Creators whose primary motivation is profit may additionally not want to alienate parts of the fandom: refusing to resolve Fanon disputes, especially if they are politically tinged, can be an effective strategy for doing that.Ī number of people reject the notion of Word of God being equal to Canon, considering something to be canon only if it appeared in the original source material. Creators may have good reason to fear social or even legal repercussions if they answer questions like this: something which fandoms are often not as sensitive to as they should be. In the heat of internet discourse, it can be difficult to remember that what is a pedestrian factoid in your country can be a hot-button political issue in a different one. This is particularly likely to be true when the creator is in a different country from the fandom. The other reason creators often refuse to answer questions about character identity is of course, politics. Western fans can find this very strange and frustrating. Japanese creators, for example, will often decide what a character's blood type is: but may not pay any mind to their sexuality. Culture can play a role here as well, since what might be considered an essential fact about a person in one culture could be viewed as extraneous in another. The fandom might consider those details important because the work happens to speak to people who have a particular identity: but that doesn't mean the author considered that fact important enough to spend time thinking about. Not all writers make highly detailed character charts, or decide on details of a character's identity that aren't directly plot-relevant. Everyone's creative process is different. In particular, questions about a character's sexuality, gender identity or race often fall into this category. It is not at all uncommon for fans to ask questions which they believe to be obvious, but which the creator has never considered. It's important to keep in mind that just because someone wrote a character or setting, doesn't mean they decided on a correct answer to every question that could possibly be asked about that character or setting. Alternatively, the author might view both readings of the story as equally acceptible, and thus not want to comment. Especially in an ongoing series where the creator knows facts the fans don't, they might very well know for a fact that both fan theories have truth in them and thus not wish to take sides. In point of fact, there are good reasons many creators don't respond to requests for this: they want the fans to make their own interpretations. In many cases the authority does not feel the need to respond further pressure simply leads to suggestions that the fandom is misaimed. Such edicts can even go against events as were broadcast, due to someone making a mistake.įans may look for the Word of God to settle Fanon disputes, but the Authority may have moved on and doesn't care to respond. A statement regarding some ambiguous or undefined aspect of a work, the Word of God comes from someone considered to be the ultimate authority, such as the creator, director or producer.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |