FF: Canon, fanon, apocrypha

[Alex Corvus]

No: HPFGUIDX 12452

Steve wrote:
>This is a good point, and if it weren't for the fact that JKR has so 
>carefully planned this all out and worked out all those notebooks and 
>boxes full of details about the HP universe, I would be more inclined 
>to agree with it. But on matters like which house someone belongs to, 
>I believe she actually knows and doesn't just come up with some 
>answer, any answer, on the spot. Even in the case of my pet argument 
>of this variety, the number of students at Hogwarts, I expect that 
>her number of about a thousand will in fact be born out in the books 
>later. Of course, she'll have some explaining to do...

This is a perfect example. I don't "believe" the number 1,000. If it's ever
established as correct in the books, I'll have to adjust my HP-worldview to
accommodate it, but it's not part of the canon makeup of the HP universe to
me, at this point.

Sure she's got boxes and boxes of notes, but that's irrelevant to the reality
of any particular information *within* the HP universe. I'm explaining this
really badly, I'm going to have to go outside HP ...

In another fandom I'm in, some people managed to get their hands on the
scripts for the episodes of the show that would be filmed one season. Some
things were written in the scripts that never made it onto the screen. Some
parts of those scenes were even filmed, then left on the cutting room floor.
So the question became, was the material in the scripts apocryphal or canon.
My contention is that it's NOT canon, no matter if it was written by the
creator, no matter if it was filmed. If it didn't make it onto the screen, it
doesn't count. And it may fit perfectly well into the canon, it may be part of
the background for the show and the characters in the creator's head. But
because it didn't actually "happen" within the universe of the show, it's not
canon.

You run into various problems accepting what I call apocrypha as canon. We had
a bunch of people running around already basing their views and
interpretations of what would happen on this show, on the scripts they read.
And then when the episodes actually aired, the impact of some scenes had
changed because of what was left in or taken out, and the possibility of very
different interpretations was opened up.

I don't think JKR is going around (usually) tossing ideas off the top of her
head, either. (Except for that 1,000 thing. I really don't believe that 1,000
thing. <g>) But until the details she's worked out go into the books, they
don't have the same kind of "reality," *within* the HP universe, that canon
does.

Alexa

"'Bollocks!' cried Hermione. 'I'd be running this show if those slags in
marketing weren't convinced girls will read books about boys but boys won't
read books about girls!'"
- Sydney, Dykes To Watch Out For


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