Canon in RPS
May. 6th, 2003 05:06 pmAs far as the canon (and whether one should feel obligated to researching it) in RPS discussion going on, I don't feel it's in keeping with the spirit of fanfiction (unless labeled AU or AR) to pick and choose the bits of canon convenient to what one is writing. These people lead real lives, where real things happen, which involve real people, that mean certain conditions. Why bother using their names if you're not going to stick with their story? RPS is the cliched double-edged sword because there's so much canon - which means you have it to get hold of and analyze for personas to emerge, but which also means that there exist facts you can't contradict and boundaries you can't cross if you want people to accept your characters as comparable facsimiles of their living counterparts. Yes, there are questions they can't answer, things they can't admit to, lies they have to tell for image or legal purposes. Personally, I see the stuff between the lines as all pretty common sense (demographic appeal, privacy issues, etc.) and fairly possible to deduce (body language, suprasegmentals, etc.)
On that same note, if a fic is not labeled AU, it should be plausibly (which is to whatever extent based on individual perception, yes, so I think I really mean idealistically) extrapolated. Just because they're *probably* not sleeping with each other, doesn't mean we can throw everything else to the wind, too. I should hope no one believes their stories actually happened, but the scenarios should (ideally) be plausible enough (independently of personal interpretation, i.e. considering timeline, the nature of the existant relationship between the people involved, etc.) to qualify as reasonable extrapolation.
But that's just me. I like the reality aspect of RPS fanfiction - I am also a canon whore. I didn't dare touch any of these boys until I'd read, seen, heard, experienced a very fair amount of media concerning them. Timelines and interviews and projects and interests, and we're not talking preteen magazine fact sheets from before they came back from Germany. What author wouldn't want to do right by the characters they portray, whoever they happen to be, fictional or otherwise?
But then there are those who say fiction is fiction and there's just different flavors of that and no need to get stuck in the details if it makes the story better, and that's perfectly justifiable as well. People read fanfiction for a lot of reasons, and if a certain pairing is your thing then to hell with circumstances.
*gets off soapbox*
On that same note, if a fic is not labeled AU, it should be plausibly (which is to whatever extent based on individual perception, yes, so I think I really mean idealistically) extrapolated. Just because they're *probably* not sleeping with each other, doesn't mean we can throw everything else to the wind, too. I should hope no one believes their stories actually happened, but the scenarios should (ideally) be plausible enough (independently of personal interpretation, i.e. considering timeline, the nature of the existant relationship between the people involved, etc.) to qualify as reasonable extrapolation.
But that's just me. I like the reality aspect of RPS fanfiction - I am also a canon whore. I didn't dare touch any of these boys until I'd read, seen, heard, experienced a very fair amount of media concerning them. Timelines and interviews and projects and interests, and we're not talking preteen magazine fact sheets from before they came back from Germany. What author wouldn't want to do right by the characters they portray, whoever they happen to be, fictional or otherwise?
But then there are those who say fiction is fiction and there's just different flavors of that and no need to get stuck in the details if it makes the story better, and that's perfectly justifiable as well. People read fanfiction for a lot of reasons, and if a certain pairing is your thing then to hell with circumstances.
*gets off soapbox*