#hp fandom commentary

[pangaeaseas]

theres a certain brand of fanon Sirius that thank fucking god seems to have gone extinct but can still be found in older fics and ohhhh I'm glad it's died out the version of Sirius that likes or nothing but jokes, cracks jokes in wildly inappropriate situations, does stupid things constantly for the bit, is reckless for the sake of 'pranks', seriously defines himself as a prankster as an adult, and all around lacks canon sirius's maturity, emotional intelligence, and sense of humor that's more witty than this version would be capable of. and its so clearly like not in the books at all but for a while THIS monstrosity was Sirius in people's heads because it was based off of fanfiction like it really is crazy how fandom can create OCs that just define a character....

[pangaeaseas]

the thing about HP that makes it so endlessly compelling and the heart of such a big immense fandom is that there's things in it that are good and there's things that are good without the author realizing it and there's her horrible views in it too and there's things that could be good but aren't actually done and there's things that are just bad but the skin is compelling is has the proverbial good bones--and that leads to the impulse to fix it by actually exploring what jkr doesn't. like out of all the fandoms ive been in hp is probably the most striking where its fic is truly amazing and incredibly creative and yet the series itself is like fine. it is a great spur of ideas, not so much great in itself....it contains multitudes in its fic because it has enough jumping off points where you can go anywhere in fic, but the series is pretty standard hero's journey with a basic urban fantasy backdrop that isn't heavy on the 'real world' part at all but fic writers occasionally go in the real world direction really well and more often go into the fantasy part in a more worked out way than JKR, which can often work very well.

[pangaeaseas]

one interesting thing i've noticed is that JKR's terminology changes a LOT over the course of the series as she does worldbuilding between the books. rn i'm thinking of the phrase 'Dark Side' which is in common parlance for the first four books to describe Voldemort's followers, from characters as diverse as Ron and Hagrid. It's also a phrase that launched a thousand 'Dark/Light magic is a real thing and Dark Magic is oppressed' fics despite being pretty clearly jettisoned after book 4. And why is it jettisoned? Well, the term 'Death Eaters' is introduced in book 4, as is the Dark Mark. There's even a helpful conversation where Harry gets the term Death Eater explained to him by Bill Weasley. So it seems like when JKR needed to develop Voldemort's followers more after having left them as vague background except for when plot-relevant for the first few books due to Voldemort's return, she also introduced a new term for them. Death Eaters takes over from Dark Side--it's also a much more specific term that refers to people who have the Dark Mark as opposed to just 'followers and sympathizers of Voldemort'. But it means that stuff like Ron talking about Lucius Malfoy having been on the Dark Side rather than being a Death Eater sounds strange on reread.

[pangaeaseas]

i do get that people tend to find either James or snape more appealing for personal reasons and that a lot of fandom is marauders era focused now so you get that focus on the marauders era content but like the James Snape conflict is NOT as major a part of the books as people want it to be and the function it serves is not what people do with it....

[pangaeaseas]

the James vs. Snape 'debate' is missing the narrative function played by the revelation of their childhood past which is ultimately meant to be revealing about HARRY and his relationship with his various father figures. and they aren't set up as foils on a narrative level given y'know Snape being a much much more prominent character whereas James is a purposefully shadowy figure--snape is a major character, James is part of the backstory--so the fact that soooo much of fandom is polarized over debating their morality based on like two chapters is quite missing the point... and also at least part of the point that seems to have been intended was that people change, even if this might not have been communicated as effectively as jkr wanted it to be: both Snape and James change to be better people--and so fans freezing them as teenagers is again, missing the point.

[pangaeaseas]

i LOOOVE when all those wild ideas about ginny and Molly drugging Harry with love potions from a Certain Strain of Fanon get turned into witch weekly trash rumors in fic

[pangaeaseas]

so i was doing that ask about greatest fanfiction of all time and it made me think about the strengths of fanfiction as a GENRE and the many uses it can be put to, since I tried to lay out a fic each for the major uses of fanfiction (missing moment, prequel, sequel, character study of minor character, canon divergence, canon through a different character's eyes, world expansion into very minor characters, and of course shipping) . and then when I was making the post I was reminded of all the great fics i've read and so I went to reread one of the fics in the post (Heal Thyself by @astolat. I'll wait for you to come back having read it). and THAT made me think about why this particular work was fanfiction. which made me think about the power of drarry. Because Heal Thyself works because it is fanfiction: it's a great story with keen insight into human psychology, yeah, but it is drawing on the pre-existing history of Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter the characters. it wouldn't work as well without the war we saw in the books and the character history we saw in the books. it's a redemption arc that doesn't lay out what Draco needs to be redeemed from, which allows it to laser focus on the mechanics of his redemption instead of the whole of his life story. and that's why drarry works, that's why drarry is the juggernaut ship that it is: because it most effectively allows for this kind of story, the redemption of Draco Malfoy. because JKR didn't really write a redemption arc for Draco! even though there's the bones of a compelling one there: and so fic writers looked at that plus the popularity of shipping and the fact of Draco having an interesting dynamic with Harry and were like well we can write our own. and so instead of a canon Draco redemption arc there are a thousand. and that's beautiful. and it works because it is fanfiction specifically!

[pangaeaseas]

I think it's interesting that the fandom relies so heavily on JKR’s extracanon quote about Voldemort supposedly trying to recruit Lily and James to his side, only for both of them to refuse him? Because that’s actually contradicted by book canon. In the Philosopher’s Stone, Hagrid tells Harry that “suppose the myst’ry is why You Know-Who never tried to get ‘em [Lily and James] on his side before . . . probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin’ ter do with the Dark Side”. It’s one of the first things Harry ever hears about his parents.

I guess this can be explained away by Hagrid possibly being misinformed, but we know he was in the Order during the First Wizarding War and was seemingly on good terms with Jily, who were famous figures in the wizarding world at this point given the nature of their demise and their son’s survival. So I just don’t see how it’s possible for Hagrid to be completely uninformed about this. I also don't remember anything in the books themselves that directly contradict Hagrid's statement. I mean, I still love reading fanfics about Lily and James rejecting Voldemort, but I was rereading the first book and was pretty surprised when I came across Hagrid's contrary comment. I think the idea of Voldemort trying to recruit them is just another case of JKR forgetting and contradicting what she herself wrote in the books, which she does quite often for many characters.

I also don’t really understand the (fanon, as far as far as I know) idea of Voldemort supposedly fearing Jily? We’re told numerous times by multiple characters that Dumbledore was the only one he ever feared. Given the amount of people who praise Harry’s parents, I think at least one of them would have told him something like this if it was true for Jily, but nobody ever does. Dumbledore describes Jily thrice-defying Voldemort as them “narrowly escaping” him (Harry, in contrast, actually defeated him in PS and CoS), which, even if we assume he’s referring to Jily facing Voldemort himself as opposed to Death Eater attacks as a pair, really doesn't indicate that Jily were anywhere near a threat to him? Nor was there fear on Voldemort’s end in the Godric’s Hollow flashback when he set out to murder them. The idea of him being “livid with fear” at the graveyard in GOF after Jily showed up is also taken out of context, imo – he is explicitly said to look “astonished, and almost fearful” when his and Harry’s wands connected before either Lily or James emerged, so the idea of him reacting like that to them specifically (as opposed to general nature of Priori Incantatem and the the fact that all his victims had begun prowling closer to him and Harry) seems like more than a reach to me.

I do think Jily and Sirius were exceptionally talented and powerful, possibly the best in their generation - I think canon does support this. But I also feel like sometimes this tends to get overstated quite a bit?

Contextually, that Hagrid quote is during the scene where he comes to the house on the rock to bring Harry to the Dursleys. Here's the full quote:

“Nah — can’t spell it. All right — Voldemort.” Hagrid shuddered. “Don’ make me say it again. Anyway, this — this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin’ fer followers. Got ’em, too — some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o’ his power, ’cause he was gettin’ himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn’t know who ter trust, didn’t dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches . . . terrible things happened. He was takin’ over. ’Course, some stood up to him — an’ he killed ’em. Horribly. One o’ the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore’s the only one YouKnow-Who was afraid of. Didn’t dare try takin’ the school, not jus’ then, anyway. “Now, yer mum an’ dad were as good a witch an’ wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an’ girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst’ry is why You- Know-Who never tried to get ’em on his side before . . . probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin’ ter do with the Dark Side. “Maybe he thought he could persuade ’em . . . maybe he just wanted ’em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an’— an’— ” Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn.

So in this very quote Hagrid actually speculates that Voldemort was trying to recruit Jily when he attacked them, which is obviously not the truth but to me seems more to suggest they were recruiting targets at some point which Hagrid didn't know about in detail but knew was a possibility? Also, Hagrid doesn't know everything and may be unreliable--he might also not want to tell Harry his parents rejected recruitment efforts so early on. So IDK. Especially given this is pretty early on in the books and she may have changed her mind as to what happened later while forgetting this scene.

Though maybe the Jily recruitment is overstated, bc it's one of the more fun extracanon details.

I think ultimately it comes down to headcanon and what's more interesting to write in fic, since very little of the first war is written out in any substantial way.