Of Shoeboxes and Cassie Claire

[lls_mutant]

Subtitled: Why Should I Care About Cassie Claire?

I have a point. Really.

I've been thinking, okay? (If I was gonna rip off snorkackcatcher, I'd add "A dangerous past time, I know" and cite it.) But seriously.

There's all the drama about Cassie Claire, and while on the one hand I think plagiarism is anything but funny (especially when it happens to someone you know), I also think that there's a bit of... I don't know... a lot of grey area here.

Where do you draw the line?



Now, I am all for the occasional pop-culture reference in fanfic. Please tell me anyone who reads Accidentally In Love spotted that I didn't come up with Frank Longbottom's line "Laugh it up, Fuzzball." (And if you don't know where that's from, please turn in your Geek Membership at the nearest desk.) I have a line that's directly ripped off Serenity in AIL 12. ("Yes, tell us again," Peter said, joining them. "And start with the part where you three got bailed out by two pregnant women, because that's never getting old." as opposed to Wash's line "Yes, tell us again. And start with the part where Jayne gets knocked out by a 90-pound girl, because that's never getting old.") I hadn't planned on citing it, because you're not supposed to think it's me writing that. You're supposed to say "hey, look! That line is from Serenity! Hehe, aren't I cool and clever that I caught that!"

I've never read the Draco trilogy, and I don't really have a huge desire to. But I've used lines from The Very Secret Diaries in my MRFH reviews, either again assuming people will get it (one of my ratings was- "They're right- Sam will kill you if you try anything"), or in the viewing of FotR, I did actually mention the Diaries by name. (And if you go over to the Forum, somewhere, someone mentioned they knew exactly what I was talking about and much squeeage resulted.) Hmmm. The point? I don't follow Cassie Claire enough to really be making a monologue about that.

So what am I monologuing about? Grey Areas.

The Shoebox Project and Other Fic-like Things.

Today, someone on my f-list admitted that she isn't crazy about the shoebox_project. This resulted in a lot of the rest of the people on my f-list saying "me, too!" A common complaint is that we don't like the characterization of Remus- a characterization that has proliferated fandom.

There's a lot about Shoebox that has caught on in fandom itself. In fact, I'd say Shoebox is the most influential fanfic in my sector. Drives me nuts, personally, because I don't agree with a lot of their characterizations, but hey. So is that plagiarism?

Let's say it's not even intentional. Let's say an inexperienced R/S-er reads Shoebox and it sticks in her brain. (This is not helped by all the Shoebox-inspired fics out there.) She begins to believe that certain aspects of that are canon. (And hey- isn't fanfic itself plagiarism in its own way?)

Now, I'm not remotely saying that this is on par with lifting whole sections of text and claiming them as your own. I'm not even saying it's on par with lifting the entire introduction of someone's SAE paper and rearranging the text so it looks a little different but not changing the actual writing. (Not that I'm referring to anything specific here...) But I am saying this is a gray area, and I wonder how the Shoebox girls feel about seeing their characterizations in every fifth fic.

But then. Isn't it possible that someone could reach the same characterization conclusion on their own? How do you know it's not a coincidence. For example, I write 1970s/early 80s Kingsley Shacklebolt with an Afro. (Heck, I sort of write him as Shaft, which again, how legal is that?) Now, let's face it. Deciding that Kingsley might have had an Afro in the 70s isn't exactly the most creative and brilliant idea I've ever had. If copperbadge, whom I'm fairly certain has never read my stuff, suddenly started writing Shaft!Kingsley, is he ripping me off? I seriously doubt it. Or if I see another researcher!Caradoc Dearborn or Werewolf!Uncle Alphard. (Frankly, if I saw more of the second I'd be delighted.)

Never mind that this is all fanfic and the entire legal context is really shaky anyway. For the record? Well written fanfic that is deeply integrated into the world the author has set up is very, very hard to translate into something non-plagiarized. pfrsue and I have tried. Let's just say the plot is REALLY different than it was as a fanfic.

Homage vs. Spoof vs. Rip-off

I was watching Disney's version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame the other day. And in one scene, the gargoyle Laverne (whom I am sure was a major presence in Hugo's novel) waves at the pigeons and says "Fly, my pretties, fly!" as the Wicked Witch music plays.

Homage, spoof, or rip-off?

I'm reading a Terry Pratchett novel and I come across words lifted from Shakespeare. In fact, the entire plot is lifted from Shakespeare (although quite twisted).

Homage, spoof, or rip-off?

The concept of a normal man being revered as a God has been done how many times? Road to El Dorado? Guilliver's Travels? (Maybe?) Jaynestown?

Homage, spoof, rip-off, or re-exploring a well-worn theme?

Jason Fox builds a snow man that has a cannon ball shot through it. That's a rip-off. He adds a snow Calvin and Hobbes. It becomes an homage.

Granted, these are pretty lame examples, really. They've also been vetted by the legal process. I wouldn't actually call any of them plagiarism. I just felt like pointing that out- that an hommage is essentially legalized plagiarism with tongue planted firmly in cheek. (And everyone knows you're doing it.)

Do I have a real point, or am I just running my mouth because I feel really lousy and don't want to do housework? More the second.



In the end, plagiarism is bad, and you all know that, so I really don't need to soapbox about that. But there are interesting grey areas. And now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

(That's a homage, by the way.)