Fair Play for Fan Fiction10/20/2017 Now as dreamy as it is to listen to Idris Alba read fan fiction about himself, there is a serious cloud that hangs over the beloved genre – fair use policy. We all know how it is said that imitation is the highest form of flattery, but what is it when the imitations begin to undermine what the original artist set out to do with their work? We all know that fanfiction is usually meant as a playful attempt to have some fun with one’s favourite writer. And absolutely most cases are fun, flirtatious deviations from the original.
But how is it fair to an artist to go through the painstaking process of creating a narrative and characters that fit within it just for other people to come along thinking they can do it better? There must be some rules around it to protect the artist and their work. “In the US, the author retains their rights over a work for the entirety of their life, plus the 70 years that follow their death.” Now, we can imagine that it would be highly inefficient for a writer and their team of publishers to keep track of absolutely all of the fanfiction out there, so there doesn’t seem to be much need to worry. But what if you did a really great job and your reimagined story and characters became wildly popular completely by accident. Unfortunately, it would seem that the piece could be targeted for copyright infringement if the characters in use are not yet public domain. Luckily, someone has compiled a collection of characters that are currently up for grabs to use in the public domain.
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How interesting that this public domain of "free" characters exists! It's certainly a reflection of our time, and the way that the process of writing and creating is transforming in the digital age. I think the notion that all forms of creation are simply mashups or reincarnations of ideas that have come before is now very much taken for granted, which seems to have freed creators from the pressure to somehow invent something entirely original from thin air (which, let's face it, has never been the case anyway). At the same time, the line between building upon someone else's work and just stealing it outright seems to be getting fuzzier in this climate. I wonder if this has something to do with the reasons people engage in making art. Perhaps the way that we are increasingly idolizing and glamourizing artists promotes the idea that making art is about self-promotion, when it should really be about contributing to a meaningful discussion about the world in which we live?
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Emily
12/8/2017 03:54:34 pm
I appreciate your view on fan fiction and how some authors might not enjoy seeing their work altered away from what they created. I personally read fan fiction myself and don't really consider what the original creators would think about it. I don't like the ones that involve real life people, because I know that they know there is stories written about them that can make them feel uncomfortable, maybe flattered. However, maybe its the type that I stick to reading that it's not changing the entire story to the way they think it should be, but writing so that the reader can feel more apart of that story universe. Unfortunately if you want your work to become a hit, it's hard to control what your fans will do.
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