According to the online Oxford Dictionary (2016), fan fiction is “fiction written by a fan of, and featuring characters from, a particular TV series, film, etc.”. Accordingly fan ficion is therefore not a new phenomenon except for the title. If one thinks back to some of the more popular ‘remakes’ or ‘adaptations’ of various classic characters from books and films, we can see the longevity of fan fiction. Some examples of this are Sherlock Holmes and Watson who have been portrayed many times from varying perspectives and some would say to the point of becoming cult figures. The elusive subject of Copyright is one of the main considerations when dealing with fan fiction of course because author’s works no matter how old may still be unavailable to resuse. Pande (2015) in his article “Explainer: What is Fan Fiction?” states that “in Australia, the US and the EU, copyright exists for the lifetime of the author plus seventy years”. Sprague (2012) states that “fan fiction falls under fair use guidelines as long as writers are not profiting from the revised work”. These two statements probably best sum up the confusion over copyright issues. Pande further states that the Disney adaptations “The Jungle Book” and “Alice in Wonderland” were based on out-of-copyright novels and could be considered as fan fiction. A more contemporary and controversial adaptation is that of “50 Shades of Grey” by E L James which is subject to debate in regard to whether it was based on the protagonists Bella and Edward from the Twilight series of books written by Stephenie Meyer. The fact that the Twilight series of books are under copyright is where the controversy stems from and the origins of the characters from 50 Shades of Grey have been obscure presumably for this reason. So we have a definition of fan fiction and some examples but do we know why it is so popular? What are people doing with it and what do they get from it? Internet use and the degree of connectivity that we live with has also increased people’s ability to connect with fandom websites and therefore like-minded people. One quote from Becca Scaffner in Sprague (2012, p. 1) puts thing in perspective in regard to books and can be applied to films and other media, “In many ways, online fandom fulfills the librarian’s or teacher’s deepest desire: It’s an entire community of people who can’t stop talking and thinking and sharing about books”. So the answer to those questions posed in regard to the use of fan fiction is that fan fiction collaborators are connecting with like-minded people to discuss, analyse and adapt stories and characters that they have connected or become involved with via books or film. These websites are communities of people with shared interests and also serve a social purpose. Collaborators on fan fiction websites also act as editors by giving feedback on spelling, grammar as well as the writing itself. For younger people particularly this helps them become better writers. This leads us to the idea of using fan fiction in the classroom which without knowing it we have probably been doing already by using writing prompts. We give students a platform to build on by giving them the framework of characters, setting and even plot so they can focus on the writing process. One example is the classic strategy of “story starters” whether written, verbal or visual. “Students choose stories they are familiar with and characters they love. This gives the story personal meaning for them. Also, to write good fan fiction, students need to read the literary work they are basing their stories on”, (Sprague, 2012). Fan fiction in the classroom is multimodal as various websites and apps can be used to create videos with images, narration and memes. Book trailers are a good example of this and there are many apps that are designed to make production of a multimodal review relatively simple by offering templates with preset layouts. “Another instructional strategy involves the use of popular-culture texts to help students explore aspects of their identities related to race, class, and gender differences”, (Knobel in Beach, R. & O'Brien, D. 2008, p. 20). Students can compare the characters from the chosen text and discuss differences between cultures or gender etc and even adapt characters based on their own identity or others. “The power of fanfiction stems from the fact that it actively invites writers to break down boundaries considered “natural” in a broader cultural context – primarily around sex, sexuality, and gender”, (Pande, 2015). For this reason alone fan fiction can be viewed as a positive influence on popular culture and the broader community. References Beach, R. & O'Brien, D. (2008). Teaching popular culture texts in the classroom. Graber, D. (2014, February 28). Kids, tech and those shrinking attention spans. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diana-graber/kids-tech-and-those-shrinking-attention-spans_b_4870655.html?ir=Australia Oxford (2016). In Oxford Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Retrieved from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/fan_fiction Pande, R. (2015, October 7). Explainer: What is fanfiction? Retrieved from ://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-fanfiction-48150 Sprague, D. (2012). Use Fan Fiction with Elementary Students. Learning & Leading With Technology, 39(7), 28-29. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2eG0yKz
1 Comment
Megan
10/30/2016 02:48:59 am
Hi Yvonne,
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C. S. Lewis"We read to know we are not alone." |