I’m writing this post to address the conception people have with the word “theory” and “fanfiction” that recently came up in the Nakamate vol. 5 thread. The point I’m making is that there is no difference between that two as it relates to this message board and the subject it’s being applied to, that is, the One Piece manga. If you look at the definition of the word theory, and I’m not going to pick one out since which one is used will depend largely on what’s being said and how the word is being used.
Whatever theory is raised will still be related to a body of knowledge, a subject if you will. In this case, it’s One Piece, a work of fiction. Even if the word theory is used appropriately in its strictest sense, it still applies to a made-up series of events, One Piece. The word “theory” can never escape beyond it’s subject which is fiction. This means that a theory on this board is a kind of fanfiction. And I think we all have a general idea, which is good enough, of what fanfiction is.
The problem I see in the Nakamate thread is that “fanfiction” seems to have this derogatory connotation in this community. The word “theory” and “fanfiction” mean the same thing when it’s used in this forum, and I blame this somewhat on thread titles such “Theories that Don’t Deserve Their Own Thread” and “Dumb Predictions”. I haven’t addressed prediction yet but it’s being used in the same way as theory and fanfiction, and I won’t get into the dry details of their relationship as that’s outside the scope of this post.
Take for example:
Incorrect -
That is good. –-> That is theory.
That is bad. ----> That is fanfiction.
It should be:
That is good fanfiction
That is bad fanfiction
or
That is a good theory
That is a bad theory
Now, why is this? I’m pretty sure it stems from us trying to make what we are doing here more than it is. We are using our imaginations in relation to a work of fiction that we love for enjoyment. Nothing more intellectual than that, and it doesn’t need to be more. The manga is about someone and his friends trying to reach their dreams, and that is good enough. And if you think about it, that is more than good enough.