Where's the canon love?

[author_by_night]

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.

Comments

[stmargarets.livejournal.com]

I think it's inevitable that as JKR closes more doors in canon, fan fiction writers will start to look further afield. Way back after GoF came out there was a lot of speculation about Remus and Sirius - with the canon at the time a slash relationship was plausible - or a relationship with other OCs, etc . . . Now after HBP, we have Sirius dead and Remus with Tonks. Canon has boxed in those characters. So if you love the character but want to do something with them - well, AU here we come.

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.