~~ it's a meme's paradise....

[reenka]

This is kind of in slight reference to a comment in sistermagpie's post about the supposed book 6 title and secondarily, the idea that criticizing the books/JKR would imply that that particular fan is saying they're somehow 'superior' & thus not a fan.

I think this seems relevant to me 'cause I do criticize things (more fanfics than canon, since I'm more in constant contact with fanfics and they seem more relevant) all the time, in terms as large and sweeping as some of the critiques of JKR's canon treatment of Slytherins, for example, and yet it's interesting 'cause I certainly remain a 'fan' of fanfic. There are complexities there, in terms of what makes one a fan & what enjoying the reading experience means for different people. It may seem contradictory that I don't feel like I'm a fan of JKR's writing at all, yet I enjoy some aspects of the HP books very much. I feel like I can enjoy some aspects of a work just as I can criticize and even feel upset with some others, at the same time.

Another interesting aspect is this idea of superiority. Do I imply my own superiority by criticizing others' fiction?

It's fascinating partly because what I'm criticizing is the work of other fans-- therefore we're supposed to be equal, right; and of course we are in the way that everyone's ideas/works are equally valid for scrutiny. Yet we, as a group of fan writers, are not very comfortable, overall, critiquing each other's methods. It gets too personal, right? Criticizing fanfic is a risky venture. Whereas criticizing JKR is impersonal, because-- well-- she's significantly separate from us fans. However, some authors would say having a group of people call themselves fans implies they are theirs: that somehow, the fans' behavior or beliefs are the author's province.

I think some fans feel free to talk back because she's simply not a part of a community: of -our- community. The fan's Author is the shadowy presence behind the books-- a construct-- an appropriation; they're almost a 'super-ego' aspect of oneself as Reader. They're quite different from an actual -person-, I think, with actual feelings & opinions. Thus there are a lot more people who talk about canon than fanon (though I myself talk about fanon, mostly). Our community has rules, of a sort, and JKR seems to think she heads it; that's more of a claim that may or may not have supporters rather than an established 'rule'.

JKR clearly believes she's superior to her readers. I myself think there can be no superiority attached to anyone's lit-crit ideas in terms of either canon or fanon-- simply because there's no such thing, really, as 'objective'. The ideas just are, and they can exist or die on their own merits. It's all about the memetics, man. The memes! The books! They are alive! Woo! We are the carriers-- JKR... JKR is the meta-carrier, but still a carrier.

I'm not so post-modern as to say 'The Author' is a fallacy-- I'd just say... The Author is an incomplete meme without The Reader there to interpret them. It is true that The Author can be their own Reader, but the receptivity is muddled (by foreknowledge and conscious intent which may or may not have been successfully translated)-- which is why it's so helpful to read one's works a long time later, when one -forgets- a lot of what one's written. The Creator alone, in other words, is not 'god'; any reality-- fictional or not-- is going to be co-created by anyone who perceives it.


Apparently, though, there are people who think that criticizing/questioning JKR (especially her moral stances in regards to good & evil) is blasphemous, somehow. One of those people who dislikes this large-scale questioning is JKR, from her comments about people being wrong for going against her authorial intent and liking Slytherins.

To me, the idea of any level of criticism implying I'm not a fan is antithetical-- simply because I criticize because I think; I constantly question. Are texts (and fanfic is a text, same as canon) made to be questioned, or just enjoyed as is or not at all? How does the question itself (no matter how controversial or fundamentally 'against' the supposed core of a work) somehow become a superiority issue? It does seem to happen, at least in the minds of the people who are on JKR's 'side', saying it's wanky and stupid to go against authorial intent.

This is a philosophy that makes sense only to people who have a narrow, very specialized circle of reading interests: if you don't like it, don't read it. Therefore, if you read it (this philosophy goes), you're condoning it-- approving of it, even. And how scary is -that-?
    JKR, by her anti-Slytherin comments, seems to imply that by reading (and being 'fans of', i.e., clearly enjoying every aspect of) her work, we're buying into some sort of... philosophical system. So, I'm curious. All of you, who may like my fanfics. Hey. Do you buy into their 'philosophical system'? Do you even know what it is? Would you care if I -told- you? Would you feel the need to accept it as your own within the boundaries of the fic? Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it.

I myself could care less about any writer's philosophical system, whether or not I agree with it, really. The need to agree actually doesn't even arise. The only thing that matters to me is that I feel I -understand- the work and that I enjoy the text and/or subtext as I see them. Usually I won't enjoy a story without feeling an affinity for the ideas contained within it-- of whatever sort-- but sometimes a story does come along which appeals to me on one level but not others; at least, I find I -notice- the levels at which it doesn't appeal. I think generally I'd just -overlook- the things that don't appeal to me in a story. Sometimes though, because I really like some aspects of a story, my attention widens to scrutinize the story more and thus I also focus on some unappealing things.

It should go without saying that I hate the idea of liking something without being able to see-- and name-- its ugly sides, especially if it's something I love. The more I love it, the more I want to enumerate everything I notice about it, good or bad-- like I said, it's just a question of me having focus, as a fan. So I'm a fan of H/D fanfic, say, so I criticize it to hell and back :D I don't criticize -everything- I'm a fan of simply because some things (Mozart's music) are unqualifiably appealing, whereas some things (H/D fanfic in general, JKR's books, fantasy lit in general, New York City) have almost as much good as bad in my mind. How much of either really seems to depend on my mood.

Eh. I'm just a different sort of reader, I think, than JKR is. It's interesting, though, imagining her as an author who's just a part of this community (as she seems to be a bit closer to becoming, what with all the interviews). Imagining her as one of us; seems almost blasphemous ('the Creator' among us!), but I don't think it is, from my own viewpoint as someone who generally critiques the fanfic of her peers in fundamental terms. Peer-meta-review, man. It's not exactly scientific (being much more about the reviewer's own philosophies and beliefs than any 'facts', often enough), but it's just as communal & important as peer-meta-fangirling, I think.

Basically? Yeay for subjectivity. :> And for the idea that instead of coming at the expense of The Real Truth, it can co-create it. Man. I love contradictions :D They make my brain tickle. Non-linear thinkers, scatter!!1

Comments

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

That aspect of 'until the book is done' was actually something that was bothering me in terms of sensing a hole in my reasoning & yet not quite being able to put my finger on it, so thanks :D :D! Definitely, I feel JKR has more 'power' than usual for writers of finished works (and that's a big part of the reason I felt the parallels between her & fanfic writers were so interesting). So yes... she has the 'power of the future' backing her up-- because well, she could pretty much change almost anything at this point (nevermind good writing-- that didn't stop her with Ginny's characterization, did it, ahahahahah).

So yeah. While in progress, a book is incomplete and thus the writer has a lot more power. It's weird, though, to think of it in terms of how in this case, these incomplete parts of it are probably just as alive as the whole seven books will (probably) be-- just as the incomplete works of Conan Doyle had already reached 'critical capacity' of some sort, and, er... we had lift off. *cringes at bad metaphor*

I mean, a number of fans don't really even -care- about the future canon if it seriously contradicts their beloved little vision at this point, y'know? I think that's actually really amusing. In that case, I tend to be a bit on the author's 'side', in as far as I myself don't really care what happens in canon (as long as Harry's alive), so it's easy for me to laugh at the idea of judging the text for being not what one wanted. I mean, you can -critique- it of course, just like everything else, but it's kind of ridiculous to expect a "co-ownership" of the text in this sense. Although clearly, yeah, these things do get fuzzy, don't they?

I mean, to me, my 'appropriation' that I referred to is basically only in effect in terms of my own fanfic and my ideas of what actually -is- already text. It doesn't extent to -me- (instead of the Author!) trying to now control the text. Ahahaha, that sort of power-struggle actually really amuses me, 'cause it seems so... I dunno, almost parent/child-like, y'know? In my mind, the reader/book relationship is more like lovers than like parent/child, and the whiny why-didn't-this-go-my-way reader is just like a child in the same way JKR slapping someone's hand and saying 'no no! you're -wrong-, children!' is... well... yeah :>

I think the thing is that The Author as seen through their text is more than the sum of their conscious parts. Some things are always unintentional, some are unconscious, some are just plain errors, some are miscommunications, etcetc. Ahhh, language is a tricksy bitch :>

I don't know what a meta-carrier is either-- but I don't actually know the memetics lingo necessary, so I just... made up a word. I meant something that wasn't 'meme originator' (because I don't think a book -starts with- The Author, precisely), and didn't sound clunky like uber-carrier, ahahah :>