I don't think a preoccupation with sex and sleaze is something particular to "fandom." We only remember, for the most part, the great poets and writers and artists of previous eras, but porn, sleaze, and Sturgeon's Law are not new phenomena in the modern age. We just haven't preserved a lot of Elizabethan RPF rapefics and ancient Greek porn. But we know it was there, and probably quite popular.
The Internet is the great leveling medium, though. That's what's new.
I've posted before about my own thoughts about using someone else's characters. I can hardly object to it, since I write fan fiction. I do believe that as a matter of courtesy and respect, you shouldn't use someone else's characters in a way the creator would object to, but I think that's more etiquette than legal or moral requirement. (The legality of fan fiction is actually still a bit of a murky area to begin with.)
I know that if Alexandra Quick were an original series about which fan fiction was being written, there would be all kinds of stories and pairings that would squick me (I already had one fan imply that Alexandra and her brother would be hot. :P) But if I were going to allow any fan fiction, I'd have to accept that most of it would be crap I'd hate. Which I think is the route Rowling took. I'm sure she knows there's all kinds of sleazy, horrific stuff out there, but she puts up with it for the sake of the sincere fans who are just trying to tell their own stories, however badly.
I totally don't get RPF, though, and I think it's pretty disrespectful to the people involved, especially when you are putting them in sexual situations with people with whom they almost certainly would have no desire to be with in real life.
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The Internet is the great leveling medium, though. That's what's new.
I've posted before about my own thoughts about using someone else's characters. I can hardly object to it, since I write fan fiction. I do believe that as a matter of courtesy and respect, you shouldn't use someone else's characters in a way the creator would object to, but I think that's more etiquette than legal or moral requirement. (The legality of fan fiction is actually still a bit of a murky area to begin with.)
I know that if Alexandra Quick were an original series about which fan fiction was being written, there would be all kinds of stories and pairings that would squick me (I already had one fan imply that Alexandra and her brother would be hot. :P) But if I were going to allow any fan fiction, I'd have to accept that most of it would be crap I'd hate. Which I think is the route Rowling took. I'm sure she knows there's all kinds of sleazy, horrific stuff out there, but she puts up with it for the sake of the sincere fans who are just trying to tell their own stories, however badly.
I totally don't get RPF, though, and I think it's pretty disrespectful to the people involved, especially when you are putting them in sexual situations with people with whom they almost certainly would have no desire to be with in real life.