Bad guys and black hats (was Re: Unreliable narrator)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 117550


> > Alla:
>  
> > I don't know whether I would go that far as Renee suggests 
that authors should refrain from 
 explaining  their texts, because for me authoritarial intention is 
a 
VERY big factor, when I try to interpret the text.
>  
> 
> Renee:
> Then this is where we must agree to disagree. IMO a 
(contemporary)  literary text should basically speak for itself - 
barring  explanations to readers from a different cultural 
environment,  perhaps. If authors need to explain what they're 
trying to convey,  there's something not quite right. It's a form of 
telling, instead  of showing.   
> 

Pippin:
I don't know about that -- seems kind of limited in this 
multi-media age. Why not regard the whole kit'n'caboodle -- text, 
promos, chats, website, films and legosets etc. --- as a 
multimedia work? I know that's not the approach we take here, 
but that doesn't mean it's not a legitimate way to approach the 
matter.

Lightmaker  said the biggest challenge with JKRowling.com was 
to create a website that would engage with readers who had 
different levels of knowledge -- that's got to be true for 
newspaper interviews as well. 

http://macromedia.breezecentral.com/p41484711/


Villains in children's books and movies often don't have 
backstories at all, so even a conventional backstory is an 
innovation. But JKR may not be talking just about Voldemort's 
backstory. The interesting thing about the quote to me is that she 
first says she doesn't want to present him as a typical black hat, 
but then invokes Hitler, who, in fiction, is often made into a
typical black hat -- not only evil, but a metaphor for evil. 

 But one of the scarier things about the historical Hitler gets lost 
when that happens. He was able to persuade shrewd, 
sophisticated people who had noble ideals and a sense of 
decency to support him.  If Voldemort is a Hitler-style villain, I'd
expect him to be able to do that as well and to see it 
demonstrated in Six and Seven.

There's some hint that Voldemort has that talent, but we haven't 
seen him exercise it -- he's always characterizing the people 
he's charmed into helping him as naive and gullible. But this is 
self-serving -- naturally he doesn't want his current audience to 
think that people as clever as themselves could be hoodwinked.

We don't even know if Ginny, Dippet, and Quirrell were as easy to 
mislead as he claims.

Pippin