Through the eyes of minor characters: The attentional shift in fanfictions and its influence on canonical works.

ŠIMANOVÁ, Michaela. Through the eyes of minor characters: The attentional shift in fanfictions and its influence on canonical works. In Konference Nordic Society of Aesthetics "The Aesthetics of Attention". 2021.

Basic information

• Original name: Through the eyes of minor characters: The attentional shift in fanfictions and its influence on canonical works.
• Authors: ŠIMANOVÁ, Michaela.
• Edition: Konference Nordic Society of Aesthetics "The Aesthetics of Attention" 2021.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Conference abstract
• Country of publisher: Denmark
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Organization unit: Faculty of Arts

Abstract

Transformative literary works, also known as fanfictions, have been often and for long viewed as texts with debatable or infinitesimal level of quality and as such, they have not been in the centre of academics’ attention. However, the ever increasing role of digital media in popular culture and popular culture studies helped to change that attitude: Fanfictions, their authors and readers have gained power to change some aspects of „canonical“ stories – whether it is in a rather psychological sense of the word (like, for example, our understanding and perception of given character), or more concrete (e. g. the final unravelling of the whole plot, with which are the fans unhappy and wish to have it rewritten their way). In this paper I would like to address one specific facet of these fan created works – the attentional shift. Fanfictions, as opposed to canonical works, offer significantly more space to minor characters and, also, allocate more attention to women. What does this attentional shift mean for popular culture and how does it affect literature and our perception of literary works? Together with answering these questions, I would like to outline reasons why we should not underestimate fan created works and why they should no longer escape our attention.