Snape Wars vs Ship Wars was re: Cultural standards for Snape abusiveness/

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 144603

> Pippin:
<SNIP>
> IMO, if Snape is a murderer, the boggart lesson in PoA
> loses both its humor and its point. Murderers are not funny, even if
> they are wearing silly clothes, and if a murderer is threatening 
you,
> imagining that he has silly clothes on is not going to help. On the
> other hand, if you are afraid of someone  because they always
> make you look stupid, then imagining that they look stupid too is
> golden. 

Alla:

I really don't see why if Snape is turning to be Evil one or mostly 
out for himself Boggart lesson loses his point. I guess I disagree. 
IF in book 6 we would have see Snape murdering Neville THEN I would 
be forced to agree - that indeed would not be funny to me. IMO 
anyway. Otherwise - for Neville Snape is his biggest fears who turned 
out to be ( for the sake of argument) very real murderer of 
Dumbledore.

Does it make sense?

 
Pippin:  
> Maybe I misunderstood you, but I thought you were saying that 
> JKR hadn't planned to make Snape a murderer when she wrote that
> scene, but then she felt the fans weren't revolted enough by Snape 
so
> she decided to make him a killer. 

Alla:

As I said upthread, I DID say it, but only as unsupported 
speculation. One of the possibilities, you know. It is also one of 
the possibilities IMO that JKR planned to make Snape the way I 
imagine him now all along, she just covered it in ambiguities. :-)

Pippin:
> OTOH, if you can't make major bits of business like the boggart 
lesson
> work in the context of villain!Snape, then villain!Snape is weak, 
IMO.
> 
> Does that help?   


Alla:

Yes, it actually does help, but as I said Boggart scene works nicely 
for me even if Snape is a murderer. Just the simple reasoning that 
real Evil can also be laughed at. IMO anyway.


> > Alla:
> > 
> > Do we have a canon to show that person can choose one's fear? 
<<snip> 
> Christina:
> 
> I think it only makes sense to assume that one's fear can change. 
> After all, what if Neville had encountered a boggart before he came 
to
> Hogwarts?  Obviously it couldn't have taken the shape of Professor
> Snape, because Neville hadn't met him yet.  Molly's boggart includes
> the vision of Harry laying dead, but she wouldn't have seen that 
same
> boggart before she had ever met Harry.  <SNIP> The list goes on and 
on.  

Alla:

You ARE very convincing , Christina. :-) Yes, I think you convinced 
me that person's greatest fear can change during the course of their 
lives.

But my main point still stands - people think that Neville's greatest 
fear had changed, but we did not see it, so IMO it is very likely 
that Snape still IS Neville's greatest fear.I just think that if JKR 
wanted  us to know that Neville is now afraid of something else, she 
would have shown it.

IMO of course,

Alla