An essay that takes itself far too seriously (as per the usual. ^^)
Wow, there are so many disclaimers on this thing it's uncanny. If two is uncanny. Anyway, I just wanted to mention that I most likely was not the first person to look at the interview this way and I'm not trying to claim I was. It's just a personal example I happen to have.
( Why taking JKR at her word is a bad idea. )
( Why taking JKR at her word is a bad idea. )
JK was, as you said, careful not to say anything at all.
What's clear is that she doesn't want to give anything (or at least very little) about future books away, she just explains the old ones or, a little less honest, tries to influence what people think about the old ones.
Clearly with Snape she wanted people to think he is ambiguous and she wanted people to fall for her cliffhanger in HBP. (Stephen Fry and everybody were a little too convinced of Snape's basic goodness for her liking - She was trying to leave this question unanswered until the last book.) With Draco, she wanted people to understand that he's a little bitch and then, after HBP, she wanted people to understand that he's not a killer. She won't explain, predict or hint on his actions in DH before the book is out, if she can help it.
I think her answers about shipping worked the same way. So she told us that Harry and Hermione have no romantic interest in each other and that there is tension between Ron and Hermione, before OotP came out. Obviously she wasn't talking about OotP there, there was far more tension between them in GoF, she was just talking about stuff the interviewer should have already known.
The only difference is that in this area the content of the older books helps you to predict the future books more easily than in more A-plot related questions.
If you know her tactics, you can gain a little information out of her interview, the most interesting part being (as you wrote) what she doesn't say, because it shows that something is not a closed matter in the books that are already out. When she just repeats old information like "Regulus is dead" (before HBP), we have no chance but to wait and see - or to use the books for our predictions.
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But you're totally right, all she ever does in interviews is explain the last books, though, I think that with some of the questions she gets asked, it becomes harder. And she has 'revealed' Ron/Hermione. Repeatedly. Which is why the lack of her confirming H/G sticks out so much. I think that, either in terms of plot or relationship, you can figure out certain things based on what she avoids, because she sometimes does avoid talking much about topics that you'd think she could go on and on about. It's tricky, but I think that you can honestly read the entire IoD and come out of it with a completely different interpretation than your run-of-the-mill H/G fan.
But yeah,it's all about looking. And it infuriates me when people suggest that there is nothing to look for.
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http://mariannec.livejournal.com/76259.html
I wouldn't particularly agree on his comparison (bullying in Tom Brown is quite different to HP - Harry never gets victimised in the way Tom is by Flashman, and conversely, I doubt Tom would outnumber an opponent like Harry does.) but then again, he never actually mentions Malfoy in that role, just that he has 'force' as a 'rival'.
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