In a July 2011 issue of TIME magazine, journalist/novelist Lev Grossman wrote: “Fanfiction is what literature might look like if it were reinvented from scratch after a nuclear apocalypse by a band of brilliant pop-culture junkies trapped in a sealed bunker. They don't do it for money. That's not what it's about. The writers write it and put it up online just for the satisfaction. They're fans, but they're not silent, couchbound consumers of media. The culture talks to them, and they talk back to the culture in its own language.”
Though I don’t read fanfiction on a regular basis, I find it to be a fascinating subculture and enjoy exploring/taking note of available works from time to time. As fanfiction based on literature often springs from fantasy novels (think Harry Potter, Twilight, etc), it is perhaps unsurprising that there are thousands of fanfiction works based upon Diana Wynne Jones’ book Howl’s Moving Castle and its movie adaptation. Many of these works develop the romance between Howl and Sophie, satisfying many readers’ desires to see them “together” in a more concrete, sexual sense; however, many of them also tell the original story from a different perspective, develop particular plotlines, provide alternate endings, elaborate on topics felt to have been glossed over in the original text, place the original characters in different situations, etc.
I encourage a perusal of this site: http://www.fanfiction.net/anime/Howl-s-Moving-Castle/ !! It is interesting to see the personality traits (of Howl, Sophie, etc) that writers (fan readers) have latched on to, as well as to see what plotlines they were not satisfied with or burned to develop. Many of them offer commentary on the themes that we addressed in class, often providing unusual, creative, and thought-provoking insights. Though fanfiction is an often-discredited cultural movement, it shouldn’t be; we stand to learn a lot from fanfiction writers who “talk back to the culture in its own language.” Check it out for yourselves!
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