Allowable reader response was Re: Disappointed in Potter?

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 127756


 Potioncat, I've chosen this post to respond to because there is so 
much here I agree with. Many of my comments are connected to specific 
things Sherry and Alla have written, and a few are generated by other 
posts in this thread.

Snipping here and there.
 
> >> Sherry now
> > 
> > Ok, i'm the one who said that if it ended up being a dream, i'd 
> never wanted to read another book of JKR's.  that isn't saying that 
> I dislike the books or feel i've wasted money or even time and 
> emotional commitment to them.

Potioncat:
If it turns out to be a dream (although I don't know why that comes 
up so often) I will be disapointed. If Harry dies, I probably 
wouldn't want to re-read the books either. Although I've re-read King 
Arthur books many times, and he dies every time. But like you, 
Sherry, I wouldn't say "Oh, what a horrible set of books this was!" 
look at all the Sirius fans who have stuck with the story.
 
Sherry: As a very little girl, i was traumatized by 
> the ending of the movie the Wizard of Oz.

Potioncat: I understand that. I was very upset that my young children 
saw "Hook". Silly me, I didn't want them to think of Peter Pan 
growing up before they did.

Sherry:  I probably would not feel 
> like I wanted to read future books by JKR, because I would think 
> that she would not be likely to take future stories in directions 
> that would leave me feeling satisfied after the read.  that still 
> isn't meant to be critical of her, just to say i would not want to 
> follow her down that road. She must write to please herself, even 
if 
> it doesn't please me in the end.  But I would still love all that 
> led up to it.  And I'd probably still read Harry Potter over and 
> over again, up to the point of him waking from the dream!

Potioncat:
Yes, Yes. This is what I'm getting at! If a book doesn't please us we 
can choose to stop reading it, or to avoid the author. We can say, 
gee, I really didn't like how that developed. And as fans we can say 
that now and we can discuss those issues now. That wasn't my 
objection. 
> 
> Alla:
> 
> Sherry, in my opinion you do NOT have to justify your unwillingness 
> to reread the books if the ending turned out to be the dream one. 
In 
> fact, in my opinion you do not have to justify ANY opinion about 
the 
> books - positive or negative.

Potioncat: I agree with that. Opinion does not have to be justified. 
For the purpose of discussion, someone else may bring in canon or lit 
crit theories to counter. And after all, the rest of the world thinks 
we're crazy for re-reading the books at all!

> Alla:
> I love the books dearly and I have MUCH more positive to say about 
> them then negative ( in fact, my opinions of first four books 
> consist primarily of my love for them), but I absolutely refuse to 
> stop expressing my negative opinions, because someone does not like 
> them.

Potioncat:
To me the fact that you love the books or like the books is the key. 
My point was that there are posts that sound as if the writer does 
not like the books at all. Perhaps the writer didn't write very well. 
Or perhaps I didn't read very well.
>
Alla: 
> Yes, I probably will not feel comfortable if I were to read the 
> total trashing the books, but frankly to me the right to express 
the 
> opinion is much more important than  the fact that I may not like 
> what I read . As long as of course I am not reading personal 
attacks 
> towards other posters.


>  Suppose though that someone decides to take stronger position and 
> say that because of that particular plot twist books are bad works 
> of literature. Does it mean that such person should not be allowed 
> to say it? I don't think so.

Potioncat:
But do you really think this is the place for that? If a person 
thought the HP books were bad literature why would they post on a HP 
fan site unless it was to stir things up for no good purpose?  There 
are better ways to stir things up! A general book site, a letter to 
the editor would be good choices for a non-fan.

I gave the example on a different post of a person who believes HP 
lead to a comfort with the idea of witches that will lead to eternal 
damnation and worse. That person has a right to believe that and to 
say that. But I don't think that person should post here. That's sort 
of the more general point I'm trying to make.

I certainly am not saying only posts "I" agree with are valid. Or 
that I have to like every post that comes out. Or only positive 
things should be said. Trashing doesn't belong here (IMHO) Critiquing 
does.
> 
>  
> Sherry:
> > And besides all that, I have confidence that JKR is going to make 
> the next two books so wonderful and satisfying, that whatever she 
> does with them, most of us will be completely with her and reveling 
> in it all.  After all, she's done a great job of it so far.  
> 
> 
> Alla:
> 
> I completely agree with you.

Potioncat:
Me too.
 
 I'm going to take at least a 24 hour moratorium on this topic. And I 
hope we all have lots of hot chocolate.