Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Wed, May 04 2005
Fan Fiction and Parody
If it's true that women tend to write more fan fiction and men tend to write more parody it would make sense (from the legal standpoint) that George Lucas has perhaps made more allowances for those who parody Star Wars material. Courts have usually upheld the right to produce parodies using trademarked characters.
From a writer standpoint, it strikes me as odd that females would write serious fiction about Star Wars anyway. The whole Star Wars universe has always seemed to me a parody in the first place. It's excellent work and a lovely creation, but for me it has seemed more like a chronicle of early digital work of films than a piece on which to expand into more complicated worlds of life. Maybe I just missed something. If I was going to write anything with a Star Wars theme I'd be thinking of it as doing a parody on a parody.
As far as the gender issue is concerned, if men want to show their affection for fictional characters by making them silly and women prefer to show similar affection by keeping characters more serious, I suppose the emotional challenge to someone like Mr. Lucas would be in trying to decide whether he felt better about serious imitation or someone making fun of his characters. I know which one would bother me more. But I'm a woman. And I don't own the whole Star Wars universe. Mr. Lucas does.
This makes an interesting literary discussion, especially when you remember that fiction is always more about the times in which it was written than about the times of which it speaks. Does fan fiction represent the real "dark side" of all this? Or does parody?
posted at: 16:02 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
If it's true that women tend to write more fan fiction and men tend to write more parody it would make sense (from the legal standpoint) that George Lucas has perhaps made more allowances for those who parody Star Wars material. Courts have usually upheld the right to produce parodies using trademarked characters.
From a writer standpoint, it strikes me as odd that females would write serious fiction about Star Wars anyway. The whole Star Wars universe has always seemed to me a parody in the first place. It's excellent work and a lovely creation, but for me it has seemed more like a chronicle of early digital work of films than a piece on which to expand into more complicated worlds of life. Maybe I just missed something. If I was going to write anything with a Star Wars theme I'd be thinking of it as doing a parody on a parody.
As far as the gender issue is concerned, if men want to show their affection for fictional characters by making them silly and women prefer to show similar affection by keeping characters more serious, I suppose the emotional challenge to someone like Mr. Lucas would be in trying to decide whether he felt better about serious imitation or someone making fun of his characters. I know which one would bother me more. But I'm a woman. And I don't own the whole Star Wars universe. Mr. Lucas does.
This makes an interesting literary discussion, especially when you remember that fiction is always more about the times in which it was written than about the times of which it speaks. Does fan fiction represent the real "dark side" of all this? Or does parody?
posted at: 16:02 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
I'm In The Mood For This Right Now
I ran across a web site with some unique emoticons and thought it might be fun to display one now and then. Just to introduce the whole thing, here's my current mood, courtesy of Unkymoods.
posted at: 11:15 | category: /Playing | link to this entry
I ran across a web site with some unique emoticons and thought it might be fun to display one now and then. Just to introduce the whole thing, here's my current mood, courtesy of Unkymoods.
posted at: 11:15 | category: /Playing | link to this entry
