Fanon Discontinuity: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

{{quote|'''Comic Book Guy:''' That was an imaginary story dreamed up by [[Superman|Jimmy Olsen after Supergirl's horse Comet]] kicked him in the head. It never really happened.<br />

'''Bart Simpson:''' Hey, none of this stuff ever'' really ''happened.<br />

 

[[Fanon Discontinuity]] is the act of fans mentally writing out certain events in a show's continuity which don't sit well, no matter if it's a single episode, [[Dork Age|a season-length arc]], an entire season or even an entire ''series''. If a plot or [[Snicket Warning Label|ending]] rubs one the wrong way severely enough, fandom can just decide that the offending events never happened. On the series level, events may fall under Discontinuity because the show is perceived to [[Dork Age|suck at that point]] or [[Jump the Shark|decline too far in quality]]. Events also get "discontinued" for particularly screwing up the characters or setting, and a show that starts to suck will end up screwing things up eventually anyway.

In effect, [[Fanon Discontinuity]] is the opposite of [[Fanon]] (and not unrelated, either: a great amount of [[Fanon Discontinuity]] has resulted from violations of fanon). While extremely negative audience reactions may lead to an offending storyline being [[Author's Saving Throw|officially removed from canon]] in response, [[Fanon Discontinuity]] specifically refers to when ''fans'' disregard a storyline ''regardless'' of the creators' opinion on it.

 

 

It should be noted that this can be justified in cases of [[Running the Asylum]], as it's clear the people in charge are largely trying to impose their own [[Fanon]].