Counter-Rant:
This rant will consist of two points: the first is a general statement
about writing, the second about Ranma 1/2.
Despite the popular belief, writing is not a God-given talent. It is a
muscle, and to write well, it must be exercised frequently. It is true
that most writers initially are crap. They might even be the majority,
although I would like to debate the actual statistics of that. The point
is is that one cannot forbid writers who aren't good to write if they're
just starting out because that will kill of the next generation of
writers before we can even see how they'll turn out.
Secondly, Ranma 1/2. The series is unimportant; in fact, it's
irrevelant. The reason why most writers leave the beaten path of the
series sometime after the first ten books or so is that the actual plot
line a.is not linear, not allowing us to see substantial development of
the characters, and b. it's cheap comedy. Takahashi took the time to
create a brilliant setup, and some really interesting characters, and
she wasted them. Ranma & Co. is the perfect vehicle for really good
melodrama, romance, fantasy adventure, horror, or comedy a little bit
less heavy-handed than the original.
The writers could care less what the original author intended; they're
writing _FAN_fiction and what they care about are the characters. The
characters that Takahashi created are new; they're fresh ideas that,
sadly, don't get explored during the story. We see Akane smash Ranma a
million times, but do we get to go into their heads any? Not really.
Every time Takahashi came to an emotional moment, barring a few
important examples, she threw them away with a cheap laugh. The fans
like these moments and want to play them out truely. Furthermore, they
want to explore the lives of these characters, change things around, put
them in new situations and lives to see what happens. It's called the
creative process.
If they don't conform to the existing boundries of the series, all the
more power to them. New writers need something to work off, and Ranma
1/2 is the perfect starting place for a new writer. Romance, action,
humor; what more do you need?
Chris Davies wrote:
Initially, this was going to be the announcement of my retirement as an
anime fanfiction author. But since I'm not going to be retiring (YET), I
thought I might as well put these thoughts to good use.
It's foolish, I know, to decide to quit as a protest. In the most likely
scenario, all that happens is that the people whose actions you're
protesting just get a little stronger by your absence. It's better to stay,
and "fight" (figuratively) than to quit the field in disgust. But I [was]
not quitting because of disgust, so much as because of exhaustion with the
fight.
The source of my exhaustion: Ranma fanfics.
Now, before anyone starts chanting the usual screed about how "you don't
have to read them if you don't like them", let me point out that I *do* have
to delete them, and that *does* take time that I could be putting to better
use. Moreover, I'm not so biased as to claim that all Ranma fanfics are
lousy -- there are those by a few authors that I like quite a bit. If I were
to set up my filters so that all mail with [Ranma] in the subject line went
in the trash, I'd lose their stories too, and that's not acceptible.
I don't want people to stop writing Ranma fanfics. I won't claim that I
wouldn't be thrilled if the number of Ranma fanfics produced daily dropped
by about, say, ninety per cent, but even if I had the right to ask such a
thing, there is still that ten per cent which are likeable and interesting
to my view. But even so, I don't have the right to demand such a
development.
The universal creed of the fanfiction author is "we write this because this
is what we want to write". I'm certainly not going to argue with that. What
I want is for the authors to take a moment for a bit of self-reflection.
What made the original "Ranma Nibunnoichi" series so interesting to its
original, intended audience, was a further examination of gender roles in
contemporary Japanese culture, continuing the examination that Takahashi
Rumiko had started in "Urusei Yatsura" with the character of Ryuunosuke. In
Ranma, we have a boy who becomes a girl, a girl who is rather boyish while
still being feminine, another girl who has lived as a boy, a boy who views
himself as a girl, and sundry other subversions of the traditional Japanese
gender roles. In other words, it is a Martial Arts Sex Farce, just as the
Viz advertising claimed.
What I'd like for authors to do *before* they begin working on new works
using these characters is to consider why they want to use them to tell the
stories they want to tell -- why they want to turn a Martial Arts Sex Farce
into a Martial Arts Melodrama or a Martial Arts Fantasy Epic or what have
you.
When they start to write works that further explore the characters
psychologies, I'd like them to realize that Takahashi created them to have
as many dimensions or as few as she needed to tell the stories she wanted to
tell. This is a good thing! It means that you can use them however you want,
but it also means that you're never going to be able to convince anyone who
disagrees with you -- because they'll have examples that prove *their*
hypotheses with as much validity as yours.
When they start to write works that take the characters out of their usual
environs, whether to different places and times or to encounters with
characters from other series, I'd like them to realize that removing them
from the specific environs that they inhabit will change them so much that
they'll become unrecognizable.
I'm not going to talk about "new character" or "self-insertion" fics.
They've been argued to death long ago. In my opinion, all fanfic is
self-insertion -- if you're not putting something of yourself in your work,
why do you bother?
Whenever I write about Ikari Gendou, I am always projecting a certain
amount of my troubled relationship with my own father onto the story. That's
not fair to my father; whatever his faults, he's not a murdering,
child-abusing louse. But the only way that I can come to terms with that
part of myself is to examine it in print.
"We write this because this is what we want to write." Fine. But examine
*why* you want to write it. What part of your writing skills are you
exercising? What part of your personal background are you exorcising?
Ultimately, if you come to an understanding of your own motives, your
writing will improve. Self-knowledge, self-awareness, is a vital part of
personal growth.
If you can't come up with a good, personal reason to use Ranma to tell your
stories, then *don't*. Use some other characters. There are lots of Martial
Arts Melodramas that you can draw from, there are plenty of Martial Arts
Fantasy Epics that don't get written about at all. Or use original
characters. Then, wonder of wonders, you might be able to send it to a
publisher and eventually get paid for it. This is what *I* sure as hell hope
to do.
But if you stay in that eternal circle -- "We write this because we want to
write this because we want to write this etc" -- then to be completely
blunt, you're just wanking yourself.
There. Rant over. In my original plan for the retirement speech, I would
have named names of authors who *do* manage to tell good stories with the
Ranma cast, and listed writers of great Martial Arts Melodramas that don't
use Ranma. But since I've changed my mind about qutting quitting, I don't
feel inclined to jinx these people.
If you'd like to discuss the points I raised in the foregoing article, then
talk to me privately. The Mods will probably drop kick me off the list for
this ... no reason everyone else should get hit.
Chris Davies, Advocate for Darkness, Part Time Champion of Light
Fanfics: http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/banks/277/
Fanfic Revolution: http://come.to/hauthor
"As a collection of pretty pictures, the Utena movie is sure to be a great
success. As a film, it appears to suck." -- me.
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