[stormy seas above the submarine of lurrrve]

[reenka]

It's only been a few days, and I'm already having HBP fandom moodswings, I think. Avoid, Reena. Avoid. And yet, so hard to constantly remain vigilant.


Okay, what I'm talking about is the unavoidable bitching about the latest canon & the renewed shipping wars and so on; I realize I've actually done some gloating myself at points, and now I sort of feel sickened of literally all ships (besides ones me & addictedkitten made up yesterday-- that's sacred) and tired already. Meh.

There's only this icon to make me feel better:
    R/Hr? If -sexual tension- was canon, Harry and Ron would be snogging by book 4. Snape and McGonagall would have four kids, and Voldemort would be -shagging Dumbledore-. Get over it.

Man. I LOVE MY FANON SHIP.
    I like subtext. As subtext.

I mean, while there are H/D vibes in the latest book, there are also Snape/Draco vibes, Harry/Snape vibes, Dumbledore/Voldemort vibes, Harry/Ron/Hermione vibes-- even Harry/Blaise & Blaise/Ginny vibes if you squint. None of these I consider to be 'really there' outside hints built upon by the reader's imagination, nothing close to being likely to happen. Just because there is subtext in the mind of a particular group of readers, it doesn't mean it's at all objective. There are many possible readings of any text, and god, I'm now tempted to make the obvious post where I show how there's nothing sexual about Harry's feelings about Draco or vice versa. Obsession doesn't have to be sexual; I mean, it often is, but even so, that connection in one's subconscious has a dramatic and storytelling use staying in the dark unconscious mind. We are driven as much by the things we're unaware of within us as the things that are obvious, that are conscious desires.

Suddenly, I kind of like the idea of all the possibilities for attraction that we never do realize within us... That's where the Oedipal stuff comes from, isn't it; it's very much what's most formative and driving within us, right?

I don't even think the archetypal roots behind Harry/Ginny (canon) and Harry/Draco (fanon) are that different; they both play on the complementary yin-yang attraction thing, but they serve different functions for Harry. I could make the case that his reactions to Draco are much more tangled up with all sorts of things he doesn't admit to himself, that's the flipside to his reaction to and attraction to the Weasleys, say. Harry can't look away from what disturbs and discomforts him. He can't look away, he has to -investigate-. He wants to figure out what Draco's doing so that he knows what to expect; so that he's not jumping at shadows even more than he is.

This is really not most people's idea of what romantic attraction feels like, in real life, so no wonder Harry doesn't want to kiss Draco in book 6 instead of Ginny. His relationship with his own repressed fears and worries and dark obsessions is much deeper, more conflicted, much much less consciously sexual.

I now know how the Remus/Sirius shippers who had people accusing them of believing it's canon feel :(( H/D is not canon :(( I like it that way :(( H/Hr was never canon either, whether or not R/Hr was; throwing a shitfit that it's not just makes me wanna never talk to another HP fan again :((

Fandom is apparently bad for my health. I should just hole up & write my poor fic (in which Draco's not a DE till after 6th year, interview canon bedamned) & dabble in Blaise/Ginny, which is omgsohot, and also indulge my newfound affection for Theodore & Zacharias (together). Man. So easy to lose sight of my priorities. Wah.
~~

On a happy note, this photo is proof every blond teenage boy that looks remotely haughty makes me think of Draco. What am I saying, every blond boy makes me think of Draco, period. ><;;



~~

EDIT - H/D really is the submarine of lurve. Wow. All my rambling for nothing.
    EDIT #2 -
...Having read this, as well as every single comment every H/Hr-er has made on the petition to JKR (...), I've decided-- who cares?

To gloat is to be human. I'm gonna gloat away, if y'all don't mind.

Comments

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Well, that's what I meant about H/G not being contradictory with H/D, since one is canon & one is fanon. Even if you put them on the same fanon playing field, I'd say they don't contradict (like R/D & H/D do, for instance), because they do serve different functions, like they were different sides of the moon or something.

[malafede.livejournal.com]

I actually find them highly contradicting, but that's a wank for another day. Why do R/D and H/D contradict? They both play on a different type of Draco, if that's what you meant. R/D is not so much with the meta, at least in my mind. Also, not so much with the hatred. It's like, two pretty ordinary guys having a beer.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

My whole point in that thing you quoted was why I don't think H/G & H/D don't contradict. One of the major reasons is that one is het & one is slash, one is canon & one is fanon. They have parallel existences, and one can easily be replaced by the other (H/G more by H/D than the other way around).
My criteria for pairing non-contradiction are:
- can they coexist in the same timeline-- in my head at least? (H/G & H/D yes)
- can the same character find both people attractive in different ways but still have some similar vein of 'type' he likes? (yes)
- do they serve different functions in storytelling? (yes)
- can the character 'grow' or show maturation in going from one pairing to another, in the way Harry grew from Cho to Ginny? (yes)
- can the character repress attraction for one while being with the other, all without realizing it? (yes)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With R/D vs. H/D, none of these work. If Draco was with Ron, it's already slash; he's already with another Gryffindor; and he's already with someone he used to really dislike/have prejudice against & vice versa. It is very hard for me to imagine he secretly wants Harry in this scenario, and while the relationship is more casual, Harry's too much like Ron for me to see going from Ron to Harry as 'progression' or 'moving on' or whatever. THus, they cannot exist in the same universe/timeline, and therefore they contradict.

[malafede.livejournal.com]

I see what you mean (I actually think that Ginny could have been replaced with Draco as far as the romance went in this book, from a certain point on -- the story arcs were kind of similar), but that wasn't my point. I just don't think the Harry who'd marry Ginny and have 20.5 Weasley babies is the same who'd fuck Draco. Who cares though, right? There's always fanfic.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think HBP -proved- the same Harry who wants to fuck Ginny is obsessed with (and plausibly enough repressing wanting to fuck) Draco. Because he -was- obsessed with Draco & going out with Ginny. It's canon.

I think this is all part of your 'normal, Gryffindor!Harry would never work with Draco'... thing, which I don't agree with & actually depresses the hell out of me. I don't even want that kind of H/D, where Harry has to fundamentally change his personality & outlook on life. It's cheating the same way fanon!nice!Draco is cheating, and makes me not ship H/D in a similar way.

If Ginny's Harry doesn't want Draco, then Harry doesn't want Draco, period, and it's time we -both- stopped writing H/D.

[malafede.livejournal.com]

Okay, you're right. I actually realised after posting; I want to think more about this.