Comments | slashpine: DH spoilers bunnied me

slashpine

DH spoilers bunnied me

Jul 19, 2007 00:11

I'm eagerly awaiting my very own copy and a Saturday of reading. Followed by two weeks of reading internet howls of glee and/or despair. And then ... then things will actually get interesting as despite JKR's efforts to tie up, pin down, and rivet every plot point and relationship into exactly one and only one shape, fans will find a way to put ( Read more... )

Comments 12

lllazlllong July 19 2007, 07:49:13 UTC

""good old-fashioned closure," .. but that's no match for fandom"
JKR created this world, but it must be taken into account that it all began as a book for children and accordingly (what a pity, indeed) she is forced to play by her own rules - therefore no postmodern games with text (a la Julian Barnes), no open endings.

I do not complain, although one can express a wish, at least.:)

slashpine July 19 2007, 08:47:29 UTC

Mmm, true. And sad, I think: many fans are pushing boundaries JKR appears not to want to break. But I'm wondering what all the reasons may be. I know those "tidy endings" - and happy-ever-after marriages of say, the boy hero and his adoring girlfriend, see to be accepted as a children's fic "convention." But I'm questioning this first. How many readers really do want a Harlequin-Romance type ending? (And who's in charge of the writing, anyway? Shouldn't it be the author? Thus, I'm assuming ( ... )

miriam_heddy July 19 2007, 15:44:27 UTC

I want to say, "YES!!!" to everything you just said. I especially agree with your "ownership" theory. I suspect that's very much what JKR is doing with the last book. And I'm not denying her right (or even reasoning) in doing so, though I think it's an exceedingly ungenerous attitude to take towards the fandom that made her famous (as well as it being founded on an assumption of what authorship means that I think is rather limited and naive).

Then again, you're right in HP being pretty conservative in many ways (which is partly why I've enjoyed the way that the fanfic ignores that and expands the political boundaries beyond JKR's narrow vision).

I just hope that people continue to play in her universe even after she thinks she's gated and locked it down.

slashpine July 19 2007, 23:32:41 UTC

Oh, I hope so too ( ... )

Thread 8

bethbethbeth July 19 2007, 13:06:07 UTC

Exactly what I was thinking!

*is already plotting to use said object in next story*

slashpine July 19 2007, 21:35:24 UTC

Oh, GOOD. I was hoping experienced, imaginative bunny-lovers would already be rescuing this one! Just because it's too small for Harry JKR to bother with (tsk, such laziness ... aren't we lucky? :-) doesn't mean it can't grow up to be a beautiful and pettable story ( ... )

snapebeliever July 22 2007, 22:14:27 UTC

[i]... And I needed a cool, gross slaying-by-Nagini scene and he just, like, fit in, OK? But here, just to shut up all you people who have the nerve to *like* him, he can be a sekrit good guy after all and even posthumously honored by *my* hero (the twerp you're supposed to like). But he's dead, see? So just you try to keep writing about him."[/i]

Okay you are SO channeling my view of JKR here! I completely agree. I see Rowling as someone deeply uncomfortable with that fact that so many people love the wrong character. I remain amazed at her failure to see the power and potential in her own creation. Did she really believe her readers would be as indifferent as she is to Snape's obvious secret workings for the good side? Surely she's seen the power of the anti-hero before? And to make him an ugly, defensive longer to boot? After reading DH, I see no other choice but to believe she just doesn't get it. How sad for her.

slashpine July 22 2007, 22:54:24 UTC

Yep, yep! Well, JKR's recorded as saying that she's a "total Gryffindor" so we can take that as confirming why she not only has turned that one House into a self-infatuated joke, but through sneering at Ravenclaws (ooh, too intelligent: aren't they all just snotty, or weeeird like Luna?), ridiculing Hufflepuffs (like there's something wrong with honesty, hard work & persistence) and making Slytherin the stand-in for everyone she'd ever hated (Snape famously being the stand-in for the prof she didn't like; I just *love* how Alan Rickman turned that around :-) has basically demonstrated (OMGwhatalongsentence!) unwillingness to portray the full range of human nature, or in an introspective way. Which is to say, JKR built a whizbang set of characters, but hasn't worked very hard at getting to know them. (Fortunately, they have fans who find them irresistible ( ... )