The Effect of Canon and Continuity Upon the Value of Stories

[LTR]

So Gizmodo published an article recently about the supposed effect of canon on established franchises like Star Wars or what have you.

Our Fascination With Canon Is Killing the Way We Value Stories

As the pop culture we love becomes increasingly dominated by vast franchises of interconnected worlds and stories, so does it become dominated by one, singular question from diehard fans: Is the thing we’re about to consume canon to everything else we’ve consumed before? It’s an attitude that’s...

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Perhaps unsurprisingly the article suggests that fans and critics adherance and love of canon or continuity is "above all else a toxic attitude." The article itself is actually rather shallow and doesn't have too much detail or substance beyond the author opining with references to 'filler episodes' and fans eager devouring of spoilers and how the death of an author is immaterial when you have fandom wikis etc.

There are related questions however. How important is canon and continuity on enhancing or detracting from the value of a story? Does it lead to unwarranted or toxic criticism of an otherwise good work? Should canon/continuity get in the way of telling a good story in that franchise or setting?

 

[Bear Ribs]

I suspect the issue is not the concept of canon itself but the length of some franchises due to corporate desire to control properties and the major focus on cinematic universes and general EU tendencies.

Imagine reading a story where the author doesn't bother to keep track of the main character's name, gender, personality, or appearance from one paragraph to the next. The author also doesn't bother to keep track of what kind of story it is, randomly switching from horror to cookbook to romance to documentary on the mating habits of intestinal parasites to comedy. Sound like a fun read? Of course not, it'd be gibberish. That's what you'd get with a theoretical zero canon.

A well-written story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end, and those should flow in a logical manner from one to the next. The issue is that modern franchises are built around not having any real end so that they can go back and milk that cow again and again with endless sequels and re-imaginings. Where a satisfying ending was reached, they'll instead undo it so that a sequel can happen (See: Everything accomplished in the OT undone in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy.)

Canon is relatively simple to keep straight across a few books or movies. LOTR really doesn't have that many canon issues. On the other hand if there were new books produced each year, often by different authors, you'd find them quickly having to reveal that the One Ring wasn't really destroyed in order to bring back Sauron, the revelation that Hobbits are actually just Dwarves who shaved, somebody forgetting the naming conventions and mixing up elf lineages, a creator's pet half-elf who had more magic than Gandalf and leadership than Strider and could blow away a Balrog in one hit but somehow didn't do anything during the original trilogy, etc. With over a hundred books in the Lord of the Rings Centology canon would be a complete mess.

 

[Harlock]

It is not hard to write a story that meshes with canon. It isn't hard to write one that has a totally different scope and theme but still merges with existing continuity. You just need to be creative and respect the work of your predecessors. And there's your problem with most writers

 

[Urabrask Revealed]

Thing is, modern writers want to do away with canon because it would be easier for them. Heroes are in a bad position?
Mumble up some techno/magic babble, create a solution, done. Your heroes are now out. Who cares if no one has ever thought of it before, no one will ever try to build on and refine it, the inventor themselves will forget about it?

Just look at Rian Johnnyboy's hyperspeed ramming manoveur, why has no one ever considered it before? Because it's not canon, it can't be, because that's not how hyperspeed is supposed to work.

 

[Deleted member 88]

Canon by nature is hard to work with. Writing within canon constraints is inherently more taxing than just original work where the author sets all the rules(if there are any).

And its even harder to get into.

For example, go to any forum or site that talks about the old EU and you'll find dozens of threads asking "where to start", "what do I read first" and so on.

And I concur, sometimes a fixation with canon can lead to characters and themes and what not being ignored or not discussed as much as they ought. Online wikis, YT lore videos, and popular advertising though have a lot to blame for that.

And sure-Tolkien doesn't have a "canon" in such details as how many Balrogs there were, and some of his older ideas and far later ideas aren't really reconcilable. Which is more a consequence of the legendarium coming from one man from 1917 to 1972. I don't mind ambiguity, uncertainty or hazy lore, but there needs to be some basic foundations established else the setting collapses and immersion disintegrates.

 

[bullethead]

I think whether or not you find canon constricting depends on what kind of creative person you are. For some people, having a bunch of pre-existing stuff that they can draw from and put together elements of in new ways is great, but that relies on them actually being familiar with what they're working with. For others, having a blank slate is better, because they only have to worry about what is immediately necessary for the story (although this approach has general problems if your story's scope is too large).

The problem is that a lot of franchises are putting people who don't have deep knowledge of the IPs they're working with in positions of power, and not doing a good job of either putting people who do know a ton about the IP to counterbalance them, or just flat out admitting that their new thing is an alternate continuity. This then alienates the long term fans, who have remained loyal to the franchise, because they can tell when something is a good faith effort to respect the franchise's history and when the creatives do not give a fuck.

Canon is only a problem if you forget this maxim:
Loyalty must be earned and maintained.