Fanfiction is Everything

In today’s cinematic culture of sequels, the fictional universe in which a story is set becomes even more important. When every story has the potential to spawn multiple other films, games, shows, etc., a setting is worth much more than a single narrative. Often, the potential for sequels and other expansions of the original universe is dependent on audience response to the original. In this way, fans and fandom are crucial to the expansion of cinematic and transmedia universes. In particular, fanfiction — be it written, drawn, composed, or edited — is a practice that has been influencing media industries for a long time.

Fanfiction as defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary means “stories involving popular fictional characters that are written by fans and often posted on the Internet.” I would go further with this definition, and say that fanfiction can be expanded to include any work that is inspired by the work of another. While its most popular form is online written stories, it can be made in any medium as long as it augments a preexisting work.  

Sometimes fans shape the universes in smaller ways. For example, the TV show Psych (2006) had an episode where the “whodunnit” culprit was determined by fan input. You had to watch the show, at which time you could vote for who you think did the crime. They filmed an ending of the episode for all the options, and they aired the version where the person with the most votes was caught. This shows how studios and networks can directly engage fans with the production of the media, rather than indirectly through assumptions and rumors.

The idea of interactive television is not new, and it has been happening since at least the 90’s. Regardless, fans and fandom are both necessary for the expansion of these universes. The saying “give the people what they want” very much applies to this. When the fans of a story or idea want something, it’s a clear audience for studios and producers to appeal to. In this way, fans and fandom directly affect what gets made. An example of this phenomenon would be the recent Star Wars revival. All of this was based on the original Star Wars universe imagined by George Lucas, but after the original films were released, there was a fan-led demand for more. This led to several spin-off films, shows, and novelizations. The expanded universe is authorized by Lucasfilm, but several thousand more stories exist unauthorized.

Often studios/networks and fans clash over the direction of a story or character. The most obvious way fans can show their distaste is by not watching the show or film, but sometimes fans take it upon themselves to fix things. Just as fans made an expanded universe for Star Wars, they often “fix” other so-called problems by writing a new version in fanfictions. There are an abundance of universe-specific or multi-genre platforms for fanfiction to be posted, and the most popular of (unauthorized) “fics” sometimes find publishers (Star Wars, Star Trek, even One Direction). Websites such as ArchiveOfOurOwn.org and FanFiction.net host hundreds of thousands of stories where fans have posted their writngs. Such stories demonstrate which parts of a universe or character are strong, and which need more expansion. Sometimes fanfiction fandoms die out if the source material is found lacking (such as the fandom for the TV show Bones [2005]). For other fandoms, the source can keep giving writers new ideas for years to come (such as the fandom for the show Buffy: The Vampire Slayer [1997]). Should Buffy creator Joss Whedon ever wonder if there is interest in a revival of the show, he need only look at how much new content is being produced by fans every day.

While fanfiction is often not a direct link between fans and media producers, it sometimes creates enough traction to be included. For example, the Fifty Shades of Grey novel-turned-film was originally fanfiction of the Twilight series. Even further, sometimes the fan of something has the means to create a film or show of their own, es exemplified by J.J. Abrams’ Super 8 (2011) which was an ode to Abrams’ favorite Steven Spielberg films. In fact, if we think about fandom in this sense, many popular filmmakers, artists, and designers create “fanfiction” themselves. Just like Picasso influenced the art of Dali, and Dali influenced Jeff Koons,  “fanfiction” is a practice that has been going on for centuries.