Cultus Dispatches: Cauldron of Fanfic

The third in a series of articles looking at how the films impacted the Tolkien fandom, this month's Cultus Dispatches column looks at how fans use the films in their fanfiction.

As previous articles have detailed, the Tolkien fanfiction community remains heavily book-based, with a nearly indetectable minority of authors using only the films to write their stories. Yet, at the same time, the films remain an indisputable influence. How do fans negotiate details from the books and the films to produce stories about the legendarium? As the article shows, the films' influence is diverse. Fans take details from the films, attempt to reconcile the films and books, and critique and correct the Jackson team's choices, sometimes within a single story. And as shown in earlier articles, the films drive fans increasingly toward the books.

You can read this month's article here: Cauldron of Fanfic: The Use of Jackson's Films in Constructing Tolkien-Based Fanfiction.

Remember, Cultus Dispatches is always looking for contributors to our column about Tolkien fandom history and culture. Find out more about writing for this column here.

Posted on 18 June 2022 (updated 30 July 2022) by Dawn Felagund