Years ago, in my terribly misspent teenage years, I had the experience of going with friends to a midnight showing of the Wizard of Oz. No, not synced to Pink Floyd, just the Wizard of Oz. I suspect as wanton and callow youth are inclined, I may have been under the influence of some controlled substance. I do though vividly remember sitting in this darkened theater, as this movie which I had seem dozens, if not hundreds, of times as a kid unfolded yet again before me.
However, this viewing of the movie was strangely different from all those childhood occasions. I knew the munchkins and witches and all their stories and was aware of them playing out their parts in the foreground. My interest though was completely preoccupied with the background. There were these completely cheesy, painted studio backgrounds of distant mountains. And I couldn't take my eyes off of them. I knew all about the Emerald City and the Yellow Brick Road. What I wanted to know was what the heck was over those mountains.
This I think it's fair to say is the impulse that inspires the phenomenon of fanfiction. Fanfiction is the art form by which a fan of a pre-established work of art tells a tale within the context of the world created by the original. Though a very old practice, it became something of a pop culture (subculture) phenomenon in the 60s when a major fanfiction cottage industry grew up around The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Star Trek. The fans took this as an opportunity to see things, which the original show didn't, wouldn't or couldn't provide: from a Klingon conquered universe to Kirk and Spock as homosexual lovers. Fanfiction truly did provide the opportunity for fans to boldly go where no staff writer had gone before.
Initially the fiction was circulated in fanzines. These were mimeographed and collated collections posted out to subscribers composed of enthusiasts, aficionados and conference attendees. In the age of the Internet, and the World Wide Web, the 1990s brought a whole new dimension to fanfiction. There has been a major growth in the availability of video materials from the original shows that the aspiring fan creator can now draw upon, edit and reframe in various ways, to tell their own story. And this can be done in the quiet of your own room, late at night, with nothing more than a laptop and a ham sandwich. This was yet another path to get over the top of those distant mountains.
In any original show, like The Walking Dead, there are always doors not entered, streets not followed, choices not made and thoughts not expressed. The original story follows only one narrative thread; in the process it inevitably opens the possibility of countless others. The writers of fanfiction are the explorers of these tantalizing possibilities which the original story tellers have left dangling. And this is a pretty thriving undertaking in the case of The Walking Dead. The single site Fanfiction.net alone has over 2000 fanfictions stories inspired by The Walking Dead. And that is very much just scraping the surface of what is available.
Probably the most common theme in the Walking Dead fanfiction is the deeper exploration of the biography and psychology of characters. Daryl and Andrea are popular choices for such attention. Others though look out over the mountains from Munchkin Land, as it were, and discover the lives of their own characters, facing the same world as Rick Grimes' crew, but far from the lenses of the AMC cameras. In some cases, this is purely fictive, though, in others, one suspects, the authors have simply parachuted themselves in, imagining how they would respond to the challenges of the world of The Walking Dead. And then there's some far out adventures, such as exploring whether the zombies might have thoughts. And if so what they might be like.
This fanfiction is a great venue for getting deeper still into the exotic world of The Walking Dead. The creativity of the fan creators suggests all kinds of new possibilities and venues of curious pursuit. To say nothing of being loads of fun. A question does come to mind though when we're considering the fascination with this TV show.
Does it say something about our world in a way that resonates, even if we don't realize it? Check out our thoughts on that at Pretty Much Dead Already
However, this viewing of the movie was strangely different from all those childhood occasions. I knew the munchkins and witches and all their stories and was aware of them playing out their parts in the foreground. My interest though was completely preoccupied with the background. There were these completely cheesy, painted studio backgrounds of distant mountains. And I couldn't take my eyes off of them. I knew all about the Emerald City and the Yellow Brick Road. What I wanted to know was what the heck was over those mountains.
This I think it's fair to say is the impulse that inspires the phenomenon of fanfiction. Fanfiction is the art form by which a fan of a pre-established work of art tells a tale within the context of the world created by the original. Though a very old practice, it became something of a pop culture (subculture) phenomenon in the 60s when a major fanfiction cottage industry grew up around The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Star Trek. The fans took this as an opportunity to see things, which the original show didn't, wouldn't or couldn't provide: from a Klingon conquered universe to Kirk and Spock as homosexual lovers. Fanfiction truly did provide the opportunity for fans to boldly go where no staff writer had gone before.
Initially the fiction was circulated in fanzines. These were mimeographed and collated collections posted out to subscribers composed of enthusiasts, aficionados and conference attendees. In the age of the Internet, and the World Wide Web, the 1990s brought a whole new dimension to fanfiction. There has been a major growth in the availability of video materials from the original shows that the aspiring fan creator can now draw upon, edit and reframe in various ways, to tell their own story. And this can be done in the quiet of your own room, late at night, with nothing more than a laptop and a ham sandwich. This was yet another path to get over the top of those distant mountains.
In any original show, like The Walking Dead, there are always doors not entered, streets not followed, choices not made and thoughts not expressed. The original story follows only one narrative thread; in the process it inevitably opens the possibility of countless others. The writers of fanfiction are the explorers of these tantalizing possibilities which the original story tellers have left dangling. And this is a pretty thriving undertaking in the case of The Walking Dead. The single site Fanfiction.net alone has over 2000 fanfictions stories inspired by The Walking Dead. And that is very much just scraping the surface of what is available.
Probably the most common theme in the Walking Dead fanfiction is the deeper exploration of the biography and psychology of characters. Daryl and Andrea are popular choices for such attention. Others though look out over the mountains from Munchkin Land, as it were, and discover the lives of their own characters, facing the same world as Rick Grimes' crew, but far from the lenses of the AMC cameras. In some cases, this is purely fictive, though, in others, one suspects, the authors have simply parachuted themselves in, imagining how they would respond to the challenges of the world of The Walking Dead. And then there's some far out adventures, such as exploring whether the zombies might have thoughts. And if so what they might be like.
This fanfiction is a great venue for getting deeper still into the exotic world of The Walking Dead. The creativity of the fan creators suggests all kinds of new possibilities and venues of curious pursuit. To say nothing of being loads of fun. A question does come to mind though when we're considering the fascination with this TV show.
Does it say something about our world in a way that resonates, even if we don't realize it? Check out our thoughts on that at Pretty Much Dead Already
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See also Mickey Jhonny's hilarious reminiscence about his child hood adventure with revealing orders when the parents return home early at How to Get Rid of Weed Smell .
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