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

[redseeker]

I really liked this essay. And, with the definitions the writer gives, I'd say "mythology" is a good term for the massive tangled web of stories and details and characters that is Transformers.

I love drawing from "canon" to guide my own writing, and can get annoyed if reading something (even if it's something I've written) that seems to contradict the particular source material it's using without enough of a plausible reason why that contradiction takes place. Having said that, I really like playing around with the grey areas, the gaps in the stories, what isn't shown or mentioned in the official versions.

There's a trend in the fandom that I've noticed, being a fairly new-school fan, which is to make every continuity like G1 - characters must have the same personality, history, etc etc, even when, if you look at the other continuities, this clearly isn't the case. One example that I suppose I could talk about at any length is fan portrayals of a character like Starscream. TFA Starscream is very different from G1 Starscream, who is different from TFP Starscream, who is very different from Unicron Trilogy Starscream... yet I still run into TFA fics where Starscream's voice is described as "shrill" or "screechy" (compared to G1? it's a fucking purr XD), or his personality as "cowardly", that he used to be a scientist, etc etc whatever. I get the feeling the person has seen G1 and applied that to all other continuities indiscriminately, because to them only G1 is "canon". There's also the possibility to choose whether you want to include "expanded universe" type stuff as your "canon" - e.g. if I'm writing for Bayverse, do I want to say all the associated Bayverse comics are canon too? As someone who doesn't really have access or knowledge to/of comics, that would be hard for me, so I would tend to stick to the movies themselves...

Basically I expect fan-authors to pay attention to whichever source material they've chosen to base their work on, but at the same time, try not to get too hung up on every single detail. I mean, I'd love for all of my work to be 100% plausible and accurate, but I just don't have the time or access to enough of the "canon" to check every little thing. I've been writing a long TFA fic recently, and I'm sure I've made some mistakes, but between the episodes and the wiki I've done the best I can.

(Sorry for all the edits! :S )

[ayngelcat.livejournal.com]

I really like playing around with the grey areas, the gaps in the stories, what isn't shown or mentioned in the official versions. : Yep! That is a fave passtime of mine, too XD

I like the 'massive tangled web' description too - very apt.

That's a very interesting point you raise about G1. I only write and mainly read G1, but yeah, I can see how that does happen, and maybe without people even realizing. I would certainly like to think that if I did write other than G1, then I would research the characters properly and not fall into that trap!

I always say with the little details perhaps not being 100% - aside from anything else, there is such a thing as poetic licence! How many movies depaert from books under just that? It's all good fun. I'm sure that's a great story you write :->:-)

[redseeker]

I sort of came into the fandom with the newer continuities, and it's only now, five years later, that I'm sitting down and watching some G1... and starting to see where people get certain things that I've seen in fanworks for other 'verses XD

Oh, absolutely. And, I would always be far more critical with regards to details in my own work than in others'. I actually love when a writer puts a new or cleverly different twist on things :)