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Establishing the creativity
- On story:
Other than the setting (which is only mapping, since it uses a canonized setting, namely Japan),
most of the fanfic on the level of story can be considered exploring. It does not directly relate to the
original artefact. For example, the characters are an exploration of how OC's fit in with canonized
actants such as Jack Frost or the 'Agi'-spell. On this level, the story does something new but at the
same time relies heavily on canonized elements.
- On text:
Text is mapping knowledge. There is no part that even remotely resembles exploring, let alone
transforming. On this level the story is completely in line with the original artefact.
- On narrative:
While I consider narration mapping as it is in line with the artefact, the imagination is really
exploring knowledge: something new (the slice-of-life elements) is mixed with something familiar
(the appearance of demons and the demon tamer, as well as the use of magic) on this level of the
story.
- The overall contribution to the established archive:
The story is largely an extension, but it also establishes on certain levels. In all, the fanfic really
treads middle ground, and so it both extends existing entries and establishes new entries to the
archive. From this it follows, that the story as a whole explores knowledge, and its creative level is
medium.
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Final notes on the analysis and Boden's model and my overarching judgement on creativity
It is important to note that while I analysed the fanfics I did not use Boden's model to provide the
final say in what is considered creative within the stories and what is not. It has been a strong
guiding force during the analysis, and the theory underlying the model is the basis on which
concluding arguments are built. However, blindly following Boden's model didn't work. I evaluate
the model in chapter 6, where I will point at certain flaws, the most important one being Boden's
focus on the 'novel' as the ultimate determinant of creativity. While there is a reason for why Boden
goes with novelty as the most important factor deciding whether something is creative (something
'new' often seems more creative than already known information), it does pose a problem for this
study, since fan fiction is never 100 percent novel, thanks to its archontic nature.
I remedied this problem by acknowledging the flaws in Boden's model and using my own
knowledge about the artefact and my own interpretation of the story in conjunction with the parts of
Boden's model that are usable throughout all analyses that I have done. To give an example: in the
above analysis I point out that the story is partially slice-of-life. Going by Boden's model this would
mean that it is not creative at all. After all, daily life-situations can hardly be considered novel.
Here, I used my own knowledge about the artefact, by stating that within the realm of the artefact,
this is a novel situation. Then, this story is to be considered creative to a certain extent (as
mentioned in the analysis) since it breaks out of the confines imposed upon the story by the original
artefact. In other words: where Boden's model clearly fails to recognize this source of creativity, I
use my personal knowledge about the artefact to correct this. This issue is further elaborated on in
chapter 6, but it is important to note early on that I do not follow Boden's model blindly in the
analyses.
I am aware that parts of my analyses consist of interpretative judgements . For example, in
the sample analysis in chapter 4.4 while talking about the role of Zeke in the section on focalisation,
I mention his obliviousness. In itself, there is nothing wrong with presenting a character as
oblivious. However, this must be seen in connection with the overall story and the amount of
creativity with which the story contributes to the archive by either establishing a new archive, or
extending an existing one. If the focalisation, characterisation etc., or other overarching formal
elements (story, text, narration) contribute in a creative way (for example, by presenting non-
canonical elements), it is taken into account in the final judgement. Returning to the mention of
Zeke's obliviousness, this element also contributes to the story. However, in my analysis I present it
as a negativism. This element hurts other elements by contributing in a negative way (in this case,
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