet, serious exploration of the relationship between Harry and Hagrid. There has to be something of excitement, conflict, and interest in a story, and frankly, Harry and Hagrid's connection is not very interesting except for essays.
Just my two Knuts. :)
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I don't know why mentor/Harry stories aren't more popular - probably because they're harder to write. And let's face it - the romance/adventure genre is very popular - not just in fandom, but in the movies etc ...
I tend to gravitate to the same themes over and over again in my writing - love and work and time - so I'm lucky in that I can work through those things with many different characters. But if you're a writer who just likes to write one ship or a few characters - then it's going to be harder to stay in canon world if you have certain situations you want to explore.
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I know it's not true for everyone, and it's certainly not for me, but that's the way I've been able to make sense of it all.
Although sometimes I get the sense that a lot of fanfic is inspired by what doesn't happen in the books. They see a canonically plutonic or antagonistic relationship and amplify everything so that it plays out in an extreme way (I think that's where all the smut is coming from, really).
Also, I think with some characters, like Hagrid and Dumbledore, they are really hard to write. I've yet to see any interpretation of them in fanfic that I thought matched their representation in canon. Hagrid can easily become a dumb cartoon of a character. Dumbledore can easily become way too solemn and all-knowing, or just boring.
As for James and Sirius...I think that again, it's harder to write James than it is to write Remus, because we've got a much better sense of what Remus is like. We know very little about James's personality in comparison. And while the Pensieve scene did give us insight into James and Sirius's friendship, it's very little compared to the canon interaction we've seen between Sirius and Remus.
So in an odd way it's partly canon's fault that there's all this uncanonness! lol.
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I agree, and I'd extend that to other major characters, especially Harry. Whenever I read a fic with his POV, it feels jarring to me because I'm used to the way JKR writes him. Snape often sounds wrong to me too. IMO minor characters whose voices are less familiar are easier to bring off in fanfic.
I also think non-canon ships appeal because the series is still unfinished. Obviously SS/HG will never happen in canon, so those authors needn't worry that their fics will be jossed by book 7. Besides, people fell in love with certain ships when they were still possible, and that's hard to give up. Once the series is finished, I think more people will strive for canon compliance.
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Would I go and seek out a mentoring fic, or, a non-canon-era fic? Probably not - although I love all that kind of backstory & minor character development when I come across it. I suppose this probably just means I'm extremely conservative in certain of my searching criteria. I prefer to read fics by people I have reason to believe will repay my time - which usually happens through recommendation or a personal interaction I've had with an author. I particularly like reading stuff by people I already know - not because I think my *taste* in choosing those authors is better than the next person's, more because I know there is a potentially limitless number of great fics out there, and so I need to apply some kind of selection process. It helps me to feel connected to the story, if I know the person and already am pre-disposed to think they are a kick-ass writer. It's the same with non fanfic - I'll read another by the same author, even if it isn't part of a series, because I know I've been able to establish some kind of emotional connection to their work previously, so I'm more willing to *give* my time.
There are also interests (characters /situations / eras / genres) that I gravitate towards time and again - in my reading and writing - so I wouldn't be sold on a Harry/Hagrid story straight off - but I'd certainly appreciate some Harry/Hagrid interaction in a story I was already reading and enjoying.
Arghh. I'm sure you didn't mean to generate this kind of blether - but if you *will* write interesting posts...
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In some way, I envy the people who are just now getting into the HP fandom. They're still innocent enough to say things like: "Wow, I wonder what the real relationship was like between James and Sirius and how Lily impacted it?" without it becoming some long drawn-out fandom war.
Just my 2 Knuts' worth. But yo me. I'm not even writing HP fanfic any more, so there.
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What you're saying is true. Plus, the people who think that they know Lucius better than Jo? They know what they imagine his life to be, not what's canon. I, for instance, made up half of Angelina's maternal side of her family today during spanish. Maybe there's no such person as hipster-coolio Aunt Imani in canon, but I won't have a little temper tantrum over her if Jo decides not to make her canon.
Peace out.
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In general, however, I view departure from canon in fanfic and RPGs as fantasy fulfillment. I feel this is especially true of romantic/sexual relationship fics and RPG relationships. Now, I don't read a lot of fanfic and I'm in my first ever on-line RPG, so YMMV. That said ...
I've noticed a major percentage of on-line fans are younger than those who attend cons. My con-going fannish friends tend to prefer canon and use fanfic to fill gaps or offer explanations for things that happen in canon that may seem slightly off. Sometimes, they write pure humor fic that is completely absurd. One furry-smut story written by one friend for another specifically comes to mind. There is little difficulty separating canon from fanon and, though character interpretations vary, they are generally supported with canon facts.
The on-line community, however, seems to have more difficulty separating reality from fiction in general, separating RPG characters from themselves, and separating canon from fanon - especially after time passes and the author has progressed the story. I am disturbed by the trend I see of writers using Ms. Rowling's universe and ideas, character names and settings, and minimal details about the characters but COMPLETELY IGNORING CANON. I consider this a gross example of plagerizing ideas and am sickened by it.
For example, I am troubled by fics putting Harry into homosexual relationships (unless it is specified as an exploratory-type fic). Why? Because, in canon, Harry is attracted to and has relationships with Cho and Ginny. His friendship with Ron has never crossed into anything physical that we know of. Thus, in canon, Harry has demonstrated heterosexual tendencies. He might explore, yes; fer chrissake, he's an adolescent boy. But find it hard to believe that he would fall in love with another male without considerable time passing. And having Harry in a relationship with Draco Malfoy without major time passing stretches my credibility beyond the snapping point.
Is this an issue? Hells, yeah!
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OK, total pimpage here: My WIP "Yellow" is basically devoted to the deep, deep friendship between Sirius and James and how Sirius transferred that love to Harry from PoA until his death. It can be found at a variety of places, including The Sugar Quill (http://www.sugarquill.net/read.php?storyid=2747&chapno=1) and here on LJ (http://miss--sophia.livejournal.com/6381.html).
To me, canon is always the best. I treasure canon-based fics the most, especially alternative PoV fics and missing-moment fics. Fanon is fun as hell, and I've definitely discoverd the joys of shipping and slashing (yay Remus/Sirius!), as well as crack, but canon/fanfic will always be my OTP.
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However, because there is such a fantastic world there, I (and I'm sure a lot of other people) can't help but want to play around in it a bit. This is a fandom absolutely full of great fanfic possibilities, many of which veer towards being "AU" in the sense that -though no fanfic is going to happen in canon- their very premise isn't going to happen, much less the specific events. Jo obviously isn't going to have Harry date Draco Malfoy, and I think you'd be very, very hard-pressed to find a fan who honestly believes she will. Still, how interesting is it to imagine that Harry does question his sexuality, and that maybe he and Draco find that over the years they've come to understand the other better, and then perhaps a mitigating circumstance leads them to put aside their rivalry and enemy status and to become friends or even something more?
That and a million other situations aren't ever going to happen in canon, but that doesn't mean they couldn't happen in canon. I think that, if Jo made up her mind one day to have Harry fall madly in love with Draco, she could do it and do it well. And I think that there are a lot of fanfic writers are doing just that -writing about interesting but non-canon situations in the context of Harry and his world- because Harry and the rest of the series are so fun to play around in.
I do enjoy fic that digs deeper into specific and very canon parts of the book, but honestly I enjoy things that we probably aren't going to get in canon more. We're never going to get as in depth a post war story as AtE, and that's why I love it and reread it so much. We're not going to ever see a canon way of Draco becoming friends with Harry. We aren't going to ever see how a Remus/Sirius romance might work in the group dynamic of the marauders of a whole. Jo is never going to explain to us what motivation Ginny might have for loving Draco, but that doesn't mean I don't find it endlessly fascinating, and it doesn't mean I didn't feel like someone had reached into my stomach and quickly extracted my insides when I was reading Rising from Ash.
I seriously doubt I'll ever read a fanfic more times than I've read any of the HP books, much less the series as a whole. But the thing about fanfic is that if I want to read about Harry and Hagrid's relationship, or about the twins antics, or about Molly's relationship with her family, I can go read the best fic out there -the books themselves. For me, a lot of fanfic is for the everything else.
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I guess I just tend to be more wary of "I'm writing canonical fanfic!" than "I'm writing something different than canon!" Because while both groups can write equally bad stuff or have ideas I don't agree with, it's the first group that is claiming to be writing something official or "just a little closer to the actual books!" when they're not, and maybe more likely to start insisting that they're interpretation of canon is canon when it's not.
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I may do an entry similar where there will be discussions. Really. I'm sorry if I offended you.
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To me, fanfics are elaborating and exploring specific corners of the cannon world that probably (Or more than likely for sure) will never get mentioned by the author themselves. It is also a place to play the what if game? What if Sirius had found Harry before he was whisked off by Knight Bus? What if Harry hadn't heeded Remus and gone after Sirius? Etc Etc.
People, for whatever reason, latch onto a specific character and want to play with that character and most of the time to do so, usually means taking a huge step away from cannon.
I do agree that there are some things (like a Draco/Harry relationship) that I personally can't fathom, but others do and they want to write it. Hey, all power to them. They wanna do it. Meh.
Also, many people stop writing cannon relationships because they just don't relate to what the cannon dictates as being the perfect relationship for the two mentioned characters.
What's the next best option? write a fanfic where he/she gets together with someone else. Hence the deviation from cannon.
Cannon, especially the way JKR writes it, seems like a springboard for people to make their own mythologies. It's full of unexplained things and plotholes that writers can exploit and make their own. Hence the fun in playing in the HP universe.
My three cents take on that. Cheers.
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And in some sense, to gain control over its world, the natural instinct of the human brain is to categorize, set up dichotomies i.e. canon vs. AU, female vs. male, etc. Rising above that subconscious action, the ego can begin to push these categorizations forward and beyond unto a greater understanding. Then it turns out that JKR has no more a monopoly on the characters she creates than those who recreate them by reading. How can Now!JKR, who is as different from Then!JKR as her readers, have any more right to ownership? That's the stuff of intellectual property laws and Western societal norms. Communication breaks down once each party starts to horde that which cannot be owned.
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Post-HBP, I was so disgusted with the book I signed off the fandom for the most part, I'll take part in debates (like this one), but for the most part canon (and fandom after the Orange Crush vs Harmionans fiasco) just makes me angry.
One of the reaons I think not many people write about the romance was because it. Was. Shite.
And the reason I threw fanfiction was because suddenly my favourite character was turned into a sociopath from birth. The muses went on strike and the bunnies left in disgust, so the HP fanfiction stopped.
Skull Bearer.
Here from the Snitch
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I can't tell you how weary I am of all the J. K. Rowling hate. It's like some people go through the books with a nit comb trying to find things to critcise. "Look! I found a flaw!" Whatever. I'm really not interested in picking her writing apart in any way. I love the books and her writing, and am perfectly happy to overlook the flaws.
I've friended you. :)
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I hardly ever read stories about the Marauders, just because the majority of those show at least two of the four boys shagging each other. I don“t mean to condemn the slashy part of fandom, but it sort of frustrates me that nobody seems to be interested in friendship anymore.
At least you can find SOME friendshippy Trio!Fanfics..
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I'm glad you friended me, because we seem to have a great deal in common. Good to meet you! :D
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Nice to meet you too! :) I liked your Ginny essay - I mean, I'll be the first to admit she can get insensitive, but who is perfect anyway? Besides, she understands Harry's needs more than anyone else except Ron and Hermione, which makes me really appreciate her.
here from metafandom
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On one hand I have little to no interest in works that mirror canon- to me there's no damned point in writing or reading them. This is personal opinion, but it's a waste of *my* time for *me* to read them because I'm just not interested in the canon relationships and fic in which nothing changes. I don't want my characters put back just like I found them.
On the other hand when things go too far afield and too MUCH is changed, to the point of characters and universe being unrecognizable I'm not interested either.
I think for me it comes down to needing to see something signfigant changed about characters I recognize and love. If you change nothing there's no point for me- that is WHY I read and write fanfic. On the other hand if there's too much changed they don't feel like the characters I care about and I could do just as well reading original fiction.
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I do want to clarify something: I'm not saying not focusing on canon characters is wrong at all, only that not everyone works within them. I'm interested to see the valid points though - that, for instance, we don't know a lot about James. Actually, that's very true, and I do realize not everyone is like me and enjoys making stuff up about characters we barely know. ;)
Also, I wasn't insulting Remus/Sirius - that was probably actually an inaccurate example anyway, as now that I think of it, though fics tend to very much include James. But the thing is, I actually see the reasoning behind the ship, so it was easier for me to use that as an example as opposed to a ship I really strongly disagree with, where I might unintentionally express an opinion that didn't belong here. This isn't a ship debate, just a discussion of canon vs. fanon.
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I seperated fandom from canon basically as two different worlds I guess. In canon I love Ron/Hermione, but fandom wise I'm all Draco/Hermione and sometimes fanon!Blaise (which there's another point, the fans created a version of him the was once possible, until JKR finally more fully described the character in book six. Some people actually thought Blaise was a girl!)
But yea, I think once the series is complete I'll be able to fall into canon more. Because then you can use fic to continue the story, without changing what happened in the real story.