feklar ([info]feklar) wrote,
@ 2006-09-26 11:02:00
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Entry tags:silliness

Is it fanfic or RP (real person) fic?
This is based off [info]opera142 's scintillating review of this book.  It's an adventure novel by the WWE fearturing WWE professional wrestlers as secret agents.  

My first response was "Oh my god. The WWE is publishing its own fanfic..."  But is it fanfic?  I used to argue that the WWE shows essentially were RP fic--the McMahons even use their RL names.  So is a WWE novel creating an AU about RP fic characters fanfic or RP fic?

It's so meta it makes my head hurt.


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[info]bored2sleep
2006-09-26 04:25 pm UTC (link)
Fanfic? It is a fictional book, written by the same people (the WWE) that write the TV show... They are authors not fans, so it would just be regular fiction. As I understand it, RP fic is a type of fanfic, so it wouldn't be that either. I'd just say it was some sort of weird spinoff. Sort of like how Tenchi Universe has a different storyline from Tenchi in Tokyo (and Pretty Sammy, and Tenchi OVA).

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[info]feklar
2006-09-26 05:40 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, just bring the facts into it, why'don'cha? :-) If pressed to it, I would have to admit that ownership of the intellectual property in question would probably one of the hints something is not fanfic.

To me, pro wrestling walks an interesting line in American entertainment. It purposely fuzzes the line between character and actor and also purposely breaks down the 4th wall between presentation and audience. It's kind of like alternative story-telling, or maybe archaic storytelling.

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[info]bychoice
2006-09-26 05:01 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, I agree with the previous comment that since this is probably written by professional writers rather than fans, it is just regular spin-off fiction, although you are certainly right about their being a weird meta element to this since these are definitely real people who are the main characters. I mean, I've read fiction where living people are included, but I don't think I've ever read one where the main characters are living people. On the other hand, if you think of them as just being actors, then it is just like the Star Trek, B5 and other genre books. Now I wonder if the book is any good. After all, Scorpion King was damn funny.

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[info]feklar
2006-09-26 06:33 pm UTC (link)
I am inclined to think the book is not good--Opera142 is a good writer [the whole unpunctuated, run-on sentence bit is a joke on her part], so I am willing to trust her that it is painful.

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[info]bychoice
2006-09-26 10:12 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, I read her review after I left that comment. Probably not a great read.

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[info]opera142
2006-09-26 05:54 pm UTC (link)
I was mulling over What Is This, Exactly? too. WWE isn't the only media enterprise to ever license tie-ins, but this is the first I've seen that wanders so far from canon. (I haven't read a lot of tie-ins, so maybe that's more commonplace that I realize.)

What intrigued me from a fannish perspective is how much the book assumes it's being read by a fan.

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[info]feklar
2006-09-26 06:46 pm UTC (link)
Bored2sleep referenced the phenomenon in anime where they do essentially write their own AUs. They might use the same characters or settings or plot points, but other wise they have nothing to do with each other. In the various gundam series I think the only common factor is giant robots made out of gundanium. The Revolutionary Girl Utena has mostly the same characters, setting and storyline as the series, but compltely different universe. I think most American tie-ins do purport to be canon. The WWE books seem to be more like the Japanese concept.

Just from your description, that book is *so* fanfic. And bad!fic to boot. I wouldn't be surprised if the author is a secret fanficer.

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[info]bluerosefairy
2006-09-27 09:24 pm UTC (link)
It's so meta it makes my head hurt.

Amen to that. I've almost given up trying to explain WWE fic to fellow fen (never mind non-fannish people) because it's so hard to quantify.

I need to go drink some tea and go lie down.

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