On being an OFC

[sqbr]

I was thinking about real person fic and it's associated ethical boundaries, and it suddenly struck me: I've been in RPF.

Back when I was in second year the then fresher Raven wrote a story called "Death Becomes Unisfa" which was a rambling disjointed description of everyone in unisfa dying in various wacky and unlikely ways (As I recall I dropped a giant turtle on someone's head. col_ki maybe?) Everyone read it and I don't remember anyone being very offended on principle, though I think some didn't like the particulars (I mean, a giant turtle? Is that really me?)

I realise that being described as a crazed Terry Pratchett obsessed murderer is not actually the sort of thing people tend to find objectionable in RPF, but it's still an amusing thought.

EDIT: Yeah, yeah, OFC is the wrong term, I couldn't think of a better title. Also, having been reminded of other similar stories, I think it make s abig difference what the intent is behind the story. If you're deliberately setting out to offend people then you probably will...

Comments

[stephiepenguin.livejournal.com]

And then there was the story that someone (ataxi?) wrote based off the 2002 committee. Oliver is still in my phone as 'wicked king ollie.'

[alias_sqbr]

If it isn't about me, it doesn't count :)

[violetsquirrel.livejournal.com]

But OFC is "original female character" which means you would have been made up purely for the fic. At least the that's the only way I've ever seen it used ._.

[elaran.livejournal.com]

i deciphered ofc as original fictional character and got confused too.

[alias_sqbr]

Yeah, it made sense to me last night but it is a bit dumb :)

[pooxs.livejournal.com]

davyd wrote one which was pretty offensive, though perhaps only to me as I believe that was the reason he wrote it.

Sophia (no idea last name, went out with maelkann for a bit) wrote one in her fresher year which pissed a few people off too.

[vegetus.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, Sophia's story was incredibly offensive to me as it suggested that I would be sexually involved with people who I find horrendeously ugly and a general waste of oxygen.

Raven's story had me drowning in the ocean after falling off a Greenpeace boat trying to save whale :P

And of course there was that slash story that Coman wrote... but it wasn't about me *phew*!

[alias_sqbr]

I forgot about those ones, since they weren't about me :) But yes, writing a deliberately offensive story in order to creep someone out is quite different to an affectionate flight of fancy with your friends and aquaintances as characters.

[col-ki.livejournal.com]

Possibly. Or was it on the_riviera_kid's head? I remember that I broke into the UniSFA room with a "Here's Johnny!", then brained myself with an axe. (After my demonstration of frustration by breaking a guild catering tray over my head earlier in the year)

[the-riviera-kid.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly sure mine was suicide.

[alias_sqbr]

Maybe it was dunq then, I have a moderately strong mental image of it being someone blond.

[out-fox.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I've done this too. We [high school peers writing a collective story] thought we were being terribly clever with the name we made to cover the *seckrit* inclusion of our most loathed teacher in the plot.

She confiscated it, read it, understood she'd been ficced, squicked [in manner of death by fictional us] and wasn't amused. Do RPF ethical dillemas count if it's only circulated to audiences where it's going to embarrass the authors more than defame the "subjects"?

RPF isn't my cup of tea:too close to aspects of celebrity culture and occasionally stalker POV.

But this makes me consider that I'm over-reacting. If audience exposure's relevant to the offensiveness of RPF, then celebrity gossip in commercial media is more widely read [and therefore harmful to them], and there's truth in seeing some celebrities as already players of fictional roles [the Celebrity] to maintain a level of fame beyond their artistic merit.

Conclusion: Paris Hilton is really a RPF, but who's writing her?

[alias_sqbr]

Do RPF ethical dillemas count if it's only circulated to audiences where it's going to embarrass the authors more than defame the "subjects"?

Yes, they're just different dilemmas :)

If audience exposure's relevant to the offensiveness of RPF, then celebrity gossip in commercial media is more widely read [and therefore harmful to them], and there's truth in seeing some celebrities as already players of fictional roles [the Celebrity] to maintain a level of fame beyond their artistic merit.

That tends to be my attitude. I still find RPF squicky but I'm not sure it's unethical (and in a lot of cases it seems quite divorced from Celebrity Culture as a whole) Also they don't pretend to be true!

Conclusion: Paris Hilton is really a RPF, but who's writing her?

Perhaps she writes herself, escher-style.