Insights on Snape/Hermione
I've recently seen a couple of scathing comments about Snape/Hermione as a ship, so I thought I'd offer my viewpoint on why I -a female with pretty conservative views and tastes- sail on this ship. So ardently, in fact, that it is pretty much level with my OTP, R/Hr. It's my OTP in Alternative Universe.
Some of the anti-things I've seen most frequently about SS/HG:
1. It's pedophilia and it's sick!/Snape is too old for her!
2. Snape is UGLY, yuck!
3. Snape is a bad person, even JKR keeps saying so!
1. Merriam-Webster's defines pedophilia as "sexual perversion in which children are the preferred sexual object". It means adults who take pleasure in engaging children in sexual acts.
Pedophilia is a crime, and no person in their right mind would ever condone that. It's important to realise that for the majority of SS/HG shippers, this ship is only acceptable when Hermione is of age (varying from country to country, usually between the ages 18 and 21). Personally, I'm very strict about that, as I know many of my fellow SS/HG shippers are, too. Obviously, there are always people who ship underage characters, but that happens with pretty much every pairing. There are plenty of good SS/HG of-age fics around, so it's a matter of choice. It is definitely interesting, though, that for some reason, ships with people of the same age are often perceived as "normal" romances that have both a physical and a psychological side, but any ship that has an age gap between the pair is all about sex and lust.
Nope.
I dare say that for most SS/HG shippers, this ship is first and foremost an INTELLECTUAL affair. Yes, there is passion and a physical side, but the biggest thing is the intellectual match. It's the reason why for example I sail on this ship. I feel that Snape is one of the rare people in canon who can actually match Hermione's intelligence. Also, I believe Snape is one of the rare people who can challenge Hermione. Hermione in canon is a know-it-all who has the tendency to boss (or, try to) Harry and Ron around with her mind and knowledge. But here we have someone who can tell her, "Think again, Granger". Someone who can teach Hermione something. The fascination is in the mind games these two can play, in the debates they can have, in the research they can conduct together. It's a mind affair.
2. Snape, as seen in canon, is certainly not described as a handsome man. However, it's important to remember that we get Harry's point of view -and Harry hates Snape. It is completely plausible to believe that we'd get a different view if we had seen Snape through, say, Hermione's eyes -as she never seemed to hate him.
However, there is no denying that Snape is no Orlando Bloom, but then again, not everyone wants or likes Orlando Bloom. People have many different tastes, and while one person finds Orli absolutely hunkalicious, another one will drool after Marilyn Manson. Not to mention children often see the world and other people in quite a black-and-white light, both regarding their personality and their looks. I can still remember a couple of teachers and other adults who I thought were hideous when I was a child -yet now I see them as quite attractive people.
3. There is no doubt that Snape can be and has often been highly unpleasant. However, most SS/HG shippers and Snape fans refuse to accept a black-and-white image in a book series that isn't intended for toddlers. Because humans are not black-and-white but rather grey, I want to look at book characters that way, too. I believe there is always more under the surface than what we see. When Snape snarks, I don't think, "Oh my, what a nasty person", but rather, "Why did he snark? What prompted it?". Before DH, Snape was a hotly debated topic, and in DH we did indeed see that there was a whole wide web of background that we didn't know about. For example, we finally found out why Snape seemed to hate Harry so much: not because he was "just nasty", but because he was forced to daily see a boy who reminded him of his great love who deserted him and entwined herself with his greatest enemy. He saw his beloved one's eyes in the body of his enemy every day.
Obviously, we can always say, "He should have grown up and got over it", but again, reality strikes. Yes, that would be commendable, but it doesn't always happen even in real life. It's that shades-of-grey thing again. And that is an excellent base for SS/HG. Snape didn't really have anyone to help him along and support him -even Dumbledore used him- but Hermione could be that person.
As for JKR's comments about Snape: there is no doubt that she has a very clear and sometimes black-and-white idea of each character, but with all due respect, once a book leaves the hands of the author, people are going to make it their own. We who want to see Snape as a flawed human being instead of a black-and-white villain saw a lonely, bullied boy from a dysfunctional home, and it broke our hearts and made us fall in love. If JKR intended to make Snape "cruel", "vindictive", and "an anti-hero", then she should have written him so, instead of giving us a man who lived nearly ten years protecting the son of his greatest enemy and his love who deserted him. She could have described him as the blackest villain with not many redeeming qualities, but instead she wrote a history for him, a history that shows a bullied, nerdy loner and a love story that touched many people -probably one of the most loved love stories in the book now. With that in mind, I now turn my head away when JKR speaks of Snape because I don't recognise him in her words. My Snape is well and alive on the pages of the books.
These were a few observations about Snape/Hermione, and it goes without saying that not every Snape/Hermione shipper will agree on all the points. However, I think it's safe to say that this ship is a ship of intellectual and psychological aspects, and that's what attracts many of us to it. We see a connection of minds and eventually, souls:-)
Some of the anti-things I've seen most frequently about SS/HG:
1. It's pedophilia and it's sick!/Snape is too old for her!
2. Snape is UGLY, yuck!
3. Snape is a bad person, even JKR keeps saying so!
1. Merriam-Webster's defines pedophilia as "sexual perversion in which children are the preferred sexual object". It means adults who take pleasure in engaging children in sexual acts.
Pedophilia is a crime, and no person in their right mind would ever condone that. It's important to realise that for the majority of SS/HG shippers, this ship is only acceptable when Hermione is of age (varying from country to country, usually between the ages 18 and 21). Personally, I'm very strict about that, as I know many of my fellow SS/HG shippers are, too. Obviously, there are always people who ship underage characters, but that happens with pretty much every pairing. There are plenty of good SS/HG of-age fics around, so it's a matter of choice. It is definitely interesting, though, that for some reason, ships with people of the same age are often perceived as "normal" romances that have both a physical and a psychological side, but any ship that has an age gap between the pair is all about sex and lust.
Nope.
I dare say that for most SS/HG shippers, this ship is first and foremost an INTELLECTUAL affair. Yes, there is passion and a physical side, but the biggest thing is the intellectual match. It's the reason why for example I sail on this ship. I feel that Snape is one of the rare people in canon who can actually match Hermione's intelligence. Also, I believe Snape is one of the rare people who can challenge Hermione. Hermione in canon is a know-it-all who has the tendency to boss (or, try to) Harry and Ron around with her mind and knowledge. But here we have someone who can tell her, "Think again, Granger". Someone who can teach Hermione something. The fascination is in the mind games these two can play, in the debates they can have, in the research they can conduct together. It's a mind affair.
2. Snape, as seen in canon, is certainly not described as a handsome man. However, it's important to remember that we get Harry's point of view -and Harry hates Snape. It is completely plausible to believe that we'd get a different view if we had seen Snape through, say, Hermione's eyes -as she never seemed to hate him.
However, there is no denying that Snape is no Orlando Bloom, but then again, not everyone wants or likes Orlando Bloom. People have many different tastes, and while one person finds Orli absolutely hunkalicious, another one will drool after Marilyn Manson. Not to mention children often see the world and other people in quite a black-and-white light, both regarding their personality and their looks. I can still remember a couple of teachers and other adults who I thought were hideous when I was a child -yet now I see them as quite attractive people.
3. There is no doubt that Snape can be and has often been highly unpleasant. However, most SS/HG shippers and Snape fans refuse to accept a black-and-white image in a book series that isn't intended for toddlers. Because humans are not black-and-white but rather grey, I want to look at book characters that way, too. I believe there is always more under the surface than what we see. When Snape snarks, I don't think, "Oh my, what a nasty person", but rather, "Why did he snark? What prompted it?". Before DH, Snape was a hotly debated topic, and in DH we did indeed see that there was a whole wide web of background that we didn't know about. For example, we finally found out why Snape seemed to hate Harry so much: not because he was "just nasty", but because he was forced to daily see a boy who reminded him of his great love who deserted him and entwined herself with his greatest enemy. He saw his beloved one's eyes in the body of his enemy every day.
Obviously, we can always say, "He should have grown up and got over it", but again, reality strikes. Yes, that would be commendable, but it doesn't always happen even in real life. It's that shades-of-grey thing again. And that is an excellent base for SS/HG. Snape didn't really have anyone to help him along and support him -even Dumbledore used him- but Hermione could be that person.
As for JKR's comments about Snape: there is no doubt that she has a very clear and sometimes black-and-white idea of each character, but with all due respect, once a book leaves the hands of the author, people are going to make it their own. We who want to see Snape as a flawed human being instead of a black-and-white villain saw a lonely, bullied boy from a dysfunctional home, and it broke our hearts and made us fall in love. If JKR intended to make Snape "cruel", "vindictive", and "an anti-hero", then she should have written him so, instead of giving us a man who lived nearly ten years protecting the son of his greatest enemy and his love who deserted him. She could have described him as the blackest villain with not many redeeming qualities, but instead she wrote a history for him, a history that shows a bullied, nerdy loner and a love story that touched many people -probably one of the most loved love stories in the book now. With that in mind, I now turn my head away when JKR speaks of Snape because I don't recognise him in her words. My Snape is well and alive on the pages of the books.
These were a few observations about Snape/Hermione, and it goes without saying that not every Snape/Hermione shipper will agree on all the points. However, I think it's safe to say that this ship is a ship of intellectual and psychological aspects, and that's what attracts many of us to it. We see a connection of minds and eventually, souls:-)