Why Shouldn’t Fan Fiction Be Forbidden?
Why shouldn’t Fan fiction be forbidden?
(Positive and negative sides of fanfiction and which overbalance the others)
Does fan fiction infringe the copyright? Yes, it does. And there are many people who consider fan fiction to be plagiarism or cheating. They claim that fan fiction writers are just thieves and some even consider these works to be immoral or illegal. In this essay I would like to present some arguments why fan fiction isn’t such a bad thing and why we should not try to forbid it from a legal point of view just as much as from human and cultural point.
But before I start with my argument the term fan fiction should be explained shortly. Unofficially fan fiction can be anything. When you didn’t like the ending of some story and imagined better one in your head, well, that was a fan fiction even though only in your head. When a kid creates his own story with characters of his favourite cartoon while playing with friends that can be considered as a fan fiction as well. But officially fan fiction is a work written by some amateur writer which is based on any original work. It might be a book, film, sitcom or anything else that attracts attention of larger community, so called fans. Fan fiction is almost never published and writers of ‘fics’ usually don’t make money on fan fiction. This work is almost always based on fandom. Fandom is a subculture of people who are connected by common interest. They have vast knowledge of the universe they are writing and reading about and usually are very critical if some writer ignores the rules.
But what is important, people who present themselves as members of fandom have many things in common. They share the feelings and enthusiasm. They usually identify themselves as a member of this community what gives them the feeling of belonging somewhere. And by writing a fan fiction they can actively contribute to the community.
And not talking about what a feeling it is when people from your community appreciate and
(Positive and negative sides of fanfiction and which overbalance the others)
Does fan fiction infringe the copyright? Yes, it does. And there are many people who consider fan fiction to be plagiarism or cheating. They claim that fan fiction writers are just thieves and some even consider these works to be immoral or illegal. In this essay I would like to present some arguments why fan fiction isn’t such a bad thing and why we should not try to forbid it from a legal point of view just as much as from human and cultural point.
But before I start with my argument the term fan fiction should be explained shortly. Unofficially fan fiction can be anything. When you didn’t like the ending of some story and imagined better one in your head, well, that was a fan fiction even though only in your head. When a kid creates his own story with characters of his favourite cartoon while playing with friends that can be considered as a fan fiction as well. But officially fan fiction is a work written by some amateur writer which is based on any original work. It might be a book, film, sitcom or anything else that attracts attention of larger community, so called fans. Fan fiction is almost never published and writers of ‘fics’ usually don’t make money on fan fiction. This work is almost always based on fandom. Fandom is a subculture of people who are connected by common interest. They have vast knowledge of the universe they are writing and reading about and usually are very critical if some writer ignores the rules.
But what is important, people who present themselves as members of fandom have many things in common. They share the feelings and enthusiasm. They usually identify themselves as a member of this community what gives them the feeling of belonging somewhere. And by writing a fan fiction they can actively contribute to the community.
And not talking about what a feeling it is when people from your community appreciate and