Fan Fiction and Originality

Not long after our discussions about originality, I came across this intriguing article and bookmarked it to talk about later.  The article itself is a discussion of a form of writing called “fan fiction,” which the author defines as stories that makes use of characters and settings from other professional creative works.  This definition is greatly expanded upon throughout the article, but most basically, it is a fan-written extension of a creative universe that is not strictly their own.  This of course raises the question of originality and copyright and whether this creative outlet is acceptable—just as we have discussed in class.  Like the NPR broadcast we listened to, the author, Lev Grossman, raises the question about art originality.  He asks, “Is art about making up new things or about transforming the raw material that's out there? Cutting, pasting, sampling, remixing and mashing up have become mainstream modes of cultural expression, and fan fiction is part of that” (Grossman).  It was at this point in my reading of the article that I made the connection between the two, and I found it to be just as thought provoking in the article as it was in the broadcast.  

For me, it raises a question of where exactly the line falls.  No one makes money off of fan fiction; another point made in this article—and many well-loved authors support the form of expression, including JK Rowling and Stephanie Meyers.  It is written and shared purely for the enjoyment of the fans who read and write it.  It is compared to music quite a bit—bands play cover songs because they enjoy the music and wish to share it.  Which again—leads to copyright.  The author says that in the US, copyright is checked by “fair use,” which has several qualifying factors.  Most basically, these factors include whether or not the work competes with the original work for income and whether it is “transformative.”  There are of course authors who are against fan fiction, who do believe it is an infringement of their copyright, or argue that emotionally the characters are theirs, and they are uncomfortable with them being appropriated.  

In perhaps the most interesting part of this article, Grossman comes to the conclusion that neither side is actually wrong.  Historically, fan fiction has been a part of writing.  Examples given include Shakespeare who borrowed his characters from history and Virgil who took his from The Odyssey.  Even today fan fiction is a prevalent part of our pop culture, present in shows such as ABC’s Once Upon a Time, which quite literally expands upon the fairy tale universe created by Disney and German tales.  And again, it comes back to originality; is this a reflection of the lack of it in today’s society, as noted by Mark Ronson in the NPR broadcast? And is it necessarily worse than or different from the sampling and sharing of music? I think that fan fiction is often tabooed by its nature in more traditional English settings; however, I also believe it brings an interesting and complex argument to the table that should be discussed.  What thoughts do you all have on this topic?