A Look Back was Re: 'Clue to his vulnerability' (Coming to a conclusion )

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "Parker Brown Nesbit" <pbnesbit at m...> wrote:
> Kathy wrote:
> 
> 
> >What I hear several of you saying (yeah, I studied a bit of
> >psychiatry) is that "the books are beginning to lose some of their
> >sparkle; things aren't going quite the way you had expected; is that
> >all there is?"
> >
> >Clarify something for me though, what first brought you into the
> >books? Not, why did you start reading them, but what captured you and
> >started you on this time consuming hobby of Harry Potter and the...
> >What about the story really got your attention? And then, what
> >changed?
> 
> I'd like to know this too, Kathy.  I'm hearing a *lot* of dissatisfation 
> from certain quarters (I won't name names, but you know who you are ;) ).   
> I'm wondering then, why read the books at all, if you don't like them?


OK. I'll come clean, but you probably won't be impressed. More likely 
images of lepers will spring to mind, an untouchable polluting the well-
spring of pure fandom. Ah, well, such is life.
 
For sure it wasn't because I'm enamoured of tales of adolescents waving 
bits of wood around. Nor was it an addiction to the fantasy genre per se.
The fascinating aspect of HP was that it was a work in progress, and a work
that looked detailed and complicated, that it was unfinished, thus offering 
an opportunity to let my imagination off the leash. If it were a finished work
then I'd not be here. I'd probably read the books once and then leave them
on the shelf. 
Let's face it - great literature they ain't.

A reversion to childhood perhaps. Dunno about over the water but years 
ago back here there was what was known as the 'Saturday morning tanner 
rush'. The ABC cinema chain (maybe others as well) used to have children's 
matinees on Saturday mornings - kids only, usually in the 7-10 age bracket,
no adults, sixpence (a tanner) to get in. The programme was a couple of
cartoons and a load of old serials - and they were old even in the early 50s
when I was a participating afficianado. 'Participating' is the correct word,
'cos  the place often became a seething mass of irrepressible youth as
sword fights were re-enacted in the aisles, invasion by robots was 
re-interpreted on the balcony, the orchestra pit became a pirate ship that
just had to be boarded and generalised mayhem erupted every
time Gene Autry unslung his guitar and sang something 'soppy' to Dale
whatsername. Wonderful, it was. Quite spoiled the fun when the manager
(in a threadbare evening dress suit) used to stop the film, at least 3 times
in the 2 hours the prog lasted, and threaten dire consequences if we didn't
behave. Usually effective for at least 5 minutes.

Thing is, at that time almost no-one had a TV, and even if they did there
wasn't much to attract or involve a 10 year old.  But those serials! They
keep us going until the following Saturday -  revising, interpreting,
imagining where they would go next. So in the school playground it was
"Pretend I'm Flash Gordon and you're a Clay Man disguised as the wall of
the tunnel, and I've got this ray gun and...." What we'd seen was merely
a starting point for imaginative games. It didn't matter that what we 
constructed during those games was never going to happen come Saturday.
That wasn't the point. The extant characters and plot-lines were no more
than templates to be manipulated. SFAIC HP is a long drawn-out serial,
just like those films from long ago. To help the illusion along, there's still
bugger-all worth watching on the TV.

So Harry is mis-treated? So what? That's scene setting, putting the character
in context, nothing more. Snape is nasty? Splendid! Lots of potential there.
All grist to the mill. And what comes out of the mill is the equivalent of
those playground games.

One thing about those old serials - the villain always got his come-uppance
at the hands of the hero and usually in a satisfyingly violent showdown. 
Nicely cathartic. An ending such as some, particularly on TOL advocate,
of Harry not sullying his soul by stooping to violent revenge would have
caused a riot that not even the manager could have quelled. I imagine that
those fans getting twitchy about whether the up-coming resolution will
meet expectations are those that would have stormed the ticket-office
back then if Ming the Merciless, plus minions, didn't eventually get their 
retributive desserts.

It's fair to say that I've never taken HP seriously and can't see any reason
why I should. Nor has any emotional involvement ever marred my musings
of what has/is/will happen. Others react differently. That's up to them, I
won't try to force them to accept my viewpoint so long as they don't try
to impose theirs on me. I'm not a great fan of interpretative orthodoxy,
it's the differences between posted opinions that makes them interesting,
not the conformities.

Meantime, I'll continue playing my imaginative games.
Sorry if they displease you, but you can always skip over the Kneasy posts
if they get unbearable. It won't hurt my feelings, honest.

Kneasy