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Fanon
Fanon is a term derived within Doctor Who fandom, and is used to refer to popular or well-known fan belief. These might be theories, assumptions, conceits, misconceptions (memory cheats moments, where what people think they read or saw something becomes common understanding). Something is considered to be fanon if it has been used so often without appearing in any official work that it is widely assumed to have been established as having happened.
The term is a contraction of ‘fan canon’, meaning the assignment of story or piece of information to a body of work defined by a group within fandom. It is often used to define the scope of fan-produced bodies of work, which are often accompanied by guidelines which mirror those used to produce official submissions for publication.
Fanon can inform official works in a number of ways:
Misconceptions can often be held by the writers of official stories, either by relying on information provided by fans, or by buying in to popular fan belief. Examples of popular misconceptions include such statements as ‘Daleks cannot get up stairs’ or ‘All Cybermen are vulnerable to Gold’;
Fan theories can influence the direction that official continuity might take. In some cases they have been expanded on and established as fictional fact. The most common of these methods is ‘retconning’, where fan belief is superimposed onto existing fictional facts. Some more controversial fan theories have been subtly introduced as memes running throughout a number of official works;
Fan fiction can be referenced in official works, providing a richer and deeper background to an official story than might otherwise be known (in some cases it can even be revised and republished as an official story);
Fanzines and websites can be the breeding ground for future writers and producers of official works;
Fan interviews and anecdotes can capture aspects of a story not seen in the final version, creating a greater understanding of the origins, development and final execution of a particular story.
Influential Fanon - several bodies of fan work have successfully influenced production of official Doctor Who content, with notable examples including:
- Adventures in Space and Time & In-Vision
- Apocrypha
- Audio Visuals
- Cosmic Masque
- In-Vision
- Odyssey & Silver Carrier
Latest page update: made by Metabaron
, Jul 30 2007, 4:40 PM EDT
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Edited by Metabaron
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Edited by Metabaron
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