Painful reminder that we're not all born writers
Hi guys,
I'm researching for the Orientalism and Popular Culture seminar I'm currently teaching in Bonn and yesterday stumpled upon the most abysmal piece of writing I probably ever came across in all my life - German Bollywood fan fiction.
Probably there are similar ventures in English, too, but this is so bad, it hurts :) The plot is this: the fan fiction project originated from a German Bollywood forum and people contribute to one story by submitting little passages of text to the emerging story over the forum.
Click here for the contents page. (German only, sorry)
Since it's a forum, each contribution is only a few lines long so there is no continuity of perspective, style and plot whatsoever :) It's only called Shah Rukh Khan fan fiction part I-III (what else could you say if you don't know what the story is going to be about...).
Here's a rough translation of the very first passage; I'll try to capture the naivete and complete lack of atmosphere of the German original as best I can :)
It is a wonderful day, the sun is shining and you are sitting in a plane to India. You are very nervous already since it's your first independent holiday trip in a foreign country. Nobody can stop you now. The last months had been a pain for you but now you can lean back and relax to enjoy the flight into paradise. You remember the things you went through: your boyfriend had betrayed you with your best friend and lied to you all the time. All knew it except you. When you finally found out and saw them together in public, you went nuts, packed your things and left. You took all the money you saved to realize the big dream you always had, a 6-week-trip to India with high hopes for excitement and adventure.
Whoah... now it's the next non-writer's turn to pick up this dazzling narrative overture and continue the story...
DOn't get me wrong, I thing the project itself is extremely interesting and telling. You never know the gender of the respective authors, they call themselves by names like Sanjoo1551, TandooriChicken and Aishwarya but might be male after all. I think it's a glance straight at the heart of the Bollycraze in Germany.
And it lifts your spirits when you're feeling down, letting you know that there are people who are far worse off than yourself :) ...
Let me know if you find something like that in English (or India?), too, please!
All the best from Bonn,
Stefan


1 Comments:
Hahaha, I love this. :-)
(And... greetings from a very hectic Bombay)
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