[the_old_crowd] Re: Whatever happened to nostalgia?

[Susan Albrecht]

Entropy:
> For many of us, the beginning of the end came with 
> The List. That's right, that "list of plots, 
> mysteries and unfinished character arcs to be 
> completed in Book Seven" posted back in October by 
> Pippin et al. It was, well, long. Very long. And we 
> began to see that the volumes of theories, 
> mysteries, hints, conspiracies, and inconsistencies 
> which we had amassed over the years could never be 
> resolved within the confines of one final book and 
> we would be, ultimately and inevitably,
disappointed.

Pippin:
> Is it unmanageable though? All Harry has to do is 
> decide, following Dumbledore's lead, that knowledge 
> of the past will lead him to the horcruxes, and 
> presto! the hunt leads us through the backstory and 
> the mysteries grow knottier as the darkness falls 
> over the wizarding world, and then Jo-style, it's 
> all resolved at breakneck speed in the last three 
> chapters, and we emerge, blinking, as day breaks on 
> the Saturday morning after release with the mother 
> of all HP hangovers.

SSSusan:
I should've known Pippin would jump on this right
away. <g> I was going to mention that Pippin's point
in beginning that list, IIRC, was to show that it *is*
a pretty manageable list, n'est-ce pas?

Also, isn't leaving *some* mystery what many members
of the fandom want?  Haven't I heard grumblings that
JKR's answered or likely to answer TOO much?  Some
people decidedly want some issues left unresolved,
some characters' inner workings and motivations, at
least to some degree, unexplained.  Some people dread
receiving too many answers.

I guess I saw the list as a pretty thorough
compilation of things which "people" want answered,
but it's not a list that EVERY person would agree s/he
wants checked off *in total*.  I know it includes
issues I don't give a shit about.  I recognize that
SOMEbody really wants to know, but it's not a list
that met some "Let's vote and only those things which
reach 80% or more in the poll of 'What Must Be
Resolved' will be included in this list" kind of
thing.

IOW, I think the list is just fun.  It's there to be a
representation of what the fandom is buzzing about, in
terms of what resolutions at least some members hope
are forthcoming.  It's fun to see what some people
care about and to compare to what each of us might be
hoping for.

So, yeah, I'm with Pippin in thinking that a LOT of it
is truly do-able, in less than 1000 words even.  And
maybe Jo'll leave a few juicy items from the list
*un*resolved purposely, which will piss off some and
thrill others.


Entropy: 
> To some extent, perhaps, we have only ourselves to 
> blame.  After years of brilliant posts regaling us 
> with in-depth analyses on all aspects of mythology, 
> symbology, astronomy, and alchemy (not to mention 
> conspiracy theories of positively labyrinthine 
> proportions) well, JKR's children's books seem to 
> pale by comparison.
<snip>
> So, maybe Kneasy is right. Maybe this general 
> disinterest is just a symptom of growing up and 
> growing older. But perhaps it is something 
> more.  Perhaps we see the promise of the early books

> fading away under the weight of thousands of hours 
> of meticulously written analyses and brilliantly 
> surmised conclusions. Maybe we've just been 
> too smart for our own good.

SSSusan:
Well.  Yes.  But.  Do we really have Jo to blame,
then?  She started a series of books, which provided
loads of fodder for what you've just mentioned,
Entropy:  "conspiracy theories of labyrinthine
proportions" (love that phrase),  brilliant analyses,
incredibly-detailed solutions to mysteries.   There
was ROOM for that through the first three or four or
even five books.  And some pretty amazing people with
pretty amazing abilities and insights and creativity
had several field days with all of that.

But Jo has always known where she is going with this.
She's always known the wide open field of
possibilities was going to narrow down to the final
path she's selected.  Does it make her a lesser author
or a disappointment as an author because this has
happened?  Shouldn't we fans have KNOWN it was coming,
all the time we were playing at the start?  How could
it not have come?

I understand those (as I see them) separate complaints
about what's happened in Q&As and on JKR's website,
and I can more appreciate those who're annoyed by
those "slap downs" of some theories.  OTOH, there are
those who have laughed off the discovery that their
pet theory ain't gonna come to fruition and have moved
on to something else.  I maintain that there are
likely also some who've actually appreciated knowing
it was time to give up on a particular theory & move
on to something else.

YES, the discussions at Main (and in other places, I'm
sure) are repetitious, tedious even, because there's
so much less to focus on, so much less available to
speculation, but wasn't that pretty much inevitable?  

I guess the issue, though, is whether *where* Jo is
going pales in comparison to where some of the more
brilliant predictions or theories proposed that we
might go.  I can't imagine that there would be some
universal standard of "She's let us down" out there
among, for instance, the adult fans vs. the teen fans
or the child fans.  It's all personal preference,
isn't it?  So some people had a blast thinking up
possibilities and maybe they happen to still think
their own ideas were more creative or satisfying than
where JKR seems to be going.  Well, there are others
who seem to be quite satisfied with the possibilities
still open to us.

I guess to me the answer boils down to personal
preference, not to whether some "standard" of literary
greatness has been met or not.  Many won't like where
this ends, but for some that may be a function of time
spent with the series. Are people just tired of it,
ready to move on? Is it disappointment over where the
author moved it all?  OTOH, there are others who I am
guessing will still love the whole shebang when it's
over and will, while perhaps harboring small
resentments for X or Y, still be satisfied and happy
to have hung around for the whole ride.

Siriusly Snapey Susan