Is it like fanfiction? Is it fanservice?

[jlh]

So before I do something rash, I have two questions about some sorts of criticisms I've seen, because I'm not sure what they mean, or what their baggage is.

1. What does it mean to say that a professionally produced work is "like fanfiction"?

2. What is "fanservice"?

All of your thoughts, as well as any links to useful ways to define these terms, would be helpful. Thanks!

Comments

[zorb]

1) Primary: When it's self-indulgent and tangential to the "real" story, in the perception of the fan. The HP epilogue falls into that category for me.

Secondary: When by some seemingly bizarre convergence, the canon does something that has been a popular fanfic trope. There's an episode (a pretty good one) of BSG that does this and gets both praise and angst from fans, depending where they fall on that issue.

2) Primary: What Res said.

Secondary: I just used it yesterday in my Stargate review to indicate that because my particular OT3 of characters got the major screentime (mostly together, squee!) in the film, I was thoroughly fanserved. I don't for a minute think TPTB made that happen on purpose for me. *g*