Fanfiction – derivative works written by amateurs using the established fictional universe and its characters of a book, movie TV show, etc. – is typically regarded as poorly written, unoriginal stories written by reclusive fans with a slavish devotion to people and things that do not exist. It is thought to be a recent phenomenon, and is just barely making its way into public consciousness. However, that is not the case; E.L. James’ infamous Fifty Shades of Grey was the mainstreams first example of fanfiction and the public’s opinion of fanfiction was shaped by its content and its commercial success; however, there is more to fanfiction than strange pornography. Fanfiction (often shortened as “fic”) has a long history and has grown and evolved like all other form of storytelling. With the creation of the internet, a new, online community has been created with its own culture and terminology. The idea of fanfiction is not new. It predates the internet, the television, and even the printing press. Fanfiction’s broad definition is someone taking an established story and adding his or her own style and ideas to it and was “the model of authorship until very recently” (Jamison 18). Myths and folktales, from the story of creation to urban legends, have been passed down from generation to generation, with the storytellers adding their own unique voices until, one day, there is one big story with a thousand different versions. Fanfiction is not the exclusive domain of amateur authors. “Et tu, Brute?” is frequently cited to be Julius Caesar’s famous last words; but, there is no evidence to suggest that they are anything more than a fabrication of William Shakespeare’s mind. In modern, fanfiction terminology, William Shakespeare, whos... ... middle of paper ... ...largely invisible to the mainstream media, but at the same time, it’s unbelievably massive.” While fanfiction may never become a legitimate literary genre, there is so much more to fanfiction and fan culture than what people can tell just from its surface. Works Cited Grossman, Lev. "The Boy Who Lived Forever." Time. Time Inc., 07 July 2011. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. ---. Introduction. Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World. By Anne Elizabeth Jamison. Dallas: Smart Pop, 2013. XI-XIV. Print. Jamison, Anne Elizabeth. Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking over the World. Dallas: Smart Pop, 2013. Print. Morrison, Ewan. "In the Beginning, There Was Fan Fiction: From the Four Gospels to Fifty Shades." Theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 13 Aug. 2012. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. "Organization for Transformative Works." Organization for Transformative Works. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.
Beetz, Kirk H., ed. Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction. Vol. 5. Osprey: n.p., 1996. 5 vols.
King Arthur Pendragon, the ruler of Camelot, is a rash and naïve ruler who consequently, gets swept up by events that end up out of his control. Arthur is a king who has a strong will for combat that is completely unrestrained. Duri...
Beacham, W. (Ed.). (1986). Beacham’s Popular Fiction In America, Volume 3. Washington DC: Beacham Publishing.
Novels: the first form of social media. Jane Austen’s works continue to suggest how society should function. In her most highly lauded novel, Emma, Jane Austen creates a blueprint for the foundation of a well-matched, highly-mannered, and cohesive community. Consequently, contemporary authors and journalists reference well known characters in Emma to provide readers with a more grounded foundation to fully grasp the whole concept of the passage or article. Although Emma is a two century-old novel about a woman’s encounters with love, people continue to incorporate its message and plot into everyday life. (add a stronger thesis here)
The Legend of King Arthur is in comparison to The Epic of Gilgamesh because Arthur's closest companion was Merlin, and Gilgamesh's closest companion was Enkidu and neither Gilgamesh nor Arthur forgot their friends. Enkidu only came in contact with Gilgamesh after becoming a man. Enkidu released the animals from the hunter's traps when they ere caught, so to make him a man the prostitute slept with him so that the animals would be ashamed of him and reject him. King Arthur became aware of Merlin when he was a young man. When Arthur was born Merlin placed him in the care of Sir Ector, throughout his boyhood Arthur learned the ways of chivalry, knighthood and how to become a gentleman. At the tournament one day Arthur pulled Excalibur from the stone and this is what brought upon Arthur meeting Merlin once again. In The Legend of King Arthur, Merlin exclaimed, "it is the doom of men if they forget." Gilgamesh along with Enkidu together fought and killed Humbaba, protector of the Cedar forest, and the Bull of Heaven, sent as punishment to Gilgamesh for killing Humbaba. King Arthur nor Gilgamesh forgot their faithful friends.
The term “fan” was originally used to describe sports fans during the nineteenth century and was later adopted by science fiction enthusiasts in the 1920s. The term “fan,” however, is used for describing a type of person who is enthusiastic, or fanatic about a certain subject. Popular fan culture, nicknamed “fandoms,” have become an integral part of society in many countries, and have connected people sharing a common interest through online communities where they can freely discuss fan related topics. Popular fandoms today include Directioners, Beliebers, and VIPs. People who are part of fandoms usually show their devotion by participating in fan conventions such as Comicon, writing fan mail, creating fan art, or by promoting their interests to others. Being a fan also comes with the responsibility of changing one’s lifestyle in order to accommodate time and energy into the fandom. Fan culture also offers people the chance to feel passionate about something or someone in order to satisfy the emotional needs they lack from their daily life.
Tibbetts, John C. The Gothic Imagination: Conversations on Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction in the Media. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. Print.
Fiction as we know it today is considered to be a relatively new genre compared to poetry and drama. The tradition of fiction started with myth and legend and allegory. But the fictional characters in these imaginary worlds were mostly one-dimensional abstractions, personified as Love, Greed, War, or even Faith. The evolution from allegory to novel (and short story), from the sermon about an abstraction in human guise to the story of the individual whose personal experience might have universal application, took a long time.
This paper will explore what it is about anime that makes it so appealing to even a Western audience, creating an international fan base. Although manga can be traced to American origins, the comics that the Americans brought over have been intensely modified to create essentially a new form of media. Manga and anime have become a significant component of Japanese culture, and often times they integrate Japanese culture and society. Yet, regardless of its Japanese origin, anime is still viewed on the other side of the planet. The question then becomes what is it that makes it so appealing to a foreign audience? This paper will rely heavily on Susan Napier’s book, From Impressionism to Anime: Japan as Fantasy and Fan Cult in the Mind of the
...c Fiction.” Southern Literary Journal 33.2 (Spring 2001): 9 pp. Online. Internet. 1 Nov 2001.
The Harry Potter phenomenon had its humble beginning all the way back in the 1990s, when the first book, written by J. K. Rowling, came out in the shops. The main protagonist, a scrawny, young child wizard, who wore round glasses, had an immediate appeal to the readers, but no one at that time knew that the young boy would turn out to be the literary icon of the last decade. The popularity of the book resulted in it being translated into various language...
Fan Culture is something that has been around for a while, but it the last twenty years, since the introduction of the Internet, it is also something that has changed dramatically. A fan is an enthusiast of something and now the Internet is a good home for fans to gather and build together a community of fans, a ‘Fandom’. The turn Fandom means a community of a group of people who all enjoy them same thing and the Internet has created a place for online communities. Fan Culture has irreversibly changed the media industry because of the ability share information and fan made created content. The creation of these online based communities have meant that people from all over the world can talk about the latest TV shows, movies, books, comics and other forms of content and create groups dedicated to them. The Internet has also become a platform for the creation of a collective community, where individuals who all have shared interests can go. “Fans uses of technologies bring a sense of playfulness to the work of active reading” (2010; 12). Digital Fandoms are user-led forum of content creation, the fans create a number of things; fan fiction, fan blogs, fan made videos, fan art work, wiki leaks. The fans create a whole new life, another side of the TV show, film or book, that is complicity run and used by the fans. These fan made creation do not have to stick to what is canon in the show and can do what they wish with the character and the storylines. However is this an okay thing to do, Henry Jenkins refers to the fans who create these things are ‘Textual Poachers’. Those fans are now active interpreters instead of passive consumers. In this view the fans are poaching the created content of the writer. The fans have power to create t...
...ian legends are true, they must be taken lightly for it should be assumed that everything in print may be amplified to ten times what the real Arthur may have accomplished during his lifetime.
Zipes, Jack. Why Fairy Tales Stick: The Evolution and Relevance of a Genre. New York: Routledge, 2006. Print.
Back in 2003 Henry Jenkins caused a massive stir in the media world when he introduced the idea of transmedia storytelling, Jenkins describes it as a process where elements of fiction are dispersed across multiple media platforms in order to serve the purpose of creating a coordinated entertainment experience. Jenkins goes on to say that preferably, each medium will contribute different aspects which will assist in the telling of a story and unveil new aspects. However a good transmedia text does not simply supply information, instead it allows the fans, or fandom, to interact with the world within the text (Jenkins, 2007). This essay will arue that transmedia storytelling impacts on how the audience interacts with the story, in order to