I still don't have any proper Potter icons, either.
I'm gonna babble about my thoughts following a conversation with Magpie. Feel free to ignore.
“I have no patience for Sirius’ bullshit,” I told Maggie Monday afternoon, and, before I had even gotten the whole statement out, we had both stepped up to our usual podiums (podia?) armed with “PTSD!” and “emotional blackmail!”
But now I’m back to my original statement, just looking at it without any of my explanation or evidence, and wondering WHY I have no patience for Sirius’ bullshit when I have no problem putting up with Spike’s, or Captain Jack’s, or Bruce’s*, or, in the Potterverse, Snape’s? Why have I put so much more thought into where Draco is, emotionally, in Part Two than where Harry is? Why do I have less trouble forgiving not-very-nice characters than the ones who are unequivocally fighting for a just cause?
Let’s look at Snape and Sirius, because they present the easiest (and most germane) dichotomy. Both of these characters suffer from essentially the same problems: debilitating guilt over something they did that led to the deaths of Harry’s parents, and the inability to see Harry as a unique individual rather than James (and Lily) Mark II. Basically, they are both perpetually 15. Neither of them is capable of having a healthy relationship with Harry, the main differences in their interactions with him being that Snape has more direct power over Harry’s life where Harry pins all of his emotional well-being on Sirius and looks to him as a role model, and Snape preemptively punishes Harry for reminding him of James (just, y’know, due to the fact that he exists) where Sirius emotionally punishes Harry when he doesn’t act like his father. I honestly don’t know which is more damaging, being as I’ve never been in either situation, but I kind of suspect it’s Sirius’ methods, since Harry puts actual stock in his opinions.
Regardless of who has done more to screw Harry up, from an outsider’s perspective, I really should care more about present-day** Sirius than present-day Severus, since Sirius did more to overcome his own prejudices and the prejudices he was raised with, was far less culpable in the murders he tortures himself over, has been fighting the good fight from the beginning and NOT just because he’s still hung up on a girl who wasn’t romantically interested in him a quarter of a century ago***, and doesn’t intentionally bully Harry. Sirius was unquestionably the bigger asshat when they were in school, but Severus has that title, now.
Why, then? WHY does Sirius piss me off so much more?
I am automatically more invested in redemption stories than other sorts of character arcs****, but both of them play out that trope. The difference, though is, that Snape fights every step of the way, even after his death, to have his redemption acknowledged, whereas OHs accept Sirius into their deepest confidences the second Pettigrew has been revealed. What draws me to the redemption story is the struggles - internal AND external - and we get none of that with Sirius after “Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs.” If we HAD gotten to see his struggles with PTSD and coming to terms with what he and James did to Severus and is doing to Harry, I would be more forgiving. OMG, thought - if he had lived to hear “The Prince’s Tale” and then we saw him deal with that revelation… Holy shit, he would be my favourite. Except, actually, no, if Lupin had lived to hear it, too, he would still be my favourite because UGH, he would have a much more woobie-ish reaction, but Sirius would be right there behind him. But, no, he dies before he has that opportunity to win me to his side. He doesn’t deal with anything because he doesn’t get a chance.
Come to think, it actually wasn’t until about halfway through OotP that I lost patience with him. Before then, I pretty much waffled back and forth between Lupin and Sirius as my favourite Marauder. And it wasn’t their behaviour as kids that cemented my opinion.
So, I guess what it comes down to for me is not so much what the characters do as how they are received by other characters. In this case, everything is run through the Harry Filter for us, so Sirius is presented as a panacea for all adolescent orphan troubles and Severus is the source of a sizeable portion of said. Only Molly seems to think that Sirius is anything less than The Shit, and only Dumbledore seems to think Severus is anything more than shit, so it’s no surprise which one of them I take up for.
* I wrote this at work, and I have no idea now what character I was referring to. Bruce? Who the hell is Bruce?
ETA: Holy hand grenades, Bruce is Batman. DUH. I am a moron.
** Where “present-day” is OotP.
*** GAWD, Snape is such a creep.
****Uh, except maybe stories of awkward nerds who get to come into their own while still being allowed to be awkward nerds. See Neville, Lupin, Ron, and Hermione.
Pray I don't spend all day tomorrow turning the discussion of Flopsy and the Old Snatch over and over, or I'll probably be back with an even more discursive and maddening pondering.
(URG, why do stories make me think so much?! Stop it, literature. Just stop it. Let me be satisfied being an incurious data monkey with no moral compunctions about everyday life.)
“I have no patience for Sirius’ bullshit,” I told Maggie Monday afternoon, and, before I had even gotten the whole statement out, we had both stepped up to our usual podiums (podia?) armed with “PTSD!” and “emotional blackmail!”
But now I’m back to my original statement, just looking at it without any of my explanation or evidence, and wondering WHY I have no patience for Sirius’ bullshit when I have no problem putting up with Spike’s, or Captain Jack’s, or Bruce’s*, or, in the Potterverse, Snape’s? Why have I put so much more thought into where Draco is, emotionally, in Part Two than where Harry is? Why do I have less trouble forgiving not-very-nice characters than the ones who are unequivocally fighting for a just cause?
Let’s look at Snape and Sirius, because they present the easiest (and most germane) dichotomy. Both of these characters suffer from essentially the same problems: debilitating guilt over something they did that led to the deaths of Harry’s parents, and the inability to see Harry as a unique individual rather than James (and Lily) Mark II. Basically, they are both perpetually 15. Neither of them is capable of having a healthy relationship with Harry, the main differences in their interactions with him being that Snape has more direct power over Harry’s life where Harry pins all of his emotional well-being on Sirius and looks to him as a role model, and Snape preemptively punishes Harry for reminding him of James (just, y’know, due to the fact that he exists) where Sirius emotionally punishes Harry when he doesn’t act like his father. I honestly don’t know which is more damaging, being as I’ve never been in either situation, but I kind of suspect it’s Sirius’ methods, since Harry puts actual stock in his opinions.
Regardless of who has done more to screw Harry up, from an outsider’s perspective, I really should care more about present-day** Sirius than present-day Severus, since Sirius did more to overcome his own prejudices and the prejudices he was raised with, was far less culpable in the murders he tortures himself over, has been fighting the good fight from the beginning and NOT just because he’s still hung up on a girl who wasn’t romantically interested in him a quarter of a century ago***, and doesn’t intentionally bully Harry. Sirius was unquestionably the bigger asshat when they were in school, but Severus has that title, now.
Why, then? WHY does Sirius piss me off so much more?
I am automatically more invested in redemption stories than other sorts of character arcs****, but both of them play out that trope. The difference, though is, that Snape fights every step of the way, even after his death, to have his redemption acknowledged, whereas OHs accept Sirius into their deepest confidences the second Pettigrew has been revealed. What draws me to the redemption story is the struggles - internal AND external - and we get none of that with Sirius after “Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs.” If we HAD gotten to see his struggles with PTSD and coming to terms with what he and James did to Severus and is doing to Harry, I would be more forgiving. OMG, thought - if he had lived to hear “The Prince’s Tale” and then we saw him deal with that revelation… Holy shit, he would be my favourite. Except, actually, no, if Lupin had lived to hear it, too, he would still be my favourite because UGH, he would have a much more woobie-ish reaction, but Sirius would be right there behind him. But, no, he dies before he has that opportunity to win me to his side. He doesn’t deal with anything because he doesn’t get a chance.
Come to think, it actually wasn’t until about halfway through OotP that I lost patience with him. Before then, I pretty much waffled back and forth between Lupin and Sirius as my favourite Marauder. And it wasn’t their behaviour as kids that cemented my opinion.
So, I guess what it comes down to for me is not so much what the characters do as how they are received by other characters. In this case, everything is run through the Harry Filter for us, so Sirius is presented as a panacea for all adolescent orphan troubles and Severus is the source of a sizeable portion of said. Only Molly seems to think that Sirius is anything less than The Shit, and only Dumbledore seems to think Severus is anything more than shit, so it’s no surprise which one of them I take up for.
* I wrote this at work, and I have no idea now what character I was referring to. Bruce? Who the hell is Bruce?
ETA: Holy hand grenades, Bruce is Batman. DUH. I am a moron.
** Where “present-day” is OotP.
*** GAWD, Snape is such a creep.
****Uh, except maybe stories of awkward nerds who get to come into their own while still being allowed to be awkward nerds. See Neville, Lupin, Ron, and Hermione.
Pray I don't spend all day tomorrow turning the discussion of Flopsy and the Old Snatch over and over, or I'll probably be back with an even more discursive and maddening pondering.
(URG, why do stories make me think so much?! Stop it, literature. Just stop it. Let me be satisfied being an incurious data monkey with no moral compunctions about everyday life.)