(no subject)

[reenka]

Haha, wish me luck!!

In my quest to write some kiddie porn for the masses, I decided I needed to reread book 1!

Good news so far (a few paragraphs in): I find it adorable!! :D

When I first saw it around '01 or so, I really hated the beginning so much I couldn't keep reading. I thought it was overly didactic, transparent, and painfully simplistic to the point that it was like nails on a blackboard. Now I realize what I took for heavy-handedness was actually dry English humor! :D! Hahaha! I'm like wait, wait... these are typical English class jokes, aren't they? D'oh!! :D

Also, news at 11: Harry is ADORABLE! :D I can't believe anyone EVER thought he was a nice sweet boy (pre-OoTP). I mean, I remembered that he wasn't, but it's just getting it fresh is still nice :D Totally sarcastic and rebellious and ever so certain of himself :D Actually, not that unusual for a boy his age, but he's still adorable. <3. Rereading the book is making it difficult to imagine porn happening, 'cause everyone 'snaps' or 'speaks crisply' or whatever, and there are Bertie Bott's Everyflavor beans and twinkly-eyed!Dumbly and.... I dunno. Snape is so ev01. <3.

Basically, yeah, I'm not sure if this'll really lead to chan!porn; what I realized was a serious issue is actually more the logistics-- I mean... it's extremely unlikely and unusual for kids to really do anything sexual with each other, forget hardcore (given I'm not writing molestation... which is really above & beyond the call of fannish love). Exploration... except can you really see Ron & Hermione 'exploring' when they're both all cats & dogs around each other, and Harry was totally flustered and "..." at even a kiss in fifth year? My favorite scenario of the ones given was definitely the Trio!smut in first year, but it's... I mean... flying pigs are more likely. Harry/Draco is more likely by far. Harry/Filch is probably easier to write with any believability (and I... am biologically incapable of transcending the need to believe in what I write on the psychological level... which is why I so respect f's abilities in that regard, but that's neither here nor there). o_0 I suppose crack is the only option :>

But anyway.

I saw a book predicting book 7 events put out by mugglenet(!) in the grocery store(!!) today :D It was only of moderate interest, except for the chapter on Draco's fate, which was absolutely infuriating and upsetting. And I'm not the Draco fangirl some of my friends are (although, that's a really high standard), but honestly. Dismissing him as 'cruel-hearted' and 'weak' and vain, etc at this late date-- what the hell. Saying he joined the DEs as if it's fact, and also that he joined the DEs because he truly Believed in the Cause, as per his father's teachings (as if it was fact). And then going on to say that of course he wouldn't join the Order (well, he was pretty hard-put to give the idea of protection much of a chance on the Tower, but that was before his back was 100% to the wall), so therefore his only option is to go on the run (since he's not 'good enough' or brave enough to be a spy), and of course anyone who'd gone on the run from the DEs before has died, so naturally Draco's a dead man. WTF??! I hate people. :/

Also the part where they said it's better for everyone if he dies because then Lucius and Narcissa become useless to Voldy(??!) because they'll be slain by grief and therefore Voldy will become an easier target(!???!). Of course, what can I expect from a book that seriously describes Harry as 'full of love'. I guess they mean his mother's love. As in, his mother's love is what will-- yet again-- defeat Voldy, because that's what Harry's full of.

Seriously, what a let down, if that does happen. Jeez. Anticlimactic much? Yeah, Harry wins because of his MOM. Again. Great. *eyeroll*

Comments

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

I think he's more sarcastic 'cause he's bitter & also, actually, he's got a more truly dark personality where he just generally distrusts people & brews on past wrongs (internalizes) and is secretly idealistic and starved for affection as a child, etc (always makes people more sarcastic too). He's also an introvert, that helps. Generally, I can see Draco as 'witty' but not in the carelessly mocking way Harry has; just read his pov in book 1, how he's constantly mocking the Dursleys and muttering things to himself-- he only barely tries to get along, whereas that's not Draco's style at all, in that he'd at least try to get them on his side or 'work with it', methinks. Harry needs sarcasm as defense mechanism even as a small boy-- I don't think Draco feels defensive in the same way, not emotionally defensive on that deep level. It's really Harry's deep defensiveness that prevents him from giving out much of the love he supposedly has & keeps him ever so needy and yet dissatisfied with people.

It really freaks me out that histrionic!Draco is currently the fanon!Draco o_0 I don't really have a problem, except that people take it sooo far & it's such a gay cliche. Draco isn't queeny, honestly, about all that over-the-topness and/or theatricality. But whatever.

It does depend on the circles & also the timeline; I stopped 'developing', fandomwise, about 2 and a half years ago :> There was a strong fanon Slytherin presence before HBP and before OoTP especially; there are also 'real' hardcore canon!Slytherin fans (which is more of a joke/insult) and the tons of fanon!Slytherin fans (which is more of a kink). I somehow, being an H/D fan, just didn't come across many people who seemed to care about canon one way or the other. ^^;;;; I wonder why :)) :P I wouldn't say many people think Gryffindors are sexy like how Draco & Snape are/were the huge sex symbols, and Bellatrix and Blaise and Tom and I suppose Sirius and a bit of Remus and Harry + Hermione on the trailing end of hotness. It's like, most people don't care about real characterization issues one way or the other, so.... :>

Of course, annoying canon!Gryffindor fans are annoying, but I was never a meta person so much as a fanfic person, which changes things too. I like Snape, am too fed up with fanon adulation of the coolness of Bella (and she was just mildly creepy & that's it in OoTP... I mean, her being seen sexually almost all the time just frustrates me with the character), and the idea of Slytherin requires a lot of isolation for me. I dislike power and the manipulation thereof (ambition, notsomuch cunning I guess), though I see how Gryffindor is also about power in a different direction (more typically heroic/acceptable at least on the ideological level 'cause it produces brutes but also heroes). I like Slytherin in a cautious way, and of course I'm attracted to it 'cause it's my animus, though so is Gryffindor in a different way (a way I own more consciously). With Slyth values, there's more distance, distrust, etc-- funny 'cause it's the 'watery' House and I empathize with the Slytherins' 'out for themselves' philosophy (as I'm certainly pretty self-centered) and I dislike the implied preachiness/pushiness of Gryffindor. I dislike both mercenary tactics (while thinking them cool) & 'heroically' self-righteous ones. Both can be taken to unsavory extremes, the knightly evangelist & the ruthless mercenary; both can be cool, obviously. I mean, it's much harder to make Hufflepuffs cool, and even there there was Cedric :>

[malafede.livejournal.com]

I think you're right about Harry except that he's not careless at all. Draco is careless unless the situation is strained. Harry's sarcasm is always loaded and always personal and I always get the impression it's the manifastation of mulling over things. To make an analogy: it's more Tyrion like than Jaime like, and Tyrion annoys me because he's never making jokes because they are funny, it's about his bitterness and resentment and teaching people a lesson. Jaime's humour is my favourite, I really adore the flippancy and when it becomes a coping mechanism but not like a counter-attack, as a way to shift focus or downplay the issue entirely. Draco is a good compromise though he's less flippant and more, well, gleeful, and slanted more around meanness. He loses bite when he's triggered actually, and he's triggered by different issues than Harry, of recognition rather than love. If Harry's humour is informed by introspection Draco is more like improv and a lack of shame and containment in translating whatever movement he has inside. Oh well I can't capture it, and I feel stupid.

No, by histrionic they didn't mean he was a drama queen, they meant this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histrionic_personality). They found it highly out of character which amused me because 1) I don't and 2) he started being written like that in response to leather pants Draco who schmoozed confidence and self-control. The post said that it overplays the feminine side and bottoming tendencies. LOL, I'm starting to think it wasn't really an unbiased post; though it's useful if anything because it allows to understand better that characterization and why I like it at least partly. Someone even said they can't see Draco as being insecure at all; I wouldn't even know how to discuss Draco with such widly different premises. Though now in light of what I/you said above it would interesting to compare Draco's brand of insecurity to Harry's.

I agree that the picture that comes out of fanfic fandom is different but the elaboration on sexuality that happens there is about Draco & Snape as much as it is about Harry. I think it's more about Harry than it is about them. Maybe in H/D specifically there's a larger interest in exploring Draco (though this doesn't mean Harry is loved less, sometimes the adoration is overwhelming) but slash fandom as a whole is pretty Harry centric. Also when it comes to porn for the sake of porn, Harry stars in a lot of fantasies.

As for the meta done in H/D... lol, it's quite sad how little people care.

Is there really all this adulation for Bellatrix? I thought that sort of adulation was all reserved for Snape.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

What I meant by 'careless' isn't really 'carefree' (ie, not a result of brooding) but rather careless -of- consequences; it's loaded, yes, but it's not like he wants to drive Mr. Dursley insane so that he'll make life even worse for Harry, say, it's just that he can't help himself (it seems like). With Harry, he'll carelessly pour oil into the fire even if-- and maybe especially if-- the situation is strained. He just can't help himself, at least until HBP. Draco's the diplomatic one when he wants to be. I suppose it could be one reason Harry & Draco's confrontations can be lopsided, if Harry's worse when he's triggered and Draco loses bite (although may get completely maddened and out of control angry). :> I wouldn't say what Harry does-- at least in the earlier books, when he's a boy-- is 'introspection', just because I don't think he's thinking about things as such. Dwelling, but not... thinking. :>

I like both Jaime & Tyrion. Jaime's more cool, obviously, whereas Tyrion's whole issue isn't that he's uncool, sorta :> It helps when you're blond and gorgeous and powerful and wealthy, feeling at ease with yourself. Tyrion doesn't, and so he is bitter and it's more like he really perceives things sharply rather than joking about them on a more surface level. I'm no saying he's all wise and everything, but he perceives more than most people he knows by far, which would make anyone bitter. For Jaime it seems like a slow rise to greater perception, basically a Hero's Journey, whereas for Tyrion it's more like a curse of perception without much power to act. So he's kind of obsessed with attaining that power and gets quite twisted by it in the end, of course. Anyway... :> He'd be more likable if he wasn't this way & his humor would be better, but then GRRM went out of his way to fuck Tyrion up but good. Basically, yeah, he's not funny 'cause at its heart, humor requires some semblance of light-heartedness :>

I dunno if Draco is diagnosably histrionic as per the DSMV, but he does have the attention-seeking behavior (if not the 'inappropriate seductiveness' at this point, haha). Well, I do think that the way I've seen 'histrionic'!Draco (and I was reacting to the stuff I'd read moreso than the word), it really does overplay the drama queenyness & femininity. It takes 'bottom' to a cliched extreme (though of course that's the nature of fanonization of any quality). I don't think he was especially histrionic in HBP (quite the opposite... well, I mean, the crying wasn't 'like that'), so it's also kinda funny they're doing it now. I can see the link to canon (which is why I said I have no problem), but the stories are kinda weak anyway, surprise surprise :> Yeah, I dunno how you could read the books-- especially HBP-- and think Draco is this uber-self-confident machine :D THOUGH THAT WOULD MAKE A GOOD CRACKFIC :D

There really is that much drool for Bella. And Regulus. Like I said, fandom has moved on and some of us haven't moved with it. Or at least, I haven't :> Regulus/Sirius is the new 'It' pairing, didn't you know? haha.

Well, yeah, Harry is up there & paired with Slytherins a lot, but Harry is like a vehicle, an approach, he's not the endpoint, the goal so to speak, more like a tool. But then there's no way of resolving this one way or the other, hahah, we'll just have to agree to be biased :D

i should just give up on spelling

[malafede.livejournal.com]

I agree about Harry&Draco, I just wanted to clarify that I didn't mean he loses his bite as in he gets less angry, I just mean he's less funny and less sharp. (Although thinking about it... in a sense he also loses his bite. I'm thinking being slapped by Hermione, told to shut it by his father, the aftermath of the ferret, the whole confrontation with Dumbledore, but it's a different trigger than I meant.) Oh, and I didn't mean rational elaboration on things from Harry's part, just introversion. Yeah, dwelling.

I get that Tyrion is unluckly and sad (how could I not? Not like the narrative insists on it or anything) but my reaction is both to him as a fictional construct, and to the fact that everyone in that book has a horrible life, and they don't all become self-righteous and they don't all have that sort of pretentious self-martyrizing inner monologue. (Except Catelyn. She's even worse than Tyrion.)

No, I think both the narcissist narrative and the histrionic narrative are useful as tools to understand him. Of course they'd both be invalid if you applied them wholesale. There are a lot of things about the histrionic complex that apply to Draco but they're not pathological, also a lot of it seems to be more clear when you take in consideration his behaviour around the people he likes. But just saying narcissist or just saying histrionic makes for cardboards. You're right that Draco in HBP had a bigger sense of purpose, and the glory makes the narcissism angle so blatant. I was telling Sistermagpie that in HBP Draco is taking control of his narrative, wanting agency. Suck on that, Lucius.

(They aren't doing it now! They have kinda stopped doing it. I guess people are still bitter, sorta like with the leather pants. But who knows really, it always seems like the things you dislike are overwhelming. I know wahwah!Harry overwhelms me.)

LOL, we are all biased. I keep composing rants about what I've dubbed as wahwah!Harry or leatherpants!Harry (which is okay with him because he's the HERO!!!!) that I don't post because they're too inflammatory and unfair.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

I was just skimming this book (http://www.amazon.com/Name-Wind-Kingkiller-Chronicle-Day/dp/075640407X) earlier in the bookstore, which is an epic fantasy vaguely in the style of GRRM's (so you might like it) except with a single pov (mostly), and the guy is a lot like Tyrion. :)) Basically self-important, wanky, pretentious, the works-- like certain university professors and fandom people :)) Not surprisingly, the author (http://www.patrickrothfuss.com/content/author.asp) looks the part :>

I think basically it's that when that sort of character is placed in a context where others are funnier/as interesting/more interesting than he is, I like him a lot more. Tyrion really is disenfranchised and ugly & blah-blah, where Kvoth just feels he is with no super-harsh impediments and a lot of bile and ambition (and growing power). In a way, it's like the Slyth archetype gone wrong :D :D :))