The List update

[cubfanbudwoman]

Kneasy: 
> Perhaps I'm being too demanding in my expectations. OK, that has 
> always been a possibility. Maybe I'll end up disappointed with the
> resolution - that's always been a real possibility too. But can't 
> this disappointment be postponed until the last book is published? 
> Then I can vanish muttering into the sunset, but at least be able 
> to reflect that the pointless theorising had been fun while it 
> lasted. It seems to me that the ground is being laid (for the 
> inevitable let down for some?) by administering  the 
> disillusionment in small doses in advance - "Don't concern yourself 
> with that, and this means nothing and yes, you're right about that -
>  ooh! aren't you clever!" 
> 
> Doubleplusungood. 
> Not only do I not want to know what's coming, I don't want to know 
> what isn't coming either. Each is as bad as the other IMO.


SSSusan:
This is what I tried to get at in a post 10 or so days ago:

>>>Anyhoo... for right or for wrong, I think the BIG revelations 
she's dropping -- the theory-stopping types -- she's doing because 
she either wants to help us along or because she wants to avoid huge 
segments of pissed-off fans at the end.  I mean, think about it. 
EITHER she leaves it all under wraps -- thereby ensuring the Kneasys 
among us can have loads of fun by virtue of a gazillion open 
possibilities -- OR she shuts down a few possibilities to help guide 
us to "more fruitful lines of inquiry."  WHY would she do the latter 
at the risk of pissing off those who really don't want to have their 
possibilities limited, thankyouverymuch?

I think she might because she also knows that to NOT shut down any 
possibilities might mean big disappointments for that OTHER group of 
fans which is inclined to be royally pissed that they spent hours & 
hours & hours of their time developing, crafting, arguing & defending 
their theories... only to find out not only were they wrong, JKR 
didn't even *address* their pet topic. Sure, you can blame these 
folks for not just looking at it all as the fun of the game, for
getting "overly invested," but can you not also see their annoyance 
when perhaps a simple sentence or two dropped by JKR along the way 
would've let them know that *that* one isn't going to be a big issue 
in the story?

This is how I took her remark about DROOBLES & the Longbottoms. I'm 
sure JKR knew many fans were really into the possibility that the gum 
wrappers were a huge secret, a major clue to something that was going 
to happen. Maybe she felt the time had come to let them down NOW? 
Maybe it's a disappointment... but wouldn't it be easier to adjust to 
NOW, rather than waiting 'til the end and THEN going, "WTF?!? She 
didn't even MENTION the gum wrappers!!"<<<<<


When I wrote that, it seemed the only response I got (though maybe I 
misread) was that this WASN'T really what she was doing (or at least 
that she wasn't doing so out of a sense of concern for her fans).  
But, in fact, I still do think this IS what she's doing, because I 
can't really see any other explanation for why she'd be engaging in 
the behavior of shutting down some possibilities or encouraging 
others, other than that she IS trying to minimize the huge 
disappointments she envisions coming at the end if she doesn't.

You have absolutely, positively every right in the world to be pissed 
that she's doing this, because you happen to be one of the ones who 
likes to tinker & to imagine possibilities -- a FULL range of 
possibilities.  For myself, I haven't quite decided how I feel about 
the revelations.  Being hungry for new tidbits, I tend to get excited 
about new information, but also having been someone who's managed 
(not from some *talent* of mine, but simply by virtue of the way I 
tend to read her) to have gotten pretty much what I'd hoped to get 
from JKR so far, I don't worry so much about Major Disappointments.  
And so I do think JKR could cool it with some of the debunking side 
of things at least.  (But, dang, some of those H/H Shipper people 
WERE really *scary* in their reactions after HBP!!!)

By way of example, at first after HBP, I'd hoped JKR would come out 
with SOMETHING in an interview or on her site which would help us get 
a read on which side of the ESE!Snape/OFH!Snape/DDM!Snape debate is 
on the right track.  But now, truth be told, the only reason I'd be 
glad for any "help" from JKR there is that it might SHUT PEOPLE THE 
F*** UP ABOUT SNAPE for awhile!  (Sigh. I do get so tired of 90% of 
posts being about Snape!)  Other than that, as "painful" as it'll be 
to wait 'til Book 7 is here, I think it'd be more fun to have her 
leave it all open 'til we get what we get.  So I suppose I'm more in 
agreement with you than disagreement with you, Kneasy.  It's just 
that I'm less worried about what we're going to get in the end.

And speaking of getting what we get, I'm still fairly confident about 
what I'm going to get.  I've been holding out since OotP for a 
conclusion which is "elegantly simple," and I still have faith JKR 
can pull that off.  Something which will be stunning and profound in 
its way and yet will still elegantly simple.  I think she can do it.  
Yeah, I was surprised by some of the things which didn't get 
addressed in HBP [SPEW (thank God!), Neville's development, etc.], 
and I see some of the places where people are frustrated by plot 
holes, but I'm not one of those fans who's horribly worried about the 
possibility of an ending which totally disappoints.


Siriusly Snapey Susan