Have a question about how the TVTropes wiki works? No one knows this community better than the people in it, so ask away! Ask the Tropers is the page you come to when you have a question burning in your brain and the support pages didn't help.
It's not for everything, though. For a list of all the resources for your questions, click here. You can also go to this Directory thread
for ongoing cleanup projects.
I'll wait for someone more experienced to tag in and explain, but if you think the trope is in trouble, you could take it to the TRS.
"Grandmaster Combat, son!"
I think the page describes it pretty well. As the page says, the term is pre-existing in fan circles — and it's more a type of music than a trope, I'd say. The only thing I'd question about the page is whether it might be better as a Useful Notes.
I'd say Filk doesn't need to stick to a particular musical style (such as folk, despite the etymology), and the page seems to back me up on that.
I still believe the page needs help, as I had a lot of trouble figuring out what the term even meant. Perhaps it should be taken to TRS. Example cleanup might be neccessary, and the definition could be helped with, as it isn't clear enough to pass the "Can you describe this trope in a short, concise way".
Edited by AoeAbility You keep using the term "POV". I do not think it means what you think it means.
Ah, for the days of filk singing! Originally stemming from a typo for "folk singing" on a fan convention program, this term soon got applied to original songs related to science-fiction, fantasy, and media fandom.
In the early days, they were frequently funny songs set to familiar tunes. They could be very dirty takes on a popular sci-fi show, or full of inside jokes about big-name writers and fans.
Later, they expanded into any sort of music you wanted, and the lyrics could be dramatic instead of strictly comedic. I have witnessed a fan convention play with a great take on "The Rainbow Connection" from The Muppet Movie. And there is a Critical Role musical using tunes from Hamilton with new words.
To put it simply, a "filk song" is anything musical with a fannish slant. See this topic discussed on Fanlore for more information.
As I said, it is a bit unclear, and it might have to be taken to TRS for checking.
You keep using the term "POV". I do not think it means what you think it means.
I actually think the problem isn't that it's Fan Speak, but Fan Speak that isn't really used anymore. Fandoms still make songs and parodies based on the work they love, but they aren't often called "filk songs" like they once were (hence OP's confusion). It seems to largely be used by older folk who remember the pre-modern internet era of fandom, where everyone used fanzines and newsgroups.
Edited by harryhenry
^I had the same thought. I think the concept is one that's heavily evolved over time with the specific "filk" terminology being somewhat outdated.
I've experienced this myself: Up until the late 2000s/very early 2010s people used "image macros" to describe edited, captioned Memetic Mutation images. Since that was around the same time I really started getting online, that's the term that stuck in my head for the longest time. It wasn't until later when I realised "wait, no one uses this term anymore" because people just started calling those images "memes" instead.
Sometimes Fan Speak will keep the same concept, but have different terms used at the same time: "Watsonian versus Doylist" is still used, but it's also become "The Thermian Argument
" in some circles, which is slightly different but hits on the same idea, i.e. using In-Universe vs. Real Life justifications for fiction.
In any case, I agreed it should be added to Fan Speak.
Edited by harryhenry
This conversation is best held in the Trope Talk thread the OP made.
That page still baffles me. I know that this site used to have namespaces for fan music on various work pages, until they got removed for, I presume, justifiable reasons. However, I'm still not sure what the term "Filk Song" means in any context. Parts of the site (and the page in question) consider it to be a very specific niche that combines nerdy subjects with particular musical styles, others just use it as an umbrella term for fan music. The wiki cannot decide on that, and even I don't know if I'm explaining anything correctly.