Fictional universe

Fictional universe

A fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with unique background elements such as an imaginary history or geography, and possibly fantasy or science fiction concepts like magic or faster than light travel. A fictional universe may also be called a fictional realm, imaginary realm, fictional world, imaginary world or imaginary universe. Most fictional universes are based indirectly on our own universe, like the familiar "with a twist" world depicted in the popular Harry Potter series.

It is difficult to determine what constitutes a fictional universe, but whether it is contained in a single work, or consists of a succession of works — as frequently happens in fantasy or science fiction series — the universe is self-consistent and follows an established set of rules. Its history and geography are well-defined, and even languages may be constructed. When subsequent works are written within the same universe, care must be taken to ensure that established rules of the canon are not violated.

cope

Sir Thomas More's "Utopia" is one of the earliest examples of a cohesive imaginary world with its own rules and functional concepts, but it comprises only one small island. Later fictional universes, like Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Cimmerian" stories, are global in scope, and some, like "Star Wars", "Honorverse", or the Lensman series, are galactic or even intergalactic. A fictional universe may even concern itself with more than one interconnected universe through theoretically viable devices such as "parallel worlds" or universes, and a series of interconnected universes is called a multiverse. Such multiverses have been featured prominently in science fiction since at least the mid-20th century, notably in the classic "" episode, "Mirror, Mirror", which introduced the mirror universe in which the crew of the Starship "Enterprise" were brutal, rather than civilized, and in the mid-1980s comic book series, "Crisis on Infinite Earths", in which countless parallel universes were destroyed. "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", when considered as all 5 books together, flits back and forth between different universes, or perhaps it is more accurate to say, flits through different timelines and different dimensions involving different states of existence for the characters and for the earth itself.

Format

A fictional universe can be contained in a single work, as in George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" or Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World", but nowadays is more common in serialized, series-based, open-ended or round robin-style fiction.

In most small-scale fictional universes, general properties and timeline events fit into a consistently organized continuity. However, in the case of universes or universes that are rewritten or revised by different writers, editors or producers, this continuity may be violated, by accident or by design—film productions are notorious for altering fictional canon of written series.

The occasional publishing use of retroactive continuity (retcon) often occurs due to this kind of revision or oversight. Members of fandom often create a kind of fanmade canon (fanon) to patch up such errors; "fanon" that becomes generally accepted sometimes becomes actual canon. Other fanmade additions to a universe (fan fiction, pastiche, parody) are usually not considered canonical unless they get authorized.

Collaboration

Fictional universes are sometimes shared by multiple authors, with each author's works in that universe being granted approximately equal canonical status. Some, like the Ring of Fire series actively court canonical stimulus from fans, but gate and control the changes through a formalized process and the final say of the editor and universe creator. [Cite GG03 |Ch=Afterword|pp=pp.311-313|q=The print published and e-published Grantville Gazettes all contain a post book Afterword detailing where and how to submit a manuscript to the fictional canon oversight process for the 1632 series.]

Other universes are created by one or several authors but are intended to be used non-canonically by others, such as the fictional settings for games, particularly role-playing games and video games. Settings for the role-playing game "Dungeons & Dragons" are called campaign settings; other games have also incorporated this term on occasion. Virtual worlds are fictional worlds in which online computer games, notably MMORPGs and MUDs, take place. A fictional crossover occurs when two or more fictional characters, series or universes cross over with one another, usually in the context of a character created by one author or owned by one company meeting a character created or owned by another. In the case where two fictional universes covering entire "actual" universes cross over, physical travel from one universe to another may actually occur in the course of the story. Such crossovers are usually, but not always, considered non-canonical by their creators or by those in charge of the properties involved.

Real world settings as fictional universes

At some level, every work of fiction exists in a fictional universe of its own, regardless of whether or not the events described are said to take place in the "real" world. A book set in the United States, for example, may refer to events in American history that never took place or to contemporary American presidents who never existed, thus splitting the fictional work off slightly from established reality. However, this seldom becomes an issue unless sequels or fictional crossovers take place, where care must be taken to remain true to the timeline and history established within the primary work. The subsequent works can thus be said to exist within the same "fictional universe" as the original. Early examples of this include Thomas Hardy's Wessex, the semi-fictional county in which he set all of his novels, and Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories.

An example of this from television is the "Tommy Westphall universe", when the final episode of the medical drama "St. Elsewhere" revealed that the entire series had in fact taken place within the mind of an autistic child named Tommy Westphall. This in turn meant that the series "", which featured many shared characters with "St Elsewhere", must also have taken place within his mind, as had the series "Law & Order" and its subsequent spinoffs, since they had crossed over with "Homicide". This "universe" in fact has been extended to hundreds of other interconnected shows, as diverse as "Newhart" and "Star Trek", to the point that, according to series creator Tom Fontana, "something like 90 percent of all television took place in Tommy Westphall's mind." [cite news | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2951086.stm | title = TV's strangest endings | last = Gallagher | first = William | publisher = BBC News | date = 2003-05-30 | accessdate = 2006-07-20 ] Other, less extreme examples of this include the drama "ER", which takes place in the same fictional universe as the TV series "Third Watch", and the sitcoms "Friends", "Seinfeld" and "Mad About You", which all take place within the same fictionalised New York City ["ER" and "Third Watch" crossed over in the episode " [http://www.geocities.com/erthewebsite/er_thirdwatch_crossover.htm Unleashed] "; Ursula Buffay, the sister of "Friends" character Phoebe Buffay, has appeared in several episodes of "Mad About You"; "Seinfeld" character Kramer cameoed in [http://poobala.com/madandseinfeld.html an episode] of "Mad About You" as the tenant of Paul Buchman's old apartment.]

ee also

* List of fictional universes - list of fictional universes by genre
* Continuity (fiction)
* Setting (fiction)
* Diegesis
* Alternate history
* Constructed world
* Fantasy world
* Fictional location
* Fictional country
* Index of fictional places
* Future history
* Imaginary world
* Mythical place
* Parallel universe
* Planets in science fiction
* Simulated reality
* Virtual reality

References

* Alberto Manguel & Gianni Guadalupi: "The Dictionary of Imaginary Places", New York : Harcourt Brace, c2000. ISBN 0-15-100541-9
* Brian Stableford: "The Dictionary of Science Fiction Places", New York : Wonderland Press, c1999. ISBN 0-684-84958-5
* Diana Wynne Jones: "The Tough Guide to Fantasyland", New York : Firebird, 2006. ISBN 0-14-240722-4, Explains and parodies the common features of a standard fantasy world
* George Ochoa and Jeffery Osier: "Writer's Guide to Creating A Science Fiction Universe", Cincinnati, Ohio : Writer's Digest Books, c1993. ISBN 0-89879-536-2
* Michael Page and Robert Ingpen : "Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were: Creatures, Places, and People", 1987. ISBN 0-14-010008-3

External links

* [http://users.tkk.fi/~vesanto/link.networld/ Worlds in the Net]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Fictional universe of Avatar — In the 2009 science fiction film Avatar, director James Cameron conceived a fictional universe in which humans seek to mine unobtanium on the fictional exoplanetary moon, Pandora. The Earth like moon is inhabited by a sapient indigenous humanoid… …   Wikipedia

  • Fictional crossover — A fictional crossover (short: crossover) is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright… …   Wikipedia

  • Universe of City of Heroes — In the fictional universe of City of Heroes, the Freedom Phalanx, led by The Statesman, protects Paragon City from Arachnos, led by Lord Recluse. Contents 1 Freedom Phalanx 1.1 The Statesman 1.1.1 Publication history …   Wikipedia

  • Universe of The Legend of Zelda — Hylia redirects here. For the bird species with Hylia in their names, see Tit hylia and Green Hylia. The fictional universe depicted in The Legend of Zelda series of video games consists of a variety of lands, the most commonly appearing of these …   Wikipedia

  • Universe (disambiguation) — The Universe is everything that physically exists.Universe might also refer to:*Universe (mathematics), a class large enough to contain all sets one may wish to use *Universal set, a set which contains all objects, including itself *Universe… …   Wikipedia

  • Fictional brands — A fictional brand is a non existing brand used in artistic or entertainment productions mdash; paintings, books, comics, movies, TV serials, etc.. The fictional brand may be designed to imitate a real corporate brand, satirize a real corporate… …   Wikipedia

  • Universe of Kingdom Hearts — The Kingdom Hearts video game series, developed by Square Enix in collaboration with Disney, takes place in an unnamed fictional universe with numerous self contained worlds based on intellectual properties from both companies. Many of these… …   Wikipedia

  • Fictional locations in the Godzilla films — Like most fictional universes, the world of the Godzilla films has been enriched by fictional locales ranging from small Pacific Islands to galactically distant nebulae. The following is a list of fictional Earth locations depicted in films of… …   Wikipedia

  • Fictional language — Fictional languages are by far the largest group of artistic languages. Fictional languages are intended to be the languages of a fictional world, and are often designed with the intent of giving more depth and an appearance of plausibility to… …   Wikipedia

  • Fictional military aircraft — are imagined aircraft which are used in fiction, in its various media, but do not exist in the real world. These aircraft may be conjectured variants of real world aircraft or they may be completely fabricated by the author. Contents 1 Fictional… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”