Essay on Fan fiction.
Mar. 25th, 2006 04:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kippurbirdSo Here it is: My essay on why Fan ficc writers have done what they've done. In regards to Evil , at least. Comments and Critisim and tearing apart are much welcomed, for they only serve to make it better.
Voldemort has changed over the summer
Fan fiction is the art of taking another person’s work – be it novel, television show, movie or comic book – and writing a story that takes place in the world of that work. Usually, fan fiction is written by women in their early teens and older. By examining the fan fiction published on the internet a person can get a feel as what the fans feel are important to the book, be it characters or events. It is a way to criticize a work or engage it in a unique way, a way different than traditional academia. It is also way to see how people, young women who often don’t give traditional literary criticism, deal with the issues presented in the works.
One topic that is often written about is the concept of evil and its minions. With works like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia, being exceptionally popular now, evil is constantly present as most fantasy books are about the fight between good and evil, the light and the dark. But the antagonists and villains that are translated from the novels into fan fiction barely resemble their progenitors and those that aren’t evil at all become tagged as villainous. For example: according to some fan fiction writers, Lord Voldemort, only known creator of a horcrux, which the creation of is such a violent and evil act tearing the soul of the creator into pieces, a man who enjoyed torturing his peers in the orphanage as a child, and who has no care for any life except his own is really just – in some cases, a boy who is being manipulated by his demon lover and only wants to protect the daughter he gave birth to, a man who’s in love with Harry Potter, a man who was tricked by the Evil Dumbledore or any number of potential reasons that make it so that he really isn’t evil- just misunderstood..
The question is, then, why?
Why do the fan fiction writers feel this need to write a villain so out of character that they no longer resemble the person that they are supposed to be?
One of the reasons maybe that they are taught from the books that they read before hand that there is no such thing as real evil, just people who are misunderstood. All a person has to do is be plucky enough to see past the evil person’s exterior and into the mushy goodness that is hidden deep inside. Something rather like what Arthur Dent says about a Vogon’s poetry and why he writes it, but as the Vogon’s say in reply to that “I just write poetry to throw my mean callous heartless exterior into sharp relief.”( Adams 67) .
But the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a more sophisticated and adult book, with the lines of good and evil are often skewed[1], unlike books that fan fiction writers usually read. The Books that they read, before the likes of Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, are like Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, which presents a world where evil isn’t a real threat. People don’t die, or get seriously hurt.
For example, the biggest threats or evil in Ella’s world are the Ogres.
“ Ogres [we are told] weren’t dangerous only because of their size and their cruelty. They knew your secrets just by looking at you, and they used their knowledge. When they wanted to be, they were irresistibly persuasive. By the end of an ogre’s first sentence in Kyrrian, you forgot his pointy teeth, the dried blood under his fingernails, and the coarse black hair that grew on his face in clumps. He became handsome in your eyes, and you thought him your best friend. By the end of the second sentence, you were so won over that he could do whatever he wanted with you, drop you in a pot to cook, or, if he was in a hurry, eat you raw.” (Levine 43-44)
And yet, despite the supposed danger of these creatures, several of them are kept in the Royal Zoo to be gawked at much like the unintelligent centaurs. Later on in the book ogres capture Ella. They didn’t attack her; they merely stumbled upon her in her sleep and tied her up. Apparently her pony was enough of a snack that they didn’t feel like cooking her right up. This gives her the opportunity to use their ability of smooth talking against them. When the handsome prince comes to her rescue, she has already got them under her control. The brief battle that follows, when Prince Char and his companions try to tie the ogres up, is ended quickly and without bloodshed. After this encounter the ogres never cause any trouble or are mentioned again.
The evil stepmother and sisters presented in the book are not evil, but instead are stupid and greedy. They are presented as creatures to be pitted instead of feared. The younger daughter Olive, who was more stupid than anything else, ends up married to “a garrulous widower [who] fell in love with her unwavering attention.” (Levine 231) Hattie never marries, but that could hardly be considered a dire fate.
What must be noticed in the story, as previously mentioned, is the representation of evil. It is easily over come, nothing really bad becomes of it, and it eventually vanishes never to be heard of again, when it comes to evil creatures at least. As for humans, no one is truly evil, they’re just misunderstood or haven’t found the right person who loves them enough to reform them.
The idea of reforming “evil” is found in many children’s books because when children are young great emphasis is placed on tolerance and getting along with other people. Bullies aren’t really bullies, but people in need of a friend and once the hand of friendship is extended, they’re really just nice people after all. The idea that someone could be truly evil or unworthy of redemption doesn’t come into play. Tolerance for all kinds of people, no matter what they look like is enforced, be they autistic in books like Joey and Sam by Illana Katz and Edward Ritvo, a children’s book about two brothers, one who is autistic the other who isn’t, to the Pushcart War by Jean Merrill a novel using pushcarts and truck companies in New York city as an allegory for the persecution of the Jews in World War Two and how tolerance of the those different than you is much more worthwhile than simply trying to destroy them.
Another view of what is evil is can be found in how fan fiction writers often portray characters that they don’t like. The biggest examples of this can be found in the Lord of the Rings fan fiction with the two characters of Thranduil elven king of Mirkwood and Denethor Steward of Gondor. In a meta fan fiction (a fan fiction about fan fiction) one Author describes what the fan writers generally think of as evil by having the evil versions of the characters read off the charges of evil so commonly brought against them in a classroom setting design to create better fan fiction writers.
“Dark mists suddenly swirled and two figures stepped out. Evil radiated off them. A few students squealed happily. Wannabe-evils, for sure.
"I abuse my son," Evil!Thranduil read off a cue-card.
"I abuse my sons," Evil!Denethor read off his cue-card.
"I deny my son marrying Sues[2]," Evil!Thranduil exclaimed. "Hey, isn't that a good thing?"
"The Evil thing would be to actually let him marry them," Evil!Denethor replied. "Right. I rape Aragorn. What?"
"What?" Denethor echoed. "That's not evil, that's just wrong."
"Even Evil has its standards," Evil!Thranduil huffed. "I chain my son up in the Evil!Palace."
"I hit Faramir and Evil!Boromir is my favourite."
"I rape my son. What?"
"I have others rape my son. What? Excuse me, is this the wrong room?" Evil!Denethor turned to his good counterpart. "Are we at Sex-Addicted Rulers Anonymous?"
"I am afraid not," Denethor said sadly. "Fangirl ideas of evil, you see."
"I am an evil tyrant," Evil!Thranduil read, rolling his eyes. "I assume I turned Mirkwood into Evil!Mirkwood then, since no one has toppled me."
"I am an evil Stewart. Of course I am. I obviously don't even know my proper title," Evil!Denethor muttered. "If you really want to write us evil, we should be conspiring with Sauron, trying to gain the One Ring for ourselves - not this petty stuff. I feel like Miscreant!Denethor."
Evil!Thranduil nodded vigorously. "This isn't evil, this is just stupid. Why would I be abusing my son? I would be busy corrupting him if I had even bothered having a son at all. Do you know how often Evil Kings are toppled by their no less Evil Sons?"
"And what in Sauron's black name is this rape stuff? We're evil. We have our standards." (Sandman, Chapter 19)
Looking at the charges brought against the two lords gives a good example of what is considered evil. Rape, withholding of marriage, and abuse. While rape and abuse are ‘evil’ acts, it is often in the fan fiction stories used merely for a cheap emotional pull and then is rarely dealt with in a realistic manner before easily being forgotten. It has no real impact on the character and their ability to interact with other people later on. Often times the character that is raped often falls in love with their rapist, the rape being used as the device that lets the abused character realized that their rapist is their One True Love or the rape is the plot device that leads them to finding their One True Love, the first person who comforts them and gives them healing sex. Interestingly missing on this list of evil acts is murder or killing in general. Such things aren’t a real part of a fan writer – or indeed most people’s – life and it is more like an abstraction of something that might happen, like getting hit by lightening. Besides murder gets in the way with the fantasy, usually a romance, that they are trying to create. Who wants to go and have sex with a potential murder? Or even have to deal with one? It’s just easier to have it so that it doesn’t exist.
Another tantalizing question that is offered by these two oft-maligned lords is, “Why are the portrayed as evil?” There is no canonical reason for them to be portrayed as such; at least not in the ways that the fan writers choose to do so. It could, then, be that they desire a villain, an antagonist to their Mary Sue –an original female character that is an authorial insert found in poorly written fan fiction stories – who desires the love of Thranduil’s or Denethor’s child. And since parents are often the opposition to the writer’s own wants and desires it makes perfect sense for the father characters in their stories to be the same.
Another, completely and totally different reason that fan writers will make the irredeemable redeemable deals with the more shallow of societal reasons. Namely, if a person is good looking then they must be good because this is what all the marketing ads and television shows tell us. This usually applies to characters like Draco Malfoy. In the movies Malfoy is played by the comely actor named Tom Felton. The fan writer is attracted to Tom Felton or “Draco Malfoy” and wants to write a story about him falling in love with someone remarkably similar to themselves. However Draco Malfoy is not the sort of person that most people would like to be around. He’s a bully, racist and generally morally lacking. But this goes against what Hollywood and the media has taught us, which is: beautiful people are good and ugly people are bad. So, Tom Felton, or Draco Malfoy mustn’t really be “evil” but in fact misunderstood or pretending to be “evil” so that his father doesn’t beat or rape him. Lucius Malfoy tends to suffer both the same problems as his son and that of King Thranduil, depending on the writer. While the books don’t support such theories (except perhaps in the Half Blood Prince) such a story could be plausibly written, if handled well.
But instead, unfortunately, such things are often not written well at all. Instead of stories looking at the difficulties of what it must be like for Draco to go against his father and years of family influence and to try and find acceptance with those who he formally was antagonistic with, something else entirely is written. As mentioned already, Draco is a stubborn and arrogant young man who believes in the superiority of his self over others. He doesn’t have friends; he has minions. He and Harry Potter would rather eat the entrails of a rotten cow than be best of friends. Yet the fan writers often change that. Without explanation Harry and Draco are lovers – Draco often pregnant with their children. Or in other cases Draco and Hermione are soul mates, or have an arranged marriage or any other of myriad excuses to get them basically in bed together. The fact that Hermione is a muggle born witch and Draco despises them is left on the wayside of her beauty or just never mentioned.
Who Draco really is, as a character, isn’t important. All that matters is the fulfillment of the writer’s fantasies with Tom Felton. If Draco remains a snotty, arrogant, racist bully then he becomes a less desirable individual. After all we are taught that racism and bullies are bad. Loving a bully or an ‘evil’ person is, then a bad thing to do, also something that is taught. So to fulfill the fan writer’s fantasy, they change the evil person into a good person, thus making it more comfortable and acceptable to be in a relationship with them.
Is there a problem with such writing behavior? In some ways, no, after all the fan writers are expressing themselves and learning the craft of writing, which has sometimes been feared to be a lost art. They are engaging and reading literature, which will hopefully spark a greater interest in reading other types of books and writing beyond fan fiction. It also gives them practice in critical thinking skills, because creating a story based one someone else’s work is not an easy task. Yet there is the other side of this coin.
The fan fiction writer, as often as one pays attention to the canon and world that they are writing in, ten more do not. When told that what they are writing has nothing to do with the canon world, or breaks many of the rules, they decry “It’s fan fiction, that means I can write what I want.” They don’t see the need to keep the characters in character, to keep the evil as evil. They don’t realize or care about the repercussions of changing a fundamental characteristic of an evil character or good character. That if Lord Voldemort is really good, or misunderstood that it renders the entire point of the Harry Potter books meaningless.
The fan writers have become so absorbed in their need for fantasy fulfillment and the idea that no one is truly evil that they don’t understand the need for the villains in a story. Because, after all, fiction often reflects life, and in life sometimes, there is true evil. Evil that cannot be swayed by a pretty face or a kind touch. And if they don’t learn this in their readings, writings and fantasies then they become much more vulnerable to harm in the real world, much like what their idea of rape has become.
End Notes
Adams, Douglas. “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”
Levine, Gail Carson. “Ella Enchanted”
Sandman, Camilla. “Once More into the Urple Depths”
[1] On the barby.
[2] Sues, short for Mary Sues are authorial wish fulfillment character inserted into the fan fiction story. They are usually very badly written, both grammatically and plot wise.
Fan fiction is the art of taking another person’s work – be it novel, television show, movie or comic book – and writing a story that takes place in the world of that work. Usually, fan fiction is written by women in their early teens and older. By examining the fan fiction published on the internet a person can get a feel as what the fans feel are important to the book, be it characters or events. It is a way to criticize a work or engage it in a unique way, a way different than traditional academia. It is also way to see how people, young women who often don’t give traditional literary criticism, deal with the issues presented in the works.
One topic that is often written about is the concept of evil and its minions. With works like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia, being exceptionally popular now, evil is constantly present as most fantasy books are about the fight between good and evil, the light and the dark. But the antagonists and villains that are translated from the novels into fan fiction barely resemble their progenitors and those that aren’t evil at all become tagged as villainous. For example: according to some fan fiction writers, Lord Voldemort, only known creator of a horcrux, which the creation of is such a violent and evil act tearing the soul of the creator into pieces, a man who enjoyed torturing his peers in the orphanage as a child, and who has no care for any life except his own is really just – in some cases, a boy who is being manipulated by his demon lover and only wants to protect the daughter he gave birth to, a man who’s in love with Harry Potter, a man who was tricked by the Evil Dumbledore or any number of potential reasons that make it so that he really isn’t evil- just misunderstood..
The question is, then, why?
Why do the fan fiction writers feel this need to write a villain so out of character that they no longer resemble the person that they are supposed to be?
One of the reasons maybe that they are taught from the books that they read before hand that there is no such thing as real evil, just people who are misunderstood. All a person has to do is be plucky enough to see past the evil person’s exterior and into the mushy goodness that is hidden deep inside. Something rather like what Arthur Dent says about a Vogon’s poetry and why he writes it, but as the Vogon’s say in reply to that “I just write poetry to throw my mean callous heartless exterior into sharp relief.”( Adams 67) .
But the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a more sophisticated and adult book, with the lines of good and evil are often skewed[1], unlike books that fan fiction writers usually read. The Books that they read, before the likes of Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, are like Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, which presents a world where evil isn’t a real threat. People don’t die, or get seriously hurt.
For example, the biggest threats or evil in Ella’s world are the Ogres.
“ Ogres [we are told] weren’t dangerous only because of their size and their cruelty. They knew your secrets just by looking at you, and they used their knowledge. When they wanted to be, they were irresistibly persuasive. By the end of an ogre’s first sentence in Kyrrian, you forgot his pointy teeth, the dried blood under his fingernails, and the coarse black hair that grew on his face in clumps. He became handsome in your eyes, and you thought him your best friend. By the end of the second sentence, you were so won over that he could do whatever he wanted with you, drop you in a pot to cook, or, if he was in a hurry, eat you raw.” (Levine 43-44)
And yet, despite the supposed danger of these creatures, several of them are kept in the Royal Zoo to be gawked at much like the unintelligent centaurs. Later on in the book ogres capture Ella. They didn’t attack her; they merely stumbled upon her in her sleep and tied her up. Apparently her pony was enough of a snack that they didn’t feel like cooking her right up. This gives her the opportunity to use their ability of smooth talking against them. When the handsome prince comes to her rescue, she has already got them under her control. The brief battle that follows, when Prince Char and his companions try to tie the ogres up, is ended quickly and without bloodshed. After this encounter the ogres never cause any trouble or are mentioned again.
The evil stepmother and sisters presented in the book are not evil, but instead are stupid and greedy. They are presented as creatures to be pitted instead of feared. The younger daughter Olive, who was more stupid than anything else, ends up married to “a garrulous widower [who] fell in love with her unwavering attention.” (Levine 231) Hattie never marries, but that could hardly be considered a dire fate.
What must be noticed in the story, as previously mentioned, is the representation of evil. It is easily over come, nothing really bad becomes of it, and it eventually vanishes never to be heard of again, when it comes to evil creatures at least. As for humans, no one is truly evil, they’re just misunderstood or haven’t found the right person who loves them enough to reform them.
The idea of reforming “evil” is found in many children’s books because when children are young great emphasis is placed on tolerance and getting along with other people. Bullies aren’t really bullies, but people in need of a friend and once the hand of friendship is extended, they’re really just nice people after all. The idea that someone could be truly evil or unworthy of redemption doesn’t come into play. Tolerance for all kinds of people, no matter what they look like is enforced, be they autistic in books like Joey and Sam by Illana Katz and Edward Ritvo, a children’s book about two brothers, one who is autistic the other who isn’t, to the Pushcart War by Jean Merrill a novel using pushcarts and truck companies in New York city as an allegory for the persecution of the Jews in World War Two and how tolerance of the those different than you is much more worthwhile than simply trying to destroy them.
Another view of what is evil is can be found in how fan fiction writers often portray characters that they don’t like. The biggest examples of this can be found in the Lord of the Rings fan fiction with the two characters of Thranduil elven king of Mirkwood and Denethor Steward of Gondor. In a meta fan fiction (a fan fiction about fan fiction) one Author describes what the fan writers generally think of as evil by having the evil versions of the characters read off the charges of evil so commonly brought against them in a classroom setting design to create better fan fiction writers.
“Dark mists suddenly swirled and two figures stepped out. Evil radiated off them. A few students squealed happily. Wannabe-evils, for sure.
"I abuse my son," Evil!Thranduil read off a cue-card.
"I abuse my sons," Evil!Denethor read off his cue-card.
"I deny my son marrying Sues[2]," Evil!Thranduil exclaimed. "Hey, isn't that a good thing?"
"The Evil thing would be to actually let him marry them," Evil!Denethor replied. "Right. I rape Aragorn. What?"
"What?" Denethor echoed. "That's not evil, that's just wrong."
"Even Evil has its standards," Evil!Thranduil huffed. "I chain my son up in the Evil!Palace."
"I hit Faramir and Evil!Boromir is my favourite."
"I rape my son. What?"
"I have others rape my son. What? Excuse me, is this the wrong room?" Evil!Denethor turned to his good counterpart. "Are we at Sex-Addicted Rulers Anonymous?"
"I am afraid not," Denethor said sadly. "Fangirl ideas of evil, you see."
"I am an evil tyrant," Evil!Thranduil read, rolling his eyes. "I assume I turned Mirkwood into Evil!Mirkwood then, since no one has toppled me."
"I am an evil Stewart. Of course I am. I obviously don't even know my proper title," Evil!Denethor muttered. "If you really want to write us evil, we should be conspiring with Sauron, trying to gain the One Ring for ourselves - not this petty stuff. I feel like Miscreant!Denethor."
Evil!Thranduil nodded vigorously. "This isn't evil, this is just stupid. Why would I be abusing my son? I would be busy corrupting him if I had even bothered having a son at all. Do you know how often Evil Kings are toppled by their no less Evil Sons?"
"And what in Sauron's black name is this rape stuff? We're evil. We have our standards." (Sandman, Chapter 19)
Looking at the charges brought against the two lords gives a good example of what is considered evil. Rape, withholding of marriage, and abuse. While rape and abuse are ‘evil’ acts, it is often in the fan fiction stories used merely for a cheap emotional pull and then is rarely dealt with in a realistic manner before easily being forgotten. It has no real impact on the character and their ability to interact with other people later on. Often times the character that is raped often falls in love with their rapist, the rape being used as the device that lets the abused character realized that their rapist is their One True Love or the rape is the plot device that leads them to finding their One True Love, the first person who comforts them and gives them healing sex. Interestingly missing on this list of evil acts is murder or killing in general. Such things aren’t a real part of a fan writer – or indeed most people’s – life and it is more like an abstraction of something that might happen, like getting hit by lightening. Besides murder gets in the way with the fantasy, usually a romance, that they are trying to create. Who wants to go and have sex with a potential murder? Or even have to deal with one? It’s just easier to have it so that it doesn’t exist.
Another tantalizing question that is offered by these two oft-maligned lords is, “Why are the portrayed as evil?” There is no canonical reason for them to be portrayed as such; at least not in the ways that the fan writers choose to do so. It could, then, be that they desire a villain, an antagonist to their Mary Sue –an original female character that is an authorial insert found in poorly written fan fiction stories – who desires the love of Thranduil’s or Denethor’s child. And since parents are often the opposition to the writer’s own wants and desires it makes perfect sense for the father characters in their stories to be the same.
Another, completely and totally different reason that fan writers will make the irredeemable redeemable deals with the more shallow of societal reasons. Namely, if a person is good looking then they must be good because this is what all the marketing ads and television shows tell us. This usually applies to characters like Draco Malfoy. In the movies Malfoy is played by the comely actor named Tom Felton. The fan writer is attracted to Tom Felton or “Draco Malfoy” and wants to write a story about him falling in love with someone remarkably similar to themselves. However Draco Malfoy is not the sort of person that most people would like to be around. He’s a bully, racist and generally morally lacking. But this goes against what Hollywood and the media has taught us, which is: beautiful people are good and ugly people are bad. So, Tom Felton, or Draco Malfoy mustn’t really be “evil” but in fact misunderstood or pretending to be “evil” so that his father doesn’t beat or rape him. Lucius Malfoy tends to suffer both the same problems as his son and that of King Thranduil, depending on the writer. While the books don’t support such theories (except perhaps in the Half Blood Prince) such a story could be plausibly written, if handled well.
But instead, unfortunately, such things are often not written well at all. Instead of stories looking at the difficulties of what it must be like for Draco to go against his father and years of family influence and to try and find acceptance with those who he formally was antagonistic with, something else entirely is written. As mentioned already, Draco is a stubborn and arrogant young man who believes in the superiority of his self over others. He doesn’t have friends; he has minions. He and Harry Potter would rather eat the entrails of a rotten cow than be best of friends. Yet the fan writers often change that. Without explanation Harry and Draco are lovers – Draco often pregnant with their children. Or in other cases Draco and Hermione are soul mates, or have an arranged marriage or any other of myriad excuses to get them basically in bed together. The fact that Hermione is a muggle born witch and Draco despises them is left on the wayside of her beauty or just never mentioned.
Who Draco really is, as a character, isn’t important. All that matters is the fulfillment of the writer’s fantasies with Tom Felton. If Draco remains a snotty, arrogant, racist bully then he becomes a less desirable individual. After all we are taught that racism and bullies are bad. Loving a bully or an ‘evil’ person is, then a bad thing to do, also something that is taught. So to fulfill the fan writer’s fantasy, they change the evil person into a good person, thus making it more comfortable and acceptable to be in a relationship with them.
Is there a problem with such writing behavior? In some ways, no, after all the fan writers are expressing themselves and learning the craft of writing, which has sometimes been feared to be a lost art. They are engaging and reading literature, which will hopefully spark a greater interest in reading other types of books and writing beyond fan fiction. It also gives them practice in critical thinking skills, because creating a story based one someone else’s work is not an easy task. Yet there is the other side of this coin.
The fan fiction writer, as often as one pays attention to the canon and world that they are writing in, ten more do not. When told that what they are writing has nothing to do with the canon world, or breaks many of the rules, they decry “It’s fan fiction, that means I can write what I want.” They don’t see the need to keep the characters in character, to keep the evil as evil. They don’t realize or care about the repercussions of changing a fundamental characteristic of an evil character or good character. That if Lord Voldemort is really good, or misunderstood that it renders the entire point of the Harry Potter books meaningless.
The fan writers have become so absorbed in their need for fantasy fulfillment and the idea that no one is truly evil that they don’t understand the need for the villains in a story. Because, after all, fiction often reflects life, and in life sometimes, there is true evil. Evil that cannot be swayed by a pretty face or a kind touch. And if they don’t learn this in their readings, writings and fantasies then they become much more vulnerable to harm in the real world, much like what their idea of rape has become.
End Notes
Adams, Douglas. “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”
Levine, Gail Carson. “Ella Enchanted”
Sandman, Camilla. “Once More into the Urple Depths”
[1] On the barby.
[2] Sues, short for Mary Sues are authorial wish fulfillment character inserted into the fan fiction story. They are usually very badly written, both grammatically and plot wise.
