Welcome to Adaptation as Fanfiction

Here's a not so secret fact about me: I enjoy fanfiction.

There's nothing wrong with enjoying fanfiction - sometimes I want to see what other authors think was happening with two background characters while the main characters were ignoring them or sometimes I want to speculate on what happened after the story ended.

Fanfiction is fan taking a work they love and adapting that work into a new story. This is not a new idea and often adaptation is in itself a type of fanfiction. There's a very fine line between what is cannon and what is not cannon and sometimes a work can be removed from the cannon (see any fan arguing about the Star Wars Legends demotion).

I'd argue some of the most popular plays, movies, and TV shows of the past decade could easily fall within the category of fanfiction as well as adaptation.

Hey look, mythological fan art!

For example, Hamilton is a "real person" fanfiction (yes they exist, no I'm not very fond of them, though there are a few I like) as is the movie/play 1776 (though they really do Judge Wilson dirty in 1776). Hadestown is one of my all time favorite plays...and totally an alternate reality version of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. Pretty much anything that features Sherlock Holmes is a fanfiction (unless it's a direct story adaptation).

But do these examples really count? Aren't they just adaptations of materials in the public domain or of real events?

Yes and they are also a form of fanfiction.

A Cinderella and historical fiction fanfiction (because Da Vinci is in it)

Go re-watch Hamilton on Disney+ and tell me that Lin-Manuel Miranda isn't a fan of the real historical Alexander Hamilton. He spent 6 years developing that play. His passion had to have been sparked somehow.

Look! More public domain adaptations that are also fanfiction.

Oh Brother Where Art Thou takes a lot of liberties with the plot of The Odyssey, but clearly someone was a big enough fan of the original story to create an alternative universe where George Clooney (as Odysseus) escapes from prison to get back with his wife. It is so blatantly obvious in places, that I -without knowing the movie had any ties to The Odyssey before watching - picked up on the imagery (especially with John Goodman as the cyclops and the sirens scene).

And don't even get me started on anything and everything related to Sherlock Holmes (the original toxic fandom). Watching the old movies where Holmes goes up against the Nazis is trippy because I think of Holmes in the 1880s or 1890s - when there weren't Nazis. Though I admit to a deep fondness for all of the Wishbone adaptations of the books.

However, fanfiction goes even further back than this past century and the insane copyright laws currently in existence - one of many reasons fanfiction has become so prevalent. These works were often held in such regard that they helped change how a society saw the origins of the works.

Shakespeare created several plays about the English Kings (starting with Edward III and ending with Richard III) as this really cool adapted history of his country. These adaptations can also fall into fanfiction territory as Shakespeare had to take many liberties when adapting the narratives into plays. He had to write parts for the actors in his companies, speak to the audience in a way they would understand, and keep his wealthy patrons happy. Henry V didn't have a friend named Sir John Falstaff, he's fictional and also appears in The Merry Wives of Windsor which I'm fairly certain isn't part of the English Kings plays. However, Falstaff was (supposedly) a fan favorite of the audience and is speculated to be based off of a real person (speculations include the actor playing him, but no conclusive evidence exists).

This series of plays by Shakespeare are often seen as helping educate and shape public opinion on English history (particularly where the monarchs are concerned). Henry V is the tragic hero the public needs because he was on the right side of the War of the Roses, while Richard III is a total villain because he was on the wrong side of the war (he also likely murdered his nephews and rightful heirs to the throne, so...).

You guys might not have read the epic poems of Dante's Divine Comedy or John Milton's Paradise Lost, but by the universe you've either heard of them or been exposed to something that has been influenced by them.

 I've seen Paradise Lost referenced by Mary Shelly in Frankenstien, Neil Gainman in Sandman, a scene in the movie Animal House, the Star Trek episode "Space Seed", and more video games and songs than I have space to list. Needless to say, it's popular.

It's also this very long angsty fanfiction about the fallen angel Lucifer and the war between heaven and hell. I wouldn't even call this an adaptation of a Bible story, this is just straight up fanfiction about things that are referenced or barely mentioned in The Good Book.

That goes double for The Divine Comedy. The trilogy is a prime example of self insert fanfiction (written by a good writer) if I ever read such a story. The guy gets to meet his favorite Latin poet, get a VIP tour of hell, puragory, and heaven, damn two Popes to hell (it's complicated), and meets all the whose who of dead guys in 14th century western culture (seriously there are a lot of side conversations that could easily have been skipped over Dante).

This particular work of fiction was so popular by the time's powers at be that it influenced the Christian religion up to, well...now. Half the reason westerners and Christians think of hell the way they do is because of Dante. Heck, who else would have sentenced Marcus Junius Brutus to be eaten for eternity by the devil himself? An Italian with a grudge - that's who.

But you don't have to listen to my arguments for this. Overly Sarcastic Productions on YouTube has a fantastic summary of all three books and why they are the most fanfiction of fanfiction writings in existence that are also held in such high regard. Seriously check out the videos, they're hilarious.

So the next time you bash someone for writing or enjoying fanfiction, just remember that you might be a fan of someone else's fanfiction...that was just given a budget.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome to the Genre of War

Yesterday, I was able to hear Nicholas Parisi give a talk on Rod Serling. He's an expert on everything Rod Serling and recently wrote a book which compiles everything Serling ever wrote from The Twilight Zone to Planet of the Apes. Parisi tracked down everything, including the first short story published by Serling.

Serling served in World War II, in the Philippines, as a paratrooper. The experience later influenced many of the works he wrote, including his first short story. The semi-autobiographical story centered around having supplies airdropped to his unit's location after 10 days of fighting without any food. One of the unit's members, and a character based off a real friend of Serling's, jokingly narrates the descent. The unit's relief quickly turns to horror as the supplies are dropped right on top of them, with enough force to decapitate the Serling's friend.

Guernica by Pablo Picasso - how he depicted the Spanish Civil War

I wish I could read the original story, but hearing the synopsis got me thinking. I've seen wars portrayed across many genres. From the real life inspired tragedies such as "War and Peace", "Battle of the Bulge (1965), and Glory (1989) to the mysteries such as Stalag 17 (1953) and The Night of the Generals (1967). There are the dramatic autobiographical stories such as "Band of Brothers" and Patton (1970). There are even comedies like "Hogan's Heroes" and "M*A*S*H" (the 1970 movie and TV show).

My dad is a bit of a war movie buff, so I've seen quite a number of war movies. He's particularly fond of the more action heroic World War II movies of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, such as The Dirty Dozen (1967), Where Eagles Dare (1968) and Kelly's Heroes (1970). These were movies that I watched a lot as a kid. The good guys always worked as a team to take down the evil Nazis and the Nazis were definitely the bad guys, there was no question.

Just like how monsters in horror aren't just monsters, war in fantasy, science fiction, and even horror isn't just about the war. It's often part of a larger commentary on human society, our technology, our ethics, and our ideologies.

In Harry Potter the wizarding war is about the evils of magical Nazis, while the original War of the Worlds shows how easily a civilization can fall to an enemy with advanced technology (basically it was written to show imperialist countries how easy it is to defeat someone with better technology and exploit their fears of invasion).

The wars depicted in the world of Narnia are often allegorical to fighting on the side of God and defeating evil. The war against the Fire Lord in "Avatar the Last Airbender" is about restoring balance to the world and finding a creative way to defeat your enemies without killing them (I love Aang's solution to this so no spoilers if you haven't seen the show - skip the movie).

Independence Day (1996) shows the tenacity of the human/American spirit in the face of an enemy that's hell bent on wiping us out as well as the horrors of weapons of mass destruction. And Star Wars is a classic good versus evil story.

Why does war one of those catastrophic events that can cross genres so easily?

My guess is because of how ingrained it is in our history as a species.We have historical accounts of war which we study, sometimes in our literary classes such as Homer's "The Iliad",  or to learn strategy such as the works of Sun Tzu "On The Art Of War". Some of these historical events have become historical fiction in the form of the movies like Gladiator (2000) and 300 (2006) - the later of which also includes a number of fantasy elements.

War is apart of our common human history. There hasn't been a civilization that we learn about in school, which hasn't been affected by war and violence in some way. The history of my country  starts with a war for independence.

There's a lot more on this subject that I can write on. I haven't even touched on the many video games that make the player question the ethics of their actions or contemplate how their actions might end up killing or saving millions of people. Heck, I didn't even mention my favorite fandom, the Transformers franchise (ignoring the Bay movies) which is all about the destruction of war on an alien species driven to Earth where they continue to fight.

The reason I chose to write this post is because I noticed that the subject of war easily crosses genres. Some writers use it as a commentary, while others are writing from a place of experience as a need to understand and come to terms with what they went through - like Mr. Serling.

War is horrible. There's no denying that.

And I honestly don't have a good, philosophical, or thoughtful note to end this post on. So I'll repeat the one statement I feel is most true:

War is horrible.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Until next time!

Welcome To Being Local

Being a local of a so called "Village" is not the same as what's seen on TV. It's not really a small town because all of the towns up this way pretty much merge into one another. People also come and go a lot.

What is nice is having a lot of things to do. There are a lot of shops and restaurants (that are also always coming and going, but hey at least there's variety). Plenty of community events like every other Wednesday in the summer they were showing movies in the town square. I can easily walk to the library and what I think is a community pool (I haven't confirmed that).

For the most part, I'm only social when I need to be. I go to the gym 2-4 times a week and talk to other people in my classes. My roommate has me going to the cafe she works at on the weekends. I also sometimes go out to eat.

Now, eating at a restaurant by yourself is a little intimidating. I say intimidating instead of other adjectives because I like eating by myself. I like not having to cook and getting out of the apartment. It can be a little intimidating because it's just you by yourself surrounded by other people who are with other people. Often I am the only person going solo to the restaurant. This is why, most often than now, I end up at the local bar. I feel it's less awkward.

Having a local bar isn't really like how it's portrayed on TV. It's not even where people really know your name. There always seems to be someone new when I go to the bar. Hell the only people who I know are consistently there are the bar tenders. Who knows, maybe they are judging me for going every other weekend by myself to a bar. At least I get to watch sports (still don't have cable).

You also never know who you might meet at the bar. I've had conversations range from how the new Suicide Squad movie looks to debating the finer points of the art of pizza making. I might go to the bar because I have nothing better to do with my life (plus happy hour), but I stay because I'm having fun. Hopefully I'm not making too much of a fool of myself.

Heck just this past weekend, I got into a conversation with a group of people at the bar. One of them gave me an apple to "keep the doctor away". I'm not sure how drunk this person was (though believe me, he had been long before I showed up), but he was certainly interesting to talk to.

If being a local means you've lived in the area for 5+ years, then I haven't accomplished that yet, but I am very familiar with the town. I walk to and from the gym without worrying too much. Sometimes I even recognize people and say hello. Well, I've been around long enough to see business open and then turn around at the end of the season and close. I'm a resident of this town, I feel like a local.

It might not be the towns shown on TV, but it is home.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, or leave a comment. I like hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Let me know if you guys ever have a topic you'd like me to write about.