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

[danachan.livejournal.com]

What about the Finding Nemo fish-slash?

[brownbetty]

Aaaahaaaahaaaa....owmyhead.

[danachan.livejournal.com]

buah hah hah.

I'll not find you the link.

[katarik.livejournal.com]

Some of it's actually pretty good... *smirks evilly* Actually, only one that I found was any good. But that one was *very* good.

[danachan.livejournal.com]

hah. Well, I've found two, but I can't find the link for either of them right now -- one of them really wasn't that bad, you know, if you didn't focus on the fact that they were fish. *laughs*

[katarik.livejournal.com]

*laughs*
Did you find the one by IIRC anamuensuis1 (sp?) That was the one I really liked.
I can find the link for you, I think, if you would like.

[danachan.livejournal.com]

Now that I went googling, it seems that I've read them both. So, if links are wanted, they're now both actually available. *laughs*

[katarik.livejournal.com]

*laughs*
I found myself rereading amanuensis1's Gill/Nemo fic today. And then I read the comments again, and was bitten by a Scar/Simba bunny. ARGH.