Fandom Alert: Fanfic and its Writers as Subjects of Study

[browngirl]

A professor at George Washington University is teaching a course called 'Get a Life!: ‘Shippers, Slashers, and Other Media Fans'. As part of this course, students "will also become a participant-observer of an internet fan fiction community (e.g., Full Metal Alchemist or Lord of the Rings)"

While it sounds as if this course is addressing some issues I personally find fascinating, I don't know if I think this is such a great idea, an influx of people joining fandoms just to study them without having any love for them. Especially because of the attitude reflected in the course description:

"And what about those troublesome fans who use some preexisting story as the springboard for their own stories or art: are they authors in their own right, or thieves, or pathetic parasites? How do we compare a fan novella drawing on characters from the Harry Potter universe to such a work as Jean Rhys's critically-acclaimed Wide Sargasso Sea, which rewords the characters of Jane Eyre? These questions will lead us to larger philosophical mysteries, such as the line between knock-off and clever adaptation, or between copyright violation, plagiarism, and scholarly citation. "

So I find this a little alarming. What do you all think?

Comments

[katarik.livejournal.com]

I read Wide Sargasso Sea for AP World Lit this summer. That book is nothing but published fanfic, and if anyone wants to tell the professor in question that I said so... go *right* ahead.

It does sound alarming, and the students sound as though they have the potential to be really irritating.
But... they might not be. And they might be converted; if I had to do this, I'd pick something I already liked so I'd know what fen were talking about.
Of course, I say that already being a member of fandom, so that probably colors my view.

[laurelgardner.livejournal.com]

I read Wide Sargasso Sea for AP World Lit this summer. That book is nothing but published fanfic, and if anyone wants to tell the professor in question that I said so... go *right* ahead.

Not to mention books like, "Cosette," "Grendel," "Scarlett," or the "Wind in the Willows" sequels. It's the same principal.

Musicians write variations on themes by other composers...painters do renderings of the works of the masters...choreographers re-create the styles of people like Jerome Robbins. Writers are the only artists who don't recognize some form of direct derivative creation as a part of the creative process.

[katarik.livejournal.com]

Grendel was published fanfic, too.

And Scarlett was published fanfic that wasn't *nearly* as good as the original. I liked the book, but... Rhett, especially with the scene where he and Scarlett have sex after they nearly died, just was *not* Rhett.
There were bits I greatly enjoyed of it, though. Overall, I liked the book.

Well. Writers don't *obviously* recognize direct derivative. At least, most don't.