What is Canon?

[mysmacek]

No: HPFGUIDX 55617

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Katy Cartee" <rainbow at r...> wrote:
> Barb wrote:
> 
> > The statement about Harry and Hermione being platonic friends, for 
> > instance, could refer to the time of GoF, when that seems to be a 
> > perfectly adequate way to describe their relationship.  This doesn't 
> > mean it will always be true. 
> 
> Agreed.
> 
> > After GoF came out, for instance, she talked about having to rewrite 
> > large parts of it because she needed a conduit for information 
> > between Hogwarts and the rest of the wizarding world, and finally 
> > decided to use Rita Skeeter for that, although she'd initially had a 
> > Weasley cousin in mind.  If she'd said ahead of time that we were 
> > going to see a Weasley cousin in GoF and then we discovered that we 
> > got Rita instead, I'd just think she'd changed her mind and decided 
> > that Rita worked better.  
> 
> Also agreed. We would all be missing out if JKR was not allowed to
change her mind.
> 
> > That's one reason I'm a bit reluctant to call her interviews canon, 
> > except as they explain confusing bits from the four (soon to be 
> > five!) extant books.  I think of the interviews as being more 
> > like 'guidance,' especially for my fanfiction writing.  But until it 
> > appears between the pages of an actual Harry Potter book, in that 
> > she has the right to change her mind about what she says--indeed, 
> > has an obligation, if the story would be better written a different 
> > way--I'd rather not treat tidbits gleaned from her interviews as 
> > carved in stone.  They're helpful, certainly, but IMO, not canon.
> 
> I agree that AT THIS TIME, her interviews/comments are not canon.
But i believe that they SHOULD be considered canon once the series is
complete - as long as what she said does not contradict the completed
series.
> 
> > I prefer to ignore a lot of the merchandizing, so I don't have other 
> > things on this list.  Should I consider the depiction of Harry on my 
> > daughter's cherry liquid hand soap (this is really sitting in my 
> > bathroom!) to be canon? 
> 
> Well there's nothing canonical about a picture unless, for instance,
it depicted Harry's scar as being on his cheek instead of his
forehead. In that case, we would most certainly choose the forehead as
being the correct placement "in canon." But pretend that the picture
depicted Harry reading the book "Pride and Prejudice" and had a
caption underneath it stating "Harry, reading his favorite book." If
nowhere in the completed series are we told what Harry's favorite book
is, i would take this caption as being "canonical fact" as there is no
reason not to!


Please no :-). Even the movie is not reliable. I do not recommend
believing merchandise at all. That we do not know otherwise does not
mean that it's a truth (truth at least in Potterverse, I mean)

BTW, here is what Webster (www.webster.com) has to say about canon.
Especially
(3) is relevant

Main Entry: 1can·on
Pronunciation: 'ka-n&n
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English, from Late Latin, from
Latin, ruler, rule, model, standard, from Greek kanOn
Date: before 12th century
1 a : a regulation or dogma decreed by a church council b : a
provision of canon law
2 [Middle English, prob. from Old French, from Late Latin, from Latin,
model] : the most solemn and unvarying part of the Mass including the
consecration of the bread and wine
3 [Middle English, from Late Latin, from Latin, standard] a : an
authoritative list of books accepted as Holy Scripture b : the
authentic works of a writer c : a sanctioned or accepted group or body
of related works <the canon of great literature>
4 a : an accepted principle or rule b : a criterion or standard of
judgment c : a body of principles, rules, standards, or norms
5 [Late Greek kanOn, from Greek, model] : a contrapuntal musical
composition in two or more voice parts in which the melody is imitated
exactly and completely by the successive voices though not always at
the same pitch
synonym see LAW


Mysmacek