Post by Kieran on Jul 3, 2011 17:12:14 GMT 2
I've never really written a reviewing article on this matter about those books. So here I go. This topic has been debated ALOT lately in the online fandom so I thought I'd gather the most crucial facts from the midst of the confusing debates and try to address them through common sense point of view.
1. The Six New Adventures were released among many other books that contradict the SNA books.
----> So why should the SNA be any more canon/semi-canon than one of the other books?
2. The Six New Adventures were not written by those people who created the canon film.
----> And the first book in the series is its author's original story. His official personal web site says so. Apparently Disney hired bunch of childrens' books authors to make up stories. So how could the books be canon/semi-canon when the stories are not from the canon's creators' iimagination?
3. The canon film's creators called the cub at the end "Fluffy" and made no gender reference. This happened AFTER a boy/Kopa was visioned and released in the books.
----> So how could Kopa be canon/semi-canon when the canon's creators have never said he is - while giving the cub at the end a unisex name? How could a boy cub be canon/semi-canon when the canon's greators never said it is but left it genderless? How could Kiara replace a boy/Kopa when the only other character mentioned in the movie universe into which Kiara was created, was a genderless Fluffy?
4. The Six New Adventures were never released outside USA and were never re-printed.
----> How could they be canon/semi-canon when the company that holds all the power over them, doesn't make sure that they'll be known worldwide like the film is and doesn't even bother to re-print them? To me that speaks of a merchandise testing, which when not succeeded as hoped it might, was never tried for again.
5. Official in general the books are - no one can deny that.
----> But some of their fans choose to ignore or twist the other facts mentioned above and are happy to claim that they must be officially canon/semi-canon just because they're official.
But wait, that can't be! Because The Walt Disney Company has tons of official books and comics for this fandom and those comics contradict each other or the canon film, and those books contradict each other. Thus, it's impossible for official to equal official canon/semi-canon.
Because of the contradictions, a fan is forced to pick and choose from the comic and book contents, if wishing to make a storyline. And when you have to pick and choose, the thing becomes your personal preference which of course is not REALLY what happened/is in the movies, it's not official. Instead it becomes in other words: your personal fanfiction.
5.1. Some acknowledge that Kopa is not official canon/semi-canon but still believe that the rest of the books' contents are. (Like Ahadi and Uru to be really Mufasa and Scar's parents, Scar's name to be Taka, and his scar a result of a bufaalo attack.) Perhaps it would be interesting to consider the fact that as those characters and events origin from Kopa's storybooks and also are part of Kopa's family history, they got denied along with Kopa. As Kopa doesn't exist in the movie, anything from his life can't exist either. Believing otherwise falls into the category of picking and choosing personal preferences which is fanfiction.
Like the theory "Zira killed Kopa/Kopa disappeared/ran away" getting claimed and widely accepted as official and as "what really happened" - is in fact and in all honesty nothing more but unofficial fanfiction. Not only because all the facts say that Kopa never existed in the movies and obviously Zira never existed in Kopa's books...but also because nothing like that ever happened in any official footage.
Simba's Pride's makers have officially confirmed that in their story the cub from the first film is Kiara. In this official interview they say "It starts off where the first film left us with a twist - you think it's a king but it's a queen!" And remark also that he says that we THINK it's a boy, not that it actually was in the film itself. But the point is, one of the animators have confirmed that in their story Kiara IS the cub at the end of the first film.
FOR THE LAST: I don't hate Kopa. He's just there, so how could I hate him as a character. And I don't hate Kopa fans. I'm sure they're all very nice and smart people. They just lack showing it in the Kopa matters - so I only hate the way they pass their personal beliefs off as facts and sometimes take their belief to a religious level.
1. The Six New Adventures were released among many other books that contradict the SNA books.
----> So why should the SNA be any more canon/semi-canon than one of the other books?
2. The Six New Adventures were not written by those people who created the canon film.
----> And the first book in the series is its author's original story. His official personal web site says so. Apparently Disney hired bunch of childrens' books authors to make up stories. So how could the books be canon/semi-canon when the stories are not from the canon's creators' iimagination?
3. The canon film's creators called the cub at the end "Fluffy" and made no gender reference. This happened AFTER a boy/Kopa was visioned and released in the books.
----> So how could Kopa be canon/semi-canon when the canon's creators have never said he is - while giving the cub at the end a unisex name? How could a boy cub be canon/semi-canon when the canon's greators never said it is but left it genderless? How could Kiara replace a boy/Kopa when the only other character mentioned in the movie universe into which Kiara was created, was a genderless Fluffy?
4. The Six New Adventures were never released outside USA and were never re-printed.
----> How could they be canon/semi-canon when the company that holds all the power over them, doesn't make sure that they'll be known worldwide like the film is and doesn't even bother to re-print them? To me that speaks of a merchandise testing, which when not succeeded as hoped it might, was never tried for again.
5. Official in general the books are - no one can deny that.
----> But some of their fans choose to ignore or twist the other facts mentioned above and are happy to claim that they must be officially canon/semi-canon just because they're official.
But wait, that can't be! Because The Walt Disney Company has tons of official books and comics for this fandom and those comics contradict each other or the canon film, and those books contradict each other. Thus, it's impossible for official to equal official canon/semi-canon.
Because of the contradictions, a fan is forced to pick and choose from the comic and book contents, if wishing to make a storyline. And when you have to pick and choose, the thing becomes your personal preference which of course is not REALLY what happened/is in the movies, it's not official. Instead it becomes in other words: your personal fanfiction.
5.1. Some acknowledge that Kopa is not official canon/semi-canon but still believe that the rest of the books' contents are. (Like Ahadi and Uru to be really Mufasa and Scar's parents, Scar's name to be Taka, and his scar a result of a bufaalo attack.) Perhaps it would be interesting to consider the fact that as those characters and events origin from Kopa's storybooks and also are part of Kopa's family history, they got denied along with Kopa. As Kopa doesn't exist in the movie, anything from his life can't exist either. Believing otherwise falls into the category of picking and choosing personal preferences which is fanfiction.
Like the theory "Zira killed Kopa/Kopa disappeared/ran away" getting claimed and widely accepted as official and as "what really happened" - is in fact and in all honesty nothing more but unofficial fanfiction. Not only because all the facts say that Kopa never existed in the movies and obviously Zira never existed in Kopa's books...but also because nothing like that ever happened in any official footage.
Simba's Pride's makers have officially confirmed that in their story the cub from the first film is Kiara. In this official interview they say "It starts off where the first film left us with a twist - you think it's a king but it's a queen!" And remark also that he says that we THINK it's a boy, not that it actually was in the film itself. But the point is, one of the animators have confirmed that in their story Kiara IS the cub at the end of the first film.
FOR THE LAST: I don't hate Kopa. He's just there, so how could I hate him as a character. And I don't hate Kopa fans. I'm sure they're all very nice and smart people. They just lack showing it in the Kopa matters - so I only hate the way they pass their personal beliefs off as facts and sometimes take their belief to a religious level.