Reading that blurb, I hear the echo of arguments like "Why aren't young people versed in the Western canon anymore?" and "What is the hell is the Western canon?" and "Damn it, why aren't my undergraduates chuckling at my witty Antigone reference? That one killed at the department meeting!" It's as you allude to, attackfish, that there's an assumption that there's *one* canon that *everybody* knows and partakes of.
Which I'd say is loosely true in a very, very broad sense, but nowhere near to what that blurb supposes. A century ago people dropped Biblical references and allusions in plays and political speeches because you could expect you audience to have a grounding in Bible stories. Nowadays we make off-hand references to Star Wars and Harry Potter because everyone's familiar with that instead. In fifty years, who knows what it'll be? But I'd call that more "common (pop) cultural currency" than "canon". The former is transient, the latter would be set in stone. What that blurb is supposing doesn't actually exist.
What are your experiences with the internet, individual canons, and the fracturing of reader interest?
Honestly, I've always found people who insist that I *must* read/see/play something to be incredibly annoying. If I can't be a Sci-Fi fan without first watching Firefly and then lighting a candle to Joss Whedon's genius, then I'm happy not to be a fan if it means I don't need to experience their canon.
On the flip side, I don't like to mock people because the stuff they're involved with doesn't interest me and I'm (willingly) unfamiliar with it. I frequent the SpaceBattles forum, and whenever anyone writes a story there, crossover or not, with My Little Pony: Friend Is Magic there is, without fail, some poster who has to come into the thread and give everyone grief: "What the hell is wrong with you? Don't ruin B5/WH40K/Doctor Who/Whatever by bringing ponies into it. Etc..."
Which is hardly fair. I may not like Firefly, that hallmark of current SciFi fandom canon, but I'll admit that there are probably good fics and fanart for it. I love Batman, but if someone crosses it over with Firefly I'm not going to complain. Such a crossover might even be really good -- heck, by far the best fic I've read in 2011 has been fusion between My Little Pony and effing Fallout (<http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/04/story-fallout-equestria.html"), so crack-ish ideas can work when played straight -- but I just won't read it because it's not my thing/canon.
So to summarize, I occasionally find online fandom's popular canon annoying, mostly due to the proselytizing angle (http://www.amazon.com/Joss-Whedon-my-Master-Now/dp/B000B67Q6E) than anything else, but I wouldn't be a dick to groups who like something I don't.
Is there a set of children's and teen books you would consider to be essential, and why?
Peter Pan has stood the test of time, pop culturally, although that's more from its various adaptations than the original book. Harry Potter probably will endure better as a book series. Other than that, I couldn't pick anything 'essential'. Every generation has the books that are important to it. Who knows if stuff like the Golden Compass will still be widely read in thirty years?
no subject
Which I'd say is loosely true in a very, very broad sense, but nowhere near to what that blurb supposes. A century ago people dropped Biblical references and allusions in plays and political speeches because you could expect you audience to have a grounding in Bible stories. Nowadays we make off-hand references to Star Wars and Harry Potter because everyone's familiar with that instead. In fifty years, who knows what it'll be? But I'd call that more "common (pop) cultural currency" than "canon". The former is transient, the latter would be set in stone. What that blurb is supposing doesn't actually exist.
What are your experiences with the internet, individual canons, and the fracturing of reader interest?
Honestly, I've always found people who insist that I *must* read/see/play something to be incredibly annoying. If I can't be a Sci-Fi fan without first watching Firefly and then lighting a candle to Joss Whedon's genius, then I'm happy not to be a fan if it means I don't need to experience their canon.
On the flip side, I don't like to mock people because the stuff they're involved with doesn't interest me and I'm (willingly) unfamiliar with it. I frequent the SpaceBattles forum, and whenever anyone writes a story there, crossover or not, with My Little Pony: Friend Is Magic there is, without fail, some poster who has to come into the thread and give everyone grief: "What the hell is wrong with you? Don't ruin B5/WH40K/Doctor Who/Whatever by bringing ponies into it. Etc..."
Which is hardly fair. I may not like Firefly, that hallmark of current SciFi fandom canon, but I'll admit that there are probably good fics and fanart for it. I love Batman, but if someone crosses it over with Firefly I'm not going to complain. Such a crossover might even be really good -- heck, by far the best fic I've read in 2011 has been fusion between My Little Pony and effing Fallout (<http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/04/story-fallout-equestria.html"), so crack-ish ideas can work when played straight -- but I just won't read it because it's not my thing/canon.
So to summarize, I occasionally find online fandom's popular canon annoying, mostly due to the proselytizing angle (http://www.amazon.com/Joss-Whedon-my-Master-Now/dp/B000B67Q6E) than anything else, but I wouldn't be a dick to groups who like something I don't.
Is there a set of children's and teen books you would consider to be essential, and why?
Peter Pan has stood the test of time, pop culturally, although that's more from its various adaptations than the original book. Harry Potter probably will endure better as a book series. Other than that, I couldn't pick anything 'essential'. Every generation has the books that are important to it. Who knows if stuff like the Golden Compass will still be widely read in thirty years?