I'm presenting "Snape's Appeal in Canon: Severus, Meet Sherlock" at this fall's Harry Potter Symposium in Salem!!!

[unicorn_72]

No: HPFGUIDX 130801

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "vivienne_davalon" 
<vivienne_davalon at y...> wrote:
<snipped>

> 
> 1) The paper I am presenting is called "Snape's Appeal in Canon: 
> Severus, Meet Sherlock"  and the summary follows:


KarentheUnicorn's Reply:

I personally have never read the Sherlock Holmes stories, Generally 
I have only seem the potrail in tv movies and the like. In most of 
the movies I've ever watched related to Holes they make him out to 
be a hero. I'm sure you can also compare this to how Snape is shown 
in Fanon, and also in the HP movies to a degree.

I have not read a lot of fanfic's to be able to like Snape from 
Fanon, so, my regard for the character has come from the book's and 
the movie, but mostly from the books since, their are only 3 movies 
so far and I've read all five books.

I personally have a list of some reason Snape may be appealing, feel 
free to use them if they appeal to you :-)

To some people it is the mystery, they don't know much about him so, 
they crave and imagine what they do not know.

In reading OOTP, some are much like Harry, they are feeling a bit 
sorry for Snape, maybe even now have sympathy for him in a way they 
never did before.

For some who may have had similar experiences in school with being 
bullied, or were deamed "The little oddball", they might even see a 
little bit of themself in Snape.

For the adults fans who may have, shall we say, a sarcastic wit 
about them, well, nothing beats a smart ass, now does it.

For some, it is hard to know which side he is on, but to some he is 
trying to do the right thing, despite his unfriendly personality, 
and their is a certain nobility in doing the right thing, even if 
you hate it.

For some, dealing with a school full of teenagers is enough to pull 
out your hair, add in the little fact of teenagers with magical 
abilites that can kill you, and lets just say, one might totally 
understand why he's such a git.

Another reason is, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, some fans 
tend to read what Harry is thinking about Snape, and take it with a 
grain of salt, one would not think teenagers would describe their 
least likeable teacher as: he looks ok, or his looks are normal, one 
would assume any young teenage boy would pick out the worst 
qualities and amplify them to suit their own idea of the person.

Another reason some like him, he appears to be single, nothing says 
attractive to a female like: single, mysterious, a bit of a bad boy, 
a little sad and lonely, and powerful. It doesn't matter what he 
looks like in this case, he's exciting simply because of those fact.

Also, their are not so many adult characters in the book with a 
major role, who are the adult fans supposed like, everyone's not 
going to like the same thing in a character, is their not room for 
everyone to like their favorite character for whatever reason, 
without getting their opinions squashed just because one doesn't 
agree, or do we have th change the characters just to suit our own 
needs, can't the character be what it is, just how it is..oh wait, 
this is the internet isn't it...darn.

Another reason, Vampire folk. I hope some of you don't get offended 
by this comment, but some Vampire lovers and Gothic types have 
turned him into their posterchild. Some protest with much anger at 
you when you tell them you don't think Snape is a vampire, talk 
about biting your head off! I am personally one who hope he is not a 
vampire, simply for the fact, the whole vampire thing is just...too 
overdone now adays in my opinion. It seems Snape being a darn wizard 
is not enough for some, he has to be a vampire also....sorry, I'm 
ranting now, but anyway, for me personally, if JKR turns Snape into 
a vampire, I will be sourly disapointed.

OK, to go along with that theory, another of my own personal 
feelings/opinions. Some want to turn Snape into, well fanon. It 
seems to me, if one wanted a knight in shinning armor, one would 
write another novel about another character, and not Snape. If one 
wants a Snarky wizard, then write him Snarky, not loveiedoveie. Some 
can write Snape very well, and also make him acceptable, even if 
they are giving him a romatic role, or giving him a love of his own, 
or making him fall in love, or, have him doing something nice, like 
saving a puppy..whatever...etc etc. But, and this is a big but, when 
Snape turns into a puppy himself and is spouting love sonnets, or is 
totally out of character...I'm sorry...for whatever reason, I 
personally don't want his character to change that much.

Making the character perfect is not an option for me. I do remember 
JKR answering a question and saying something along the lines 
of "I've made the perfect little hero"(not sure if thats exact)but, 
She was speaking about Harry, and it was in reply to a Snape 
question I believe. To me, perfect isn't easy, and, in all honesty, 
I do not want perfect anymore, in life, or from characters in books. 
One would also see that JKR did not make Harry perfect, maybe 
a "perfect hero", but not perfect. So, why would Snape himself have 
to live up to perfection and no other character has in the book. It 
is easy to dismiss it, and say well Snape should do XYZ because he 
should just get over things. But, noone yet knows his whole story, 
its like judging someone you hardly know and saying, that person is 
stuckup, just because said person may not speak to you, maybe they 
are shy, maybe they are very quiet and don't talk much. Perhaps you 
are in high opinion of yourself and think everyone should speak to 
you...hum...sorry, I went into Snape mode their. But, I myself have 
found people to be easy to judge, and not very quick to forgive or 
give up their opinions about people or characters. So I personally 
see a lot of Snape in the fans who clame to hate Snape...go figure.

OK, so, their are some reasons I think folks like the Canon Snape, 
and a couple of my own person thoughs thrown in for salting. Feel 
free to use any you like to prove the case that some folks do like 
book Snape, cause not everyone reads fanon religiously.


KarentheUnicorn