For *me*, reading the full set of LotR strikes me as much more manageable than reading all twenty-odd Aubrey/Maturin books. I've only watched 8 or so episodes of Sharpe, but if I had the inclination, I think I could write fic based on what I've seen, set in the timeline of those 8 episodes.
LotR, otoh, is really one long book.
Of course, all my LotR fic is clearly and explicitly movieverse (except for one story) and so it uses some of the movie things that never happen in the book (Aragorn's flight over the cliff. Eowyn being at Helms Deep etc.), as is all my X-Men fic. And all my HP fic is based on the books, and it's HP now that gives me the most trouble, because while I enjoyed the movie of PoA, I don't want to read fic based on those versions of Sirius and Remus, and yet some writers have absorbed those characterizations (and the actors' physicality) into their mostly-book-based fic.
Which I find jarring, as a reader.
this also ties into how it annoys me when people refer to films as fanfiction, and how i think everything - book canon, film canon, and fanon inform my understanding of a character
See, I think you can easily make a case for LotR or X-Men movieverse as separate canons from the books/comics - the LotR films are deep enough that you can manage w/o the books (as long as you label your fic movieverse), and XMM is clearly AU from the comics, and comics fans are used to multiple canons (or you think they would be, but considering some of the nastiness of comics v. movie fans over the past few years, not so much).
The HP films, otoh, have never struck me as deep enough to support a fandom based solely on the films, without knowledge of the books, and I think PoA, but cutting so much important information from the overall plot, is even guiltier of that.
So I'm of the mind that the HP movies are sort of fanficcish, in that I'll always privilege the HP books over the movies, and that while I may choose to add interesting details here or there from the movie, I don't see it as canon.
I suppose if I were really onboard with the movie!Lupin characterization, and if the actors had fit my mental pictures of the characters, I might have a different answer, but I think that's a decision every fan makes for herself, and for me, it's kind of a kneejerk reaction.
I also have an uneasy relationship with fanon, though I'm the first to admit that I write both under its influence and in response against it.
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11/8/04 13:44 (UTC)LotR, otoh, is really one long book.
Of course, all my LotR fic is clearly and explicitly movieverse (except for one story) and so it uses some of the movie things that never happen in the book (Aragorn's flight over the cliff. Eowyn being at Helms Deep etc.), as is all my X-Men fic. And all my HP fic is based on the books, and it's HP now that gives me the most trouble, because while I enjoyed the movie of PoA, I don't want to read fic based on those versions of Sirius and Remus, and yet some writers have absorbed those characterizations (and the actors' physicality) into their mostly-book-based fic.
Which I find jarring, as a reader.
this also ties into how it annoys me when people refer to films as fanfiction, and how i think everything - book canon, film canon, and fanon inform my understanding of a character
See, I think you can easily make a case for LotR or X-Men movieverse as separate canons from the books/comics - the LotR films are deep enough that you can manage w/o the books (as long as you label your fic movieverse), and XMM is clearly AU from the comics, and comics fans are used to multiple canons (or you think they would be, but considering some of the nastiness of comics v. movie fans over the past few years, not so much).
The HP films, otoh, have never struck me as deep enough to support a fandom based solely on the films, without knowledge of the books, and I think PoA, but cutting so much important information from the overall plot, is even guiltier of that.
So I'm of the mind that the HP movies are sort of fanficcish, in that I'll always privilege the HP books over the movies, and that while I may choose to add interesting details here or there from the movie, I don't see it as canon.
I suppose if I were really onboard with the movie!Lupin characterization, and if the actors had fit my mental pictures of the characters, I might have a different answer, but I think that's a decision every fan makes for herself, and for me, it's kind of a kneejerk reaction.
I also have an uneasy relationship with fanon, though I'm the first to admit that I write both under its influence and in response against it.