![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Harry love/hate
Apr. 6th, 2005 02:42 pmThere's this weird assumption in HP fandom that people who don't like Harry are contrary asshats, and that people who do are textual sheep. Come on, you guys. He's a character in a book. You can love him or hate him or just find him interesting.
Yes, he acts like a little bitch through most of OotP. Yes, he's been raised in a borderline abusive environment and has to save the world and Dumbledore's not helping much either. But the argument that we should all love him to itty bitty bits solely because he's the main character holds no water at all. His protagonism only means that we see more of him. Whether or not we like what we see is totally up to us.
I guess what really confuses me is why this is such a big deal. Harryfen express amazement that people could possibly be so black of heart as to not love their darling, and Slytherin apologists can go a bit overboard in their indictments of OBHWF. People who think differently from you are not hindering your own thoughts. Civility is a good thing here. Not talking nice and hissing later, but admitting that your reading may not be the only possible one. It's interesting to find out why some people end up in a completely different place than you after reading the same book.
Yes, he acts like a little bitch through most of OotP. Yes, he's been raised in a borderline abusive environment and has to save the world and Dumbledore's not helping much either. But the argument that we should all love him to itty bitty bits solely because he's the main character holds no water at all. His protagonism only means that we see more of him. Whether or not we like what we see is totally up to us.
I guess what really confuses me is why this is such a big deal. Harryfen express amazement that people could possibly be so black of heart as to not love their darling, and Slytherin apologists can go a bit overboard in their indictments of OBHWF. People who think differently from you are not hindering your own thoughts. Civility is a good thing here. Not talking nice and hissing later, but admitting that your reading may not be the only possible one. It's interesting to find out why some people end up in a completely different place than you after reading the same book.