Question About JKR's Male Characters...

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

Some comments I've seen about JKR's writing have led me to the thought that possibly, one reason why certain characters in the story have to keep insisting on their manliness and not doing anything "girly" like crying, etc. might have to do with the fact that Rowling just isn't good with writing men, and so resorts to stereotypes to do the job, except when writing "evil" feminine men like Snape. You know, kind-of like how Rowling wants Harry to be not-gay, but probably can't imagine being attracted to a woman, and so he ends up seeming gay by discussing the beauty of various men.

Any men in this community care to weigh in here? Part of the reason why I ask is because I sometimes doubt my own abilities to portray men convincingly in the stories I write :P

Comments

[zellieh]

I was trying to take this post seriously, but then I hit the part where you say ""evil" feminine men like Snape" and I had to stop and laugh out loud, because Snape? Feminine?!

::wipes away tears of laughter::

I know lots of americans have a tin ear and/or a weird fetish-thing when it comes to British accents, but I cannot understand how you can get feminine from Alan Rickman's portrayal of Snape, and even less from the books. I find myself fascinated by your thought processes. Can you explain, please?

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

I am not speaking of Alan Rickman's portrayal. There are essays which discuss how Snape is portrayed as being more feminine than some characters (see "Taming the Prince" on DeviantArt for one such example), and you can read them for yourself.