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

[brownbetty]

Well, it feels a little funny to be on the wrong side of the window, but... I'm sure nothing much will come of it. Thirty students out of the whole of the internet? And students who are probably already interested in fanfiction, given that syllabus.

(Heee! Lee Goldburg discovered the existence of Smurf Fanfiction of ff.net and is gleefully using it to prove that fanfiction sucks! Uh. Lee. Hon.)

[wyna-hiros.livejournal.com]

But has he found the Brave Little Toaster slash fic yet? xD!

[brownbetty]

It's the Super Mario-cest slash that'll really break his brain.

[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.