Writers Fiat (was: Stockholm Syndrome - was No sympathy for Kreacher)

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 124716


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, caesian <caesian at y...> wrote:
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<SNIP>
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> Caesian now:
> I think the difference is a fundamental - adults tend to give 
> preference to logical reasoning when interpreting the world, whereas 
> children give greater credence to how they feel.  (Neither approach is 
> necessarily superior, IMO.)
> 
> Adult readers often try to figure out the logic of the WW, sometimes 
> with fabulously clever insight (witness all posts here) and sometimes 
> via hilarious obsession with arcane minutia (present company excluded, 
> of course!).
> 
> On the other hand, children remember how the books made them feel.  
> They pay greater attention to the emotional presentation of the story.  
> Emotional cues trump logical chains.  Of course Dumbledore is good and 
> cares for Harry, because he cried didn't he?  He tried, didn't he?  It 
> matters not that there were holes in his plan, it matters that he 
> wanted the plan to work and for Harry to be safe and happy.
> 
> In these hyper-logical discussions, it is almost impossible to 
> articulate the power of the overall emotional tone of a scene, or of a 
> character's presentation throughout the series.  The logic of 
> Dumbledore's decisions may seem odd (given what we now know, which may 
> well be incomplete - another problem with relying to heavily on logic). 
>   But it is clear that the author has presented Dumbledore in an 
> overwhelmingly positive emotional tone.  And that does indeed count for 
> something.
> 
> Cheers,
> Caesian


I think you are definitely onto an important point, Caesian. 
Although, I think (just speaking of adults because I don't remember
enough about being a child) that logic chains often get tangled with
emotions in the case of adults.  And I don't mean that as a bad thing.
 I'm just saying that logic and perceived emotional tone are related
for adults in a way they probably aren't for kids.  Thus, we have more
of a tendancy to expect characters to act according to their emotional
presentation, and thus are more puzzled by things such as why DD
tolerates Snape, etc.  When logic and emotional tone don't match, we
tend to think that something is wrong.  That is, characters are lying,
the emotional tone is false and misleading, or any number of other
things.  Thus one of the most common criticisms of OOTP among adults
is that many of the characters do not act in consonance with the
emotional tones associated with them so far.  Thus Molly suddenly
seems shrill, Dumbledore bumbling, Sirius hapless, Lupin passive,
McGonagall harsh to the point of cruelty, and Hermione a harping,
unsympathetic scold.  Everyone seems "off" (even after the
explanations at the end).  I think that is very upsetting to many
adults because it rends the previously established seams between logic
and emotional tone.

Lupinlore

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