Canon vs. Fanon II: Canon! Draco and Sexy! Draco
Fiction Alley is turning out to be a problem. It IS a good source for information about Potterverse character, which is the reason I went there in the first place. But I'm running into difficulty with the mods.
Part of the problem is that when I post, I say what I have to say. Sometimes that makes for very short posts, sometimes for very long ones. The mods on Fiction Alley do not like one-line posts. I, personally, do not feel that I or anyone else should have to bloat a post unhealthily when the only thing I have to say is, "I second the motion. A challenge would be a good idea." If I wanted to say anything else, I would.
This particular idiocy is annoying me. But it's not nearly as bad as the problem caused by Draco Malfoy.
Draco is practically a god at Fiction Alley. I skip over as much fangirl fussing as I can, but I end up tripping over it anyway. He is shipped with EVERYONE, though the board's atmosphere is overwhelmingly Harry/Draco (with a vocal minority holding out for Draco/Hermione and a much smaller minority favoring Draco/Ron). People keep saying that Draco is sweet, or tragic, or abused, or redeemable. Above all, they say that Draco is sexy.
I'll go with the idea that Draco could be redeemed--I'll accept that concept for practically every character. But sweet? Tragic? Abused? SEXY??? I just don't get it.
Well, I posted the above on the board, expressing my shock that anyone could think of Draco as sexy and asking for explanations of why others found him so. The mod sent me a private message reprimanding me for a one-liner (it was three sentences and two paragraphs, neither of which adds up to one line in MY book) and informing me that in the future I should not ask snarky questions. I explained to her that I was asking a serious question and was not being snarky in the least. I then posted this:
Canon! Draco is proud, arrogant, bullying, toadying, bigoted, cruel, caustic, mean, cowardly, ambitious, and likely to use his family's money and influence to get him what he wants. As a writer, I find him to be a fascinating character.
What I do NOT find him is sexy.
Draco leaves me absolutely cold. All of the student characters from Rowling do. Part of that probably stems from having seen them since they were eleven years old. Second, Draco is only fifteen. I'm nearly three times that age. To me, Draco is a little boy. And thirdly, of course, is the issue of Draco's sterling character.
I have never, in all of canon, seen Draco do anything good, kind, compassionate or loving. He is not really designed to be a lovable character.
Nor have I ever seen Draco behaving in a sexual way--not in any of the books. The most he has ever done is take Pansy Parkinson to the Yule Ball. If he has any sex drive at all, Rowling isn't writing about it.
He's a good but not great Quidditch Seeker. He seems to do well in Potions, but his grades elsewhere are not especially good. His clothes are those of any other student. He isn't described as being handsome or charming or flirtatious.
I'm trying to figure out the appeal of Draco Malfoy. It's not working.
Perhaps there is some facet of his character that I'm missing. I honestly do not know.
So...and please note, all, that this is a totally serious statement and completely devoid of snark...if any of you can please explain to me what is sexy about Draco, I would appreciate it very much.
I look forward to hearing what you have to say.
I got this in response:
Well, I'd offer up my fic, but it's very very incompleted and does has OCs. And I start out with my interpretation of canon Draco, who is fundamentally a person I rather sympathise with, and not unpleasant the way you see him.
Well, that's fair. I do see Draco as an unpleasant character. Interesting to write about, but not in the least someone I'd like to know. He reminds me rather too much of a couple of psychopaths I went to school with. I don't see anything to pity him for either, which rather eliminates sympathy. Draco is the way he is because he chooses to be.
You know? I'm older than Tom Felton and my impulse is to pinch his cheeks, not molest him (not sexually, at any rate) but I think he got it right. Draco is all about posturing and being theatrical and concerned with his own ego. That's the appeal I find. He's so impulsive. He has such a great need to feel important. He's so extroverted. He notices things about people that Harry never does. He shows feeling for his parents that seems like one of the most genuine displays of affection in the books.
I don't think we are reading the same books. Draco isn't impulsive, except where Harry and Hermione are concerned. Both of them just seem to make Draco fly off the handle--Harry, because he is the opponent of the Dark Lord and Hermione because she is a mudblood who is willing and able to stand up to him. He's quite capable of planning out long campaigns of vengeance against students and faculty alike--and has, on numerous occasions.
And of course Draco has a great need to feel important. Everyone does. Draco is a bit of a bully. I never heard of a bully who needed to feel unimportant. I can't think of any genuine expressions of filial affection on Draco's part, either. He seems to look up to his father, and is openly upset when Lucius is put in Azkaban, but honestly, wouldn't most people be upset to have a relative put in prison? For the most part, Draco's emotions are well-contained.
I have to say here, that I don't think it's valid to make any statements on fanon!Draco because he's a collection of tropes and ideas that vary from fanfic to fanfic. DT!Draco is really just one of those Dracos. One could say that fanon!Draco is generally on good terms with the Trio but there's plenty of stories were he isn't, or where he's just!plain!Evil!
Really, what's the point of liking fanon!Draco or hating fanon!Draco? Jess has the point. There are also unpleasant canon Dracos. Slytherin Rising's Draco is unpleasant and spoilt, yet I don't feel that he's any more rooted in canon than the Draco in Underwater Light; in fact, he's less so in some senses.
She seems to be saying that an unpleasant canonical Draco can be LESS rooted in canon than a semi-canonical or uncanonical Draco.
I don't understand this paragraph at all.
You don't have canon!Draco and then fanon!Draco. You have interpretations and then you have interpretations.
And this is the point at which Fiction Alley and I part ways, because to me, the canon is what happened. Saying that the canon is just interpretation, no better or worse than fanon, leads to all of the fangirl fics in which there are demon elves in Middle-Earth, Harry Potter is related to the Weasleys, the Blacks, the Riddles, the Longbottoms and Albus Dumbledore, Legolas is pregnant with Aragorn's baby, Voldemort is sweet and loving and penitent--all of which is accompanied by the words, "It's FICTION! I can do anything I want!"
I think that canon has to be followed and respected. To me it's clear that you CAN do anything in fanfic, but you SHOULD NOT. You have to respect the creator's world.
Fanon seems to have become a catchall term for a particular interpretation of Draco - or, in some cases, a downright negative word denoting OOCness. In the end, a work of fanfiction works or it doesn't.
I think fan fiction works better if the story fits seamlessly and believably into canon. But that's just me.
Did you notice that--in all that--she didn't answer my question? I asked why people felt that Canon! Draco was sexy. She never bothered to answer. She probably didn't bother because to her it was a meaningless question, like asking how ice catches on fire. And her second paragraph dealt with Tom Felton--the actor who PLAYS Draco in the movies, not the Draco from the books.
Which is, of course, an answer in itself. It's not the Draco from the books they like. It's Tom Felton. And they want Tom to be sympathetic. Misunderstood. Redeemable. A bad guy who sees the light and goes over to Harry's side. They want him to have suffered at the hands of his father. They want him to be a good person forced to do evil against his will. Handsome, strong, powerful, irresistibly sexy.
And I think this is where I came in.
Part of the problem is that when I post, I say what I have to say. Sometimes that makes for very short posts, sometimes for very long ones. The mods on Fiction Alley do not like one-line posts. I, personally, do not feel that I or anyone else should have to bloat a post unhealthily when the only thing I have to say is, "I second the motion. A challenge would be a good idea." If I wanted to say anything else, I would.
This particular idiocy is annoying me. But it's not nearly as bad as the problem caused by Draco Malfoy.
Draco is practically a god at Fiction Alley. I skip over as much fangirl fussing as I can, but I end up tripping over it anyway. He is shipped with EVERYONE, though the board's atmosphere is overwhelmingly Harry/Draco (with a vocal minority holding out for Draco/Hermione and a much smaller minority favoring Draco/Ron). People keep saying that Draco is sweet, or tragic, or abused, or redeemable. Above all, they say that Draco is sexy.
I'll go with the idea that Draco could be redeemed--I'll accept that concept for practically every character. But sweet? Tragic? Abused? SEXY??? I just don't get it.
Well, I posted the above on the board, expressing my shock that anyone could think of Draco as sexy and asking for explanations of why others found him so. The mod sent me a private message reprimanding me for a one-liner (it was three sentences and two paragraphs, neither of which adds up to one line in MY book) and informing me that in the future I should not ask snarky questions. I explained to her that I was asking a serious question and was not being snarky in the least. I then posted this:
Canon! Draco is proud, arrogant, bullying, toadying, bigoted, cruel, caustic, mean, cowardly, ambitious, and likely to use his family's money and influence to get him what he wants. As a writer, I find him to be a fascinating character.
What I do NOT find him is sexy.
Draco leaves me absolutely cold. All of the student characters from Rowling do. Part of that probably stems from having seen them since they were eleven years old. Second, Draco is only fifteen. I'm nearly three times that age. To me, Draco is a little boy. And thirdly, of course, is the issue of Draco's sterling character.
I have never, in all of canon, seen Draco do anything good, kind, compassionate or loving. He is not really designed to be a lovable character.
Nor have I ever seen Draco behaving in a sexual way--not in any of the books. The most he has ever done is take Pansy Parkinson to the Yule Ball. If he has any sex drive at all, Rowling isn't writing about it.
He's a good but not great Quidditch Seeker. He seems to do well in Potions, but his grades elsewhere are not especially good. His clothes are those of any other student. He isn't described as being handsome or charming or flirtatious.
I'm trying to figure out the appeal of Draco Malfoy. It's not working.
Perhaps there is some facet of his character that I'm missing. I honestly do not know.
So...and please note, all, that this is a totally serious statement and completely devoid of snark...if any of you can please explain to me what is sexy about Draco, I would appreciate it very much.
I look forward to hearing what you have to say.
I got this in response:
Well, I'd offer up my fic, but it's very very incompleted and does has OCs. And I start out with my interpretation of canon Draco, who is fundamentally a person I rather sympathise with, and not unpleasant the way you see him.
Well, that's fair. I do see Draco as an unpleasant character. Interesting to write about, but not in the least someone I'd like to know. He reminds me rather too much of a couple of psychopaths I went to school with. I don't see anything to pity him for either, which rather eliminates sympathy. Draco is the way he is because he chooses to be.
You know? I'm older than Tom Felton and my impulse is to pinch his cheeks, not molest him (not sexually, at any rate) but I think he got it right. Draco is all about posturing and being theatrical and concerned with his own ego. That's the appeal I find. He's so impulsive. He has such a great need to feel important. He's so extroverted. He notices things about people that Harry never does. He shows feeling for his parents that seems like one of the most genuine displays of affection in the books.
I don't think we are reading the same books. Draco isn't impulsive, except where Harry and Hermione are concerned. Both of them just seem to make Draco fly off the handle--Harry, because he is the opponent of the Dark Lord and Hermione because she is a mudblood who is willing and able to stand up to him. He's quite capable of planning out long campaigns of vengeance against students and faculty alike--and has, on numerous occasions.
And of course Draco has a great need to feel important. Everyone does. Draco is a bit of a bully. I never heard of a bully who needed to feel unimportant. I can't think of any genuine expressions of filial affection on Draco's part, either. He seems to look up to his father, and is openly upset when Lucius is put in Azkaban, but honestly, wouldn't most people be upset to have a relative put in prison? For the most part, Draco's emotions are well-contained.
I have to say here, that I don't think it's valid to make any statements on fanon!Draco because he's a collection of tropes and ideas that vary from fanfic to fanfic. DT!Draco is really just one of those Dracos. One could say that fanon!Draco is generally on good terms with the Trio but there's plenty of stories were he isn't, or where he's just!plain!Evil!
Really, what's the point of liking fanon!Draco or hating fanon!Draco? Jess has the point. There are also unpleasant canon Dracos. Slytherin Rising's Draco is unpleasant and spoilt, yet I don't feel that he's any more rooted in canon than the Draco in Underwater Light; in fact, he's less so in some senses.
She seems to be saying that an unpleasant canonical Draco can be LESS rooted in canon than a semi-canonical or uncanonical Draco.
I don't understand this paragraph at all.
You don't have canon!Draco and then fanon!Draco. You have interpretations and then you have interpretations.
And this is the point at which Fiction Alley and I part ways, because to me, the canon is what happened. Saying that the canon is just interpretation, no better or worse than fanon, leads to all of the fangirl fics in which there are demon elves in Middle-Earth, Harry Potter is related to the Weasleys, the Blacks, the Riddles, the Longbottoms and Albus Dumbledore, Legolas is pregnant with Aragorn's baby, Voldemort is sweet and loving and penitent--all of which is accompanied by the words, "It's FICTION! I can do anything I want!"
I think that canon has to be followed and respected. To me it's clear that you CAN do anything in fanfic, but you SHOULD NOT. You have to respect the creator's world.
Fanon seems to have become a catchall term for a particular interpretation of Draco - or, in some cases, a downright negative word denoting OOCness. In the end, a work of fanfiction works or it doesn't.
I think fan fiction works better if the story fits seamlessly and believably into canon. But that's just me.
Did you notice that--in all that--she didn't answer my question? I asked why people felt that Canon! Draco was sexy. She never bothered to answer. She probably didn't bother because to her it was a meaningless question, like asking how ice catches on fire. And her second paragraph dealt with Tom Felton--the actor who PLAYS Draco in the movies, not the Draco from the books.
Which is, of course, an answer in itself. It's not the Draco from the books they like. It's Tom Felton. And they want Tom to be sympathetic. Misunderstood. Redeemable. A bad guy who sees the light and goes over to Harry's side. They want him to have suffered at the hands of his father. They want him to be a good person forced to do evil against his will. Handsome, strong, powerful, irresistibly sexy.
And I think this is where I came in.