lpetrich
21 Jun 2009, 03:18 AM
"Retcon" is short for retroactive continuity, and it is a common literary technique for resolving gaps and discrepancies in serial fictional works, like novels, comic books, movies, TV shows, computer games, etc. Though it is often their fans that produce retcons for them, their creators may also do so.
There are three main types of retcon:
Addition. Of features that clarify parts of the existing story world, usually without contradicting existing features. These may take the form of additional adventures that were only alluded to in the original works, like someone's novels about the Star Trek Eugenics Wars.
Modification. Some of the features get revised to make continuity possible. A character who dies in one work and returns in a following work my have their death explained as only a seeming death, something common enough in some genres to be called a comic book death. Thus, Sherlock Holmes and Mr. Spock had died comic-book deaths. Likewise, some works may be explained as dreams of some of the characters (Pam Ewing dreamed an entire season of Dallas!), an alternate universe, etc.
Subtraction. Disliked works are ignored or written out, and they effectively no longer exist. Perhaps the ultimate form of subtraction is the reboot, that is, wiping the slate clean.
Not surprisingly, many Star Trek fans have come up with numerous retcons, like Are There Really Any Contradictions in Star Trek? (http://www.fstdt.com/winace/st_contradictions_refuted.htm) And that is not even counting the retcons in the Star Trek productions themselves. At places like Nitpickers Central (http://www.nitcentral.com/) one can find many other retcons that various fans have created and discussed.
Now for some theological ones.
The two creation stories in Genesis are often retconned by supposing the second one to be what happened when humanity was created in the first one.
The Genesis snake's pre-crawling mode of motion and Cain's wife have been the subject of various retcons.
Jesus Christ's Matthew and Luke genealogies are retconned in either of two ways:
Only one of them is for Joseph; the other one is for Mary.
Both of them contain only some of the names of Jesus Christ's ancestors back to King David.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke make Jesus Christ's Temple temper tantrum late in his career as a religious leader, while John makes that temper tantrum early in his career. These occurrences are sometimes retconned by supposing them to be two temper tantrums, one early in JC's career, and one late in it.
The details of JC's resurrection appearances have been the subject of numerous retcon attempts. In fact, those details themselves may plausibly be interpreted as separately-invented retcons, derived from Paul's mentions of JC's resurrection and Mark's original ending with an empty tomb.
Jesus mythicists often argue that Paul had known little or nothing about JC's earthly life, and Jesus historicists often rebut that with the retcon that Paul did not go into those details because he expected his audience to know them.
Islam also has some interesting retcons.
Mohammed had many predecessor prophets who were proto-Muslims, but their teachings became corrupted by their followers.
Jesus Christ did not really die on that cross, but Allah lifted him up into heaven, and gave him the appearance of having died there (a Docetic belief; Koran 4:157-8)
To sum up, interpreting various theological arguments and apologetics as retcons makes them more understandable. More broadly, Greta Christina has blogged on Why Religion Is Like Fanfic (http://gretachristina.typepad.com/greta_christinas_weblog/2007/10/why-religion-is.html), though she does note some retcons.
There are three main types of retcon:
Addition. Of features that clarify parts of the existing story world, usually without contradicting existing features. These may take the form of additional adventures that were only alluded to in the original works, like someone's novels about the Star Trek Eugenics Wars.
Modification. Some of the features get revised to make continuity possible. A character who dies in one work and returns in a following work my have their death explained as only a seeming death, something common enough in some genres to be called a comic book death. Thus, Sherlock Holmes and Mr. Spock had died comic-book deaths. Likewise, some works may be explained as dreams of some of the characters (Pam Ewing dreamed an entire season of Dallas!), an alternate universe, etc.
Subtraction. Disliked works are ignored or written out, and they effectively no longer exist. Perhaps the ultimate form of subtraction is the reboot, that is, wiping the slate clean.
Not surprisingly, many Star Trek fans have come up with numerous retcons, like Are There Really Any Contradictions in Star Trek? (http://www.fstdt.com/winace/st_contradictions_refuted.htm) And that is not even counting the retcons in the Star Trek productions themselves. At places like Nitpickers Central (http://www.nitcentral.com/) one can find many other retcons that various fans have created and discussed.
Now for some theological ones.
The two creation stories in Genesis are often retconned by supposing the second one to be what happened when humanity was created in the first one.
The Genesis snake's pre-crawling mode of motion and Cain's wife have been the subject of various retcons.
Jesus Christ's Matthew and Luke genealogies are retconned in either of two ways:
Only one of them is for Joseph; the other one is for Mary.
Both of them contain only some of the names of Jesus Christ's ancestors back to King David.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke make Jesus Christ's Temple temper tantrum late in his career as a religious leader, while John makes that temper tantrum early in his career. These occurrences are sometimes retconned by supposing them to be two temper tantrums, one early in JC's career, and one late in it.
The details of JC's resurrection appearances have been the subject of numerous retcon attempts. In fact, those details themselves may plausibly be interpreted as separately-invented retcons, derived from Paul's mentions of JC's resurrection and Mark's original ending with an empty tomb.
Jesus mythicists often argue that Paul had known little or nothing about JC's earthly life, and Jesus historicists often rebut that with the retcon that Paul did not go into those details because he expected his audience to know them.
Islam also has some interesting retcons.
Mohammed had many predecessor prophets who were proto-Muslims, but their teachings became corrupted by their followers.
Jesus Christ did not really die on that cross, but Allah lifted him up into heaven, and gave him the appearance of having died there (a Docetic belief; Koran 4:157-8)
To sum up, interpreting various theological arguments and apologetics as retcons makes them more understandable. More broadly, Greta Christina has blogged on Why Religion Is Like Fanfic (http://gretachristina.typepad.com/greta_christinas_weblog/2007/10/why-religion-is.html), though she does note some retcons.