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Sep. 25th, 2008
Ownership, Creativity, and What Fans Do
Sep. 25th, 2008 11:48 amSmart Bitches, Trashy Books has an interesting article about Ownership, Creativity, and What Fans Do.
It covers a variety of topics, but the comments (many interesting ones on various sides) mostly deal with fanfic.
I admit, this comment of Marie Brennan's is concerningly in line with my own impressions, not so much with fanfic, but with the fandom, fanon and shipping that tends to dominate most parts of the internet that I've encountered, and then spill over into fanfic(BTW, read her whole comment, not just this, and all the comments):
On the other hand, I think a lot of it is less engaged with such high-flown concerns, and more concerned with wish fulfillment or prurient sensibilities.
(I mean, seriously, how much shipping/subtext in fanon and fandom boils down to "my favorite/the one I think is hot and the lead/the one I thinkis hot." Both apply to either genders.)
ETA: For clarification, I draw a huge line between "this is fun and I like the idea, but realize it has little basis/support/won't happen" and "I like this and need to justify and support it, even if it contradicts the text, and I'll find a way to say there's no contradiction." One makes perfect sense, the other is the fandom masses.
(no subject)
Sep. 25th, 2008 02:40 pmLooking at the comments in the article I linked to earlier again, I came across this comment, which I think I missed earlier:
This reminds me of a Buffy fanfic I wrote back in the day. I later found out someone else had ficced my fic: taken the setting (I’d written about a Victorian Buffy and Spike), alt-universe details and even the title, and written her own. But, since I was just ficcing someone else, I couldn’t really complain about it. Then I discovered the author had sold her fic as an original story: she’d pretty much just changed the names. So, from fanfic she was now making money from an idea I had? Still, I can’t cite copyright infringement on it, can I? I even put the ‘these characters don’t belong to me’ disclaimer on my fic!
It’s entirely possible we just came up with very similar ideas for fanfic. And both gave them the same title. Yeah.
Fanfic’s a strange beast. I think I’d be flattered if someone ficced my work, but I’m not sure I’d want to read it. They’re my characters and my world, and I like them as they are!
Sound familiar to anyone?
Context here and I'm thinking of the Regency Buffy books some here read.
Set in 1910 and early 1911, Consequeces of Sin is about Ursula Marlow, an Oxford educated heiress who is involved in the suffragette movement. When her friend Winifred calls her in the middle of the night to say there’s a dead woman in her bed, Ursula rushes over, enlisting the services of a family friend and solicitor, Wrotham. Later, it’s revealed that the dead woman is Winifred’s lover, Laura, and that the two women had spent the previous evening at an opium den, where they had quarreled, leading to Winifred’s becoming the prime suspect.
Soon, however, Ursula begins to suspect that Laura’s death is actually tied to an expedition to Venezuela that their fathers, and several other men, had been involved in over twenty years earlier. At the same time, her father increases his insistences that Ursula give up her “hobbies” and focus on marrying well, doing everything he can to cut her out of investigating. Soon, Ursula finds her friends being quietly spirited out of the country, and learns that her father plans to do the same with her, and realizes that the children of the expedition members are being targeted.
The feel of the Edwardian period is very strong in this book, with most of the attention being on society’s attitudes towards women and the suffragette movement. Because of this, and despite some lighter and humorous moments, much of the book is on the bleak side, and many of the male characters are often difficult to like, as there’s no fluffy hints of modern acceptance thrown in. As a result of this, I have rather mixed feelings about the romance between Ursula and Wrotham. While it’s well done and makes perfect sense, her views on the subject are relatively revolutionary, while his are very much the conventional, conservative views of a man of his class and time. “I respect and admire you and believe you are intelligent, but do not believe women have a place in such matters [read: anything related to business or any of the professional world of their class] and you should focus on womanly pursuits.” (Paraphrased from various conversations in the book, of course.)
A very good book, but the bluntness regarding the time period and gender roles of the times and attempts to break free of them my turn some readers off.
Soon, however, Ursula begins to suspect that Laura’s death is actually tied to an expedition to Venezuela that their fathers, and several other men, had been involved in over twenty years earlier. At the same time, her father increases his insistences that Ursula give up her “hobbies” and focus on marrying well, doing everything he can to cut her out of investigating. Soon, Ursula finds her friends being quietly spirited out of the country, and learns that her father plans to do the same with her, and realizes that the children of the expedition members are being targeted.
The feel of the Edwardian period is very strong in this book, with most of the attention being on society’s attitudes towards women and the suffragette movement. Because of this, and despite some lighter and humorous moments, much of the book is on the bleak side, and many of the male characters are often difficult to like, as there’s no fluffy hints of modern acceptance thrown in. As a result of this, I have rather mixed feelings about the romance between Ursula and Wrotham. While it’s well done and makes perfect sense, her views on the subject are relatively revolutionary, while his are very much the conventional, conservative views of a man of his class and time. “I respect and admire you and believe you are intelligent, but do not believe women have a place in such matters [read: anything related to business or any of the professional world of their class] and you should focus on womanly pursuits.” (Paraphrased from various conversations in the book, of course.)
A very good book, but the bluntness regarding the time period and gender roles of the times and attempts to break free of them my turn some readers off.
manga: Omukae Desu Vol 1
Sep. 25th, 2008 08:22 pmWhile studying for university entrance exams, 18-year-old Madoka sees his neighbor being chased by a man in a bunny suit. Then he remembers that he just attended the neighbor’s wake. Then an adolescent girl crashes into a pole.
Soon, he learns that the man in the bunny suit is Nabeshima, and shinigami who comes to fetch souls who aren’t crossing over on their own, and the girl is his partner, Yuzuko. Their company, GSG, has theme months, hence the bunny suit. They carry souls to the afterlife on a motorcycle. Since Madoka can see ghosts and let them temporarily inhabit his body to carry out their last wishes, without losing control of his body like most do, Nabeshima decides to hire him as a part time worker. Madoka isn’t given much choice in this. Later, Nabeshima assigns another human part timer, Aguma, to be Madoka’s partner. Mostly because Aguma is (A) violent, (B) has a crush on Nebashima, and (C) he’d rather Madoka fall victim to the violent aspects of her
Somehow, despite the shinigami in a giant pink bunnysuit who carts souls off to the afterlife on a motorcycle, Omukae Desu manages to be saner and calmer than
Which should not remotely be read as Omukae Desu not still being funny, cracktastic, and interesting.
The last third of the volume isn’t actually Omukae Desu itself, but two
manga: The Young Magician Vol 1
Sep. 25th, 2008 11:02 pmThis is one of those books that plops you down in the middle of the action without explaining anything, then drops bits and pieces to help you catch up. Except, by the end of the first volume, there haven’t been enough details dropped to really be able to piece the whole thing together.
The plot, as near as I can tell, this that there’s a magician serial killer loose in Hong Kong. The style of his murders has resulted in his being labeled “Jack the Ripper.” The killer, it seems, is a renegade of the Guino Clan, and is murdering women in a form of magic that lets him use their blood and entrails to see the future. The Guino Clan, in response, sends Carno, a young magician who is more than a little wild, and doesn’t have good control over his powers or strength. Accompanying him is his “sister,” Roselite, who raised him and has looked 10 years old since Carno was five. Or seven. I think the translation actually says both. Jack’s current target is a young woman named Monica, who he and his underling have been purifying, but she’s rescued by Carno and Roselite. For now. We’ll see how that goes.
There are also modern Knights Templar, which is a secret weakness of mine. They find Carno after the As Yet Unexplained loss of his biological family. The Guino Clan is apparently not a clan in the biological sense, but more a collection of magic users. According to the cover blurb, they also live in another dimension. That isn’t explained in the book itself, but it helps explain a few things. Several times, I thought the book was actually saying Roselite is actually dead, but I’m not sure. The volume ends with the storyarc still underway, so I assume I’ll know one way or the other by the end.
Oh, and “Jack” gives his underling his eye. By somehow turning it into goo that comes out of his mouth and enters his underlings eyesocket. Except it may not have originally been a real eye.
Carno is also apparently only one of two main protagonists, with the other one not showing up this volume.
Is this a confusing manga? Yeah, pretty much. Things are clearer by the end than they are in the beginning, but still not cleared up enough to completely say what’s going on. Apparently, CMX realizes this, and pretty much details out what we can expect to be explained in the next volume. It’s also pretty interesting, with an apparently complex mythology, plot, and system behind it, and has interesting characters. And Carno’s Super Power (and what’s been revealed of his nature and origin) alone is enough to warrant reading at least a little more. One thing I did find extremely offputting, though, is that the volume starts off with a woman being murdered, and the displaying her body in a somewhat sexualized pose with her chest spread open, and her insides pulled out.
And this, I think, ends the adventures in new CMX shoujo. (I actually would have thought this one was shounen, just reading it, but I’ve checked several places, and they say shoujo.)
The plot, as near as I can tell, this that there’s a magician serial killer loose in Hong Kong. The style of his murders has resulted in his being labeled “Jack the Ripper.” The killer, it seems, is a renegade of the Guino Clan, and is murdering women in a form of magic that lets him use their blood and entrails to see the future. The Guino Clan, in response, sends Carno, a young magician who is more than a little wild, and doesn’t have good control over his powers or strength. Accompanying him is his “sister,” Roselite, who raised him and has looked 10 years old since Carno was five. Or seven. I think the translation actually says both. Jack’s current target is a young woman named Monica, who he and his underling have been purifying, but she’s rescued by Carno and Roselite. For now. We’ll see how that goes.
There are also modern Knights Templar, which is a secret weakness of mine. They find Carno after the As Yet Unexplained loss of his biological family. The Guino Clan is apparently not a clan in the biological sense, but more a collection of magic users. According to the cover blurb, they also live in another dimension. That isn’t explained in the book itself, but it helps explain a few things. Several times, I thought the book was actually saying Roselite is actually dead, but I’m not sure. The volume ends with the storyarc still underway, so I assume I’ll know one way or the other by the end.
Oh, and “Jack” gives his underling his eye. By somehow turning it into goo that comes out of his mouth and enters his underlings eyesocket. Except it may not have originally been a real eye.
Carno is also apparently only one of two main protagonists, with the other one not showing up this volume.
Is this a confusing manga? Yeah, pretty much. Things are clearer by the end than they are in the beginning, but still not cleared up enough to completely say what’s going on. Apparently, CMX realizes this, and pretty much details out what we can expect to be explained in the next volume. It’s also pretty interesting, with an apparently complex mythology, plot, and system behind it, and has interesting characters. And Carno’s Super Power (and what’s been revealed of his nature and origin) alone is enough to warrant reading at least a little more. One thing I did find extremely offputting, though, is that the volume starts off with a woman being murdered, and the displaying her body in a somewhat sexualized pose with her chest spread open, and her insides pulled out.
And this, I think, ends the adventures in new CMX shoujo. (I actually would have thought this one was shounen, just reading it, but I’ve checked several places, and they say shoujo.)