what may or may not be hard reality

A long and rambly post wherein I am curious about all the gray areas of RPF. If anyone knows of other posts on this subject, please link me?


I started reading and writing RPF back in my Tina Fey days because she had no character to write for, and maintaining an obsession on 4-8 minutes of new source material each week is almost impossible. So I started reading SNL RPF. It was a little weird at first, because you know, the immorality and all that, but the pleasure I derived from it overrode any ethical misgivings I had and may still have.

Now, I fully respect every individual's right to chose their own squicks, I don't want anyone to read anything they don't like, but it does annoy me when people pass judgment on anything written about real people and deem all of us who read or write it as immoral perverts who are desperate to vent our sexual fantasies about celebrities in public. Because the line between RPF and fiction isn't as black-and-white as some people would like to think - and this is not directed at the people who don't like and chose not to read RPF but still seem to respect me despite my immoral taste in fic. This is brought to you by a comment I saw on some comm that allowed RPF that I'll paraphrase to something like 'Why can't the pervy PWP-writing RPF-ers just have their own comm somewhere far away, instead of coming here and ruining it for all us honest fanfic writers?'. And I'd estimate the ratio of PWP : plot is about the same in RPF as in fanfic, so that can't be the entirety of the objection, and also, where exactly am I to draw the line for whether I have a right to be there or not?

And it's not like it's not totally clear that some things are absolutely RPF. All the fic about now living actors and actresses and band members and likes, that's clearly RPF, and if that's where you draw the line (even if I think that's still a difficult line to draw with precision), perfectly fine with me, but after that there are a whole lot of gray areas that still involve real people...

I'm also not saying I don't understand the moral objections, and I'm not (exactly) trying to excuse it by comparing it to other's equally bad behaviour, I'm mostly just curious about where, exactly, the line is drawn between fanfic and RPF.

Once in 7th grade we had to write a newspaper for a school project. Just a few pages, with headlines and article summaries that could possibly be in this newspaper. I wrote a bunch of mostly parodies, using real names and places for political figures and entertainers, and when my mother looked it over she made me change all the names to fictional people in similar positions because she felt it wasn't right to write fiction about real people. My mother also disapproves of TV shows like SNL which parodies real people, because she feels that isn't right either. But a lot of people watch and love SNL, but disapprove of writing fic about the goins-on behind the scenes there. What's the difference?

That's the thing; I don't know what the difference is. I do know that parody of prominent figures in society has been socially acceptable for a really long time, whereas RPF is "totally wrong". (At least my mother is somewhat consistent, but I'm pretty sure sure she still liked Walk the Line.) People who parody society are trying to make some point and yadda yadda, but couldn't they do that with fictional people occupying certain positions in society just as well, if consensus is that it is wrong to create fiction using the names of actual people?

Also, where's the line for historical figures? How long does someone have to be dead before I'm allowed to write about them? Because a lot of anti-RPF peeps don't object to stories about Ceasar and Cleopatra, or Marie Antionette. And there is movie upon movie upon movie upon mini-series upon TV show about actual historical figures portrayed in more or less realistic ways (Blood Ties comes to mind, where Henry Fitzroy, actual son of Henry VIII is living in present day Toronto as a vampire). Am I committing RPF when I write a story about these people that is based on actual historical fact, but I'm writing 'honest fanfic' when I'm basing it on the characters of these movies? And why is it wrong for me to write RPF, but not wrong for the writers of these manuscripts to make their movies?

And yes, that argument that if someone is alive, or someone who is closely related to them is alive, perhaps RPF for them should be refrained from. I fully accept that argument, and I can see how that's a reasonable place to draw a line.

But next, where am I to draw the line for movies and such portraying the lives of people still living? Am I allowed to write fanfic for The Runways but I'm not allowed to write bandfic for them unless it's based on the movie? Or am I not allowed to write fanfic for the movie at all? And that movie is at least officially sanctioned, what of all the unofficial biographies, all the movies and mini-series that have been made without imput from the people portrayed (I don't know how those come about, legally, if someone can explain it to me, please do). Why is it acceptable to watch those, but not write RPF, considering there creators of such movies usually take a number of liberties with actual facts (I remember that interview with the woman who's played by Dakota Fanning in the Runways, and she said she was disappointed the writers took out the whole part about her being raped because they wanted her character to seem more innocent at the beginning of the movie).

Again, I fully respect the rights of everyone to read and write whatever they damn well please, and also refrain from reading stuff they don't like (me? I'm kinda squicked by romantic gestures of affection, thank you very much, and quickly remove myself from stories featuring too much of that), and if someone enjoys reading historical pieces about the Tudors, but aren't big fans of Olsen twincest, that's perfectly fine with me, it just annoys me when people pass themselves off as being morally superior by denouncing any and all RPF, when IMHO, the line isn't all that clear.

Now, perhaps someone can explain to me clearly why I'm in the wrong and they're in the right? I'm not trying to make anyone read it who doesn't want to, I'm not trying to say it's "morally right" to do it... but I kinda enjoy it, and have no plans to cease and desist in the immediate future.