if you make it clear that your RPF isn't true, there's pretty much no way you can successfully be sued for libel, which means that the legality of RPF is actually much clearer than the legality of FPF
That actually makes sense (which is a sad comment on the current state of copyright law). It would be nicely ironic if RPS turned out to be more legal than regular fic, since so many fans consider it more morally questionable than copyright violation. It doesn't seem to stop anti-RPS people from telling RPS writers that they're committing libel/slander/invasion of privacy/sins against the Gods of fandom/whathaveyou, though. On the other hand, I'm not sure I buy the "celebrities make themselves fair game for pr0n by becoming public figures" argument, either.
To me, it's just another example in which fans tend to believe that fannish products are less legitimate and "naughtier" in some way than published-for-profit texts (even when the for-profit texts are strikingly similar to fannish products).
I've never really understood why things like Wicked are considered clever and literary, while Harry Potter or Staw Wars fic is considered derivative, less "creative," and a sign of having no life. Or why people see any major difference between the zillion and one Star Trek tie-in novels and Kirk/Spock slash zines.
Fan fiction is a proud literary tradition, going back (at least) to when Virgil decided to write his own unauthorized sequel to Homer's Odyssy ^_^. The fact that Virgil wrote in Latin doesn't magically erase the fact that Aeneas was somebody else's character first. Except that if you try to claim to most people that the Aeneid was fanficton, they'll indignantly insist that it's literature, and in no way similar to Harry/Hermione pr0n.
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Date: 2006-04-15 07:31 pm (UTC)That actually makes sense (which is a sad comment on the current state of copyright law). It would be nicely ironic if RPS turned out to be more legal than regular fic, since so many fans consider it more morally questionable than copyright violation. It doesn't seem to stop anti-RPS people from telling RPS writers that they're committing libel/slander/invasion of privacy/sins against the Gods of fandom/whathaveyou, though. On the other hand, I'm not sure I buy the "celebrities make themselves fair game for pr0n by becoming public figures" argument, either.
To me, it's just another example in which fans tend to believe that fannish products are less legitimate and "naughtier" in some way than published-for-profit texts (even when the for-profit texts are strikingly similar to fannish products).
I've never really understood why things like Wicked are considered clever and literary, while Harry Potter or Staw Wars fic is considered derivative, less "creative," and a sign of having no life. Or why people see any major difference between the zillion and one Star Trek tie-in novels and Kirk/Spock slash zines.
Fan fiction is a proud literary tradition, going back (at least) to when Virgil decided to write his own unauthorized sequel to Homer's Odyssy ^_^. The fact that Virgil wrote in Latin doesn't magically erase the fact that Aeneas was somebody else's character first. Except that if you try to claim to most people that the Aeneid was fanficton, they'll indignantly insist that it's literature, and in no way similar to Harry/Hermione pr0n.