musings on fandom and sex and values
So, I got bit by a plot bunny that involves sex, of all things. I've said in the past that I can't write smut worth a damn and I believe that's still true, though in the interest of following this bunny down the hole, I've found myself writing just that. In the middle of the scene, I stop writing because it just doesn't feel right. The scene itself if decent, if a bit first-draft rough. The characters are, I think, holding true to themselves as extrapolated from canon and into this scenario. No, what doesn't feel right is them having sex.
It just doesn't seem right to have two characters from HP, even as adults, seeking out and having, let alone enjoying pre-marital sex.
I feel like I've imposed my own lax morals onto HP characters.
This is one of those times where I really understand that the Harry Potter series are *children's books*. No matter how well you liked HBP, the romance in it was juvenile, geared to a young audience and not an adult one. And it doesn't take a psychic to see that no matter what does happen in Deathly Hallows, we most assuredly will not see a steamy sex scene play out.
So, where's the line? What exactly is acceptable or not in this world in terms of sex and morality? Unfortunately, being children's books, there's noting we can see overtly that shapes this answer. But there seem to be hints and the few we have can go either way.
For example, there's no set canon date for Molly and Arthur's marriage. We know they eloped during Vold War I, but was Bill a seventh-month baby?
Lily and James married young, which from the little we've seen of adult life in canon, seems unusual. Did they get married, in part, just so they could satisfy their sexual curiosity?
Remus and Tonks are together, but the most we've seen them do is hold hands. Sixteen and seventeen year olds in a coed boarding school for most the year and all we've seen are some kisses. Students outnumber instructors and staff by what, 10 to 1? Is that really as far any student goes? Does anyone else think that this may be just a wee bit improbable?
There's no clear answer and the sheer volume of PWPs and romances and ships and everything else says that this should have an answer, or several. Is the morality of the Potterverse the same as our own, or close enough to leave it be? Or is that just how we choose to see it because it makes sense for us? Or something else entirely?
Let me know what you think. In the meantime, I'm going to swallow my worries and see about getting my characters into bed.
It just doesn't seem right to have two characters from HP, even as adults, seeking out and having, let alone enjoying pre-marital sex.
I feel like I've imposed my own lax morals onto HP characters.
This is one of those times where I really understand that the Harry Potter series are *children's books*. No matter how well you liked HBP, the romance in it was juvenile, geared to a young audience and not an adult one. And it doesn't take a psychic to see that no matter what does happen in Deathly Hallows, we most assuredly will not see a steamy sex scene play out.
So, where's the line? What exactly is acceptable or not in this world in terms of sex and morality? Unfortunately, being children's books, there's noting we can see overtly that shapes this answer. But there seem to be hints and the few we have can go either way.
For example, there's no set canon date for Molly and Arthur's marriage. We know they eloped during Vold War I, but was Bill a seventh-month baby?
Lily and James married young, which from the little we've seen of adult life in canon, seems unusual. Did they get married, in part, just so they could satisfy their sexual curiosity?
Remus and Tonks are together, but the most we've seen them do is hold hands. Sixteen and seventeen year olds in a coed boarding school for most the year and all we've seen are some kisses. Students outnumber instructors and staff by what, 10 to 1? Is that really as far any student goes? Does anyone else think that this may be just a wee bit improbable?
There's no clear answer and the sheer volume of PWPs and romances and ships and everything else says that this should have an answer, or several. Is the morality of the Potterverse the same as our own, or close enough to leave it be? Or is that just how we choose to see it because it makes sense for us? Or something else entirely?
Let me know what you think. In the meantime, I'm going to swallow my worries and see about getting my characters into bed.