Special Episode 16: Tropefest: Canon-Divergent AU

 
 
a road diverges in a wood

In the second special episode in the “Tropefest” series, Flourish and Elizabeth dig into Elizabeth’s favorite type of fic, the canon-divergent AU. They discuss mirror universes, post-colonial literature, the relationship between plot and character, and the specific ways that canon-divergent fics are intertextually entwined with the source material.

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Show Notes

[00:00:00] As always, our intro music is “Awel” by stefsax, used under a CC BY 3.0 license. This time, it’s also our interstitial music.

[00:01:35] We’ve done one other Tropefest episode so far, Special Episode #15, “Tropefest: Trapped Together.

[00:05:03]

Jack Rackham, looking dashing

[00:08:42] “Stealing Harry” by Copperbadge.

[00:13:52] The Dark!Charles fic that Elizabeth was only able to read once is “Us” by Pangea. Please heed the tags! Including “choose not to warn.” 

[00:19:28] Flourish cannot bear to show you a picture of Jaime and Brienne being sad, so here is a gif of them (well, the actors) being happy.

Jaime and Brienne, looking happy

[00:37:11

Donna Noble says “Brilliant!”

[00:42:45] The novel Flourish is referring to is The Crown of Dalemark by Diana Wynne Jones.

[00:44:02] This American Life, “Gardens of Branching Paths.”

[00:56:19] The Game of Thrones showrunners famously told an audience at the Austin Film Festival that the show was like “expensive film school.” An audience member live-tweeted the comments, and the response was as you might expect.