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

[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!