LOLLI vs ACID--it's all about Harry (was Re: ACID POPS and Teenager Draco

[julie]

No: HPFGUIDX 157480

 
> > Sydney:
> > 
> > <snip> Snape and Harry though are the central characters of the
> > whole shebang, at least theirs is the central relationship.  It's
> > absolutely amazing to me that you don't see that this is where the
> > whole potential energy of the story is balanced.  Everything that 
is
> > left about Snape has to be about Harry, tie back into Harry, 
affect
> > Harry emotionally in some major way, force some movement out of 
Harry.
> >  The two characters are tied togther. 
> > 
> 
> Neri:
> This is probably the root of our differences. I don't see at all 
that
> Snape and Harry (the order by which you mention them is interesting)
> are the central characters. I see that Harry is the central 
character,
> with Ron and Hermione the next main characters. The story is
> frequently built to serve the development of these three characters.
> In all the other characters, their development (if at all) is mainly
> there to serve the plot and the themes. I see Snape as a secondary
> character, more important than Sirius but probably not as important 
as
> Dumbledore. And we've seen how both Sirius and Dumbledore were used
> more as plot devices than developing characters. I don't expect 
Snape
> to be different.
> 
> In terms of relationships too I don't see that the Snape-Harry
> relationship is the central relationship of the HP saga. In a saga
> like this, especially in its last installation, the main 
confrontation
> would probably be between the hero and the evil overlord, and the
> internal journey of the hero. Other conflicts are not likely to
> obscure it. I notice that we have already seen of Tom's childhood 
and
> school days more than we've seen of Snape's childhood and school 
days,
> and I suspect that Harry would meet Tom again inside himself. Same 
as
> in the climax of LotR, Frodo is left alone with faithful sidekick 
Sam
> and alter ego Gollum against the Dark Lord. No place for Aragorn or
> Gandalf there. And naturally this was changed in the movie, because
> the movie is fanon, and the fanon has rules of its own. The fans
> naturally want to see more of the sexy Aragorn and less of the 
boring
> Frodo. But it's dangerous to confuse fanon with canon. The fact that
> in the HP fanon Snape (and Draco) had become much more important 
than
> Harry has no effect on JKR.   
> 
> I'd estimate that LOLLIPOPS would tend to place Snape center stage 
in
> Book 7, practically making him the hero of the series and 
distracting
> us from Harry and his mission. OTOH I think ACID POPS is exactly the
> proper size of SHIP for a character of Snape's magnitude.
> 

Julie:
Isn't it ironic that I think LOLLIPOPS will triumph over ACIDPOPS
for the EXACT same reason you believe just the opposite--because
HARRY is the main character of the books, not Snape? As Sydney
said, everything must revolve around Harry, must affect him in
some way. Snape in love with Narcissa is totally irrelevant to
Harry and his journey, and does nothing whatsoever to illuminate 
or resolve Snape's and Harry's mutual antipathy. It's extra fodder 
that serves no real purpose, especially in Book 7, where JKR has
so much to wrap up and virtually every development will have to
count.

OTOH, Snape in love with Lily would certainly illuminate some
of Snape's antipathy toward Harry, and could easily lead to 
a resolution of the conflict between Snape and Harry--or at
least to Harry overcoming his raging hatred of Snape and 
replacing it with understanding, be it sympathy or pity. It
doesn't even matter if Snape is ESE, DDM, or OFH, or it he
loved Lily romantically from afar, considered her merely a 
friend, hatched schemes with her, promised to protect her son,
or whatever. All versions of Snape and his relationship with
Lily can lead to important revelatory moments for Harry (about
Snape, his mother, and himself). Snape and his relationship 
with Narcissa, however, leads simply to "Ho hum, who cares?"
in the midst of a story about Harry Potter.

Julie, who agrees with Sydney that Snape's relationship with
Harry will be the most important one in Book 7 in regards to
Harry's emotional development and HOW the plot plays out, not
to mention by far the most interesting one--IMO, but come on,
half the posts here wouldn't involve Snape if it wasn't so ;-)