Canon (fiction)
The canon of a work of fiction is "the body of works taking place in a particular fictional world that are widely considered to be official or authoritative; [especially] those created by the original author or developer of the world".[2] Canon is contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction and other derivative works.[3]
Canonicity
When there are multiple "official" works or original media, what material is canonical can be unclear. This is resolved either by explicitly excluding certain media from the status of canon (as in the case of Star Trek and Star Wars); by assigning different levels of canonicity to different media; by considering different but licensed media treatments official and equally canonical to the series timeline within their own continuities' universe, but not across them; or not resolved at all. There is also no consensus regarding who has the authority to decide what is or isn't canon, with copyright holders usually declaring themselves the authorities when they want to erase or retcon materials that were approved by the setting's original creator (with Star Wars again being an example). The use of canon is of particular importance with regard to reboots or re-imaginings of established franchises, such as the Star Trek remake (2009), because of the ways in which it influences the viewer experience.[4]
Examples
The official
During
The makers of Doctor Who have generally avoided making pronouncements about canonicity, with Russell T Davies explaining that he does not think about the concept for the Doctor Who television series or its spin-offs.[8][9][10]
The television series The Simpsons has as an example of non-canon material the Treehouse of Horror episodes, a series of Halloween-themed specials with several stories that take place outside the normal continuity of the show.[11]
Several anime television series adapted from manga stories counts with some extra episodes with original stories that are not part of the original manga, often being referred to as "filler episodes", being outside of the canon of their source material.[12]
Additional works
Other writers
The canon status of some works by the original writer but not the same publisher, such as "The Field Bazaar", may be debated.[13] This is because copyright used to be exercised by the publisher of the work of literature rather than the author.[14] Campaigning by
However, sometimes in literature, original writers have not approved works as canon, but original publishers or
Late 20th century
In film and television it is common that the original writer does not decide canon.[19] In literature, the estate of H. G. Wells authorised sequels by Stephen Baxter, The Massacre of Mankind (2017) and The Time Ships (1995).[20] Scarlett was a 1991 sequel to Gone with the Wind authorised by the estate.[21]
21st century
In 2010, the Conan Doyle estate authorised Young Sherlock Holmes[22] and The House of Silk. Sequels to the stories by
Fanon
Fan fiction is almost never regarded as canonical. However, certain ideas may become influential or widely accepted within fan communities, who refer to such ideas as "fanon", a blend of fan and canon.[6][25] Similarly, the term "headcanon" is used to describe a fan's personal interpretation of a fictional universe.[26]
See also
- Alternative universe (fan fiction) – Fan fiction set in a non-canonical universe
- Complete works – collection of all the works of one artist, writer, scientist, musician, group, etc.
- Catalogue raisonné – Comprehensive, annotated listing of all the known artworks by an artist
- Continuity (fiction) – Consistency or continuity of narrative
- Expanded universe – Non-linear additions with consistency to the fictional universe
- Fictional universe – Self-consistent fictional setting with elements that may differ from the real world
- Shared universe – Type of fictional universe in which works written by multiple writers are set
- Parallel universes in fiction – Universe coexisting with another universe
- Reset button technique – Plot device that resets continuity in works of fiction
- Sequel – Part of a linear narrative that continues the story of a previous work
- Text corpus – Digital collections of natural language data
- Middle-earth canon – Works of Tolkien set in Middle-earth
- Retroactive continuity – Revision of existing facts in succeeding works of fiction
- Canon of Sherlock Holmes
References
- ^ ""The Wonderful Wizard of Oz": A children's classic lives on though many editions and sequels". sites.utexas.edu.
- . Retrieved 25 July 2023.
- Vox.com. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
- ^ Urbanski 2013, p. 83.
- ^ a b "How do the Star Trek novels and comic books fit into the Star Trek universe? What is considered Star Trek "canon"?". startrek.com. CBS Studios. 10 July 2003. Archived from the original on 28 May 2010.
- ^ a b Baker, Chris (18 August 2008). "Meet Leland Chee, the Star Wars Franchise Continuity Cop". Wired. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
- ^ "The Legendary Star Wars Expanded Universe Turns a New Page". StarWars.com.
- ^ Doctor Who Magazine #388
- ^ Doctor Who Magazine #356
- ^ Davies RT, "The Writer's Tales"
- ^ Groening, Matt (2002). The Simpsons season 2 DVD commentary for the episode "Treehouse of Horror" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Ajay Aravind (7 April 2023). "Anime Filler List: What To Skip & What's Worth Watching". Comic Book Resources.
- ^ "Invisible Ink: No 197 - The other Sherlock Holmes writers". The Independent. 3 November 2013.
- ^ "When Charles Dickens fell out with America". BBC News. 14 February 2012.
- ^ Oman, Ralph; Flacks, Lewis (1993). "Berne Revision: The Continuing Drama". Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law. 4 (1).
- ^ Gardner, Martin (2 May 1971). "We're Off To See The Wizard". The New York Times.
- ^ "Porto Bello Gold". Smithsonian Libraries.
- ^ Zeitchik, Steven (4 February 2015). "Is Harper Lee's 'Go Set a Watchman' bound for the 'Interstellar' trap?". Los Angeles Times.
- JSTOR 1225428.
- ^ "Tell Us 5 Things About Your Book: A Sequel to 'The War of the Worlds' (Published 2017)". 3 September 2017.
- ^ "Tomorrow is another Gone With the Wind sequel". The Guardian. 3 November 2007.
- TheGuardian.com. 18 March 2009.
- ^ Grylls, David (24 October 2020). "Jeeves and the Leap of Faith by Ben Schott, review – a 'new' Wodehouse". The Times.
- ^ "Poirot is a show-off, but he's brilliant. That's why I brought him back to life". the Guardian. 5 November 2017.
- ^ Parrish 2007, p. 33: 'fanon.' Within an individual fandom, certain plotlines may be reinvented so many times and by so many people—or alternately may be written so persuasively by a few writers—that they take on the status of fan-produced canon.
- ^ Romano, Aja (7 June 2016). "Canon, fanon, shipping and more: a glossary of the tricky terminology that makes up fan culture". Vox. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
Sources
- Rebecca Black, "Digital Design: English Language Learners and Reader Reviews in Online Fiction", in A New Literacies Sampler, p. 126
- Parrish, Juli J. (2007). "Inventing a Universe: Reading and writing Internet fan fiction". CiteSeerX 10.1.1.93.419.
- Urbanski, Heather (2013). The Science Fiction Reboot: Canon, Innovation and Fandom in Refashioned Franchises. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-6509-5.
External links
- The dictionary definition of canon at Wiktionary