Fanfiction and Adaptation

[Annette Varghese]

Fanfiction can be defined as fiction that is created by readers and used to explore different storylines that were not brought up in the original series. Fanfiction writers use copyrighted characters and develop stories around them while keeping their personality intact and adding something new like a new setting or a new romantic plot. The “Theory of Narrative Causality” notes that the rise of fanfiction is mainly due to technology which has enabled the spread of forums and communities that indulge in fanfiction. People across the world can author, edit, and illustrate fanfictions together and had essentially created a whole community of authors, which Jamison describes as a legion. Fanfictions allow for readers to indulge in their own imagination, but bring their favorite characters and places with them.

On the other hand, adaptation is using the stories from books and inserting into other representations through multimedia. For example, companies who have secured the rights to a story can revamp it into shows, movies, and video games. Many of our most famous YA novels have turned into movies for profit while still containing most, if not all, of the characters and plot as the book. An example of this would be Hunger Games which started as a book and was adapted to a series of movies and became a major film franchise. Essentially, adaptation is altering the story into a different medium where it can be accessible to more people.

[Grant Glass]

LOVE THIS ENGAGEMENT with Jamison!! It is interesting to think of whether or not you could apply a technodeterminist argument to legions. In other words, did the technology create the community or did the community already exist and the technology helped that community grow.

I really like you thought about accessibility! That is a great point to bring up. What are your thoughts about the trend of splitting the last book in two parts like the Hunger Games?

[Annette Varghese]

The way Jamison described it sounded like the community as a whole grew because of technology because otherwise, other people could not collaborate on work together since it was a diverse group. However, because these franchises were so significant, I think that people did write fanfiction earlier but lacked the outlet to share it.

I thought it was an interesting decision to split up the last book into two movies. The directors did a similar thing for the last book of Harry Potter! I think the main reason for splitting them up is to make more profit and to be able to digest all of the information because the last books contained more information. The producers had nothing to lose since it was the end of the franchise, but gained more profits by creating two films.

[Grant Glass]

Great points! So the technology and platform influenced the way fanfiction developed?

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