Fanfic Studies @ Vanderbilt

For ENGL 1260W Students, taking the classroom into the public

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Transformative Works

Transformative works are fan-works that are not just mere copies of original works but stand alone as original works. They can be made by either transforming the form or meaning of a pre-existing work. All transformative works are derivative works, i.e., an umbrella term encompassing all works based on or including elements of the original copyrighted work.

I know the verbosity is probably annoying! Easing it down - quite frankly, for myself too- these works are creative productions of characters or storylines that are far from authentic and based on fans' input instead of the original creators. Are these works biased? Sensationalized? Legal? Adamant on glorifying transformation? Hey! This is a no-judgment zone, so let's dive into some scholarly pieces like Poe Johnson's article on “Transformative Racism”.

Content warning for my folks: conversations on anti-blackness and white supremacy follow.

Long story short, Poe seems angry. Okay, this is an understatement: he's aggravated. But hey, let out a sigh of relief, for his fury hasn't exactly filtered towards us readers. Honestly, it seems entirely focused on the American mass-media, which has done a pretty good job of scapegoating for the depiction of black bodies in fan-works! And here's what I love-there are no twists and turns to what he's implying; it's plain obvious: he says they're "guilty." What if this claim is pure bias without any evidence? Hmm... racist or not, any reasonable fan ought to demand some proof. But it turns out Johnson doesn't really spare us a second to be suspicious. With names ranging from first-hand victims like Dodson to expert scholars like Hartman and Pande, he certainly makes those of us who label him biased think twice!

Believe me, the discussion on transformative work just gets better. I'm not sure if any of you have been following my fan-fiction on the TV-series "YOU"-haha, pun intended. But, suppose by any chance, you have seen the hit TV-series YOU. In that case, it is vividly apparent that the series spotlights a serial stalker, and the show’s wide fan-following fanatically brings the best and worst of transformative works into play. Oh, why are people heroizing a heinous stalker? Goldberg, the protagonist, profits from the dividends of white supremacy to the extent that no police officer even dares question his macabre murder spree. While some fans, like the TV series, glorify him, some, on the contrary, clinging to the true ideas of "Transformative works," hold him accountable for his actions by showing how differently he would have been treated if he was a person of color or queer.

Still sailing through the idea of transformative works, let's explore some other eccentricities and plunge into more transformative pieces other than just fanfic. Options include the Spockanalia Issue 1-the first-star Trek fanzine fearlessly fracturing stereotypes, and fan-art like cosplays providing an outlet for all fan groups to express their love for a show or a character. I hate to stop you here, but for those who still haven't noticed the accompanying image, we can explore transformative works across other distinctive forms of media, such as conventions like Comic-Cons and fan-vids!

Not a fan of the term “Transformative Works” yet? That's quite alright; try looking up The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW). It's a non-profit created solely for fans' benefit. Within the OTW, new and non-mainstream expressions of cultural identity are encouraged. At the same time, fandom records are preserved, so sites like these naturally legitimize fan-work diversity.

However, transformative works spark what I often call a "war of words" about whether certain fan-works violate copyrights. Let me offer my take on this legal dilemma. Just a word of caution: I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the internet. I believe that transformative works such as fan-fiction and fan-art should be legal as long as they significantly change or add to the original work to not be considered an infringement of copyright. Thus, according to my hindsight, the first Tanya Grotter novel is essentially a Harry Potter rip-off and not a transformative work. Let's for the time-being agree to disagree!

Transformative works are real and, thanks to retrospecting Poe Johnson and "YOU," lead us to some social issues to reflect upon. In a nutshell, the main problem with transformative works is that they are inherently progressive. This assumption is problematic because it excludes the perspectives of black people from the conversation and ignores the fact that black bodies are often targeted in these types of works. To avoid these issues, Legal transformative works that promote much-needed equality and diversity in the media should be encouraged and protected.

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The Male Gaze

The Male Gaze is a concept that film theorist Laura Mulvey created in 1975 as a theory of female objectification in film and male scopophilia. Her main point encompassed how women are “the bearer of meaning and not the maker of meaning” in comparison to men. She also spoke on the three perspectives in the male gaze being the man behind the camera, the way male characters look at female characters, and the male spectator. “The Male Gaze” is a direct comparison to “The Female Gaze”, which Mulvey describes as a response to voyeurism. Mulvey talked about how the female gaze used the same perspectives as the male gaze (camera, character, and spectator) to create empowering feminist cinema instead. However, the female gaze has been criticized for focusing on white womanhood majorly and for being a form of encouraging sex negativity. It has also been related to the Bechdel Test. 

The male gaze can be found in a variety of media forms, specifically in cinema. Women have been used as enticement for male viewers in film constantly. It is seen in the way they are dressed, the role in which they interact with their male counterparts, and a variety of other ways of presentation in cinema. For example we can look at the role of Princess Jasmine in Disney movie Aladdin. She is shown as a prize meant to be won by suitors such as Aladdin. Also, her father plays a large role in her love life, and eventual marriage, it is seen as his responsibility more than hers. Despite her character being a strong woman who wishes to make her own choices, she is consistently objectified by every man in her life throughout the entirety of the film. 

In terms of the way female characters are made to dress, we can look at the way women in anime are portrayed. In the popular show Demon Slayer, female characters are shown in promiscuous clothing and drawn overly sexualized to appeal to the male gaze. Due to how anime is animated, these novices are obvious, but the wardrobe of female characters and over sexualization of them is seen in a variety of cinema forms, specifically in movies and shows central to a male main character or hero, such as James Bond or similar. 

An example of clear distinction between a movie with a character solely meant to satisfy the male gaze, and one where the female character was presented for more than just male enjoyment is Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey. Margot Robbie’s character was still portrayed as the attractive crazy woman she was in Suicide Squad in Birds of Prey, but the difference lied in how the point of her character was not solely meant to please the male gaze, but to delve into other facets of her personality in the storyworld. It is refreshing to see the male gaze counteracted in this movie. The director of Suicide Squad is a man, while the director of Birds of Prey is a woman, thus exemplifying the camera aspect of the male gaze Mulvey had wrote about. Cinema needs to make an active effort to repress the male gaze in its media. Inherently, it is sexist, and only encourages steps backwards when it comes to misogyny. 

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Anti-fandom

We all know about fandom and peoples love for their specific show, movie, characters, or texts, but there is another side to this where people hate against the specefic media. Anti-fandom is when someone focuses on a source text purely for the entertainment value of mocking it. Most of times these people were not ever fans of the riginal source to begin with, but they were fans who became increasingly angered or repelled by the source and it led to them creating derivative works about the piece of media. Lots of times they try to parody or rail against the media. 

You may be confused as to how someone can keep up with  specific media just to hate on it, but it is something that has increased, especially with the rise of social media. For every great fandom, there is an equally vocal anti-fandom, that is bringing it down a notch or two. Anti-fandomers will introduce upon fandoms and try to tear them down. They will argue back and forth with true fans and do anything possible to bring down that specific media. These people will spread rumors, bash the media, and harass other fans. The most wild part about it is that while most of these people are just haters, some are still truly dedicated fans who just find enjoyment in finding the little things about the media that upset them or that they dont like. 

There are many examples of anti-fandom and I think for me where I see it most is within sports. I actually see it a lot between Vanderbilt and Tennessee fans. These fans are true anti-fans who have no desire to appreciate or care for the other schools sports teams, city, or anything else that resembles the opposite school. Twitter is where most of the beef goes down and where I find the most hate between the two. It is so bad that it is to the point where the hate doesn’t even come when the two schools face eachother. Tennessee can post something about their win against a non-conference team, and Vandy fans will talk trash under their post. This then leads to back and forth between the two fanbases under the post. These anti-fans have no desire to appreciate the other fanbase, and they purposely try to bring the other side down.

On the other hand, there are anti-fans in sports that arre still major fans, yet they pick and choose when they are going to support their specific team. You see this a lot when someones team loses a game or when a player on a specific team has a bad game. When its good its good, but when something bad happens, thats where the anti-fandom comes to play. For example I remember one playoff game the New Orleans Saints were playing the Vikings, and the Vikings scored on the last play of the game in the playoffs. The Saints safety, Marcus Williams, missed the game winning tackle and Saints fans tore him apart on social media. However, he had been one of the best safeties in the league that year and the whole year he was being praised, and all it took was one mistake for him to get dragged.

Anti-fans are always going to be present in any form of media, that is guaranteed. There is always going to be a supportive side and a side with nothing but haters. As for the tru fans, the best thing they can do to get rid of these anti-fandomers is to ignore them and hope they get bored and move on to something else.

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Digital Blackface

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Digital Blackface

Digital blackface. Yes, you heard me! We are having this conversation to understand the complexities behind digital blackface. Over the years, people have successfully integrated social media into their everyday lives. From someone posting his or her grandfather’s birthday celebration on Facebook or someone posting his or her dance moves on Tik Tok, we all have become accustomed to liking, sharing, and creating content on all social media platforms. Even by this post, I am engaging in this behavior. But, you may wonder what is digital blackface or how this topic deals with social media. Well, digital blackface is deeply molded into our everyday lives, but we just do not notice it most of the time. If you have ever posted a GIF of Nene Leakes’ (from The Real Housewives of Atlanta) infamous eye roll or Michael Jordan’s ugly sob, you have engaged in digital blackface. 

But, you may be wondering how this is even a problem, but it is! Digital blackface is when non-Black people use gifs, emojis, and reactions of Black people as a source of entertainment. Also, it is when non-Black people digitally use Black people to represent their emotions or themselves. Through this, Black stereotypes continue to be perpetuated in society. Many people believe that Black people are inherently aggressive, loud, and angry. When people post gifs or videos of Black people representing these stereotypes, the promoters of these gifs are solely supporting these preconceived beliefs whether they notice it or not. But, social media sites do not help alleviate this perpetuation. While using GIF, a person can search “angry black lady,” “sassy black lady,” and “funny black kid.” When searching these terms, many GIFs pop up for people to readily perpetuate stereotypes about Black people. Therefore, Black people continue to be a caricature in society. 

Blackface hasn’t just started due to social media. Blackface has been present before the creation of social media. Blackface originated in the 1830s in the United States. Blackface is when White people perpetuate Black stereotypes by wearing makeup to make a caricature of a Black person. This was a way to mock and dehumanize Black people for entertainment. There is a similarity between blackface with digital blackface because many non-Black people still use Black bodies as a source of entertainment. 

So, blackface continues to be a problem in today’s society. With every scroll on social media, a person may see a post perpetuating Black stereotypes but not even notice it. Though a person may believe that blackface has ended due to White actors no longer putting makeup on to make them look like a Black person, blackface has not ended but is now digitally produced. It has become harder to distinguish in everyday life because it has become normalized. I am not saying that a person should never use a GIF that has a Black person in it, but I am saying to be cognizant of the message that the GIF is portraying. These stereotypes will not end until we all become aware of what we are posting and why.

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Grrrl ZInes

Zines to start are self-published works of art that have a small circulation. They utilize various forms of art including writing, drawing, collage work, reimagination of pop culture, and more to fulfill the purpose of presenting a narrative about social concepts of the time. Grrrl Zines, specifically, were popularized in the late twentieth century, and are zines created by women which aimed to unite and form community as they combated sexism, homophobia, and racism. Furthermore, some of the works like The Jigsaw Manifesto called for a reinvention of the perception of women. They hoped to be seen as individuals that could use their ferocity to fight back against the troubles of everyday life. Many saw their existence as an example of the shift to third wave feminism. However, Alison Piepmeier, who wrote Girl Zines Making Media, Doing Feminism, believes this third wave feminism description is limiting and in reality Grrrl Zines represent much more. 

Grrrl Zines were created by and with the notion of being punk girls. Naturally, the movement began to manifest itself through music and punk music, specifically. However, they immediately began to receive criticism for their work from mainstream media. They gained the label of a man-hating, violent, and destructive feminist sub-culture. This led to the narrative that Riot Grrrl as a girl gang that terrorized men with their confessions. False media representation caused widespread concern that the actions spawned from the movement would hurt society. Along with concern came critiques of how they behaved. They were shamed for how many musical groups appeared on stage, and what they wrote on their bodies, which included words like “slut” and rape”. However, the movement the media tried to shut down was a movement that could not be shut down, because it wanted its voice to be heard. The issues women faced needed to be heard and that is why the movement was so important. For instance, at concerts the performers often held the microphones out so that women could share their stories of sexual abuse. However, despite the seriousness of the topic, the media still used it against the movement. There was one case where a reporter created a false rumor that one of the members from the band, Bikini Kill, was raped by her father. It’s genuinely hard to fathom how society was so far from equality and how it was handled just decades ago. 

Music helped create the conversations that needed to be had. Riot Grrrl bands wrote music that pertained to real issues the women faced and still face today. For example, the band Bikini Kill, in their songs “Feels Blind” and “Don’t Need You” discuss the issues of eating disorders and rejecting heterosexual relationship dynamics, respectively. On top of that, the band Bratmobile discussed the issue of expectations for women in their song “Teenager”. These songs and so many more touch on topics that women face daily, but up until then, rarely talked about. 

Society today has made amazing strides in so many ways. Not only have we come closer to reaching equality but we have also begun to start having important conversations. Whether it is pertaining to expectations, sexual orientation, equality, or mental health, our society has become far more open and encouraging for these tough talks to happen, because they are essential. Society has advanced in ways unimaginable from when the Riot Grrrl movement started. Grrrl Zines fundamentally had a large role in allowing for the advancement of women, as well as society, as it encouraged people to have those tough talks and be open with one another.

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Rogue Archives

“Memory has fallen into the hands of rogues.” Such were the words used by Sarah De Kosnik in her book Rogue Archiveto describe the shift in the preservation of memories from the traditional physical to the avant-garde digital with the explosion of the Internet in the public. As this transmission of digital media increased over the years, cultural memory was no longer bound to the state and government, and instead became a property of the people. This transition marks the birth of rogue archives, which is essentially the digital collection and preservation of documents and records on the internet and outside of copyright restrictions.

There are certain aspects that all rogue archives share as defined by De Kosnik: the material must be available at all times; anyone with an internet connection would be able to access the content; the material can be fully streamed or downloaded for free; the content would most likely never be preserved in a traditional memory archive, such as a museum; the archive, once again, possesses no concern for copyright laws or restrictions. The last point, in regards to copyright, is one of the key differentiators of rogue archives from traditional ones. In fact, one of the main reasons why it is specifically referred to as rogue archives is because of this absence of a care for any laws of copyright protection that institutional internet archives must follow, such as the Walt Whitman Archive.

Perhaps one of the greatest benefits and possibilities of rogue archives is its ability to preserve vast quantities of cultural content and make it available to the public without “selective traditions,” which only seeks to preserve the information and records of the dominant culture, disregarding the various unique subcategories out there. One great example of this possibility in action is essentially what our class is about, fan fiction. Fan fiction archives are one of the most prominent categories of rogue archives. Members of fandoms are able to interact with and alter literally any and all aspects of their favorite stories and series; ranging from the grand fantasy novel series A Song of Ice and Fire from George R. R. Martin to the disturbing twisted manga Berserk from the late Kentaro Miura, the possibilities are endless and only limited to the imagination of the fandom members.

Two of the largest fan fiction digital archives today is Fanfiction.net (FF.net) and Archive of Our Own (AO3), both of which are essentially rogue archives, as members are unrestricted by copyright laws, using characters, settings, plot, dialogue in any way, shape, or form possible. These sites contain thousands of fandoms and their member’s works, including movie, television, novel, anime, comic series and so much more. However, even within fanfic rogue archives, there are differences between each preservation system. One of the largest differences between FF.net and AO3 is that FF.net is for profit while the latter is not. This is significant as FF.net utilized ads to generate revenue, allowing its owners and moderators to place content limitation policies on the site as well as delete stories and users without any notice. This became extremely controversial in the fanfic community as some members would login to their creative works completely gone, while others lost their whole account and catalog. This was what actually led to the creation of AO3 as an alternative that practices zero censorship or deletion. Nevertheless, both digital archives continue to expand drastically throughout the years, reaching the status that they possess today.

Rogue archives are invaluable to today’s internet society and age. Fanfiction is just one of the countless subcultures that rogue archives are able to help collect, record, and preserve through the internet. Without these archives made by everyday people, centuries of information and creative works would have been lost to the sands of time.

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Canon

In fandom, fanfiction writing is a safe avenue for writers and readers to explore unique relationships and interactions within the storyworld. They are an environment embracing the source material while also allowing curiosity-driven exploration into non-mainstream content: the second part of this characteristic is integral in defining canon. Canon typically refers to the source narrative and the official components of the established storyworld. It is the material that is accepted as the basis for the official storyworld. This definition of canon lends itself to a sliding spectrum of categorizing various fandom into the concept. 

The Star Wars storyworld and its associated fandom is a prime example that showcases canon. In fandom circles, there is debate on what the “real” story of Star Wars refers to. Is it George Lucas’ original stories? Is it the films? Is it the official list of books that the Lucas Licensing editors consider official Star Wars history? This fandom discussion prompted a shift in the branding and messaging strategy of Star Wars content. The official canon became the films themselves that follow Lucas’ storyworld and established timeline, seen in the image above. The Star Wars saga evolved such that canon became Lucas’s storyworld that was depicted in the movies and the parallel universe that was created in between the movies by writers contributing new stories to the saga. Thus, any content that is produced that aligns with this content would be considered canon-compliant: there is a clear effort to not contradict canon details such as plot developments, character backstories, etc. Canon compliance can also exist in fanfiction content that occurs before events of canon (i.e. the establishment of Jedi and Sith in Star Wars), within the canon story (the missing parts of Luke Skywalker’s training), or in the future of canon (the birth of a new Jedi Order many years later). The various pillars of content do not always match, but efforts to stay consistent with the movies and TV shows of official Star Wars canon are usually enough to classify adherence to canon. 

There is also canon-defiant fanfiction that is not true to the original story or explores various plot elements in a way that alters the established canon. In Star Wars, for example, fandom circles do not consider the ongoing MMO “Star Wars: The Old Republic” and its expansions as canon. They are created in a new Star Wars universe continuity that strays away from canon, therefore are considered canon-defiant. These principles of canon are also similarly applicable to fanfiction and fanworks. Any form of fanfiction from advertisements to inanimate objects to reality applications that make an effort to follow canonical elements becomes canon-compliant because it supplements their canons without disrupting the existing storyworld. These creative depictions can be popularized and then embedded back into canon. 

There is typically no clear black and white distinction or defined consensus on what is or isn’t canon-compliant. This gray area in its definition may seem counterproductive in the academic contexts of fanfiction; however, the unclear nature of what is canonical enables more in-depth interpretations and discussions of narrative development and canonical elements in fandom circles.

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Queer Reading

Fanfiction theory has been an ongoing study of fanfiction and fandoms worldwide. Key figures such as Henry Jenkins, Abigail Kosnik, and Francesca Coppa have contributed to the development of fanfiction theory. In the past decades, fandoms have spread worldwide and into almost every demographic. Most significantly, according to a 2020 study on the demographics of who reads and writes fanfiction, it was found that the fanfiction community is dominated by young females and those in the LGBTQ+ community. With so many LGBTQ+ eyes and ears in the fanfiction community and so little media that fully represents them, they took it into their own hands. 

The term “queer reading” or “queering” has been creeping into academic circles and has become an increasingly popular field of study for students in English Literature. Within the confines of this course, we define “queer reading” to be reading a book, or a movie, or any kind of text for LGBTQ+ subtext. There is also a common secondary understanding of this term, which is to try and challenge normative assumptions of a text/field/anything. Now, what exactly do these definitions mean, and how do they interact with each other? Queer reading refers to finding possibilities outside of the realm of the text, especially those that challenge heteronormacy. Many pieces of literature and other forms of media abstain from involving the LGBTQ+ community in hopes of not being “controversial” or in an attempt to reach the widest possible community. A prime example of this is in the early Marvel movies where little to no diversity was present in an attempt to make the franchise as palatable to the largest audience as possible. Queer reading is not to be mistaken as a statement of identity, where the term “queer” may be most prevalent in, rather it generates possibilities through its enactions. 

Eve Sedgwick, the Newman Ivey White professor of English at Duke University, developed the term, “queer theory” along with Judith Butler, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. They argued that traditional definition and labels of “homosexual” and “heterosexual” was too strict and binding. They argued that sexuality exists on a continuum and that this should also be applied when studying literary texts. They describe it to be “a prism through which scholars examine literary texts. The concept of queer reading was born around this time, in the 80s and 90s, as a type of queer theory. 

For example, in Pia Livia Hekanaho’s essay, “Queering Catcher: Flits, Straights, and Other Morons,” she analyzes J.D. Salinger’s 1951 novel, “Catcher in the Rye” outside its heteronormative boundaries and ‘straight’ masculinity that it relies heavily on. She looks deeper into the queer identities that may exist beyond those strict boundaries. She does so by analyzing protagonist, Holden, and his conservative family and background that render his environment possible to be regarded as same-sex masculine microcosms. Other examples could include “shipping”, the act of supporting two or more characters/real people to be in a relationship (who are often not already together). There are many “shippers” in different fandoms such as those who ship One Direction singers with one another or other fictional characters together.

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Remediation

Remediation may sound like a difficult and abstract concept, but trust me, it is pretty simple. Remediation is the use and development of new media to “refashion” or reinterpret older media forms, allowing for improvement and elaboration. Basically, the appropriation of content from one medium to another. To become more popular and become culturally relevant, new media may remix, refine, and edit old media while keeping key, defining features. Examples would be the transition from books to plays, comics to animation, radio to podcasts, paintings to photography, and even TV to Netflix. 

A very popular and relevant example of remediation is in the Star Wars story world. After the release of the original Star Wars trilogy and its success, George Lucas decided to expand the Star Wars franchise to meet fan demands by creating new stories and plot points. By creating a lore and history which stays consistent throughout the story world, the Star Wars universe becomes the perfect origin for the development of many alternative storylines and experiences. For example, all Star Wars films set after the events of the original trilogy have Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, and Yoda as mythical figures and/or legends (which are the movies starring Rey and Finn). 

The remediation of Star Wars has taken on many different mediums, which are engineered to expand and elaborate on the existing lore and narrative. With new adaptations such as the prequel trilogy, The Clone Wars animated TV show, Lego Star Wars Video Games, comics, books, and the most recent trilogy, Lucas and the Star Wars team are able to tell different stories through points of views which were unthinkable in the original movies. Star Wars has never directly copied onto another medium, but has always slightly altered it to improve on the story line, allowing for more fan service. 

The successful expansion of the storyworld into the TV series “The Clone Wars” on Disney takes place between Star Wars episode II, Attack of the Clones, and episode III, Revenge of the Sith. The TV series is a remediation of the movies, providing content and extra information (centering on Anakin’s experience and fall to the dark side) to fill the time gap between the two movies, allowing for further expansion of the story world. The expansion and improvement of the original trilogy through remediation has created more opportunities/points of contact for new fans to enter the universe. The remediation of Star Wars into an interactive video game (like the Lego Star Wars game), markets towards different audiences (younger kids), and allows the user to become immersed into the narrative through participating in story missions, adding to the experience. Between the release of the first Star Wars film in 1977 to now, there has been a huge evolution in media and technology, allowing the franchise to adapt and evolve onto new media platforms. Continuous remediation onto popular forms of mass media, whether it be through movies, TV shows, video games, toys, comics, etc has allowed Star Wars to elaborate on its storyworld and grow into one of the biggest franchises in the world. 

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Paratext

Paratext is the information that is supplied by authors, editors, printers, and publishers. However, as Lindsay Ellis stated, paratext has more recently expanded to cultural context to nature of online platform to personal branding. Simply, paratext can range from the author’s Instagram post to a spinoff series about a text. Paratext is one of the most powerful and influential aspects both in literary and film contexts due to its ability to influence the understanding of the readers. One of the most popular examples of paratext are J.K. Rowling’s discussion about Dumbledore’s sexuality. The followers of Harry Potter had no discussions about the sexuality of Dumbledore, but J.K. Rowling’s statement sent the fans of the series into a flurry. The fans of Harry Potter created alternate universes and plots that highlighted the sexuality of Dumbledore, which allowed for fans to be immersed into the series. The creative aspect that coincides with the presence of paratext fosters an environment for individualism for all readers and their interpretations.

Paratext, itself, has grown exponentially with the growth of technology and social media. Social media has made authors much more accessible to learn about and her their opinions. The origin of an author, their childhood, and current life and lifestyle can influence their works. The past of an author can be used as paratext to create a greater understanding about how the story world was created or why the author took a certain approach to their character/plot development. For example. Stacey Lee, who wrote Outrun the Moon, was heavily influenced by her mother’s past. The book had a plot relating to earthquakes, and her mother was a native San Franciscan, who has experienced many earthquakes. Additionally, paratext is viewed as beneficial by many readers, however, some view it as detrimental to the work. For example, in the HBO's Watchmen, the Hooded Justice’s past and fight against racism is highlighted in a powerful and moving episode. In the original comic book Watchmen, the Hooded Justice was not emphasized as greatly and was just seen as the first superhero. However, some view this whole series as an example of paratext, and in particular, this episode as too controversial. One fan stated, “This isn’t Watchmen, it’s Wokemen”, which is ignorant, but nevertheless, illustrates the effects of paratext. There were many who felt that HBO’s Watchmen functioned as paratext and ruined their “beloved” Watchmen that they read as children. This is why many advocates for the Death of Author, which removes the author from all interpretations of a work. However, paratext is important in understanding why Lindelof tried to emphasize the importance of black lives and black experiences. One of the modern world’s main issues is racial discrimination and the lack of importance for the lives of African Americans. Lindelof drew in the modern audience by illustrating issues that the modern person can understand and relate to, and not issues relating to the Cold War. The people who faced the Cold War are much older, and Lindelof understood that and used the issue of racial discrimination to replace this issue. This is why the HBO's Watchmen is viewed as operating as paratext due to its distinct differences that are obviously created by the choices and environment of the author. In the end, the use and importance of paratext is unmatched and continues to fuel the literary/ film world to horizons that one could not imagine.

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Death of the Author

Okay, so Death of the Author. Basically, it’s when you completely forget about the author when you’re reading your favorite book. That means no googling them, no checking their twitter, no finding out what was going on in their lives when they wrote it, nothing. You should believe the story is yours, don’t think about what the author is trying to tell you, think about what you’re getting from it, because the author is “dead”. Roland Barthes came up with this technique in his essay titled “The Death of the Author” in 1967. In it he highlights the importance of the reader in making sense of any text, and how the birth of the reader can only come with the death of the author.

Lindsay Ellis explains Death of the Author in a video on Youtube meant for people who weren’t understanding what it really was. She takes the time to clarify that it’s not meant for forgetting about an author just because you don’t like them or what they stand for, but to have a deeper understanding of what you’re reading. Ellis features John Green and his book The Fault in Our Stars to further explain Death of the Author. In the story, Hazel and Augustus go to meet the author of Hazel’s favorite book, Peter Van Houten, to find out the concrete ending of the book. However, Van Houten tells Hazel that he can’t tell her the ending because there is no ending. The ending of the book doesn’t exist because it was never written. Similarly, The Fault in Our Stars itself, also ends on a cliffhanger, and everytime he’s asked about the ending of the book, John Green says that there isn’t an ending, and that the ending’s whatever the reader wants it to be. He was a strong supporter of Death of the Author. In the beginning of The Fault of Our Stars, he put an author’s note telling the reader that the story was not connected to him in any way and to completely forget about him. Also, he tweeted in 2014, “Books belong to their readers”. 

However, Death of the Author is hard in today’s society with how big social media and the internet is. In her video, Ellis talks about how it’s nearly impossible to use Death of the Author because famous authors have Twitter accounts, Youtube channels, and overall public lives. Even John Green came to realize that he was naïve to think that putting that author’s note in the beginning of the book would make people completely remove him from the story. Basically, Death of the Author is a good idea theoretically, but it’s nearly impossible to use. 

Death of the Author is definitely something to keep in mind the next time you’re reading a new book. Although, even if it was possible, it might not be the best option. Sometimes knowing what was happening in the lives of authors at the time might be important to better understand what a book really means. Also, who even knows if Roland Barthes is someone to take advice from. Just take it with a grain of salt.

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Death of the Author

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Transmedia Storytelling

Transmedia Storytelling is a rather new concept, but nevertheless an interesting one. This concept suggests that a particular media can be expressed differently across other forms of media, each time adding something to the original representation, or changing the original representation altogether. Take your favorite book for instance. Does this book have a movie that goes along with it? Maybe a video game? Maybe a comic? Regardless of what other production goes along with it, this is a representation of transmedia storytelling.

One of the most wide-ranging and popular examples of transmedia storytelling is the world of Harry Potter. Originally represented by a series of books written by J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter became much more than that when it was developed into a set of films, and then later into video games, and later into a play, and later into movie spinoffs, and so on. What is so fascinating about this wide-ranging collection of medias is that they all represent the same general “storyworld”, or a world that is developed as a set of core ideas and values for a particular idea. Despite this, each portrayal of Harry Potter throughout these various medias has its differences that add more depth, information, and excitement to the world. When many readers first take on the books, they create their own vision of the Harry Potter world, its characters, Hogwarts, the magic, etc. The beautiful part of this is that the imagery that readers build can be incredibly similar or vastly different than the movies’ representation.

For instance, my idea of what the Weasleys would look like when I read the books is very different from what they actually looked like when I watched the movies. In addition, the movies represent certain events differently than the books do. For example, Peeves the Poltergeist, a creature responsible for a large amount of trouble making at Hogwarts in the books, is totally absent from the movies. On the other hand, the movies add pieces in places where they are not present in the books. In the 7th installment of the movie series, Hedwig, Harry’s faithful owl, sacrifices herself by flying in front of Harry and taking a Killing Curse that was meant for him. However, in the book, Hedwig is simply struck as she sits in her cage and does not perform this valiant act. This is an example of different medias adding depth to a world and providing different viewpoints on events. This process does not always satisfy people, as there are those who would rather that the representation remains the same across all media, but this process is usually accepted by many who are happy to see different perceptions surrounding their interests. The Harry Potter world goes far beyond this as well, expanding into thirteen video games that allow people to have hands-on interaction with the franchise, a live-action play that gives a more human feel to the franchise, and several spin-off movies that build up the history and richness of the Harry Potter world.

Harry Potter is not the only storyworld that is represented by transmedia storytelling. There are countless books, TV shows, movies, etc. that are supported by other medias. Transmedia storytelling is an overall fascinating way to take an idea and expand upon it by adding depth by creating a world for fans to enjoy through several outlets. Several franchises have adapted it and it will continue to be an evolving concept as technology and new media emerge.