AMPAS Strikes Out Against Fan Fiction

Why don't they just say "We would guess that the MPAA would rate this film as R, but what do we know we're just fans."

How could that be illegal?!?!

Reply

That's.. ridiculous.

What's more important, telling people if the content's suitable for younger readers or trademarks?

Reply

This is just silly. Having the ratings is shorthand for a way of letting people know the content of the story. If a story is rated an R or an NC-17, they know not to let their kids read it, or know there will be objectionalble content for themselves if they are in search of something more "pure."

If Rowling doesn't complain about people using her characters for fics, why should the ratings-board complain about people using the ratings as a tool?

Reply

I think this is absurd. That ratings system is universally recognized and how can using letters like "PG" or "R" be infringing on their rights. Also, how does a FILM ASSOCIATION of any legal ground on online fiction. To me, someone is just me because they aren't making any money.

:-)
Casey

Reply

You've got to be kidding, right?

I'd like to say first of all that if a child is reading something that is 'inappropriate', he/she didn't just 'stumble' upon it. They read it with full knowledge that the rating wasn't appropriate for them to read.

On sites like fanfiction.org, if one wants to read 'adult' material, they are routed to a screen that specifically asks if the reader is over 17. They then must lie to access said material.

Secondly, if the rating system is changed, you will literally have children stumbling on inappropriate material since they wont understand any new rating. As a parent that monitors what my child reads, it will also be very cumbersome.

Thirdly, I'd like to point out that this problem is not solely based in Harry Potter. There are fanfiction stories written about many TV shows, books, movies, and even anime.

Reply

This is a bunch of crap. I have a message for AMPAS, who cares?! They're a bunch of letters. Get busy on rating movies and don't worry about online fan fiction. It just proves you have too much time on your hands.

Reply

I cannot believe that there is even a debate about this!! Yes, we are all looking for ways of buying time until Half-Blood Prince comes out, and what better way than fanfic. But come on, banning the rating system!! Harry Potter has such a diverse fan base and when that happens you have a lot of creative minds at work. So, YES you will have adults writing about these characters in situations, that's only to be expected. But if they don't want us using a rating system and there are kids looking up fanfic, how are you to deter them from reading some material. Say we use the grading system, who really knows what that is going to stand for, but if you use PG or R, you will know what is acceptable.

All I have to say is GET OVER IT!!!! It's a universal way of knowing what kind of material is to be expected. If you don't want us using it, FINE, but don't come crying back in a few months when kids are reading NC-17 material and say there should have been a rating system. Because you are only asking for it then. May as well say there is a copyright infringement for using the word "happy." We all know what it means, but some big corporation will soon claim the rights for "happy."

I agree with everyone else, this is completely riddiculus and a waste of your time!!!!!!

Reply

So in other words AMPAS wants the rating gone so that kids can stumble on potter porm even easier? The whole point to the system is that kids see the rating and not click it.

Reply

lol. Wands! Hysterical.

Reply

Its big enough of a problem already that a lot of the people in the world are illiterate, let's not add to it by belittling the small chances they do get to accessing literature, be that if it is harry potter, pokemon, spongebob, or even sex in the city by nitpicking on the ratings of these creations. All in all AMPAS, i rate this whole situation as a D; D for dumbass.

Reply

This is stupid, the only reason the rating system is used is because everyone recognizes it!!! And if a kid is reading NC17 or even R, clearly rated as such, they're doing it because they want to read it and no one is supervising their browsing and stopping them obviously.

If you have to make up a whole new system, it's a guarentee people who don't want to read certain subjects (including children) will stumble into them by accident.

Reply

I didn't know the alphabet was copywritted.
I guess the ratings board better look out, what if M&M's candy discovers the Academy was using 'M' for mature? Proctor & Gamble might get mad about the use of 'PG', as that is how they are named in the stock market. I'd say they have the rights as they have been in use over 100 years. Don't be Mean to kids Academy, maybe they will stop buying your products.

Reply

What a lunatic! My freaking god, he doesn't give a crap about children possibly stumbling upon inappropirate material once his precious ratings system is removed from fan fictions. It's all about the money. What an absolute moron.

Reply

Is this some kind of joke? The first question I ask is why attack Harry Potter fan fiction authors?
Fan fiction has been going on for quite some time and if these people bothered to open thier eyes and look they would find it extends to most books, films, tv shows etc.
The ratings system, I understood, was for our (the public's) use, I didn't realize that it was property of the film industry.
Does this mean that recording artists with explicit content in thier music will be sued for giving warnings? Or game makers will have to remove warnings from 'shoot-em-up' style games?
Let sleeping dogs lie, as far as I'm concerned. At least authors are showing responsibilty and duty of care to young people of the world.
And if you'd even read Harry Potter fan fiction, you would discover there are definately more uses for a broomstick, rather than a wand.

Reply

As a reader and new writer of fan fiction I really think this is ridiculus. As a mom who has a daughter that likes to read fan fiction the system that is in use by most fan fiction writers make it easier for parent like me to monitor what my daughter is reading. Also this system is universal we all understand it. I think that the MPAA should be more concerned about people pirating movies than how fan fiction writers are labeling their fiction.

I'm also in aggreement that it is just not Harry Potter. Movies, TV shows and other books have fan fiction writers.

Reply

Idiots, like they're going to loose money or integrity over it.

Reply

That's insane. Is that why fanfiction.net changed it's rating system?? It doesn't use P,PG,PG-13, ect. anymore. But things like, K, K+, T, M, ect. It's crazy. But that is just ridiculous. Without a rating system, kids can find that stuff even easier! A rating system makes sense. A kid sees that it's rated R and doesn't read it if they don't want to read about adult(or not) situations. And has anyone read a fic about a wand being used like that?... I want to see if there is one... :) Stupid people....

Reply

This is yet another attack on fans, fanfiction and its writers. Harry Potter is targeted as it is the biggest and most active of the fangroups on the net at the moment. Fanfiction has been going on for DECADES - way back before the first K/S (Kirk/Spock) stories and they were called K/S because the rating system didn't exist then and the fans were trying to be responsible and protect young readers from reading something they weren't ready for yet.

This guy is interested in money and also in trying to shut down fanfiction because a) If they could charge for it they'd be making more money than they could dream about; and b) because the Powers That Be want to shut fans down because they're not getting any Money out of it. Look at the parody laws - they really can't legally shut us down (otherwise Weird Al Yankovic & the Barry Trotter author would have been sued every which way for Sunday) unless the authors themselves get attornies involved and then if anyone wanted to fight it they could. It might be long and expensive but we the Fans do have a legal leg to stand on.

Ignore this idiot - or better yet let him keep his "ball" and let's make up our own ratings system. Hollywood is only interested in Money. Morals don't enter into it unless they want to look good. It's Money, people. Always has been and always will be.

Reply

I can't believe someone might actually think that. Honestly! Harry Potter is ANYTHING but "pure" or whatever you called it. It has contents like death and child abandoning. Indeed, that might be considered not-for-children, but they are things that happen in real life and JKR's work in portraying that in a way that even children can understand it and therefore be prepared is an admirable thing. Harry POtter IS NOT only for children. Maybe at the beginning it was (and not even so), but just take a look at the last two books to get an idea of what I'm talking about.

The series has created such a great world of fans that it has inspired many to actually write and not-- say, watch TV all day. Of course many fans will want to have some more of their HP in the meantime between the books. There will definitely be as many ideas as writers so obviously some "more experienced" (adults and young adults) writers will write based on what they know. Meaning, there WILL be some adult content.

Now, we all know that there are younger readers for HP, AND for HP fanfiction. And although I am COMPLETELY against the banning of ANYTHING (That should be up to each's parents, not other organizations that claim to know what's best), I can fully understand where that comes from, so how ONE EARTH would you prevent the children from reading things that are not suitable for them if you don't let us writers rate our work? It is just nonsense. And to add to the comment of fictionalley.org, in portkey.og (another HP FF supporting page), they also put a previous warning when the author has rated a piece R or up.

Reply

Sory AMPAS, but its most definetly better off with the ratings. Some of the fan fiction is written by adults, so they may most definetly need a rating so that all the kids can play it safe when they're browsing the archives.

Reply