Why down on all the characters?

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 179325

Jim:
> Either way, it's not pleasant reading these days. Before there was
> always some interesting theory or insight being played with between
> posts; surely we have not run out of ideas spawned by the incredibly
> rich world JKR created."
> 
> I believe it's at least partly the times we live in. A reflection of
> this is `gotcha' journalism, where the flaws everyone has are picked
> like scabs. It's a kind of nihilism. The essential fact of the story
> is that Harry, Dumbledore, Hermione, Ron, Neville and all the rest got
> the mission done. It wasn't always pretty and never perfect but that's
> how great things are. People who get things done understand that. 

Magpie:
That sounds like a bit of a stretch, connecting people not liking a 
book about wizards to gotcha journalism or looking for flaws.

I think it's a lot more simple. When people read fiction they like or 
dislike the characters. This isn't real life, so you don't have to 
really respect the person for saving the world or whatever--of course 
they saved the world. It's fiction. They were created to be the ones to 
be able to do that. (DH especially shows this imo.) But if people don't 
like the characters as characters, they say so.

Were the characters that much more well-loved pre-DH? Because I've 
always heard people saying they dislike aspects of the characters. It 
seems like the difference now, if anything, is maybe that now people 
know this is how they characters are going to stay and what they 
ultimately mean. They might have been expecting more of a turnaround. 
One thing I would say for me is that while there were a few characters 
in DH I thought less of after the book, and many that I felt basically 
the same about, there weren't any I liked better, particularly, post-
DH. Maybe Ginny didn't annoy me as much because she was dialed down, 
and I found Dumbledore's backstory fairly interesting. But in the end 
this isn't a book full of "beloved characters" for me. Though it never 
was, so it wasn't a big fall for me. I maybe thought I'd like people 
better. But I would never say that as a rule I seek out flaws in 
characters. I don't. These books just are more full of flaws for me 
than things to admire.

-m