Thank you SO MUCH for that post about Laura and Mary. It was very illuminating. This conversation was kicked off when I felt very uncomfortable with how the tag I pulled tied in with various other popular notions that might lead to badness (Draco in Leather Pants / misguided Slytherin love / Good is boring). Also, the tags in question betrayed a terrible reading of Harry, but your point that readers may feel threatened by "good kids" is important. I just don't sympathize much with it.
Aaaaah yay glad to be helpful! :D
Oh man misguided Slytherin loves makes me so uncomfortable, and Pottermore sorted me into Slytherin! But I am a real person being sorted by a computer program based on answers to a quiz, not a fictional 11 year old likely influenced by family attitudes (we don’t know if the Hat ever puts Muggle-borns in Slytherin or not, we don’t know) and then subjected to seven years of peer pressure from other Slytherins. Canon Slytherins aren’t jerks because Dumbledore gave Gryffindor points, they’re jerks because of an internal feedback loop. The point system and inter-house rivalry is an exacerbation, not a cause.
I found the tags kinda funny ‘cause like…they’re about choosing? And Harry chose Gryffindor? And Harry spent a lot of the books internally debating whether he was doing the right thing, and later on how much the scar/Tom Riddle might be influencing him, and how much was himself?
Harry is our angry sarcastic self-doubting hero! Yay Harry :D :D :D
Anyway, I think the vitriolic response to characters like Marley etc sucks for the people having it, 'cause they’re cutting themselves off from characters and stories that could potentially speak to them. They’re missing out!
I don’t enjoy running into that kinda vitriol regularly or frequently, though, even if I feel kinda sorry for the fans expressing it. Fortunately I’ve gotten better at not-reading blogs prone to it, mostly by distracting myself with more upbeat writers.
