Sexuality! and Poor Writing! - JKR's Mistake

[dumbledore11214]

> Magpie:
> Not me at all! I don't feel like I know what kind of person she is, 
> but I can react to what she seems to be saying when she talks. So I 
> can react to actual things she says in interviews and talk about 
> that persona. And reading the books I don't think it's a leap to 
say 
> how she seem to feel about the story. I don't think it's crossing a 
> line, for instance, to say I think she finds it satisfying to have 
> Hermione smack down certain characters based on the story. I don't 
> think that's a general judgment on what she's like as a person. It 
> just says "She finds this thing happening satisfying."

Alla:

I do not think anything is crossing the line as long as another side 
opinion is treated with respect, I do think though that saying that 
JKR is crasy ( and yes, I have seen it on Main list more than once) 
is something which I find strange. And absolutely, reacting to what 
she says in interviews is understandable, but I still think that if 
you ( generic you) react to what she says in in the interviews and 
writes in the books with the "JKR is crasy and evil", well something 
that I find strange.

To me it is like saying that If JKR does not punish Snape that means 
she approves of child abuse. I mean, REALLY? (With apologies to LL 
for dragging his argument in it, but I just find it to be a perfect 
example).

And this is the argument which I AGREE with when it was talking about 
the story - meaning that I absolutely, positively saw and will always 
see Snape as disgusting child abuser. But when the leap is made that 
if author does not write it the certain way, that means she approves 
of child abuse?

I mean, do you KNOW that JKR approves of child abuse? 

It makes me scratch my head, truly and same with these arguments.

 
> Alla:
> > Can't writer write something just because her muse called her in 
> that 
> > area?
> > 
> > Is it a given that writer has to AGREE with what she writes? If 
> she 
> > would not specifically punish Snape or Dumbledore, but still 
> > disapproves of child abuse, didn't she make it very clear that 
> their 
> > actions were wrong? ( well, for those who agree with this of 
> course).
> 
> Magpie:
> Sure a write can disagree with what they write. But I don't think 
> that's the same as saying that nobody can guess at anything based 
on 
> what the author wrote. It seems a bit silly, for instance, to say 
> that yeah JKR wrote this whole story and had all this stuff 
> happened, but none of it reflects anything about her at all. <SNIP>

Alla:

Not to me. I have NO idea what this story reflects about JKR as a 
**person**. Except of course her saying that it has christian themes, 
so I get that she is a christian. Besides that? I have absolutely no 
idea.


> Alla:
> > I mean, when you read "Brothers Caramasov" or 'Idiot" 
or "Writings 
> > from psychiatric clinic" ( not sure how this one is translated in 
> > English, so just translated word by word from Russian), one would 
> > think that Dostoevskiy may have had some mental problems.
> 
> Magpie:
> I never thought that. Are you suggesting that people are saying 
that 
> because JKR writes a bad guy, for instance, that she is a bad guy? 
> Because I don't think that's the idea.

Alla:

Actually yeah very close and I am not just suggesting it, I read it, 
but let me rephrase it. I totally get the impression and I saw it 
sometimes spelled out, sometimes IMO very heavily implied.

That since JKR wrote the book, which message people consider to be 
crasy or evil, that she is crasy, evil, full of hatred herself.

Yes, that is absolutely my impression. People are free to find it. I 
am free to find it bizarre.


Magpie:
 It's silly to think that 
> anything any character in a book does or says must be something the 
> author agrees with--if that were true how could any author write a 
> story? There would be no conflict. Author's aren't confined to 
> writing characters whose views they endorse. Often they write 
> characters who are being devil's advocates to their own beliefs. 
> JKR's universe is full of conflicting characters, so she can't 
> really agree with all of them. 

Alla:

Well, yeah I agree with you, but as I said, my impression is not that 
people argue that since JKR writes bad guys, she is a bad guy 
herself, but that since her message is evil, she is evil. For that 
she really does not have to agree with all characters.

Magpie:
But I think there's a difference 
> between that and looking at an author's work and seeing some basic 
> ideas that the author believes that come through in his work. 
> There's nothing particularly insane about any of those works that 
> I've read.

Alla:

Um, I did not find those works insane either, I found many characters 
to be quite disturbed though. I love Dostoevsky, but I find many of 
his works to be very very difficult to read.