Derivative work: For Fun, For Satire, For Imagination
When you watch a movie or a book, is the ending or pairing same or similar to your expectation? Sometimes it is, however, sometimes it isn’t. People, especially fans may be disappointed with it because of the unexpected ending. Due to the disappointment, fans will create their own endings or stories based on the original version. This is called derivative work. There are many derivative works in various areas. I will mainly focus on two types of derivative work, which are fan fiction and video. Also I will explain why they create these and what they can get from these.
One of the poplar derivative works is fan fiction. According to Black (2008), fan fiction can be defined as stories are written by fans that are based on the pre-existing plot, characters and settings from their favorite media, which includes movie, book, television show, and amine. There are some reasons to explain why they like to write or read fan fiction. Firstly, it is because of the story’s pace. Sometimes the pace of the story is too slow between episodes, fans cannot wait to read or watch the stories, so they will search the related fan fiction to read or even write their own related stories. Secondly, it is because of the dissatisfaction of the pairing, content, ending, or the dead of their loved characters. Utilizing Harry Potter as an example, because writing is a time-consuming job, the writing time between episodes is excruciating for fans. Therefore, they will write or read other fan fiction to spend the waiting time. As the website of Harry Potter Fan Fiction shows that there are majority of fan fiction appeared and they are all under different types of genre, era and pairings. It is proved that the pairing in the original version is not accepted by some fans. Thus, they write their own stories to satisfy their imagination on both pairing up the characters and creating various stories or endings for them. Since the background, setting and characters are already existed, fans do not need to create a brand-new one when they write a fan fiction. In addition, using the pre-existed settings is easy to motivate audiences on having similar thoughts. With the advanced technology, fans can post or upload their own stories on the different websites, they can discuss with other fans about the fiction they wrote, get feedback from them and improve their work. The main effect of this is based on the stories they shared on the website, they can have more attention and build up their own identification from audiences. As a result, fan fiction is one of the famous and common derivative works which fans love to do it.
Another common derivative work is video or re-edited film trailer. Since the technology has developed quickly, it is simple to crossover two or more movies’ scenes or characters into one video in order to create an interesting story for satirizing a movie or re-editing an existed film trailer. A video of Frozen is an example of satire which calls “How Frozen should have ended”.
“How Frozen Should Have Ended.”
This video shows that Frozen could be ended at the moment of the King’s family which was looking for the help from the King of the troll. As the troll provided the final answer on controlling the power, finally Elsa went to a school where it taught her how to control her power. This school was established for the gifted youngsters by Professor X, a superhero in the Marvel comics. Obviously this video has crossover with two elements, Frozen, the Disney’s movie and the Marvel comics. Joining these elements into this video was because all characters had a specific power. The creator would like to show that if Elsa went to a school in the Marvel, she would not be afraid of her power and locked up herself alone in a castle. Moreover, the creator also believes that if Frozen could be ended at this moment, it will become another story and everyone would be happier rather than living in the fear. It used satire to make people see the faults of what the parent did to Elsa, such as locking her up alone in a castle, teaching her to conceal her feeling rather than teaching her about love. Fans are all satisfied with their imagination and in turn, leads them to acquire endorsement from audience with the similar opinion. The final example is a re-edited movie trailer of Jaws which entitled as “What If ‘Jaws’ Was A Disney Movie?”
“What If ‘Jaws’ Was A Disney Movie?”
This movie trailer of Jaws is re-edited from a horror movie to a Disney’s movie. To my knowledge, Disney’s movies are usually suitable for all ages and family based, they are of no harm to everyone. Thus, if “Jaws” was a Disney’s movie, it would have been suitable for children as well and would not have any bloody scene occurred since the shark has sung to entertain people rather than biting people. Adjusting the movie “Jaws” to a Disney’s style is because the editor may want to catch the attention from the fans of Jaws again. Since the fans of Jaws in different generations may like to search and watch the related information or video online, this could be an interesting point to share and laugh once they found it. Furthermore, this could be a short film which can provide a new meaning for audience who are afraid to watch the movie of “Jaws”. Due to the fear of the shark or bloody scenes, some audience refused to watch it. However, if “Jaws” was a Disney movie, they may want to watch. As a result, this is another way on getting endorsement from others who have the same feeling.
Conclusively, the majority of derivative work is hot topics of the period, it is easy to motivate audience to have similar feeling or point of view on the topics. Derivative work is a channel which leads people to express their thoughts and feelings on a specific and hot topic or issue. The topic is usually based on current affair, television programmes, movies, or music videos that are related to our life, it is effortless to get attention of audience. When a derivative work is posted online by a person or a group of people and audience have the similar thought, the derivative work will be spread as quickly as virus. As a result, everyone will pay attention to it and discuss about it. Derivative work is beneficial for both of creator and audience. For the creator, they can get satisfaction from both self-satisfaction and social identity; and for the audience, they can get mental satisfaction because the content, pairing and ending of derivative work can be done as per their own preference. In addition, through derivative work, they can also have a same topic to discuss and to share opinion. Creating the fan fiction, video, or other types of derivative work, maybe is only for fun, for satire, or for own interest. But no matter what the reason is, derivative work brings laughter, self-satisfaction and social identity to our society if we left the issue of copyright aside. Therefore, derivative work has its own value in creative work.
Reference List
Black, Rebecca W. 2008. Adolescents and Online Fan Fiction. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
Harry Potter Fan Fiction: The story continues. 2014. Accessed May 22, 2014.
How It Should Have Ended. 2014. “How Frozen Should Have Ended.” YouTube video, posted April 14. Accessed May 22, 2014.
Italianoboy UK. 2011. “What If ‘Jaws’ Was A Disney Movie?” YouTube video, posted December 8. Accessed May 22, 2014.
