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

[ellecain]

No: HPFGUIDX 152494

SSSusan:
> 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.
> 
<snip>
> 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?

Elyse: Oh I still love HP, although I feel I like it a lot less than 
I did before I got involved in the fandom.
I used to think that JKR's wizrding world was amazing, I liked it 
for its detail, I liked the idea of what Nora once called 
a "wainscot universe" and I wanted to go live in it, just for a 
while, a little holiday.
But since I got involved in the fandom and the overheated 
discussions about the flaws of the WW,  I dont think I would like to 
go there any more. I like the Muggle world much better.

But I still love reading the books, especially JKR's details and 
turns of phrase, the little jokes, the wordplay.
And here I have to mention my fave line in all of GoF...that comment 
of Barty Jr's : "Theres nothing I hate more than a Death Eater who 
walked free". I LOVED that. I loved it the first time and I still 
love it each time I read it. I thought Lee Jordan's commentary vey 
entertaining, and I still find it funny. I laugh at Fred and George 
still, but maybe a little less since I read the bullying posts.
And I'm still proud to hear that "Dumbledore"s man through and 
through" part as I did the first time.


> SSSusan:
> By way of an example, I'll say that for me one of the things is 
the 
> richness of the characterization.  I know many argue that Super!
> Ginny popped out of nowhere, but I still think that in many ways 
> what makes these books so fun is that the world JKR has built is 
so 
> richly detailed, that she takes the time to give us so many 
> conversations, so many snippets of day-to-day life, so much of a 
> chance to get to know these characters, so that we RECOGNIZE them, 
> feel we can anticipate some of the things they'll say & do on a 
> daily basis. (Well, not SNAPE, of course, but he's her Special 
Case 
> and too tied into the Mystery aspect of the series to count!)  
> 

Elyse: Yeah, that is primarily why I liked it so much the first time 
I read it. The wizarding world was a complete fantasy, but she made 
it real with the little character touches, the everyday jokes, the 
detail,. Her wizarding world may be a fantasy, but the people in it 
are real, or they feel real, like ordinary ones we would meet on the 
street. I dont like Super Ginny, but I did laugh at the "Oddment. 
Nitwit. Blubber. Tweak" It did seem like Dumbledore. I'm glad she 
remembered it in the funeral.
I guess I'm rambling, but what I wanted to say was this:
Although the fandom has made me dislike  a number of things about 
the series and the WW and even certain characters, like Carol, I 
stil think its infinitely more interesting than the real world. The 
characters are still, people I would like to meet. The jokes are 
still funny. And the whole experience of HP, not just the books, but 
the fandom, the movies, the ideas it brought to my attention, the 
new people I met, well, I loved it. When the 7th book comes out, I 
will say "Sic transit gloria mundi" because I enjoyed every minute 
of the Harry Potter experience.

Elyse