clearing some tabs

[swan_tower]

Apropos of nothing: these earrings amuse me.

Apropos of fanfic: since I managed to attract much more discussion than usual the last time I talked about fanfic, I know there are more than a few of you who would find these two interesting. First, something about the whole FanLib wankery (which I presume you're aware of), discussing fanfiction as a mode of cultural production. And second, a lengthy post from Making Light (home of the Nielsen Haydens and others), on the sucking pit of quicksand that is the question of legality and fanfiction, with a very useful section toward the end about the disclaimers people slap on their stories.

I don't know if I'm as optimistic as part of that post is, about the likelihood of a given piece of fanfic being declared "transformative" if challenged in court, but it's true -- as far as I'm aware -- about that being the real sticking-point. And when you look at it in that light, you could probably have an interesting argument about which is the more transformative work: Terry Brooks' The Sword of Shannara or HobbitChick4Evar's latest installment of her epic Frodo/Sam slashfest. One copies the plot of The Lord of the Rings point for point; the other does not. I don't know which side of that argument I'd be on, honestly, or whether I'd declare either (or both) transformative -- but the point is, I think the argument could happen, with good points on both sides.

(Having said that, hells yeah is "The Game of the Gods" transformative. That thing's freaking brilliant. Middle-Earth fanfic and parody/critical typology of Mary Sues, all rolled up in one entertaining package.)

Anyway, I figured I'd toss those out there so I could close those tabs and stop having them clutter up my browser.

Comments

[d-c-m.livejournal.com]

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I want those earrings. Marvey!

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Gosh, a brilliant piece indeed. I only read the first chap--hate reading on screen--have bookmarked it to come back to. Wow.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

It gets even more brilliant if you've read the Silmarillion; after a while there start being hijinks occurring around Varda and Morgoth that are just too funny.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Blush. I am one of those dorky losers who's never made it all the way through. (And then finally just snuck ahead, read Beren and Luthien, and called it quits.)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

The Silmarillion got a lot easier to read when I took it out of the "fiction" box of my brain and put it in the part that processes, say, the Elder Edda.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

*nodding*

Many friends have said similar things. To which I have to confess that my total lack of sophistication or taste makes me impatient even with great heroic sagas if they have no humor. (Or none that I can perceive.) I'm just not very into heroic gods and monsters and men all smiting one another without wise-cracking sidekicks or hapless dweebs commenting from the sidelines.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

The humour takes some looking for. I read Hrolfs saga kraka in translation and was mostly bored by it; when we translated one segment, I discovered it was hilarious. (The hapless dweeb wasn't commenting from the sidelines, but he was building a shield-wall of chicken bones to protect himself from being picked on by the warriors, and he was very upset when Bodvarr knocked it over.) And though the Poetic Edda as a whole isn't all that funny, one does have to enjoy "The Flyting of Loki," which is basically a big round of "your mom!" "no, YOUR mom!"

[wordweaver.livejournal.com]

Speaking of fanfiction and Lymond, I trust you've seen this?

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Yes, though that one amused me far less than the Master and Commander one -- probably because it's more a summary, whereas the other one is a more concrete scene.