Why no Harry Potter, eh?

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

So I looked at ONTD's "Ten of the most Epidemically Overrated Books," and was incensed to find that books like On the Road and The Great Gatsby made the list but the Harry Potter series didn't (though at least the Twilight series did). I mean really, Harry Potter is the epitome of an overrated book series, given that there are people seriously making the point that it's so deep and meaningful and needs to be read in AP English classes. Never mind that it's a children's book series!

Well, these were the people who said that a bunch of authors besides Rowling disliked the idea of fanfiction without bothering to consider WHY they might feel that way (specifically, that Rowling is the only one who's all that fandom savvy because she's modern in a way that the others aren't). Maybe they just think Rowling is their darling author too, and you can't say anything bad about her.

Comments

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

If they'd just adopted the "your ship is not my ship, but we know what happened in the end, hey good game" mentality, it'd be fine. But no. They had to gloat. Turn it into a war. Bash other ships. I feel sorry for the H/G shippers who honestly never did anything like that.

See, that was one of the interesting things with my primary case study in this "movie threatening" phenomenon. She was always polite. Firmly stating her admiration for her pro-canon OBHWF stance but accepting/tolerating mentions of the 'other side' in her blog. Happily noting my allegiance to same without turning a hair.

But then over the months leading up to the DH1 movie her behaviour turned ugly, as I have described. Snarking at the H/Hr 'competition' (the movie scenes, not fans). Out of the blue she'd snipe at H/Hr, bring it up out of nowhere (talking to others who were 'safe' H/G brethren). Clearly she felt under attack from the H/Hr propaganda (hence my using the term 'threatened'). And then finally, without warning or announcement, a comment from me with one (to my recollection) *neutral* mention of the mere *existence* of the H/Hr scenes in the movie ("being enjoyed by others") caused her to 'crack' and turn nasty (for her).

Summarising the experience in the terms you've used here - which make it clearer still - she turned from the mature non-poisonous fan into something of a 'jerk comrade'. :-) All through the pressure of the pro-H/Hr buzz flowing through the fandom, from the movie, at the time. It was really interesting, seeing how some people tick. I learnt a couple of new psychological concepts in discussing just this one case with others. Plus it let me look at the never-ending shipping debate in new ways. If even the committed H/G fans were getting antsy over the movie 'competition' then they mustn't have been all that happy/satisfied/confident with their own 'side', right?