OK we're to THAT point on Snape/Different Topic

[dzeytoun]

No: HPFGUIDX 101719

OK folks, I think we've reached the point people always seem to reach 
when discussing Severus Snape.  We've boiled down into two mutually 
antagonistic camps, and there's not much of a chance in all the 
infernal regions that anyone is going to budge.  We can spit poison 
at each other till the end of Book VII and I don't think it's going 
to make the slightest change in anybody's outlook.  I will confess 
that I myself have a totally closed mind on this point and nothing 
anybody says will ever convince me that Snape is not a dangerous and 
abusive menace who should be summarily tossed out on his greasy 
behind.  Let's just save our blood vessels, tell ourselves quietly 
that we will NEVER understand how anybody with any sense could ever 
believe THAT, and move on.

For the record, I don't think these questions will ever be settled, 
even in Book VII.  Even if JKR reveals how SHE sees Snape, many 
people are likely not to agree with her.  After she says, in 
effect, "see he really is ......" many people are going to say, "No 
wait a minute, no he's not."

Let's try a different but related topic.  Why do you think it is that 
so many people are reacting is such a way to so many aspects of HP?  
It speaks to the books themselves, of course, but frankly I don't 
think they are great literature in their own right, and certainly 
almost nothing in them is original.

I think it has to do with changes in the way we approach things.  I 
rather doubt that, had HP come out thirty years ago, this type of 
thing would have happened.  Partly that is because the internet has 
made commenting and arguing easier.  Partly though, I tend to follow 
Umbert Eco when he talks about "hyper-reality."

What he said, while visiting Disney World, was that the western world 
has reached a state where everything, including myths and legends, 
has become literal.  Due to the fascination with technology, the 
spread of rights movements, the success of communications technology, 
and numerous other factors, "Because I said so" or "Because it needs 
to be that way for the plot" just isn't good enough for a large 
section of the literate population.  We tend to approach EVERYTHING 
as real and literal.  We want to know all the why's and how's.  HOW 
does the Wizarding Government work?  WHY does Dumbledore let Snape 
act that way?  WHAT do parents do if the teaching techniques at 
Hogwarts don't work/actively harm their child?

Not too many years ago it would have been more possible to "suspend 
disbelief" and say that "its because it has to be that way for the 
plot" or "its because JKR wanted it that way."  I think for a large 
section of the population nowadays, that just isn't good enough.

I don't make an argument one way or the other about whether that's 
good or bad.  I do think, however, it's a definite trend.  And while 
I appreciate the discomfort and dismay of people who look at all this 
argument and say "It's just a book people, can't you just take it as 
it is?" I think that that is unlikely to happen, and it misses 
something important that's going on.

Dzeytoun