Real characters

[Amy Z <lupinesque@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 50190

Eileen wrote:

> But, really, you don't know what character trashing is
> until you've hung around with rabid Tolkien fans. The
> uninitiated might suppose that Tolkien fans don't like
> any of his characters. The truth is that the
> characters have become so important to fans that they
> take on a life of their own. And once they do that, we
> react to them like real people, by providing different
> perspectives on them, satirizing them, poking at them,
> trashing at them. I don't at all think it's a bad
> thing to trash characters. 

Maybe we mean the word differently.  I like providing different 
perspectives on, satirizing, and poking at the characters 
(*especially* in Tolkien!  I live with a rabid Tolkien fan and every 
time Sam does something "thoughtfully" he all but throws the book 
across the room.  Then he carries on rereading it for the 25th 
time).  But I wouldn't call any of that "trashing."  "Trashing" to me 
implies that we aren't able to see anything good about them--in fact, 
are seeing them as flat characters, even though they're not.

I wrote:

> > Fortunately, a 
> > truckload of food arrives in five months.

Eileen wrote:

> And we can start trashing Mundungus Fletcher.

Heh, we can do that right now.  Hexing Arthur?  Defrauding the 
Ministry?  FIE* on him, I say!

<g>
Amy

*Fletcher Is Evil