This Canon Question

[ayngelcat]

Which seems to have loomed again on anon threads.

For what it's worth, I've always liked this old essay, which describes TF as a 'mythology' rather than 'canon.' Maybe its why I've never gotten hung up on the canon issue.

I'm interested in peoples' views (but please no wank - its just an idea I can see some merit in!)

http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Fanfic/Canon

Comments

[ayngelcat.livejournal.com]

The ramblings are great - I'm glad you liked this and found it thought provoking :-)

I agree entirely that there are certain things that do go hand in hand with continuities. And perhaps the substantial deviation from those is where the 'AU' label should come in. or 'crossover' if G1 Optimus IS a T Rex, for instance LOL

One of the things which intrigues me about this whole issue is the number of times people cry "that's not canon!" when, in fact, there's nothing to support whether it is one way or the other. That goes for so many scenarios and characters, who (unlike some of the more popular, colourful ones) never really get developed properly for one to be able to say a particular depiction, pairing or whatever is canon or otherwise.

What I think often happens is a writer's disappointment that their personal fanon - the way they have portrayed a character/pairing or whatever - hasn't been adopted universally by the entire fandom. Of course, there's no justification for that. How could there be? LOL fanon is fanon. But it's much easier to mask the emotion which accompanies this by accusing the writer of 'non canon.'

And there's my bit of rambling. Personally, I love it all - especially different 'takes' on things. So long as the story's good, and it's well written and entertaining :D

[dragondancer515.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the only time someone could really cry "that's not canon!" is when something DOES blatantly disregard something the base source material has laid out.

"What I think often happens is a writer's disappointment that their personal fanon - the way they have portrayed a character/pairing or whatever - hasn't been adopted universally by the entire fandom."
I think what happens is an instinctual reaction of "if others don't agree with me and don't interpret it the way I do, then I must be wrong...but I don't want to be wrong, therefore /you're/ wrong!" When really, NO ONE's wrong...because no one is universally /right/. But individuals /want/ to be "right", therefore /someone/ "has" to be wrong.

Me, if I don't see something the way someone else does, if I don't like or just don't agree with it, 9 times out of 10 I'll just let it go and move on. There /have/ been the occasions, though, when even if I don't agree, something in their interpretation has at least intrigued me, and if I feel the person might be approachable without me getting my head bitten off for questioning them or disagreeing with them, I'll ask how they came to their ideas, what they were interpreting or whatever to lead them there. Oftentimes, they've seen something I missed, which is awesome! Something new to think about. I may /still/ not agree (adopt their ideas as part of my own headcanon), but at the least I usually learn something.

"So long as the story's good, and it's well written and entertaining :D"
YES!