An Olive Branch

[poliphilo]

I've been thinking about fandom, trying to understand.  I even read (or rather skimmed) a piece of Potter fanfic last night. It was surprisingly good. People have been saying how fanfic is mostly rubbish, but this was thoughtful, touching, respectful of Rowling's characters and at least as well written (in terms of literary style) as Rowling's own work. It wasn't porn- I hasten to add.

"Literature is a luxury, fiction is a necessity", said G.K. Chesterton. We all need that escape out of the real world (which may not be as real as it pretends to be) into story. In story the rules are simpler, there's authorial control, less randomness, fewer boring bits and we can engage our emotions without ever getting really hurt. In Chesterton's day they had books and theatre. These days we also have cinema, TV, radio, RPGs, video-games and the internet. It feels good to get lost in story. The danger is we get in too deep and stop paying attention to the real world.

Like Don Quixote.

So that's one reason for fandom. It's about getting deep into story and exploring it beyond the bounds of canon.  Fanfic turns finite story into never-ending story. 

The other reason for fandom is the human need for community. Fandom functions like any other community- like a church, tribe, clan, gang, order, fraternity, sorority, club, whatever. It's about people bonding round a totem. Only the totem here is not a deity or a secret or an oath or shared blood, but a work of fiction. Compared with other types of community, fandom seems relatively benign. Some fans despise outsiders (as some wizards despise muggles) and there's always the temptation to turn inwards and separate from the herd on the model of the saved and the unsaved, the sheep and the goats,  but, on the other hand, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of hierarchy, membership is open to anyone who cares about the totem, and the values implicit in the totem (LOTR, Trek, Star Wars, Potter are all highly moral works) are likely to keep most members on the straight and narrow.

There are some extremists. I still think that picture is a bit iffy.  But has fandom committed any murders, rapes, persecutions, terrorist outrages, invasions of a foreign country?  Not that I'm aware of.

Comments

[goddlefrood.livejournal.com]

As you know, in another response to an earlier entry I did criticise fanfiction. I've only ever read one piece of it, like yourself, and that because the author had asked me for input. I, therefore, wanted to know how the suggestion I'd made fit into the story. It was a very good piece and nicely done.

The reason I haven't really looked into fanfiction is pollution of the story, also as a some time legal eagle the thought of copyrighted material being used in other's work didn't sit well with me.

One of your respondents mentioned the debates that raged about various moral aspects of the story. Frankly Deathly Hallows showed that the morals were somewhat shallow. There was no freedom for other magical beings or even a movement towards same as many had expected there to be. There was no resolution of the differences between the school houses excpet in a very minor way, which was contrary to a lot of foreshadowing in the preceding 6 books. Also good guys could do anything they wished with little or no moral analysis of whether it was justified, whereas anything the bad guys did was bad full stop. A little shallow in my opinion in that regard.

Two essays I've written have been picked up on by some outside the Potter fandom and used as instructive. One was about Dittany and is linked somewhere on a botanical institute's website. The other was a comedic speculation regarding some of the characters and how they might play out in book 7. That one is now linked from a psychological site and recommended for generating laughter. As I'm far from conceited I won't go much further into where these are available. I think one might be on my blog too, or possibly both.

I agree though when you say Rowling is not a writer who easily moves one, she writes action well but is a little hamfisted in certain other areas. Time will tell if the books remain as popular as they have been ... using dots despite M. R. James's lovely line that words would be preferrable.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I thought Order of the Phoenix was easily the best of the series. She got stuck into a groove there that resonated very nicely with the politics of Blair's Britain. I wouldn't say the later books disappointed me, but I don't think they're as solid.

She's a great story teller. When it comes to handling character and emotions she's superficial.

Will she last? She's not great literature, but then neither is Bram Stoker's Dracula or Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and they're still going strong.

[goddlefrood.livejournal.com]

There's something we have in common then, I too liked Order of the Phoenix best of the series. It did peter out a little though, I suppose we can't have everything.

It'll be interesting to see if the books do last, it's a solid enough tale, after all, a little like Dracula and Frankenstein possibly ... good tales both.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Great stories have a habit of surviving- irrespective of their worth as literature. We'll see what happens...