Harry Potter and the Case of Fannish Overinvestment

[extemporally]

Alllllll I have been doing lately (besides, obviously, eating food and seeing people and trying - but failing - to revise) is reading ALL THE HARRY POTTER FIC IN THE WORLD. Man, you guys, it's so true, you never get over your first fandom! I started lurking hardcore on LJ in 2005 when a bunch of my favourite fanfic authors moved over from FictionAlley, and now I'm rereading all my old favourites (nearly everything a_t_rain writes is gold -- she doesn't use many tags, but her stuff can be found here! and also, om nom nom nom Tonks meta) and thinking about how I was totally that weird kid who read all the gen in the world (here is where I do another subtle link-droppy thing; hello omniocular!) because a) I actually liked all the canon ships, and in fact identified hardcore with Ginny Weasley and b) I was so ridiculously fascinated with the universe, and also JKR has this way of writing characters where she positively delights in caricature without ever letting them just be that, and it's just, good! It's all about light touches, duders.

Really now that I look back on it that was the start of everything. Fandom, politics, feminism, and -- man! A couple of months ago I was thinking about how there might probably be nothing as huge (in fandom terms) as Harry Potter ever again and making myself all :( :( :( about it, because I like fandom! I like how creative it is and how egalitarian it is, in some ways I guess, and how it's been inspiring and fun-making and educational all at once. And from my admittedly biased point of view, it seems like everyone started out in Harry Potter fandom. WHAT IF WE NEVER HAVE ANYTHING LIKE THAT AGAIN :(

I loved HP 7 so much I watched it twice -- once in England with a whole bunch of people who all wore robes to the theatre, and once in Singapore with two friends I've known a long long time. I really liked it! I can't quite tell, of course, if that's because it's a genuinely good movie or because I just went in thinking, "Well, it'll be a fun ride" instead of "the actors don't look like my mental images of the Potter characters, everything is ruined forever" like the overinvested teenie I used to be. (I used to be capable of reciting whole passages from the books, hahaha oh man.) And, aw man! I can't believe the Potterdamerung ends forever this summer, at least until JKR releases a Harry Potter encyclopaedia or something of the sort. So much of my early adolescence was wrapped up in these books, I think, and that was a pretty happy period of my life. Ah, fandom nostalgia!

Tl;dr -- HEY YOU GUYS DID YOU READ HP FIC TOO WHAT WERE YOUR FAVOURITES

Comments

[apples]

I think there will be something as big as HP!!! I mean - not for a while (probably), but if you think about it... Star Trek was huge. Star Trek invented slash, it doesn't get much bigger than that. The only reason I think HP is maybe more expansive is that the Internet makes fandom stuff so much easier. It's basically the perfect medium for fandoms, okay! Zines are cool but also take a whole lot more dedication, which means a whole lot less people will make them. But anyone can have a website!

I love HP fanfic! I read HP fanfic before I read the books, oh man, I'm so awful. But it's such an awesome, interesting fandom! Before I read the books I was hugely into Draco/Harry, because Tom Felton is so attractive. But after reading the books Draco as a character stopped interesting me as much (he's such a jerk! And okay, his character is REALLY sympathetic but also there's nothing in his characterization that grabs me and makes me want to read about him more.) But after reading the books I am SO INTO Snape. SNAPE SNAPE SNAPE. I just want him to be happy! Which means I'm endlessly interested in reading stories about him. Especially Harry/Snape (though I think Harry & Snape friendship gen would be EVEN BETTER but I've never run across anything good) because I think Harry is the only person who could offer Snape any sort of closure or absolution re: Lily and James. Because Snape could never be friends/lovers with Harry unless he'd moved past Harry's parents influence, so any story where Snape can see Harry as his own person is ALSO a story where Snape can finally be happy.

...Can you tell how much I think about this, oh man.

[extemporally.livejournal.com]

Dude, I love yr thoughts! I really do hope that something as big as HP comes along, and that it comes along soon. Also, totally agreed on how the Internet enlarged fannish culture, YAY INTERNET!

It is quite interesting that the books decreased your interest in Draco! Fanon Draco is... quite different from himself in canon, of course. But I HAVE TO DISAGREE on Snape, in the sense that I thought Book 7 didn't really make his redemption an interesting one? Like, so he was in love with Lily! That doesn't change the bit where he bullied his students for six whole books! Still though, YMMV. a_t_rain wrote a few stories about him, and I liked those! I enjoy pretty much any well-written fic regardless of how different it is from the books.

♥♥♥

[apples]

WE JUST HAVE TO WAIT. It may not be until our kids get on the Interwebs, though! It'll be their Big Fandom. ...I will probably still want to play even if I'm old.

He was OBSESSED with Lily! Which I think is interesting, because it couldn't have REALLY been love at that point. She was long dead and he hadn't had much contact with her since school... so it was just regret, I think. And he was unable to move past the things that happened to him as a young man, which... made Snape a cranky, grumpy, bitter old man. But he was still a tragic, cranky old man--his having to be a triple agent for Dumbledore and Voldy especially breaks my heart, since it was probably one of the reasons he COULDN'T move on. He was continually faced with his past, and the decisions that he regretted... over and over and over again. He had to watch and Voldy hurt people and probably had to hurt people himself. And pretend to be loyal to the thing that had ruined his life.

So I can like Snape even though he bullied his students for six books. He's a flawed man, and it's not okay to bully kids, but everything about his life sucked. I would be mean to children too. At least they wouldn't be mean back.

I mean mostly I just want to read about Snape being happy, because he was NEVER HAPPY, and all of his nastiness I think stems from the fact that he's the SADDEST, LONELIEST MAN IN THE WOOOOOOOOOOOOORLD. I don't like when people are sad. :(


/snape fangirl

[apples]

Also, I definitely interpret differently from J.K here, but I don't think Snape's obsession with Lily is ~romantic. And I don't think it was ~love that kept Snape loyal to Dumbledore.

But then again I disagree with a lot of J.K's notions about love? Like HOW CAN GINNY BE HARRY'S SOULMATE WHEN SHE HAS A PRETTY BAD CASE OF HERO WORSHIP? Because she never makes ME believe that the moment Harry's not Important and The Chosen One won't be the moment Ginny looses interest. :/

I actually read this really great story where everyone wants Harry to be Minister of Magic, and he's like, "I just want to be left aloneeeeeeeeeeeeee." (which is what I think Harry would want!) and Ginny is like, "Well, okay. :/ :/ :/ I'll just sit her at home with you. Alone. :/ :/ :/ :/ It sucks not being important." And, like, I don't think that makes Ginny an asshole, even though the way I wrote that makes it seem like she was in that story.