Fanfiction Law Module | jdickins | July 27, 2012

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Fanfiction Law Module

by jdickins Show/Hide

Works of fanfiction are stories exploring the world of another work and thrive despite existing in a legal gray area. Millions of people write fanfiction and live under the threat of being sued for it. This module explores what existing case law there is for understanding the legal issues around fan works, and provides several representative examples of fan works in several genres.

By rough estimation, as of 2010 there were upwards of three million pieces of fanfiction on one of the most popular sites, fanfiction.net. To put that in perspective, 328,259 books were published in the United States in the same year. Though this module focuses on fanfiction as it exists on the internet, some authors argue that fanfiction is as old as Western literature—Virgil’s Aeneid and Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida both take a bit-character in Homer’s Iliad and spin his experience into another story, which is a typical story-telling approach found in fanfiction.

Modern fanfiction is a product of fandoms (fan communities) which center around a creative work like a television show, a book series, or a movie. These fandoms also produce videos, art and music. Scholars of fandom sometimes argue fans are active participants in culture, even culture found in media (tv and movies) which are occasionally decried as encouraging passive consumption. By remixing, fans become cultural creators. Like many online communities, fandoms have a homegrown vocabulary, which is used sparingly throughout this module. Please see the bottom of this precis for a list of common fandom vocabulary.

Fanfiction raises a number of legal issues but to date there is no clear legal answer to the question: is fanfiction legal? Though trademark and occasionally libel come up in discussions of how the law treats fanfiction, copyright infringement claims are the most common concern of fanfiction writers. While the most common theoretical defense for fanfiction is that it is protected by fair use, it is valuable to begin evaluating whether it is infringing from the beginning of a copyright infringement analysis, with the question of “substantial similarity” and the “total concept and feel, theme, characters, plot, sequence, pace, and setting”. The defense for fanfiction is still theoretical because there has been no case where a content owner has sued and won (or lost) against a non-commercial author creating creative content based on the other author’s work.

Throughout this module consider: given that most fan communities assume they have no legal recourse in internal intellectual property disputes, what might we learn from the extralegal approaches which have arisen within fandoms? What might fans' active engagement with source texts tell big content producers seeking new profit models? What might the queer and feminist readings of mainstream texts found in fanfiction tell us about online communities and off-line social change?

Fanfiction is a rich legal gray area and whether you finish this model believing none, some, or all examples of it are legal, you will be able to discuss it within the context of copyright and trademark law.

Fandom Vocabulary

Fanfiction: A genre of creative works which rely in part on characters, settings, or themes from other works of fiction. Often non-commercial, often communally-produced, there are over than 3 million pieces of fanfiction online today written in a wide range of languages, styles, and fandoms. Often abbreviated to “fanfic” or just “fic” and nearly never called “fan fiction” by those who write or read it.

Fan Work: An umbrella term which includes fanfiction, fanvids, fanart, fan music, cosplaying, and other forms of fannish expression.

Fandom: a community of people passionate about a creative work. Fandoms often gather to share their attachment to a work in communities on social media sites like tumblr, LiveJournal and Facebook, and produce content for other members of the fandom and post it publicly on general platforms such as YouTube or fan-centric ones such as An Archive of Our Own, FanFiction.net, or animemusicvideos.org. In addition to producing creative works, many fandoms also create non-fiction works analyzing the source text or interactions within the fandom, known as “meta.” TVTropes is a multi-fandom example of meta, but fans also post their analysis on their Tumblrs, Facebook pages, personal websites, and fan-sites.

Fanart: visual art by fans, serving the same function as pieces of fanfiction: a work of fanart explores the characters, settings, or stories of an established world. The examples below include both gifsets (moving images in the .gif file format arranged to make an argument) and more traditional illustration.

Fan Music: Music written by fans in the world of a show. Pieces of fan music serve the same function as pieces of fanfiction: they explore the characters, settings, and stories of an established world. Filk music, or filk, is a subset of fan music which began to be produced in the mid-20th century at science fiction and fantasy conventions.

AU (Alternative Universe): This term is used to describe a piece of fanfiction where the author has made significant changes to the canon. Examples of AUs are stories reimagining characters as college students or space travelers or magically endowed or without magic. The term is occasionally used to describe a story which starts in compliance with canon and then diverges, but the narrower definition is more common.

Het: het refers to a story or a romantic pairing which involves two people of opposite genders. The term is an abreviation of the term “heterosexual.”

Slash: slash refers to a story or a romantic pairing which involves two people of the same gender, often men. The term comes from the typical way in which pairings are denoted in fan communities. A story about the Star Trek characters Spock and James Kirk as a romantic pairing would include the tag “Kirk/Spock”, which reads “Kirk slash Spock” or “slash” for short. A pairing or story involving two women may also be called “slash” or “femslash”. Many writers of slash argue that writing stories about presumably straight characters being bi or gay is their creative response to destructive heteronormativity in popular culture, unduly strict constructions of gender norms, and the refusal of commercial cultural producers to present LGBT role models. Those involved in reading or writing slash occasionally engage in off-line political involvement:

http://fandomsforfckh8.spreadshirt.com
http://legendoffangirl.tumblr.com/post/26046615414/found-at-a-pride-parade-these-people-need-to-be

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Edit playlist item notes below to have a mix of public & private notes, or:

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  1. 1 Show/Hide More Feral Copyright and Fandom
    Original Creator: jdickins

    Feral copyright is a term describing copyright as it is understood and practiced by non-practitioners. Because fanfiction is a legal gray area, most definitive statements about it are expressions of how copyright is understood in the wild rather than an actual legal opinion.

    The first two pieces here explain a particularly important example of feral copyright—an incident involving a fan and published author Marion Zimmer Bradley which has influenced how many older authors view fanficiton. The third is an example of one way fans try to interact with copyright—by assigning away their rights to the characters in the stories they write. The last is a lengthly and well-argued piece making the case that fanfiction is a natural extension of a more honestly communal approach to cultural creation.

    1. 1.1 Show/Hide More Marion Zimmer Bradley Fanfiction Controversy
      First paragraph: “Beyond her well-known writing career, Marion Zimmer Bradley (often called MZB) is famous in fandom as the central figure in a controversy over fanfiction which supposedly made it impossible for her to publish one of her own novels. The story is told often and in widely varying forms throughout fandom and among professional authors. It's frequently cited by authors who object to fanfiction to one degree or another, or as evidence that professional authors should avoid reading fanfic based on their published works, to a degree that approaches ‘urban legend' status. The details in popular accounts vary widely, involving alleged threats of lawsuits on both sides and estimates of the amount of material lost ranging from incomplete notes to ‘four years of work'.”
    2. 1.2 Show/Hide More The Contraband Incident: The strange case of Marion Zimmer Bradley
      First paragraph: “When fans create a new work from the preexisting material of their fandom, they are doing so for their own, sometimes disparate purposes. And while most authors at best enjoy their admirers' activities, and at worst actively try to force them to end it, very few are interested in engaging with it meaningfully. Most restrict themselves to short statements in interviews or on their official Web sites. The late Marion Zimmer Bradley, however, was quite different. She said of her own most famous fictional world, ‘I didn't invent Darkover, I discovered it.'”
    3. 1.3 Show/Hide More The Piteousness of Disclaimers
      Original Creator: jdickins
      Disclaimers on fan works demonstrate their unclear legal status. They do not preclude an infringement suit, but some believe disclaimers/author credits may appease nervous authors. Here are some examples:
    4. 1.4 Show/Hide More FanFiction.net Content Guidelines

      In addition to published authors and fanfiction writers and readers having to negotiate copyright in the wild, the online service providers who host fan works have their own policies. This is a link to a copy of fanfiction.net's position.

      The official version of the list of authors who have informed fanfiction.net they do not want their works to be mentioned in fanfiction is here (but it requires a user account to view): https://www.fanfiction.net/story/story_tab_guide.php

      Here is the list:

      Anne Rice
      Archie comics
      Dennis L. McKiernan
      Irene Radford
      J.R. Ward
      Laurell K. Hamilton
      Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb
      P.N. Elrod
      Raymond Feist
      Robin Hobb
      Robin McKinley
      Terry Goodkind

    5. 1.5 Show/Hide More "I'm done explaining why fanfic is okay" by Aja Romano (bookshop)
      Original Creator: jdickins
      In addition to using disclaimers, some fans engage deeply in copyright debates about originality and derivation and what Martha Woodmansee call's the “romantic conception of the author” and the future of the entertainment industry. This post includes a great many examples of pieces of classical literature which fit most definitions of fanfiction but also articulates well why fans choose to risk costly litigation for a hobby and addresses the most common complaints about fanfiction which arise from critical authors.
    6. 1.6 Show/Hide More Thomas Jefferson to Isaac McPherson
      Original Creator: jdickins
      Core quote: “He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. That ideas should freely spread from one to another over the globe, for the moral and mutual instruction of man, and improvement of his condition, seems to have been peculiarly and bene-volently designed by nature, when she made them, like fire, expansible over all space, without lessening their density in any point, and like the air in which we breathe, move, and have our physical being, incapable of confinement or exclusive appropriation.”
  2. 2 Show/Hide More Fair Use (Fiction <-> Non-Fiction)
    Original Creator: jdickins
    1. 2.1 Show/Hide More Rowling v. RDR
      Original Creator: jdickins
      What commercial, non-creative use of a creative work is permissible under the fair use doctrine?
      Notes:
      This case deals with the book, The Harry Potter Lexicon, the publication of which was not authorized by J.K. Rowling and the contents of which drew on the Harry Potter series. Note how the attorneys for Ms. Rowling distinguish between the not-for-profit online version of this work and the commercial publication thereof.
    2. 2.2 Show/Hide More Nash v. CBS, Inc.
      Original Creator: Prof. David Post Current Version: jdickins
      Is it copyright infringement to include the central thesis of a non-fiction book in a work of fiction?
      Notes:
      Author Jay Robert Nash wrote non-fiction books about famed criminal John Dillinger, imagining that he did not die at the hands of the <span class="caps">FBI</span> but instead lived to a ripe age in California. An episode of the <span class="caps">CBS</span> police procedural Simon and Simon used this premise and Nash sued for copyright infringement. (Circuit Opinion)
    3. 2.3 Show/Hide More Nash v. CBS, INC.
      Original Creator: Prof. David Post Current Version: jdickins
      Is it copyright infringement to include the central thesis of a non-fiction book in a work of fiction?
      Notes:
      Author Jay Robert Nash wrote non-fiction books about famed criminal John Dillinger, imagining that he did not die at the hands of the <span class="caps">FBI</span> but instead lived to a ripe age in California. An episode of the <span class="caps">CBS</span> police procedural Simon and Simon used this premise and Nash sued for copyright infringement. (District Opinion)
    4. 2.4 Show/Hide More Castle Rock Entertainment, Inc. v. Carol Pub. Group, Inc.
      Original Creator: Prof. David Post
      Does the fair use doctrine protect a commercial, non-fiction book which non-critically uses information from a copyrighted work? How do we measure substantial similarity?
      Notes:
      Beth Golub wrote and Carol Publishing published a book of Seinfeld trivia called the Seinfeld Aptitude Test using information, including quotes, from the television show Seinfeld. Castle Rock Entertainment, owner of the copyright to the tv show Seinfeld, sued Carol Publishing and Golub for copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and state law unfair competition.
  3. 3 Show/Hide More Parody
    Original Creator: jdickins
    1. 3.1 Show/Hide More Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.
      Original Creator: Prof. David Post
      Can a commercial parody be protected by the fair use doctrine? How much of the parodied work can a parody take?
      Notes:
      Rappers 2 Live Crew's wrote a commercial parody of Roy Orbison's song, &#8220;Oh, Pretty Woman,&#8221; titled “Pretty Woman” which made use of the same phrases and structure of Orbison’s work. 2 Live Crew contacted the company to which Orbison had assigned his copyright, Acuff-Rose, for permission to parody “Oh, Pretty Woman.” Acuff-Rose refused and 2 Live Crew released their work anyway. Acuff-Rose sued for copyright infringement.
    2. 3.2 Show/Hide More SUNTRUST BANK v. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
      Original Creator: jdickins
      What is required for a book to be protected as a parody by the fair use doctrine?
      Notes:
      This deals with the retelling of Gone with the Wind, The Wind Done Gone, which tells a first-person narrative from the perspective of Cynara, the illegitimate daughter of Planter, a plantation owner, and Mammy, a slave who cares for his children.
    3. 3.3 Show/Hide More Salinger v. Colting
      Original Creator: jdickins
      When is an unauthorized sequel protected by the fair use doctrine and/or considered a parody?
      Notes:
      This case deals with the book 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye by J.D. California which was written to function as an unauthorized sequel to J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye.
  4. 4 Show/Hide More Fair Use (Fiction -> Fiction)
    Original Creator: jdickins
    1. 4.1 Show/Hide More WILLIAMS v. CRICHTON
      Original Creator: jdickins
      How does one determine “substantial similarity” between two works which share settings, themes, and stock characters?
      Notes:
      Geoffrey T. Williams wrote a series of children's books set in &#8220;Dinosaur World&#8221; which told the story of a family, which included a brother and a sister, who travel to visit dinosaurs. He sued the owners of the copyright for the &#8220;Jurassic Park&#8221; book and movie for infringing his copyright.
    2. 4.2 Show/Hide More NICHOLS v. UNIVERSAL
      Original Creator: Prof. David Post
      Can you copyright a plot?
      Notes:
      Anne Nichols was the author of the play “Abie’s Irish Rose,” which was about the conflict between the families young lovers of different religions in New York City. Universal publicly produced a motion picture play (read: movie) titled: “The Cohens and The Kellys,” which is also about the conflict between the families of two young lovers of different religions in New York City. Nichols sued Universal because Nichols believed the plots of their works were too similar for copyright infringement not to have occurred.
    3. 4.3 Show/Hide More Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.
      Original Creator: Prof. David Post
      Can a commercial parody be protected by the fair use doctrine? How much of the parodied work can a parody take?
      Notes:
      Rappers 2 Live Crew's wrote a commercial parody of Roy Orbison's song, &#8220;Oh, Pretty Woman,&#8221; titled “Pretty Woman” which made use of the same phrases and structure of Orbison’s work. 2 Live Crew contacted the company to which Orbison had assigned his copyright, Acuff-Rose, for permission to parody “Oh, Pretty Woman.” Acuff-Rose refused and 2 Live Crew released their work anyway. Acuff-Rose sued for copyright infringement.
    4. 4.4 Show/Hide More Salinger v. Colting
      Original Creator: jdickins
      When is an unauthorized sequel protected by the fair use doctrine and/or considered a parody?
      Notes:
      This case deals with the book 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye by J.D. California which was written to function as an unauthorized sequel to J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye.
    5. 4.5 Show/Hide More SUNTRUST BANK v. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
      Original Creator: jdickins
      What is required for a book to be protected as a parody by the fair use doctrine?
      Notes:
      This deals with the retelling of Gone with the Wind, The Wind Done Gone, which tells a first-person narrative from the perspective of Cynara, the illegitimate daughter of Planter, a plantation owner, and Mammy, a slave who cares for his children.
  5. 5 Show/Hide More Fan Work Hypo
    Original Creator: jdickins

    Hypo: A friend emails you with a fan work she created and asks if it is a violation of anyone’s copyright and whether it might be protected under fair use. Drawing on Campbell v. Acuff Rose, SunTrust Bank v. Houghton Mifflin Co., and Salinger v. Colting, what do you think?

    Note: Many of the fan works included as options in this hypo can be found in full-text on H2O. However, unless you are already familiar with the communities from which fanfiction arises, you may be well-served in reading/watching/listening/viewing the work you choose to analyze in its native location. For example, “300 Things” has received 3868 views on An Archive of Our Own, 1248 comments on the author’s LiveJournal, and is a subject of regular discussion on Tumblr; this information may help you understand the context of your hypothetical friend’s fan work.

    1. 5.1 Show/Hide More Fanvids
      Original Creator: jdickins
      Fanvid: a video made by a fan, often short, often using clips from the work in question, often with music elucidating a theme, sometimes telling a new story and sometimes making an argument about the work.
      1. 5.1.1 Show/Hide More Blame it on the Fandom
        A mashup of 21 TV shows and movies set to a mashup of 27 pop songs from 2009: http://djearworm.com/united-state-of-pop-2009-blame-it-on-the-pop.htm
      2. 5.1.2 Show/Hide More Secret Asian Man: Artist's Statement of Intent

        A fanvid critiquing the tv show Firefly’s lack of Asian characters. Firefly was set in a future universe whose culture stems equally from American and Chinese sources.

        If you do not wish to download the video from the creator's site, you can view it through YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv5HN4lU2w4

      3. 5.1.3 Show/Hide More Untitled | Sherlock BBC
        Spoilers for Episode 3, Series 2 of BBC’s Sherlock. Begins with John Watson shutting down his blog of Sherlock’s cases after the events of “Reichenbach Falls” when he receives a text-message. This is a slash vid, a fanvid which implies a romantic or sexual relationship between two characters, in this case, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson.
      4. 5.1.4 Show/Hide More Bad Romance x Avengers
        Illustrations of the superheroes from The Avengers perform Laurie-Ann Gibson’s choreography to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” with a clip of that song playing in the background.
    2. 5.2 Show/Hide More Fan Music
      Original Creator: jdickins
      Fan Music: Music written by fans in the world of a show. Pieces of fan music serve the same function as pieces of fanfiction: they explore the characters, settings, and stories of an established world. Filk music, or filk, is a subset of fan music which began to be produced in the mid-20th century at science fiction and fantasy conventions.
      1. 5.2.1 Show/Hide More "Doctor Who on Holiday" by Dean Gray (ft. Green Day & The Timelords)
        Part of Dean Gray’s mash-up of Green Day’s “American Idiot” album, “American Edit.” The video is a fanvid for Dr Who, but the audio is the relevant portion.
      2. 5.2.2 Show/Hide More Star Trek - Bein' Red - Filk Song

        Filk song about “red shirts” in Star Trek The Original Series.

        Red Shirt: a fan-term for a character who is minor and will die by the end of an episode. It originated in the Star Trek fandom, as the characters who often died as part of the plots of the original series wore red shirts.

      3. 5.2.3 Show/Hide More The Castiel Song
        Song mixing quotes and original text from the TV show Supernatural about the character Castiel. Another fan has made a video, replacing the sung quotes with clips from the show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l5ItHRIRhA Still yet another fan made an animated version of this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCZdBnoZ0Gc
    3. 5.3 Show/Hide More Fanfiction
      Original Creator: jdickins
      FanFiction: A genre of creative works which rely in part on characters, settings, or themes from other works of fiction. Often non-commercial, often communally-produced, there are over than 3 million pieces of fanfiction online today written in a wide range of languages, styles, and fandoms. Often abbreviated to “fanfic” or just “fic” and nearly never called “fan fiction” by those who write or read it.
      1. 5.3.1 Show/Hide More Cauterize
        This fanfic is a short story checking-in with most of the characters in the years after the final battle with Voldemort, examining their experiences through the frame of their scars. It is 1,648 words, been favorited 2,361 times on fanfiction.net, and has earned 767 reviews.
      2. 5.3.2 Show/Hide More Lunch and Other Obscenities by Rheanna
        Original Creator: jdickins

        This fanfic tells the story of Nyota Uhura's first year of interactions with her with her bright-green roommate at Starfleet Academy whose homeworld taboos are different than Uhura’s. It is 9473 words long and has received 537 comments on the author's LiveJournal account: http://rheanna27.livejournal.com/110953.html

        The author also archived it a personal site: http://www.goldenmaze.com/lunch.htm

      3. 5.3.3 Show/Hide More 300 Things by cautionzombies (Uncollaged)

        This is an excerpt from a longer fanfic in what is known as a “College AU”, where the characters and relationships of a work are translated into a college setting. In this case, it is a Supernatural fanfic, where Dean Winchester is struggling to finishing his degree while paying for his younger brother’s private school and saving up for his father’s rehab. Castiel Milton becomes one of his professors. It is also a slash fic, meaning it includes a same-sex relationship between the two central characters.

        Because it is uncommon for a fan to read stories from fandoms she is not involved in, this story is best read with some background in the source text. As in many Alternative Universe stories, the characters and their relationships stay static across setting changes: Dean and Sam Winchester are still brothers, their father's failures and successes as a parent still drive their lives, and Castiel (here an English professor rather than an angel) still provides them protection and friendship during a difficult time in their lives. Though there are more formal summaries available, the fan-created TV Tropes page does a good job of explaining the competing facets of this piece of popular culture: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/Supernatural

        Though the example stories included here are shorter, many of the most popular pieces of fanfiction are novel-length. The entirety of 300 Things is 76863 words or 154 pages printed out (you only need to read for first 2399 words, until the first section break). This fic has received 3868 views on An Archive of Our Own (http://archiveofourown.org/works/285374), 1248 comments on the author’s LiveJournal (http://cautionzombies.livejournal.com/12895.html), and is a subject of regular discussion on Tumblr (http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/300-things). Again, you only need to read the first 2399 words (until the first section break).

      4. 5.3.4 Show/Hide More 300 Things by cautionzombies
        Original Creator: jdickins

        This is an excerpt from a longer fanfic in what is known as a “College AU”, where the characters and relationships of a work are translated into a college setting. In this case, it is a Supernatural fanfic, where Dean Winchester is struggling to finishing his degree while paying for his younger brother’s private school and saving up for his father’s rehab. Castiel Milton becomes one of his professors. It is also a slash fic, meaning it includes a same-sex relationship between the two central characters.

        Because it is uncommon for a fan to read stories from fandoms she is not involved in, this story is best read with some background in the source text. As in many Alternative Universe stories, the characters and their relationships stay static across setting changes: Dean and Sam Winchester are still brothers, their father's failures and successes as a parent still drive their lives, and Castiel (here an English professor rather than an angel) still provides them protection and friendship during a difficult time in their lives. Though there are more formal summaries available, the fan-created TV Tropes page does a good job of explaining the competing facets of this piece of popular culture: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/Supernatural

        Though the example stories included here are shorter, many of the most popular pieces of fanfiction are novel-length. The entirety of 300 Things is 76863 words or 154 pages printed out (you only need to read for first 2399 words, until the first section break).

        This fic has received 3868 views on An Archive of Our Own (http://archiveofourown.org/works/285374), 1248 comments on the author’s LiveJournal (http://cautionzombies.livejournal.com/12895.html), and is a subject of regular discussion on Tumblr (http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/300-things).

        Again, you only need to read for first 2399 words (until the first section break).

    4. 5.4 Show/Hide More Fanart
      Original Creator: jdickins
      Fanart: visual art by fans, serving the same function as pieces of fanfiction: they explore the characters, settings, and stories of an established world. The examples below include both gifsets (moving images in the .gif file format arranged to make an argument) and more traditional illustration.
      1. 5.4.1 Show/Hide More Noble Maiden Fair

        The mother and daughter from Disney's Brave. In an example of the way that fans engage in multiple media while creating, the author of this image notes she was listening to the song “Noble Maiden Fair” from the Brave soundtrack while she was drawing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CgJInUF7-Y

        Here is another copy of the same image: http://skittzipoo.tumblr.com/post/26424890342/noble-maiden-fair-by-seanchaithe

      2. 5.4.2 Show/Hide More Sometimes you have to be your own white knight.
        A gifset of the character Fiona from the television show Burn Notice being violent.
      3. 5.4.3 Show/Hide More Superfamily

        This image is of “superfamily”. There is a popular communally-created Alternative Universe in the Avengers fandom in which the orphaned child Peter Parker (who would become Spiderman) is raised by Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Steve Rogers (Captain America), who are married to each other. This jointly-held vision is usually termed “superfamily” and the marriage of Steve and Tony “superhusbands.”

        It is also an example of a cross-over, though one which exists within the same narrative universe. The Marvelverse (the fictional world in which the X-Men, Captain America, Iron Man, Spiderman, Thor, and all of the Avengers exist) is one world but in the case of superfamily many authors are pulling the current Marvel vision of Spiderman from the comics (that he is a child) into the movie Marvelverse of the Avengers where Captain America is played by Chris Evans and Iron Man by Robert Downey Jr. Cross-overs are an example of the ways in which fans remix source texts.

    5. 5.5 Show/Hide More Other Fanworks
      Original Creator: jdickins
      An umbrella term which includes fanfiction, fanvids, fanart, fan music, cosplaying, and other forms of fannish expression. This playlist includes examples of fanworks which don’t fit comfortably into the other four categories.
      1. 5.5.1 Show/Hide More Austenbook
        This is a retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice through Facebook statuses.
      2. 5.5.2 Show/Hide More Run Program: DUM-E by Amuly
        Original Creator: jdickins
        This work tells the story of Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Steve Rogers (Captain America)’s relationship through the systems logs of one of Tony’s robots. It is slash fiction, as it posits a romantic or sexual relationship between two members of the same sex.
      3. 5.5.3 Show/Hide More Star Wars Tatoos
        An image of a tattoo on a woman's back of TIE Fighter and an X-Wing facing off. Tie fighters and X-Wings are two classes of star ships from the Star Wars universe.
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