Appeal of the story to the reader/ some stuff from A Few Good Men

[va32h]

No: HPFGUIDX 175597

To sum up"

> > houyhnhnm:
> > There *is* something mean spirited in the books. The stories 
> > appeal to the mean in readers and for some they are not nearly
> > mean enough, as we have ample evidence.
> > 

Then Montavilla47:
> > I don't want to put words in houyhnhnm's mouth, but I do
> > agree that there is a certain amount of mean-spiritedness.
> > Not as much as Roald Dahl, perhaps, but a bit.
> <SNIP of the examples, go UPTHREAD to read them>
> > I may not have gotten them all, considering other, 
> > similar moments to be merely amusing, or poetic 
> > justice or whatever.  And some of the moments I 
> > mention above will not strike all readers as mean--
> > but may be, to others, merely amusing, poetic 
> > justice or whatever.

Then Alla:
> 
> That's the thing though. NOT all readers would consider those 
moments 
> mean. Some will consider them **just** and to me it is a huge 
> difference, you know?

va32h:

I think the huge difference is what side of the conflict you happen 
to be on. If you are Draco's allies, then yes, turning him into a 
slug (or a ferret, or punching him in the nose) is mean.

I doubt Umbridge has any fans in the HP universe or in the reader 
universe, but if she did, I'm sure they would consider throwing her 
into a nest of centaurs and then triggering her PTSD by mimicking 
hoofbeats to be terribly mean. 

Now I happen to loathe Umbridge, so I don't care if it is mean to 
torment her, she deserves it. And I think that's what houyhnhm was 
getting at. JKR creates these detestable characters who do despicable 
things, and then lets her audience have the vicarious thrill of 
glorying in their richly deserved comeuppance. 

We don't get to do this in real life. If we try, we usually end up in 
a great deal of trouble. 

I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about the people in real life 
who break the rules or are otherwise just nasty, and always "get 
away" with it. My personal grudge is people who park in no parking 
zones. Every weekday morning from August to May, I sit in a long line 
of cars, waiting to drop my children off at school. Even though this 
is a clearly marked "no parking" zone, and even though a dozen 
letters about this issue go home every year, there are always those 
parents who insist on parking in the drop off lane, and walking their 
child into the school, because heaven forbid little Johnny try to 
maneuver his way 20 feet in a straight line from the curb to the 
front door all by his precious little own self. 

So I creep along in this long line of cars, wasting gas, trying not 
to hit the children who are now running loose in the parking lot 
because their parents can't afford to waste time waiting in the 
dropoff line because they have to go to work so they just let the 
kids out in the middle of the street. 

Sometimes I am positioned directly behind the person whose selfish, 
entitled attitude has caused all this mess. And I fantasize about 
ramming into the back of her car, backing it up, and doing it again 
and again until I have reduced it to a hulk of steaming metal. And in 
my fantasy, each blow is accompanied by a chant that is echoed by all 
the other parents who know exactly how I feel. "DO-NOT-PARK-IN-THE-
DROP-OFF-LANE!"

But of course I would never do such a thing. I'm not a mean person at 
heart. I'm just a human person, who is able to release my human 
frustrations through my imagination. And through reading books in 
which other nasty people do indeed get what they deserve. 

va32h