Snape Fans on Cloud 9
As several of us here predicted last week, there are millions more Snape fans now than before Deathly Hallows opened worldwide. It's really awe-inspiring. I keep asking myself: "Is this my Fandom?" We've never felt as if we had the world on our side before, or even that the movie-makers had anything to say to us. Even people prepared to hate Deathly Hallows have been surprised by the gift WB has tossed at our feet like a bouquet of flowers.
David Yates the Director did an entire interview about Snape and all they wanted to know about was "Snape's prickly genius and killer glare" and he waxed poetic about Rickman's method acting. Is this really happening?
It's fascinating that from now on it's going to be the "norm" to see Snape as a loyal heroic man who loved someone so much he turned his whole life around. I haven't read a single review with the words "creepy" or "obsessive," nor is anyone embarrassed by Snape outpourings of emotion, which some fans like to deride as "being a woobie." No, just human emotion, and that's apparently okay with the rest of the world, because Snape's story above all is about being human.
My husband, who doesn't study the books as I do but who is an expert on being a Daddy, was interested in the fact that Harry didn't seem very connected to his father's spirit in the forest. He found it strange that Harry tried to touch his mother's hand, and spoke directly to Sirius, but barely glanced at James. That leads me to an amusing side story floating around fandom as many people are leaving theaters wondering asking whether Snape is actually supposed to be Harry's father. *GASP* In spite of the fact that JKR said long ago that James is definitely Harry's father, the moviemakers somehow managed to make James even more irrelevant than he all ready was.
For instance, this reviewer for the Chicago Daily Herald:
The flashback we've all been waiting for is a gorgeous, wistful sequence in the middle of the film, and wins Snape the sympathies of both Harry and the audience. The scene works in one way J.K. Rowling surely never intended; whether by Rickman's intense performance or Yates and editor Mark Day's manipulation, I came away from the sequence honestly wondering if Snape was Harry's real father.
That is an apocryphal idea, for sure, and I saw one Twitter user calling people "idiots" for even thinking it, but the implication is clearly there. I thought it, a friend who saw the film last night thought it, and many people on Twitter seem to have thought it. The purists will cry foul, of course, but I think it's a wonderful little twist (intended or not) that adds even more mystery to the character.
Hey, if Blatant Snape Worship and Cheerleading can get you banned from a certain forum, imagine what they would do to this reviewer for daring to put that into print! Oh yeah, wait a minute, this is the real world and I'm not dreaming. Free speech includes Snape out here, and there can be personal interpretations of art. Someone can write in a Chicago newspaper that Snape could have been Harry's father without a smarmy lecture and a trip to Umbridge's office with the evil black quill.
Now please watch Richard Roeper's glowing review below of the whole series, but notice especially his urging that Rickman should get an Oscar. By now, I'm almost in shock from all the good feelings towards Snape and Rickman! I feel as if the world has finally caught up with us and they are patting us on the back. I like this new cozy world full of Snape fans - I hope it lasts!
David Yates the Director did an entire interview about Snape and all they wanted to know about was "Snape's prickly genius and killer glare" and he waxed poetic about Rickman's method acting. Is this really happening?
It's fascinating that from now on it's going to be the "norm" to see Snape as a loyal heroic man who loved someone so much he turned his whole life around. I haven't read a single review with the words "creepy" or "obsessive," nor is anyone embarrassed by Snape outpourings of emotion, which some fans like to deride as "being a woobie." No, just human emotion, and that's apparently okay with the rest of the world, because Snape's story above all is about being human.
My husband, who doesn't study the books as I do but who is an expert on being a Daddy, was interested in the fact that Harry didn't seem very connected to his father's spirit in the forest. He found it strange that Harry tried to touch his mother's hand, and spoke directly to Sirius, but barely glanced at James. That leads me to an amusing side story floating around fandom as many people are leaving theaters wondering asking whether Snape is actually supposed to be Harry's father. *GASP* In spite of the fact that JKR said long ago that James is definitely Harry's father, the moviemakers somehow managed to make James even more irrelevant than he all ready was.
For instance, this reviewer for the Chicago Daily Herald:
The flashback we've all been waiting for is a gorgeous, wistful sequence in the middle of the film, and wins Snape the sympathies of both Harry and the audience. The scene works in one way J.K. Rowling surely never intended; whether by Rickman's intense performance or Yates and editor Mark Day's manipulation, I came away from the sequence honestly wondering if Snape was Harry's real father.
That is an apocryphal idea, for sure, and I saw one Twitter user calling people "idiots" for even thinking it, but the implication is clearly there. I thought it, a friend who saw the film last night thought it, and many people on Twitter seem to have thought it. The purists will cry foul, of course, but I think it's a wonderful little twist (intended or not) that adds even more mystery to the character.
Hey, if Blatant Snape Worship and Cheerleading can get you banned from a certain forum, imagine what they would do to this reviewer for daring to put that into print! Oh yeah, wait a minute, this is the real world and I'm not dreaming. Free speech includes Snape out here, and there can be personal interpretations of art. Someone can write in a Chicago newspaper that Snape could have been Harry's father without a smarmy lecture and a trip to Umbridge's office with the evil black quill.
Now please watch Richard Roeper's glowing review below of the whole series, but notice especially his urging that Rickman should get an Oscar. By now, I'm almost in shock from all the good feelings towards Snape and Rickman! I feel as if the world has finally caught up with us and they are patting us on the back. I like this new cozy world full of Snape fans - I hope it lasts!
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