Lupin's resentment : An inside to Snape's resentment

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 94329

Berit replies:
> 
> <snip> And sorry mate; I never 
> liked Rickman as Snape, he's too tall, too "good-looking", too 
> refined and elegant and not walking in a twitching enough manner to 
> depict Snape correctly. <snip>

Actually, the adult Snape has never been described as "twitchy" and he
tends to sweep gracefully out of every room he enters (aided, of
course, by that long black cloak). He also speaks (most of the time)
in the refined language of an English gentleman. (I happen to think
that Alan Rickman has him pegged, though possibly his teeth are a
little too white.) There's an important transformation that occurs at
some point between the Prank and Harry's first year at Hogwarts.
Possibly it's Occlumency. But the adult Snape's posture is certainly
not that of a round-shouldered fifteen-year-old. For whatever reason,
he has cultivated an image that exudes power and control--not that
he's always in perfect control, but when he's teaching, at least, he's
a far cry from the adolescent who was bullied "because he exists." His
initial speech to his Potions first-years establishes him as a man of
subtle intellect, capable of poetic language that does not in the
least undermine his capacity to daunt or intimidate. He is
the only person of this type that I can recall encountering in the
Potterverse. IMO, Rickman's ability to make him seem both genteel and
dangerous is exactly what's needed for the part.

Carol, who hopes that this post won't be misread as a defense of Alan
Rickman's portrayal of Snape, which of course belongs in the movies
section of HPFGU