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.