Canon vs Fandom

[LadyNox]

Aerine Lillet

Mmeeeh. I prefer canon over fanon. Everytime a fandom pairing occurs, it usually gains mass popularity despite the fact there is absolutely no or very little homosexual tendancy to the characters (like in FMA and Kingdom Hearts)

And the characters get screwed up the worst in fanfiction. Like the kid in Kingdom Hearts gets turned into an overdramatic starry-eyed p***y. Especially in my friend's mind. Kills me, just kills me.

This actually reminds me of a conversation I was having with my English professor some years back. We were talking about interpretations. If someone writes a novel, and you read it and you see themes in the story that writers didn’t intend to create that doesn’t necessarily make you wrong. Doesn’t make you right either. It just means your interpreting the work differently and as long as you can back it up with more than “well they breathed the same air”, I’m totally cool with this (even if I don’t agree).

That’s sorta the same thing with pairings in KH, FMA, etc. Sometimes an author creates these characters with no intention of making them slashy (though I think that some authors are very aware of their fan base and do give some fan service) but that doesn’t mean that their actions can’t be interpreted as such. It doesn’t even have to be yaoi slash either. For FMA, I can see Havoc and Hawkeye together as easily as I can see her with Roy. As for KH, I’ve been joking about Disney supporting polyandry just because Riku, Sora and Kairi seem to all be in love with each other.

I can point out several moments to back up my claims and when I do fan fiction I make sure that I don’t write the characters all Out of Character just to make my favored pairing happen. Which is honestly what I ask from everyone who writes and draws in fandom. The biggest issue with fandom is they espouse how X and Y are so perfect for each other, yet they have to change the characters’ personalities so drastically to make them “fall in love”. If you have to do that, then all you’re proving is that they don’t belong together.  

[blackwhiteandsilver]

LadyNox

Aerine Lillet

Mmeeeh. I prefer canon over fanon. Everytime a fandom pairing occurs, it usually gains mass popularity despite the fact there is absolutely no or very little homosexual tendancy to the characters (like in FMA and Kingdom Hearts)

And the characters get screwed up the worst in fanfiction. Like the kid in Kingdom Hearts gets turned into an overdramatic starry-eyed p***y. Especially in my friend's mind. Kills me, just kills me.

This actually reminds me of a conversation I was having with my English professor some years back. We were talking about interpretations. If someone writes a novel, and you read it and you see themes in the story that writers didn’t intend to create that doesn’t necessarily make you wrong. Doesn’t make you right either. It just means your interpreting the work differently and as long as you can back it up with more than “well they breathed the same air”, I’m totally cool with this (even if I don’t agree).

That’s sorta the same thing with pairings in KH, FMA, etc. Sometimes an author creates these characters with no intention of making them slashy (though I think that some authors are very aware of their fan base and do give some fan service) but that doesn’t mean that their actions can’t be interpreted as such. It doesn’t even have to be yaoi slash either. For FMA, I can see Havoc and Hawkeye together as easily as I can see her with Roy. As for KH, I’ve been joking about Disney supporting polyandry just because Riku, Sora and Kairi seem to all be in love with each other.

I can point out several moments to back up my claims and when I do fan fiction I make sure that I don’t write the characters all Out of Character just to make my favored pairing happen. Which is honestly what I ask from everyone who writes and draws in fandom. The biggest issue with fandom is they espouse how X and Y are so perfect for each other, yet they have to change the characters’ personalities so drastically to make them “fall in love”. If you have to do that, then all you’re proving is that they don’t belong together.

A very interesting reply. Although it makes sense for some types of slash fans, the ones that truly sadden me are the ones that write long, drawn out essays about how character X and Y were made for eachother, and that the author wanted them to be gay but Disney wouldn't let them put butt-sex in a children's video game.

That's what gets me down. People warp the characters so much that they aren't even the same people.  

[Uchimaki Yuuzora]

I'm a big fanfic person. I really am. I've had a love for reading that supercedes all other loves I've had since I was very, very young.

So... I'm not super picky. I don't lose sight of what the original character is like when I read, so I can read stuff that is moderately or stereotypically out of character without flinching.

The problem that I have is when characters are just made way too out of character. If Sasuke's being too girly, Naruto's being overly "uke"-ish, if Sakura/Ino/Hinata/Takenouchi Sora/Tachikawa Mimi is being too much of a b***h, and so on and so forth.

I'm not so picky that I completely refuse to read a BL fanfic that isn't completely or mostly in character because, well, lets face it, the situation of any of our pairings occuring in anything other than a CLAMP or a designated yaoi manga is very, very unlikely and therefore the putting together of two guys is going to come out 3/4 of the time as being OOC. It's inevitable. And there are some very very good stories out there where the characters are moderately OOC, but I'm not going to pass up a good story. I think that they all deserve a chance. It's hard to delve into characters psyche's you know? If they aren't your original character you're not going to instantly be able to emulate said character's personality to a T, you know? I read fics that are out of character, yes, but I always favorite the ones that are in character.

And... well... I'm a big fan of rival and/or best friend romances. Rivalry makes a relationship spicy and best friends make it personal. Rivalry fics are, I think, the hardest to portray, so therefore I'm probably less picky in this category.

**If the characters are wildly out of character then I pitch a fit. I do have an exception, however, and that's a SasuNaru story called Insane. I don't like the fic so much. The idea was good, but the plot turned awry when the author focused more on GaaLee than on the couple it was written for. I keep it around now to give me a good laugh. That story is so freaking ridiculous, and the majority of the time it doesn't even make any sense! XD But the characters... oi ~shakes head~ I always wonder what the heck the author is smoking whenever they write it because the characters are just so wrong, but that wrong is just hilarious!!! rofl  

[LadyNox]

Aerine Lillet

A very interesting reply. Although it makes sense for some types of slash fans, the ones that truly sadden me are the ones that write long, drawn out essays about how character X and Y were made for eachother, and that the author wanted them to be gay but Disney wouldn't let them put butt-sex in a children's video game.

That's what gets me down. People warp the characters so much that they aren't even the same people.

Fanatics aren't cool no matter what the subject is. I've no issues with ship manifestos ’cause all it really is, is the author backing up his/her opinion on an OTP. Something I like better than people saying “well they’re cute, that’s why I like it”. But I really dislike it when people proclaim to know what exactly goes on in the author's head. Sometimes authors do give vague responses (Quatre/Trowa will always stick in my mind) about the canonness of a certain pairing but even so one shouldn’t make assumptions.

But yeah, don't let the crazy fans turn you off. ^^; There are a lot of sane fans who write the characters as In Character as possible while supporting our OTPs and don‘t proclaim to have a psychic link to the author‘s mind. ^^;;;  

[Duckysushi]

Canon or Fanon? Canon is always better, yes. Since I like slash pairings, I know I spend a lot of time finding stuff that keep the character's well IC, but still goes for the pairing. And I, uh, kinda break off into fanon at times, I admit, but hey. We can't all keep strict canon all the time, ne?  

[Kitsune Bara]

I love it when the character's are canon, but a little OOCness is okay too sometimes. (Only a little.) Some stories go way over board with randomness and OOCness though. Like "The Organization goes to the laundromat" or something like that. That was just hella scary because of how they acted.

Now my own stories, I admit, they are OOC (sometime's a bit too much) but I at least try to keep as much canon in there as possible. Like in KHII, you know how it seems as though Axel is in love with Roxas, but Roxas is acting as though he's a creep? Well, in my story, Axel is in love with Roxas, but Roxas thinks he's a creep. whee So yeah, there's some canon right there, and yet, still some fandom.

 

[Jori-Ness]

Canon is easier for convincing, but Fandom is great.