Fannish Urban Legends
Jan. 3rd, 2004 11:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thebratqueenNew year, new geeky things to ponder.
I assume by now that we all know what urban legends are. "Do alligators live in the New York City sewer system?" "Can you see a dead munchkin in the background of The Wizard of Oz?" "Will you get a cramp and die if you go swimming one hour after you've eaten?" and things of that nature. They cover everything from college to Coke to Disney.
What I'm wondering is: do they cover fandom?
Has fandom been around long enough at this point that it has fannish urban legends? And if it does have urban legends, what are they?
I'm not sure I know the answer to the first question, but in terms of the second here's what I can think of:
***
Fannish Urban Legend:
Part of the reason why authors get so angry with people who write fanfiction is because Marion Zimmer Bradley once supported fanfiction then was sued by a fan who claimed that MZB stole their idea for a story.
Variations on the Legend:
Anne MacCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey are sometimes cited as the author instead of MZB. Some variations of the story say that the fan not only sued but won the case. This legend then dovetails into murky lessons about whether or not a fanfic author could possibly hold the copyright to anything in a fanfic story (ie not the characters but the story idea) (see below for more on this theme).
Fact or fiction?
This example was the first thing that made me think of the idea of fannish urban legends because I've often seen it quoted but found it interesting that the name of the author was never the same. And the telling of the tale always seemed to imply that it was only one author who had ever had this happen to them, which also implies that all versions of the tale can't be true.
I don't personally know if the story is true or not for any of those authors. I know that Anne Rice and her publisher once quietly supported fanfic then turned around and threatened legal action, but it wasn't because any fans tried to sue Anne and that happened easily three or four years after I'd first heard the tale of "The fan that sued" so Anne isn't the creator of the legend, though I wonder if she's now being cited as the author in question.
I know Blake's 7 has a history of someone related to the show condeming either fic or slash or both, so possibly that influenced the tale.
Terry Pratchett once posted to a Usenet group dedicated to his writing saying that he couldn't read the posts anymore because people were writing detailed speculation about his upcoming Discworld book. Whether or not he then said he couldn't read those posts because of the possibility of people accusing him of stealing the ideas or because he simply didn't want to be influenced by other people's speculation I can't remember. But it's close enough that I think it's definitely a variation on the tale.
So: Did this ever happen? If so, who was the author? (And can that be proven with documentation and not the classic urban legend "I heard from a friend of a friend that the original author who was sued was actually Jane Austin"?)
Fannish Urban Legend:
The original Mary Sue was a character in a piece of Star Trek (The Original Series) fanfic, was named Mary Sue, made everyone fall in love with her then died in a horribly dramatic way, thus giving birth to this bit of fannish vocabulary.
Variations on the Legend:
She appeared on ST:TOS itself and not in a piece of fanfic.
Fact or Fiction?
@#$% if I know. TOS isn't my fandom. Anybody care to clear this one?
Fannish Urban Legend:
As long as a piece of fanfic has a disclaimer on it (eg "This is a non-profit effort not intended to infringe on the copyright of [insert name of actual copyright holders for that fandom here]") the person who wrote the fic can never be sued.
Variations on the Legend:
Legal problems also crop up if there is confusion as to whether or not the fic is endorsed by the original copyright holder, hence why the disclaimer must make it clear that the story is unofficial. Other variations say that the legal problems can be because the fanfic author can claim copyright to the story idea and sue the copyright holder for "stealing" the plot from them (as mentioned in the first legend).
Fact or Fiction?
Considering that nobody's ever gone to court yet I'd say nobody knows. Some lawyers say the disclaimer thing helps, others say it doesn't matter in the slightest. Still others say it depends on whether or not your fandom is movies/television vs. print. I think we can certainly iron out the "facts" of this by talking about copyright vs. trademark vs. right of publicity vs Lanham Act issues, so that at least the educated guesses are being pointed in the right direction, but until there's actually a court case I suspect this one will stay "undetermined".
***
So that's what I was able to come up with. Can anybody think of any others? Are there fannish urban legends? Are there legends that are fandom-specific or are there legends that nearly every fandom has heard? What makes a fannish urban legend? And, much as Snopes lists legends which are true, would a fannish urban legend cease to be a FUL if the story turned out to be true?
Things that make you go hmmmm.....
I assume by now that we all know what urban legends are. "Do alligators live in the New York City sewer system?" "Can you see a dead munchkin in the background of The Wizard of Oz?" "Will you get a cramp and die if you go swimming one hour after you've eaten?" and things of that nature. They cover everything from college to Coke to Disney.
What I'm wondering is: do they cover fandom?
Has fandom been around long enough at this point that it has fannish urban legends? And if it does have urban legends, what are they?
I'm not sure I know the answer to the first question, but in terms of the second here's what I can think of:
***
Fannish Urban Legend:
Part of the reason why authors get so angry with people who write fanfiction is because Marion Zimmer Bradley once supported fanfiction then was sued by a fan who claimed that MZB stole their idea for a story.
Variations on the Legend:
Anne MacCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey are sometimes cited as the author instead of MZB. Some variations of the story say that the fan not only sued but won the case. This legend then dovetails into murky lessons about whether or not a fanfic author could possibly hold the copyright to anything in a fanfic story (ie not the characters but the story idea) (see below for more on this theme).
Fact or fiction?
This example was the first thing that made me think of the idea of fannish urban legends because I've often seen it quoted but found it interesting that the name of the author was never the same. And the telling of the tale always seemed to imply that it was only one author who had ever had this happen to them, which also implies that all versions of the tale can't be true.
I don't personally know if the story is true or not for any of those authors. I know that Anne Rice and her publisher once quietly supported fanfic then turned around and threatened legal action, but it wasn't because any fans tried to sue Anne and that happened easily three or four years after I'd first heard the tale of "The fan that sued" so Anne isn't the creator of the legend, though I wonder if she's now being cited as the author in question.
I know Blake's 7 has a history of someone related to the show condeming either fic or slash or both, so possibly that influenced the tale.
Terry Pratchett once posted to a Usenet group dedicated to his writing saying that he couldn't read the posts anymore because people were writing detailed speculation about his upcoming Discworld book. Whether or not he then said he couldn't read those posts because of the possibility of people accusing him of stealing the ideas or because he simply didn't want to be influenced by other people's speculation I can't remember. But it's close enough that I think it's definitely a variation on the tale.
So: Did this ever happen? If so, who was the author? (And can that be proven with documentation and not the classic urban legend "I heard from a friend of a friend that the original author who was sued was actually Jane Austin"?)
Fannish Urban Legend:
The original Mary Sue was a character in a piece of Star Trek (The Original Series) fanfic, was named Mary Sue, made everyone fall in love with her then died in a horribly dramatic way, thus giving birth to this bit of fannish vocabulary.
Variations on the Legend:
She appeared on ST:TOS itself and not in a piece of fanfic.
Fact or Fiction?
@#$% if I know. TOS isn't my fandom. Anybody care to clear this one?
Fannish Urban Legend:
As long as a piece of fanfic has a disclaimer on it (eg "This is a non-profit effort not intended to infringe on the copyright of [insert name of actual copyright holders for that fandom here]") the person who wrote the fic can never be sued.
Variations on the Legend:
Legal problems also crop up if there is confusion as to whether or not the fic is endorsed by the original copyright holder, hence why the disclaimer must make it clear that the story is unofficial. Other variations say that the legal problems can be because the fanfic author can claim copyright to the story idea and sue the copyright holder for "stealing" the plot from them (as mentioned in the first legend).
Fact or Fiction?
Considering that nobody's ever gone to court yet I'd say nobody knows. Some lawyers say the disclaimer thing helps, others say it doesn't matter in the slightest. Still others say it depends on whether or not your fandom is movies/television vs. print. I think we can certainly iron out the "facts" of this by talking about copyright vs. trademark vs. right of publicity vs Lanham Act issues, so that at least the educated guesses are being pointed in the right direction, but until there's actually a court case I suspect this one will stay "undetermined".
***
So that's what I was able to come up with. Can anybody think of any others? Are there fannish urban legends? Are there legends that are fandom-specific or are there legends that nearly every fandom has heard? What makes a fannish urban legend? And, much as Snopes lists legends which are true, would a fannish urban legend cease to be a FUL if the story turned out to be true?
Things that make you go hmmmm.....
