Remember when The Blair Witch Project came out? Many fans of the film (who didn't quite understand that the whole thing was made up) descended on the town in Maryland where the movie was set and filmed in and bemused most of the townspeople.

I think Roslyn (the NE town) did, too.

They did, and we still had people coming up and demanding to go to Cicely.

I own a T-Shirt from the Brick. But going to a location is different than going to a place because it was named in a book, because real folks (the actors) were really there.

Although I know there is a HUGE fandom which goes to Prince Edward Island on "Anne of Green Gables" tours. Many of them from Japan, I hear.

Although I know there is a HUGE fandom which goes to Prince Edward Island on "Anne of Green Gables" tours. Many of them from Japan, I hear.

Tourism is a major industry for the Island, so they totally milk Anne for all it's worth.

That in itself sounds like a Maurice project...remember the one with the Japanese couples and the N. Lights?

I also think there is a difference between going into a coffee shop and ordering their cherry pie, and asking to buy the clothes off the back of a stranger. (The stranger being a teenage girl adds to the Craxy, but pretty insane even if the person approached was an adult.)

Yes, wrod.

Although I know there is a HUGE fandom which goes to Prince Edward Island on "Anne of Green Gables" tours. Many of them from Japan, I hear.

Similarly Haworth is TOTALLY Brontedelic, and High Withins (the place upon which Wuthering Heights is based) has flocks upon flocks of tourists prowling around. Many many many of them Japanese. But that's not quite the same thing.

I also think there is a difference between going into a coffee shop and ordering their cherry pie, and asking to buy the clothes off the back of a stranger.

God, yes. Geeking out to one's own heart's content is one thing; imposing one's fannishness on innocent bystanders in a scary & intrusive fashion, otoh...not so much with the cool.

Interesting interview with Annie Proulx [link]

She goes rantful on the fanfic writers, especially the ones who send her their stuff. (God, I can't even begin to imagine...)

WSJ: What effect did the success of "Brokeback Mountain" have on your writing life, if any?

Ms. Proulx: "Brokeback Mountain" has had little effect on my writing life, but is the source of constant irritation in my private life. There are countless people out there who think the story is open range to explore their fantasies and to correct what they see as an unbearably disappointing story. They constantly send ghastly manuscripts and pornish rewrites of the story to me, expecting me to reply with praise and applause for "fixing" the story. They certainly don't get the message that if you can't fix it you've got to stand it. Most of these "fix-it" tales have the character Ennis finding a husky boyfriend and living happily ever after, or discovering the character Jack is not really dead after all, or having the two men's children meet and marry, etc., etc. Nearly all of these remedial writers are men, and most of them begin, "I'm not gay but…." They do not understand the original story, they know nothing of copyright infringement—i.e., that the characters Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar are my intellectual property—and, beneath every mangled rewrite is the unspoken assumption that because they are men they can write this story better than a woman can. They have not a clue that the original "Brokeback Mountain" was part of a collection of stories about Wyoming exploring mores and myths. The general impression I get is that they are bouncing off the film, not the story. There's more, but that is enough, ok?

I have to agree with Smart Bitch Sarah, who said that "because I'm a man, I can write it better" assumption seemed like a pretty big one to make. She's an interesting writer, but a bit off-putting in this interview. On the one hand, I can relate to the fact that she doesn't want to be labeled a certain type of writer, but thing is, she kind of is a certain type of writer.