Draco

[Alex Corvus]

No: HPFGUIDX 8655

Snipping and pasting with wild abandon, and wow, this got *long* ...

Heidi: 
>>1. Is Draco sexy?>>
Caius
>>No>>

But he will be when he gets older. <g>

 
Simon: 
>>Will people just face up to the possibility that he is a scumbag?>>

Of course he is. That's what makes him interesting. I always want to squash
those perfectly nice, well-adjusted characters, the prats. My heart swelled
reading the opening chapters of PoA when I saw what a mouthy little snark
Harry was turning into with the Dursleys. I found Ron much more interesting
after going through some of the archives here and seeing some of the
discussion of the "negative" aspects of his character I hadn't considered
previously. It opened up a whole new world-o'-Ron to me that made him
infinitely more interesting. (and broke nine months of writer's block,
propelling me into *finally* writing some fanfiction for the first time in an
age) Flawed characters are always more interesting to me. And I don't just
mean superficial, oh-aren't-they-cute flaws. I want some characters who are
genuinely challenging. Characters who don't have an easy fix. Characters who
make me work to see past the "scumbag" aspect without losing it or taking an
apologist view of it.
 
Cass: 
>>In my own defense I discovered while searching the Draco egroup messages to
see if anyone there had come up with a positive characteristic for Draco, that
I didn't invent the Draco in leather thing. It appears to have been a fixation
for quite some time. >>

I'm pretty sure I contributed to that one. The Draco in my head is about 20
years old and has a tendency to wear leather trousers. And flimsy shirts that
he unbuttons when he dances. <snerk> Ohmigod, I just realized that the Draco
in my head is probably a lot like QaF-American's Brian (the Stuart-character
for those who have seen the British original of QaF). Who I also love, even
though ... no, *because* he's a bastard.

>>Apparently I am not as weird as I once thought.>>

Simon:
>>No. It just means that there are lots of other weird people out there! I
think a certain author has a lot to answer for, in writting a bad kid who
everyone (well lots of people) in fan fic land seems to think will be redeemed
and be near perfect in the end.>>

Nah, a perfect Draco would be no fun at all. I don't want to see a perfect
Draco. I want him to be snarky and pissy and terribly, horribly clever when
talking about annoying people - I just don't want to see him be EVIL with a
capital E. In short, I want him to be a blond, prettier version of Snape. I
have this image in my head that I have to work into a story somewhere of Harry
telling Draco: "But *I* know you're a nice person, deep down inside." And
Draco being all, "Shove off. Because if that's what you think, you're not
looking at *me*, you're looking at some image of me that you've built up in
your head. And if I wanted someone who wanted an image, there are plenty of
people who will screw me just 'cause I'm pretty." (And obviously, I'm a slash
fan ...)

My love of Draco is partly metatextual (paratextual?). I have some
expectations of what will happen with his character in the future, based
largely on my experiences with both Edmund and Eustace in the Narnia books. I
think he more closely parallels Eustace than Edmund in some ways, because
Edmund's parents managed to turn out some perfectly nice kids, but it's
obvious that Eustace's parents were complete asses and helped mold him in
their image until he got shoved into different experiences. And then there's
always the Snape question that someone else mentioned. Snape is not a nice
guy, but he's not evil, and I can't help wondering if he would be encouraging
Draco if the kid was simply a bigoted Death Eater-in-training.

But the appeal is not just about possible redemption, and I'm not tied to
that. If he's not "redeemed" a la Edmund and Eustace, he's not going to lose
his appeal for me. Some of my favorite characters in other source material are
compelling without being nice, and I don't think "nice" and "compelling" are
the same thing.

I can't help seeing Draco as a blond, teenaged version of Alex Krycek from The
X-Files, and I love me my Ratboy. And I think the fanon Draco has a lot in
common with the fanon Krycek - in both cases, there's so little to go on with
the characters in canon, that the fans have made him their own, more than the
creator's. It can be a lot easier to "own" a character that you've helped
"create" than one who's more fully realized, I think. At the same time, both
of them are surrounded, in their own particular universes, by more complex,
layered characters, so there's this resistance to the idea that they could be
the flat, uncomplicated characters they seem to be on the surface. And when
the other layers aren't given, there seems to be this drive to fill in the
blanks, by taking the slivers of information we do get and extrapolating both
backward to see what could have made them that way, then forward again to see
what else you can draw out of them based on the hypotheses you made. (That's a
big part of the fan experience, in general, I think: filling in the blanks.)
Therefore, I look at Draco, and I don't just see some bigoted prick, I start
to wonder what made him that way and what other effects - sometimes tragic -
those influences have on him. (Oooo, don't get me started on the Attachment
Disorder theory ...) And there's enough evidence to allow me, personally, to
build a plausible theory of *damage* - and I'm always more attracted to
damaged characters, even when the end result is someone who is not
conventionally likeable.

And, as Cass said, if JKR wanted me to hate him, she never should have pulled
that ferret thing. No way am I not going to have some sympathy for a kid who's
been subjected to that kind of horrendous treatment, particularly by an
authority figure. I cringed during that scene and never managed to get over it
for the rest of GoF. It really disturbed me. She couldn't have come up with a
better way to put me in his corner. Whomping is a time-honored way of making a
character sympathetic. I've heard a theory applied to cop shows and comic
books - if you whomp a character enough in the beginning, it doesn't matter
what he does after that, he remains sympathetic (and I have to wonder if this
is some of the psychology that went into putting Harry with the Dursleys as
our first introduction to him). I also have to wonder if there's a corollary -
if you whomp a character enough, he regains sympathy, no matter what an ass
he's been.

I also think Draco is viewed as an archetype by some fans rather than as a
unique character, and it's particularly obvious with him, moreso than with
other characters who are more fleshed-out. First off, Draco is the Ice Prince
(or, in lots and lots of fanfiction - I know in slash, although I haven't read
much het - the Ice Princess, and don't get me started on FairyPrincess!Draco.
<shudder>). His physical description, particularly his coloring, contributes
to this, not just his emotional makeup. And the Ice Prince gets melted -
usually by his relationship with the peasant girl (or boy. Heh.).

He's also the Bad Boy. I ascribe to the theory that some women and men fall
for Bad Boys because of the challenge they represent. If a Nice Guy is nice,
well, it's in his nature to be nice, and it's nothing particularly special.
But if a Bad Boy exposes some inner depths and some feeling, it's this
amazingly special phenomenon, because it's not his usual attitude. If you can
make the Bad Boy show some softer side, it's this incredible coup. It's
somehow more meaningful if Draco exposes any facet that doesn't conform to the
schoolyard bully, because that means you're getting under the armor.

Alexa
(who also does realize her own prejudices, given that her other primary fandom
is OZ, and not the Wizard of ... variety. If I can find convicts compelling, I
suppose it's not so terribly odd I can be fascinated with Draco.)


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