James, the arrogant little berk (was: Sirius revisited--emotional maturity)

[anthyroserain]

No: HPFGUIDX 105422

Carol:
> I think there are very few James
> bashers because there are no James worshippers, either. He's a
> straightforward character about whom most of us have no strong 
> feelings.

Katie:

Wow, that's really sharp! It didn't occur to me before, but you're 
right: the most-loved characters are frequently the most virulently 
hated. I think it's funny that Kneasy has divided HP fans into 
Sirius and Snape fans, because from the posts I've read lately, they 
don't actually seem to be two distinct groups at all. In fact, I'd 
say that the two often go together; just look at SSSusan's name. (A 
rather Parseltongue-esque name when you abbreviate it, hehe!)   


Carol:
> To return to James--I think there's no question that, in the end, 
he
> showed true courage, and for that reason no one feels that he needs
> defending. Either that, or his actions in the Pensieve scene 
*can't*
> be defended (you don't hex someone "because he exists," you stupid
> little berk!) and so no one even tries. You simply dislike the 
young
> James and admire (or grudgingly accept) the slightly older James, 
and
> that's that. At any rate, that's my view.

Katie:
Yeah, James comes off as a right li'l bastard in that scene to me. 
I'm more forgiving of Sirius and Remus in that scene because we see 
a lot more of them later on, and frankly, unless we're missing some 
big piece of information, it DOES seem like Severus is being bullied 
unfairly. I suppose that's the only *direct* exposure to James we 
ever get. If it's any indication, Harry has much more in common with 
his mom. But I may well change my opinion once we find out more 
about James.

Carol:
> Just out of curiosity, are there any James fans on the list? If so,
> please step forward and defend your favorite character. I'd like to
> hear how I've got poor James all wrong.

For that matter, I'd looove to hear someone explain how the Malfoys 
are misunderstood. They seem so purely dreadful. Any takers?

-Katie
 who doesn't hate any non-eeevil characters but thinks OOTP Percy 
deserves a swift kick in the behind