Hey, what about passionate emotional dislike? Frankly, I think most of the people who are down on HP within the HP fandom are of those sorts. Those who dislike the books as readers rather than fans are by definition not in the fandom. As I am not. A truly rational person would say that HP sucks, so why don't we talk about something we actually care about?
Also, I don't believe in rationality v. emotion, but in different values in fiction, and degrees of explanation. They are two sides of the same coin and you can express the same objection "why it didn't work for me" in either way. The difference is, if you express it in an analytical fashion, then you can make it intelligible to those who are not like you. "Rational analysis" (whatever the heck that is... ) is not necessarily negative, IMHO.
People can write reasoned analyses why "book A is great" and "why book A sucks ass" and both can fall under the category of "analysis," just as people can write emotional rants and raves saying book A is great/sucky. So in other words, it's not only a so called "rationalist" who must understand the different standpoints of other readers. I don't think either group has a monopoly on not understanding other viewpoints. In fact, to my point of view, many of the gaps in fandoms cannot be explained as 'reason/emotion,' because in the same group, I often see some people making emotional appeals and others writing reasoned responses, and they're both on the same side.
I think many of these gaps you're talking about can really be expressed as fanon v. canon, and the pro-fanon, extreme-reader-response one can be a rationalist one.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-09-16 09:31 am (UTC)Also, I don't believe in rationality v. emotion, but in different values in fiction, and degrees of explanation. They are two sides of the same coin and you can express the same objection "why it didn't work for me" in either way. The difference is, if you express it in an analytical fashion, then you can make it intelligible to those who are not like you. "Rational analysis" (whatever the heck that is... ) is not necessarily negative, IMHO.
People can write reasoned analyses why "book A is great" and "why book A sucks ass" and both can fall under the category of "analysis," just as people can write emotional rants and raves saying book A is great/sucky. So in other words, it's not only a so called "rationalist" who must understand the different standpoints of other readers. I don't think either group has a monopoly on not understanding other viewpoints. In fact, to my point of view, many of the gaps in fandoms cannot be explained as 'reason/emotion,' because in the same group, I often see some people making emotional appeals and others writing reasoned responses, and they're both on the same side.
I think many of these gaps you're talking about can really be expressed as fanon v. canon, and the pro-fanon, extreme-reader-response one can be a rationalist one.