Note: This post is part of an on-going series about how people use stories. For additional background, you may find it useful to reference the items previous to this (most recent are listed first).

1. Canon, Apocrypha & Centralized Distribution
2. Version Control
3. How Stories Are Modified by Transmission

In my previous post, I talked about canonical and apocryphal versions of stories. These terms come from religious history, and “canon” refers to “officially-sanctioned” versions of the Christian stories which were included in the Bible, whereas “apocrypha” refers to stories which were not included within the official Bible, but which retained some popularity nonetheless.

Stories transmitted by contemporary media can also be understood in terms of canon and apocrypha. The official theatrical or DVD release of a movie would be the canonical version. Derivative works which were not specifically authorized or intended by the creator of that movie would be apocryphal. Here are a list of cultural artifacts which can be understood from this apocryphal model:

1. Supplementary materials released by the creators of the canon - an example would be Lucasfilm’s release of a massive amount of books, games & toys which flesh out various details of the story-system, but which do not substantially add to the actual movies themselves.
2. Supplementary materials created by fans of the canon, which are unauthorized by the actual creators. Examples below:
3. Fan-fiction, written by ordinary people using popular copyrighted characters and usually freely distributed. These stories may also explore subtextual relationships which canonical sources only hint at or don’t address at all, such as “slash” fiction.
4. Edits of movies done by fans, such as the Phantom Edit & the Goblin Edits. Of course, movie studios will sometimes release alternate edits in the form of “director’s cuts” or “alternate endings”
5. From the world of computer games, you also have mods, skins, hacks or add-ons. These may be created either by fans or by the companies themselves. In an especially clever move, many game companies release software which enables and enhances players’ creation of things like mods & skins. Game companies will also frequently purchase fan-created modifications to their games which prove to be popular among fans.

These are just some possible examples. I’d like to collect some more to use as case studies. The main elements of apocryphal culture that I’m interested in are: (1) how and why fans create supplementary materials within an existing story-system; (2) the effects these apocryphal interpretations have on the canon, and the institutions which created them.