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

[chalcopyrite.livejournal.com]

While yes, I think the phenomenon of fanfiction and the internet community is a fascinating thing, I am less than eager to play chimp to their Jane Goodall. Perhaps it's only in the wording, not the intent, but how do we decide which ideas or texts or people are sufficiently important is the sort of academic elitism that gets right up my nose. Also, I am looking *really hard* at the implied judgement in the title of the course and in the description of it -- that "troublesome fans" you pulled out is one of them.

Mostly, I think, I just don't like being the one (one of the ones) on the microscope slide, with uninvolved academics going, "Oh look!"

(How devoted can fans be to their chosen topic, without provoking concern or contempt? ::looks suspicious:: This has me waiting for someone to deliberately provoke a flame war or some serious wank. I'd be more worried about it if it was sociology, but still.)