the meaning of canon

[branchandroot]

A post by Cathexys came together with the ongoing linguistic laments in one of my own recent posts, and made me think about a phenomenon I've noticed recently.

The common definition of "canon", among anime fans, seems to be changing, particularly as relates to the existence and/or possibility of specific romantic pairings.

At least once a week over the past month or two, while browsing through the ljs of fellow anime fen, I've seen people referring to Pairing X as canon when what they seem to mean is that the source text contains moments or situations or dialogue between the two characters that it is possible to interpret in a romantic fashion.

They do not seem to mean that the source text actually says Y and Z are dating/boyfriends/screwing each other silly. Which is what I have, to date, taken as the meaning of "canon".

This seems related to the jargon use of the word "proof" (also, occasionally, "evidence"). Among good yaoi fangirls the statement that a scene contains proof of a given pairing is used, usually tongue in cheek, to mean that the action can, with great effort and willing suspension of disbelief, be imagined to contain romantic tension. As in "There, see! Y punched out Z, it's proof! They must be in love!" In the less good-natured debates, this can devolve into the sort of double standard that insists one's own "proof" is actual evidence while the other side's "proof" is wishful thinking. The need for legitimazation appears to trump manners, dictionaries and common sense, all three.

The new use of "canon", regrettably, seems headed in the same direction. Pairing X is canon, but Pairing Q is not. "Canon", in both cases, meaning something closer to "possible interpretation of subtext" than "textual statement". At the same time, the person using "canon" in this special jargon sense, is usually taking full advantage of the common use implication of the word. That is, she is treating the favored pairing as established and unquestionable, dennotative rather than connotative.

The whole progression reminds me of the rightening of American liberal parties, where Republican used to mean "liberal" while Democrat meant "anarchist", and then Republican meant conservative, and now it's coming up on Democrat meanting conservative, and we keep needing new names for the far left parties. I do wonder what word fandom will come up with next to indicate "textual statement".

Comments

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

i think you might enjoy this post (http://www.livejournal.com/users/angua9/132488.html) that actually is a perfect example of what you're arguing (and i hope you weren't reading what i was saying a supporting that...i just wanted someone to be able to make that choice and point toward canon and day that it doesn't immediately contradict).

[branchandroot]

Oh, not at all! I agreed with you entirely. In fact, you reminded me of the post I wrote after reading some of fanfic_hate, about the ephemeral opinions of fandom not being the last word for any writer. My thought started with the idea of how nice it is to have such a (relatively) reliable referent as canon and the source text to fall back on, and wandered through linguistic shifts, ending up at this strange little outcrop of self-serving jargon I've seen lately.

I suppose I should add to the above reflections the fact that the stories to which the altered terms "proof" and "canon" are applied have little to no romantic element. Angua's post has a good point, when the story deals with romance. In the cases I've seen, though, it's a lot closer to saying Harry and Draco *must* love each other with an undying love because they call each other names all the time. Or, more precisely, to saying that Ginny/Tom is canon. Certainly, there are implications we can read that way, but the general tenor of that relationship is... well, not romantic.

Ah, fandom. It's such a strange place.

[beckymarie.livejournal.com]

"Canon" is such a nebulous word these days (in an ironic sort of way, given that it's supposed to be something irrefutable) that you'll find differing meanings from one fangirl to the next. "Canon" is used by fangirls to describe pairings and I just... yes, okay, I have probably done this myself (It's usually meant as tongue-in-cheek humor and not meant to be taken seriously, mind.), but "canon" should be exactly what appears on the screen or in the pages, nothing more, nothing less. Canon shouldn't be (in my opinion), "Ohhh, it's SO OBVIOUS that's what they mean!" Canon is exactly what they said with the exact way their face was drawn. Everything else is up to interpretation.

I mean... let's take Prince of Tennis, since it's a series we both share. ^_~ I can jokingly say that Tezuka/Atobe is "canon" because of the incredible amount of hints, but if I tried to say it seriously, I'd be wrong, no matter how much of a heavy hand I feel Konomi-sensei is using to portray them or how thinly he's veiling it. (I admit, sometimes I'm seriously starting to wonder what's going through Konomi-sensei's head, but I don't think it's actually "canon". Just... holy shit, what ELSE am I supposed to label Atobe's reactions as??)

It does seem like more and more fangirls are using it to describe what they feel is canon, but dismissing it as fangirl interpretation in others, because it's just so obvious to them, but they don't like that other pairing over there, so that's just fangirling, even if they can see where the person gets it.

Of course, this isn't touching on the sticky mess that is UST and what's being canonically hinted at and what's not and I think that's where fangirls get into trouble. No one's really trying to say that Character A and character B definitely ARE IN A RELATIONSHIP in the current time and place, but more that they're arguing that the feelings/attraction/SOMETHING is canon, I think? Or at least most are, I suspect. It's like... no one really argues that Sakuno has feelings for/attraction to Ryoma, right? But where can you point out that it's definitively canon? I think that is what most fangirls are arguing that their favorte *whatever* is "canon"?

[branchandroot]

*nods* I think that's what most of them probably mean. I just start to worry when a word like canon, which should mean text, becomes used to mean subtext. Not that the line between text and subtext is always hard and fast, especially in something like PoT! I mean, look at the chibi bumpers. Inui and Yanagi with a red thread tied around their pinkies is my very favorite. That's... actually, I think I'd call that text, considering the cultural loading. But the chibis are almost always a separate continuity from the normally drawn storyline. So, how does one read that?

I guess the part that most annoys me is what seems to be the self-serving edge to this usage. Canon is un-challenge-able, therefore by calling one's own interpretation canon, one makes an end-run around any possible objections. *That* just pisses me off.

Just... holy shit, what ELSE am I supposed to label Atobe's reactions as??

*perfectly straight face* Why, true love, of course. It's so obvious. (voiceover by Oshitari "Obsession... by Keigo Kline.")

I think I should probably go to bed now...

[beckymarie.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of fangirls consider "canon" to be the holy grail of fandom, because it means that you do have that trump card and suddenly the onus of "proof" is no longer on your shoulders, you just have to whip out that card and instant win! I assume there's also an undercurrent of, "Well, if it's canon, that means I'm RIGHT and they're WRONG!", that if their pairing is canon, well, then all the fangirls will come aboard (thus validating their opinion) and write more fics for the pairing they like!

And, yes, there is something to be said for subtext being a geniune factor, but it's not the same as canon... it's too bad we don't have a word for that. (Then again, what fangirl would be satisfied with "subtext" rather than the supposedly untrumpable "canon"?) With a series like Prince of Tennis, it becomes even more murky because you do have those chibi episodes (I mean, Fuji looking for Tezuka, the legendary gunman in the chibi episode, and SPARKLING over him in a very, very romantic way? Tezuka-ojiisan and Fuji-obaasan with a whole little family? Do these count as canon, when the chibi thing is all clearly meant in fun and not seriousness? Though, damn, I'm REALLY inclined to treat that red string as honest-to-god text/subtext, just for the cultural weight it carries.), not to mention the BOATLOAD of fanservice. How do you differeniate between what's just a natural friendship between teammates and what's Hinting At Something More?

It's just... I think you're right that people use it as a self-serving stopper to any argument against them. And it's not that I need to be right all of the time, either, (because, in the end, what does "canon" REALLY get you?), I just don't like feeling like I'm being told that my interpretations aren't "canon" (which we all know means "wrong" or "totally on crack") and someone else's are. *rantyranty*

(Bed? Bed? What is this concept you speak of?)

[branchandroot]

How do you differeniate between what's just a natural friendship between teammates and what's Hinting At Something More?

Especially with a show that crosses lines the way PoT does. I mean, with Yu Yu Hakusho it's reasonably easy to have recourse to the genre; it's shounen, straight up and down, and while the boys and demons and whatnot are clearly all good comrades who care about each other the way good comrades should, I feel comfortable saying that the genre itself indicates limited romantic themes.

But PoT? Good grief. The anime, in particular, is very close to straight up shoujo as far as the visual and interpersonal conventions go! And between the anime vs the manga, and the filler arcs vs the fighting arcs, and the regular eps vs the chibi eps, to say nothing of the cards and music and info books... well, there's competing subtext strewn all over the landscape! Which is why I love it, of course. But that just makes efforts to lock one or another interpretation in stone all the more annoying to me, because it sells short the delightful, crazy contradictions that make the whole thing so much fun.

Er, speaking of ranty... #^_^#

[solitude1056.livejournal.com]

Well, I think discussions of canon beg the question: "canon what" - as in, let's see. It's canon that Hakkai and Gojyo are friends, even damn good friends that put up with each other's crap. And it's canon that Heero and Relena share mutual respect and admiration, while discounting their own abilities. So in those instances, one could say, "these relationships are canon." Because, hello, friendship is a relationship. I think it's a variety of words that are getting mangled - 'relationship' meaning only sexual or pre-sexual; 'canon' moving from 'what happened in the original story' to being used mostly as an adjective for the word 'relationship' or the dreaded 'pairing'.

And btw, you completely forgot about the other horrendous fangirl cry, the one that makes me really cringe:

"BUT IT'S CANNON!"

Right. And I'm going to SHOOT you with it.

*kaBAM*

Sheesh.

[branchandroot]

Oh, ow. I think my eyes may have refused to see that particular variation.

Definitely agree about the flattening of everything into sex. I think GW was the first place I really saw that happening. <--latecomer (gives thanks) I've written about it in a couple other places, trying to get some insight into why fans do that. I think the three major answers I came up with were the black-and-white worldview of teenage fans, the rampant hormones of young fans, and over-reaction against other opinions. Which doesn't excuse anything, but does make me slightly more patient, provided I stay out of the actual screaming debates.

Actually, I like to take advantage of the tendency, sometimes, to screw with people's heads. I mean, here am I, writer of porn in good standing, so when I write something like the Success arc, even if it's clearly labled Gen, nearly everyone assumes that the intimacy is UST. Which allows me to torture them with their own expectations. It's very diverting. *evil smile*

help! i want a glossary!

[kenllama.livejournal.com]

so, i've been following this thread more out of interest in "what's canon" than particular interest in the particularities of fansmut, but here I get lost. What are Gen and UST? Unmitigated Sexual Tension? Universally Sensitive Tortoises. I'm curious how you subvert expectations, but I lack the lingo to understand.

Is there a good glossary of all these terms (OTP,PWP,UST,etc?)

Re: help! i want a glossary!

[branchandroot]

*laughs* *hugs her llama*

You were pretty close, actually. Unresolved Sexual Tension. One True Pairing (ex: Harry/Draco or Ron/Hermione or etc.); this can be used either facetiously, to indicate that the speaker knows it's her personal opinion/preference, or seriously, to indicate that the speaker should be shot with the cannon. Plot? What Plot? or Porn Without Plot. Gen is an abbreviation of General, meaning not romantic.

Which is to say, if I'm established in the audience mind as a writer of porn, they will expect everything I write to be sexual. And, since this is me, that means that, just as I started writing porn to prove it could be done with some particular characters, I also write Gen to prove that I can do that just as well. It's also why I write as many different pairings as take my fancy--to mess with people's heads, who have taken me to be a fill-in-the-blank-shipper. Loyalty to a particular pairing or two is pretty common, and I think it's silly.

Re: help! i want a glossary!

[kenllama.livejournal.com]

::*laughs* *hugs her llama*::

*hugs back*

you sound like you're in a cheerful mood today. just got back from lunch with Ms L (who got the job). we should be home soonish. I think I need to sic the Other^4 Emily on a job when she takes over at the ref desk in a few minutes and then should be free to vacate the premises.

The OTP & PWP came from other recent posts in others folks' journals on which I've had to get clarification. I had suggest Pandas Wearing Pajamas for PWP and Ang though perhaps she'd have to write a fic involving such stuff. I suppose Ranma would lend itself...