(reading as children)

I was reading fandom_wank out of sheer masochism again, and for the first time like, ever, someone said something that made me think, and not in the 'wtfeth??!' sort of way which has so tired me.
   Basically, this is a tangent as to whether one could classify the HP books as children's books, and what that might mean. I have never really had a solid opinion on whether they are or not-- I can be convinced either way, and there's a quote that implies JKR does find them to be children's books, dark and increasingly muddled with adult elements though they are, though before I thought she said she wrote them without an audience in mind.

That isn't what's interesting, though. Then white_serpent said,
    Beginning with book 4, though, the characters are older, and we expect more of the world surrounding them. But we don't get it. It's the same world which works on some levels and is gosh-wow! magic on others. It's the "gosh-wow! magic" bits that cause the problems. Healing magic? Mind/memory magic? These are neat conveniences, but they have wider implications that one can only conclude Rowling has not pondered.

To make them work, you need to read the books as you read when you're a child-- just accept the world for what it is. Accept the characters are supposed to be likeable because the book tells you they are. The instant I start applying critical thought to any of those factors, they fall apart.
    And something just clicked in my head-- why the deconstructive (rather than just speculative) type of HP meta itself has dissatisfied me for so long, and that's just it: it messes with the ability (or desire) to read as children and thus to have the story -or- the HP world itself really -work- in one's mind to its fullest capacity. And this is regardless of whether they're children's books or not.

( Possibly... )

~~

Also, I'm really starting to feel... like maybe there's a connection between liking strong, brave, intelligent girls as heroines (often dismissed by fandom because they're 'too perfect' and 'unrealistic' and Mary Sue-ish), and reading 'as a child'-- that is, looking up in some way, admiring, thinking of the glorious future when you could have adventures and be everything you ever wanted to be.

I still love characters like that, of course, and I don't think I always read blindly-- I just happen to love strong, self-possessed (bitchy also helps) women characters. I always liked heroes of all sorts, and since I definitely identified with being a girl, I looked for girls to admire and identify with, and there weren't a lot. When I grew older, it took more and more to make me really admire someone, I guess, but a part of me... is still willing to be wowed by fiery girls, in real life or in stories. Even when I got older, I don't think I really stopped looking for the truth in everything too good to be true.