Hi all!
Cutting it close with the blog post I admit! In my normal, everyday life things have been hectic and all-over-the-place over the last couple of months. So, I’m quite keen to take five while I can and dive into another opinion-piece blog post. The subject of this post is either really important to you or means absolutely nothing to you.
I’m talking about canon.
What is ‘canon’?
Canon is defined as the material officially accepted as part of the story in the single fictional universe of that story. By single fictional universe, I mean an internally consistent fictional setting used in a narrative work or work of art.
Let’s talk this through with some examples. The TV series ‘Friends’ is set in a single fictional universe. Despite being set in the real world, it is not the real world. It is not our universe. It is its own universe.
The Office (US) is set in its own single fictional universe. However, there is a strong suggestion that The Office (UK) is part of the same universe given the cameo by Ricky Gervais in Season 7, Episode 14.
The Expanse (Books) are one single fictional universe while The Expanse (TV Series) is also its own single fictional universe, despite being based off the books.
The Fallout TV Series is part of the same fictional universe as the Fallout video games.
Let’s get a bit trickier now. The Star Wars original and prequel trilogies are set in their own fictional universe. Extended media (books, comics etc.) existing before the Disney purchase was part of this same universe. After the Disney purchase, this extended media was made ‘non-canon’ and replaced by all the side media that has since been built by Disney since. So, there’s an example of the owner of a fictional property changing what counts as canon.
Let’s get more complex again: Marvel. There’s the comics that are their own single fictional universe. Then there is the Marvel Cinematic Universe which is its own single fictional universe but is separate from the comic universe. Within these universes, especially the comics at this stage, there are multiple single fictional universes. For example, the comic’s Amazing Spider-Man universe and the Ultimate Spider-Man universe. And then on top of that, there’s the multiverses where different fictional universes cross over.
What starts out as a simple, straightforward concept becomes confusing pretty quickly.
Let’s think about canon when it comes to real life. What has happened, has happened. That is canon for ‘real life’. It’s written in the history books (and websites). However, has our real-life ‘canon’ been distorted? There’s the old saying ‘history is written by the victors’. By that logic, could our perception of real-life canon be altered if we had more detailed perspectives of those who lost?
And that’s a key factor in canon when it comes to reality. It’s all about perspective. Even when you’ve lived an experience, your perception of it might be muddy. But when it comes to a story on the page or the screen, the event is laid out firmly for you to read or see. What you’ve seen happen, has happened. Claiming something different happened two movies later when we can go and watch the earlier movie in question means canon inconsistencies can be easily disputed, unlike in real life.
Why is it so hard to follow when writing?
So now that we’ve talked about what canon means (and hopefully you’re with me on that), let’s move on to the core reason I wanted to talk about canon: why is it so hard for writers (and especially all the people behind movies, TV shows and video games) to follow canon in their storytelling over multiple releases?
I ask this question because canon can often be neglected in series. You don’t have to look hard online to find debates between large fanbases about what is and isn’t canon and how one thing conflicts with another piece of canon. Even on a serialised TV series like American Dad, there’s debate when an episode has a statement or action that conflicts with a past episode.
Given my lengthy explanation of canon, you might be tempted to say, “It’s just too confusing for writers and the like to follow canon and get it right 100% of the time”. And I agree, to an extent, that this likely is one of the reasons canon conflicts come up. There are so many moving parts that writers make a mistake. This was certainly the case for Spiderman Homecoming which had the wrong number of years on one of its title cards.
If you read that article, you probably saw the word ‘retcon’ come up. Retcon, short for retroactive continuity, is a literary device in which facts in a single fictional universe that have been established are adjusted, ignored, supplemented or contradicted by a new entry in the series that recontextualises or changes canon with past entries. Often, it can be used to clear up mistakes that have broken canon, but it can also be used to enable the return of popular dead characters or revise unpopular story elements.
That last one is interesting, isn’t it? When a series makes a choice that is unpopular, writers and the like might use a new popular canon to pave over the old unpopular one. Now, here we start to slip into the reasons for canon issues that I don’t quite accept: A conscious choice to alter or ignore canon.
You often see articles online of directors, producers and other executives telling writers and actors to ‘ignore what has been established as we’re going for a fresh new direction’. Obviously, I paraphrase, but it sums up what we come to read time and time again. And then there are writers and the like who couldn’t be bothered thinking about canon and just want to write what they want to write. It’s a move I see as selfish and fuelled by egos that think what they have to say is more important than what’s been established in a fictional universe.
Remember when I mentioned perception when talking about the ‘canon of real-life’? Often, we’ll see writers claim an event was told by an unreliable narrator, was a dream or reveal some contrived hidden layer we weren’t shown as a viewer or reader is suddenly important. Sure, sometimes this is clever storytelling and I wouldn’t claim that breaks canon if it’s simply building on it. But sometimes, it’s just to bend the past story to the writer’s will for the sake of a new story that could probably have gotten to where it needed to go without breaking canon.
How I personally treat canon
Hollywood and the greater media industry is a complex business I won’t pretend to fully understand. However, as a creative and a fan of a wide array of series (whether they be film, TV or video game), I think canon is an important factor when it comes to being sucked into a story or universe. Whenever a glaring canon error pops up, it completely takes me out of the story. When it’s clear that the error could’ve been easily avoided, resentment towards that particular series entry builds inside me.
I know this isn’t true for everyone. A lot of viewers out there aren’t paying enough attention to notice canon errors left, right and centre. These people are just in it for the entertainment and will drink up whatever they can get. This is likely who the directors, producers, executives and writers who don’t care are targeting with their content.
I think it’s unfortunate we don’t elevate canon to a higher importance in storytelling. Building a fictional universe is hard work. Doing it right is harder, but far sweeter. A cohesive and connected story is far more engaging and enjoyable in my opinion. That’s why I personally make such an effort to ensure canon consistency.
For each writing project, whether it be Nash or Highton Heroes, I have an information booklet and documentation following the main characters lives. I regularly review old drafts or past entries to ensure I’m remembering all the little details and aren’t creating any contradictions. I think this should be a bare minimum. It’s hard maintaining these documents solo with no support, but I do it because it’s critical to holding my story universes together, and it’s saved me many times.
If I, someone who writes on the side to all the other life things (family, work, etc.) can take the time to ensure canon for my writing that may never be read by all that many people, then surely full-time writers building these expansive series and cinematic universes could do it too.
I know a lot of people will come back at my argument and say ‘It’s just fiction, who cares?’. Well, I care. Many others care. Great stories are more than just entertainment. They teach us lessons. They pick us up when we’re down. They fill us with joy and give us a sense of excitement, two feelings that seem to be in short supply these days.
For all writers out there, whether you be novelists, screenwriters or just a small cog in the production machine, please treat canon with more care. I know there are a lot of moving parts and perfection isn’t always possible. But please, if nothing else, make an effort to maintain canon. Yes, it can be hard and yes it can limit your writing options, but a coherent and connected story is better than an epic moment that makes no sense. By not caring about canon and ignoring it, you’re not caring about the series you’re writing for.
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Thanks for reading my opinion piece on canon and how important I think it is to good storytelling. It was hard to pull this post together as the more I dug into the topic, the more information I found. Canon is a much more complex concept than even I had imaged, and I feel I’ve barely scratched the surface of it in this opinion piece.
If there are any points you think I’ve missed or if you have you have your own thoughts about canon, please leave a comment below. I’m always keen to chat about this stuff.
Next blog? My second inspiration post for the year.
Til next time,
Dean
Space & Lasers 