Faculty
Arts & Humanities
Supervisor Name
Dr. Randall Pogorzelski
Keywords
Fanfiction, Myth, Classical Mythology, Canon, Classical Reception Studies
Description
Fanfiction is an often dismissed medium of storytelling, however our investigation shows that it is deeply linked to the storytelling tradition of Classical mythology. Through the lens of classical reception studies we will examine the shared structures of these mediums as well as the deeper meaning they have and had to their audience in order to establish this deep connection. This paper will conclude with an investigation of why, despite their deep similarities, copyright law has led to fanfiction becoming derided while myth is placed on a pedestal.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to my supervisor, Dr. Randy Pogorzelski, to Chris Neibert for their help and feedback, and thank you to Western and the USRI program for this opportunity.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Document Type
Paper
Included in
Classical Literature and Philology Commons, Other English Language and Literature Commons
The Myth of Fanfiction: An Examination of Two Deeply Connected Traditions of Storytelling
Fanfiction is an often dismissed medium of storytelling, however our investigation shows that it is deeply linked to the storytelling tradition of Classical mythology. Through the lens of classical reception studies we will examine the shared structures of these mediums as well as the deeper meaning they have and had to their audience in order to establish this deep connection. This paper will conclude with an investigation of why, despite their deep similarities, copyright law has led to fanfiction becoming derided while myth is placed on a pedestal.