What's fun about the HPs? (was: Request for new topics)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 152462

SSSusan wrote:
> You know, I've recently been bemoaning the fact, offlist to a couple 
> of folks, that there seems to be a tendency to focus a LOT on real 
> life morality when we discuss the Potterverse these days.  That's 
> not always a bad thing... it's certainly natural to draw parallels 
> to the life we lead... but sometimes it almost seems like we just 
> can't have FUN with the books and characters, can't JOSH about 
> things, without a RL "standard" or "judgment" being handed down.  
<snip>
> 
> I mean, would anyone dare suggest Snape is sexy here?  Come on, tell 
> the truth!  Would anyone??  And I don't mean Rickman!Snape either.  
> It *has* been done here before, you know, people talking about Snape 
> being sexy and why....

Carol responds:
Without going into detail here, I think there *is* something sexy
about Snape, certainly something compelling for certain female readers
(not all, obviously!). I think in part it's the elements of the hero
of a gothic romance--the mystery, the dressing in black, the sweeping
black cloak--and in part the sheer intellect and power. (I sensed from
the very first book, and particularly after he made a fool of Lockhart
in the duelling club chapter of CoS, that he was much more skilled and
talented than he appeared to Harry, a judgment borne out by the
Wolfsbane Potion in PoA, the number of hexes he knew before he even
came to school (GoF), the revelation in OoP that he's a "superb
Occlumens," and all the invented spells, potions shortcuts, healing
powers, Legilimency, nonverbal spells, and duelling skills revealed in
HBP. His voice, often soft and sometimes "dangerous," his sarcasm
(yes, it can be cruel, but it's often clever, much more so than the
insults that other characters use on each other), his unSlytherinlike
courage in, for example, revealing his Dark Mark to the recalcitrant
Fudge, the poetry of some of his speeches--all of those things cause
the (female) reader who likes Snape, or is at least fascinated by him
and leaning toward a DDM! position, to overlook details like yellow
teeth and greasy hair (shared by Sirius Black in PoA) and to focus on
things like his long-fingered hands (shared by Dumbledore and
Voldemort and possibly an indication of magical power), the curtains
of black hair (minus the grease), the inscrutable expression, and so
on. Clearly Narcissa--proud, rich, beautiful, pureblood Narcissa--
doesn't consider him repellant in HBP, shedding tears on his chest,
putting her face close to hers, seizing her hand in both of his and
kissing it. Now, granted, she's distraught and she regards him as her
only hope, but I can't see her doing those things if he looked like
Mad-Eye Moody, or for that matter, Dolohov. Also, Snape is young for
an adult character (oddly, JKR refers to Lupin, who is the same age as
Snape, as "quite young" in both PoA and OoP but never does so with
Snape). He is in his prime, apparently in superb physical condition
(probably from all the stair-climbing as he prowls the halls at
night)--an intelligent, powerful, gifted, and mysterious young man. If
Bill, with his scarred face, can still be sexy, why not the hook-nosed
Snape, who is only described as "greasy" from the PoV of Harry and
others who hate him? He also has some of the appeal of the
"misunderstood" hero shared by Sirius Black. Whether that particular
attraction will be undermined or reinforced by Book 7 remains to be seen.

SSS: 
> But more to the point, I suppose, in listening to some folks talking 
> about HP and the online forums, it struck me that a lot of people 
> don't seem to write about the FUN they find in the books, the JOY of 
> Harry Potter or JKR's world.
> 
> So how 'bout it?  
> 
> Am I truly in a small minority of people who still really LIKES the 
> Potterverse? still guffaws at some of JKR's clever turns of phrase? 
> still marvels at her creativity? still shakes her head that this 
> writer can have us arguing after SIX books about whether a character 
> is evil, good, neither or both? 

Carol:
Just briefly here, I like the moments of humor that seem to spring out
of nowhere. For some reason, I found Fred's "Shut up, Weatherby" (GoF)
hilarious the first time I read it, and I love Luna's lunacy (not so
much her imaginary creatures and ailments--I can take or leave Nargles
and Loser's Lurgy--but her outrageous theories and unexpected
perspective, my favorite being the Rotfang Conspiracy to bring down
the MoM through a combination of Dark magic and gum disease. And
Hermione, the daughter of two dentists, missed out on that one!
> 
SSS:
> Am I in a small minority of people who still actually LIKES Harry 
> himself?  

Carol:
I can't speak for anyone else, but I like Harry most of the time, even
though I think he's (quite understandably) mistaken about Snape, and I
worry when he's tempted by Unforgiveable Curses, particularly Crucio.
He's suffered that excruciating pain himself at least three times that
I can recall. How can he even think of inflicting it on someone else,
no matter how much he hates them? That way madness lies, if Barty Jr.
is any indication.

SSS: 
> How 'bout we -- without succumbing to a series of just one-liners -- 
> talk about what we LOVE about the books? what we find FUN about 
> them, even after all this time? <snipped remarks on characterization>

Carol:
I agree with you that characterization is one of JKR's skills. Most of
her characters are memorable and consistent. Snape, love him or hate
him, is "a gift of a character" that most of us won't soon forget. Ron
and Hermione, despite their flaws, are very human and recognizable
characters. Neville is just lovable, and his growth from the first
book to the fifth (we don't see much of him in the sixth) is
admirable. His confrontation with Bellatrix in the MoM brings tears to
my eyes. And the death of Cedric, the ultimate Hufflepuff, loyal and
sportsmanlike and kind and brave, makes me cry every time I read it.
My heart breaks for his parents, especially his mother, whose loss is
so deep, so devastating, so irreparable, that she can't even weep for him.

Some people would say that plotting is her biggest strength, and
certainly she can drop clues and red herrings and withhold information
to keep us reading and wondering, but we don't go back to the first
five books for the mystery plot, and the mysteries in HBP are
compounded, not resolved. Now, yes, we want to read Book 7 to find out
what happens, to get answers to our questions, to feel a sense of
resolution instead of nagging anxiety for the fate of our favorite
characters, but barring a solution so unsatisfactory to a particular
reader that he or she wants nothing more than to dump the entire
series in the nearest recycle bin, we won't go back for the events,
even those that still make our hearts beat with fear even when we know
what's going to happen (to the extent that Harry knows and understands
it). I go back to the books *now* looking for clues and trying to
figure out meaning and motivation, but that won't be the main reason I
go back once the final book is out, even if JKR leaves some questions
unanswered and some issues unresolved or open-ended.

I can't speak for anyone else, but if I come back after the seventh
book, satisfied that she's given a plausible explanation for Snape and
has not violated what I consider to be the moral integrity of her
world by having Harry kill Voldemort with an Unforgiveable Curse, it
will be to return to the company of people I love, despite all the
faults and frailities that make them so real, to laugh and cry with
them, to share their world, which for all its violence and prejudice
and inadequate lighting, is in many ways a more interesting place than
the mundane world I live in, with its unpaid bills and computer
problems and irascible, demanding, semiliterate clients.

I think that's the answer, really. I love the world that JKR created,
and like Harry, I'd rather be at Hogwarts than at Privet Drive. It's a
magical world, and when I read the books or think about the
characters, I believe in it and them, "the willing suspension of
disbelief that constitues poetic faith."

Carol, who answered these questions without a clue as to where they
would take her