[ SECRET POST #2595 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2595 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 078 secrets from Secret Submission Post #371.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I don't understand why people still care.

[(Anonymous)]

It was an important part of most of fs childhood.

And most of Harry Potter revolves around the characters anyway. I mean the plot and world aren't that special. What she does exceptionally well is giving characters good motivations, complexities and ultimately making them seem pretty real and inviting a lot of discussion about it.

[littlestbirds]

totally disagree. If Harry Potter fandom was about the characters, there would be a ton of AUs. There are almost none, but there are plenty of fics exploring all the aspects of the wizarding world that got skipped because the books were from the perspective of a minor in the middle of a civil war...

[(Anonymous)]

Eh. Point.

But still a lot of dicussion about characters as well.

I mean the amount of meta about snape/dumbeldore/umbridge/hermione and the amount of hate if someone feels that they are misrepresented is still pretty exceptional.

[littlestbirds]

hm- true. well, I'm not very good at character meta in general, but here's a theory: At least some of the world, the writing, the characters, or the plot are exceptional. People are very heavily invested in the canon. A lot of the debate surrounding those characters results from people arguing that JKR minimized or ignored disturbing implications. I've seen people (other people, not me!) arguing that her uncertainly about R/Hr reveals how she's never had that firm a grasp on character motivation in the first place. So maybe the exceptional levels of hate on both sides is because of ambiguity in the books about already sensitive subjects?
and anyway I don't think that characterization has to be exceptional for fans to get exceptionally invested, because getting heavily invested is what fans do :)

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah but honestly you can't really have ship wars without characterisation being very important. Stuff like lord of the rings or game of thrones tend to have a lot less ship wars. And arguably have a lot less human seeming characters. When was the last time you ran into an Aragon? But I bet everyone knows an Umbridge. I'm pretty sure she was my chemistry teacher.

Anyway I have more often then not seen arguments based around Ron and Hermione not being compatible because they argue to much and the same for Lilly and James. I'm not sure what you mean with the ambiguity in the books about already sensitive subjects.

[littlestbirds]

By ambiguity I meant that a lot of character arguments (not just in HP) seem to be about how their actions can be interpreted as more morally suspect or disturbing that canon seems to intend. I see this about Snape on FS sometimes. So when people read issues like bullying or child abuse into it, the arguments get quite heated.
I think you're probably right that JKR does a good job getting us to relate to characters by writing about things we already experience, I just thought I'd clarify that.

[(Anonymous)]

DA Dumbledore gets this a lot too. Basically the idea that at best he is negligent, leaving Harry in what he knows to be an abusive environment and at worst he is actively shaping Harry into someone willing to marter themselves from the start. My older brother goes on and on about ho evil Dumbledore is and about fics where he gets his; it's rather annoying actually.

[(Anonymous)]

"If Harry Potter fandom was about the characters, there would be a ton of AUs"

the hell tho. It's not like AUs indicate actual attachment to the canon characters. Like, 99% of the time they're just an excuse to use the canon names with made-up personalities and play house/bakery/coffee/dishwasher

[littlestbirds]

Sorry nonny. It's depressing but true.
99% of fanfiction is already terrible. AUs are an expression of loving the possibilities of the characters more than those of the flimsy setting they're found in. People love Dean Winchester a lot more than they love Supernatural, and they express that by totally butchering his characterization in several thousand coffeeshop AUs. Such is life.