Review of Drop Dead Gorgeous
Feb. 21st, 2007 04:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flyingskullAs promised, though tardily, here it is, my review of Drop Dead Gorgeous.
"… Commodified fantasy takes no risks: it invents nothing, but imitates and trivialises. It proceeds by depriving the old stories of their intellectual and ethical complexity, turning their action to violence, their actors to dolls, and their truth-telling to sentimental platitude. Heroes brandish their swords, lasers, wands, as mechanically as combine harvesters, reaping profits.
Profoundly disturbing moral choices are sanitized, made cute, made safe. The passionately conceived ideas of the great story-tellers are copied, stereotyped, reduced to toys, moulded in bright-coloured plastic, advertised, sold, broken, junked, replaceable, interchangeable. What the commodifiers of fantasy count on and exploit is the insuperable imagination of the reader, child or adult, which gives even these dead things life - of a sort, for a while. "
(Ursula K. LeGuin – intro to "Tales from Earthsea")
Why do I start with a good healthy dose of bad-fantasy-writers bashing a critique of Maya's latest – and funniest – adventure in fanfic writing? Because, once again, a decent author who thinks about the meaning and function of what she writes has hit the nail on the head: when fiction is bad in the way she describes, good writers will feel the urge to correct the superficialities and give life to the dead things, even if only for awhile.
I realise this is a very general statement to make and it's more a defence of fanfiction than a comment on Drop Dead Gorgeous, but it always starts here for me: giving life to dead things. Which![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mistful does… in abundance.
So Harry and Draco as the Odd Couple of Aurorland works perfectly well. It's so SO delightful that it transcends crack and becomes fic becausemistful is incapable of writing true crack. Humanity keeps intruding. Which is as it should be, really. It's not witty or humorous or laughworthy if there's no humanity in it; even parody – or crack!fic, if you prefer – has to have real people in it to work.
Of course, what makes it parody is the constant intrusion of meta that underlines the sheer idiocy of canon: the monster in Harry's chest, the Harry Had Changed Over The Summer Into a Sex God cliché, the What Heroes Do Is Always Good By Definition amorality. She also parodies the ever-popular fanon idea that If You Are Dead Sexy You Have It Made, Mate, as exemplified in all the Happy!Veela!Sub!anyone stories.
It's not all meta, of course, as I said, humanity keeps intruding. Being on the verge of being constantly raped because you're irresistible is not funny; being a borderline sociopath who has no idea of how to function in a society is even less funny: there are the makings of tragedy here. Yet Maya writes it funny because the other face of tragedy is farce, as she knows very well, and laughter will make the Dousing With Ice Cold Water of personal tragedy all the starker.
It'smistful's compressed and lucid style that makes it work so well. Consider this:
Malfoy turned towards him, his left eyebrow and the left side of his mouth both flying upwards in that lopsided quizzical look he got sometimes. Harry ran his fingers through his hair twice, and only twice. (emphasis mine)
See how many things are expressed in two sentences: Harry's inability to read Draco's expression, to understand what emotion lied behind it; Harry's yearning to touch and his refusal to yield to it, Harry's rigid control of his reactions and the way his very control expresses his affection. I'm probably over-psychoanalysing the character here, but, at the same time it's all there, in two ironically lucid sentences.
Maya quotes constantly, not direct quotes – alright, there's a DW Watch direct quote in chapter 3 – but allusions, implications, refenceres to anything from old TV shows to fairy tales. One reversal of fairy tale cliché I particularly loved to pieces. This:
Malfoy had worked flat out for two and then fallen asleep abruptly by his desk. He’d started to coo, and Katie, with circles under her eyes, had knelt down and kissed him into silent sleep.
She’d looked up and seen Harry watching, and given him a rueful smile.
“It’s the only thing that keeps him quiet,” she said, and then laid down beside Malfoy. Even sleeping, he’d slid his arm around her.
Princess Charming kisses her Snow White Auror to silent sleep. And ain't it lovely that he coos like a dove?
And talking about old TV shows… It was true of Starsky and Hutch and it's true of Drop Dead Gorgeous – a truth universally acknowledged, I might add if I was feeling Austenish – that, no matter how many beards one throws at the protagonists, the only relationship that's central (I had typoed 'ventral', shades of Freud?) to their emotional and social life is the one they have with each other. It's so central and basic that, even if they never kiss or even hug, they are to all effects and purposes a couple, spouses, soul-bonded and double-tied in mutual dependence.
This is acknowledged here:
They were just - odd together, that was all. When Malfoy was with her he was gentle and considerate, and it seemed incongruous, as if he was a lynx trying very hard to pass for a housecat.
Which can well be Harry's jealousy talking – in a sense it is just that – but it's also a comment on how the only 'natural' relationship, the only one not fraught with trying very hard to pass for something one's not, is the one the joined-at-the-hips partners have with each other. True, Harry doesn't declare his undying passion to Draco, but he wouldn't anyway and besides he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to understanding his own jumble of violently self-centred emotions.
Right, Maya gives Harry a more-than-canon honesty about that which is why the fact that he can recognise the problem and correct his behaviour because of it doesn't jar.
To end this long and unbrilliant critique, there's a thing that… no I tell a lie, two things that intrigue me a LOT in DDD.
One is the conundrum of Draco's perceptive capability. Apparently he can read subtle signals that Harry is not aware of transmitting – alright, they could be huge anvil-like flashing neon signs as Harry is fairly oblivious of his own facial expressions – and can react accordingly, BUT is he aware of Harry's all-consuming passion? One is tempted to say that yes, he is and he's not reacting to it because he's trying not to complicate matters and would do nothing to jeopardise this 'beautiful' friendship he has with Harry now, a thing that, according to Pansy – and canon – he's wanted since he was eleven. But it's not a given. Not at all, o subtle and wise Maya. I just love to see how that will resolve, I love puzzles and this particular puzzle gives suspense and thrills in the whodunnit of the boys' ultimate personal fate.
The other is one of THE most hilarious mistake by absent-mindedness in the history of fanfics:
Malfoy had righted Dixon’s chair and was lounging in it. When he caught Dixon’s eye he smiled in a truly horrible way he’d perfected, rolled down his sleeve and showed him the Dark Mark.
Rolled DOWN? rolled DOWN?? MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Sorry, sorry but the image is totally absurdly funny. I can see Malfoy, Draco, Auror and ex Death Eater, ripping his sleeve from his shoulder to make a cloth ring around his wrist to show the Dark Mark (TM) to right bastard Dixon.
All the other characters are either extremely IC with amistful slant or delightful OCs, all – and this is extremely important – are real, fully flashed out people, even if they are kind of extras. I feel immensely for poor Chrysanthemum; I could cheerfully strangle Cuthbert (who's a very Pratchettian kind of character); I could, and in fact did, cheer Harry for punching Theophilus (who's a very Austenian character) and so on.
The one I love best, though, is Pansy. Maya is the only fanfic author I've read that can write a Pansy I can believe in, a Pansy who won't admit in public she loves unicorns, but can wear in public a PINK frilly dress, a Pansy who's intelligent and earthy and who can move on from things, a Pansy Ron deserves because in Mayaverse he's got the nous to finally move on from hero-worship and star-junkie to become his own man.
Oh, and because I'm a Draco-loving woman – no surprises here – I absolutely love Maya!Draco, the White Dove Unicorn of Sarcasm and Hiding Behind Words. And you know what? Harking back to the one real quote in the series – so far - I can actually see Draco in the Watch drawing Carrot absolutely crazy, flirting with Angua, doing impressions of Nobby and Detritus and things.
So, leaving you with this cheerful image, I conclude by saying: Your Original Works have absolute precedence, Maya dear, but please don't stop writing fics, don't stop writing DDD and, to me MOST important, don't stop writing QOM, your fanfic masterpiece. We need you to give life to that dead thing: canon.
"… Commodified fantasy takes no risks: it invents nothing, but imitates and trivialises. It proceeds by depriving the old stories of their intellectual and ethical complexity, turning their action to violence, their actors to dolls, and their truth-telling to sentimental platitude. Heroes brandish their swords, lasers, wands, as mechanically as combine harvesters, reaping profits.
Profoundly disturbing moral choices are sanitized, made cute, made safe. The passionately conceived ideas of the great story-tellers are copied, stereotyped, reduced to toys, moulded in bright-coloured plastic, advertised, sold, broken, junked, replaceable, interchangeable. What the commodifiers of fantasy count on and exploit is the insuperable imagination of the reader, child or adult, which gives even these dead things life - of a sort, for a while. "
(Ursula K. LeGuin – intro to "Tales from Earthsea")
Why do I start with a good healthy dose of bad-fantasy-writers bashing a critique of Maya's latest – and funniest – adventure in fanfic writing? Because, once again, a decent author who thinks about the meaning and function of what she writes has hit the nail on the head: when fiction is bad in the way she describes, good writers will feel the urge to correct the superficialities and give life to the dead things, even if only for awhile.
I realise this is a very general statement to make and it's more a defence of fanfiction than a comment on Drop Dead Gorgeous, but it always starts here for me: giving life to dead things. Which
mistful does… in abundance.So Harry and Draco as the Odd Couple of Aurorland works perfectly well. It's so SO delightful that it transcends crack and becomes fic because
mistful is incapable of writing true crack. Humanity keeps intruding. Which is as it should be, really. It's not witty or humorous or laughworthy if there's no humanity in it; even parody – or crack!fic, if you prefer – has to have real people in it to work.Of course, what makes it parody is the constant intrusion of meta that underlines the sheer idiocy of canon: the monster in Harry's chest, the Harry Had Changed Over The Summer Into a Sex God cliché, the What Heroes Do Is Always Good By Definition amorality. She also parodies the ever-popular fanon idea that If You Are Dead Sexy You Have It Made, Mate, as exemplified in all the Happy!Veela!Sub!anyone stories.
It's not all meta, of course, as I said, humanity keeps intruding. Being on the verge of being constantly raped because you're irresistible is not funny; being a borderline sociopath who has no idea of how to function in a society is even less funny: there are the makings of tragedy here. Yet Maya writes it funny because the other face of tragedy is farce, as she knows very well, and laughter will make the Dousing With Ice Cold Water of personal tragedy all the starker.
It's
mistful's compressed and lucid style that makes it work so well. Consider this:Malfoy turned towards him, his left eyebrow and the left side of his mouth both flying upwards in that lopsided quizzical look he got sometimes. Harry ran his fingers through his hair twice, and only twice. (emphasis mine)
See how many things are expressed in two sentences: Harry's inability to read Draco's expression, to understand what emotion lied behind it; Harry's yearning to touch and his refusal to yield to it, Harry's rigid control of his reactions and the way his very control expresses his affection. I'm probably over-psychoanalysing the character here, but, at the same time it's all there, in two ironically lucid sentences.
Maya quotes constantly, not direct quotes – alright, there's a DW Watch direct quote in chapter 3 – but allusions, implications, refenceres to anything from old TV shows to fairy tales. One reversal of fairy tale cliché I particularly loved to pieces. This:
Malfoy had worked flat out for two and then fallen asleep abruptly by his desk. He’d started to coo, and Katie, with circles under her eyes, had knelt down and kissed him into silent sleep.
She’d looked up and seen Harry watching, and given him a rueful smile.
“It’s the only thing that keeps him quiet,” she said, and then laid down beside Malfoy. Even sleeping, he’d slid his arm around her.
Princess Charming kisses her Snow White Auror to silent sleep. And ain't it lovely that he coos like a dove?
And talking about old TV shows… It was true of Starsky and Hutch and it's true of Drop Dead Gorgeous – a truth universally acknowledged, I might add if I was feeling Austenish – that, no matter how many beards one throws at the protagonists, the only relationship that's central (I had typoed 'ventral', shades of Freud?) to their emotional and social life is the one they have with each other. It's so central and basic that, even if they never kiss or even hug, they are to all effects and purposes a couple, spouses, soul-bonded and double-tied in mutual dependence.
This is acknowledged here:
They were just - odd together, that was all. When Malfoy was with her he was gentle and considerate, and it seemed incongruous, as if he was a lynx trying very hard to pass for a housecat.
Which can well be Harry's jealousy talking – in a sense it is just that – but it's also a comment on how the only 'natural' relationship, the only one not fraught with trying very hard to pass for something one's not, is the one the joined-at-the-hips partners have with each other. True, Harry doesn't declare his undying passion to Draco, but he wouldn't anyway and besides he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to understanding his own jumble of violently self-centred emotions.
Right, Maya gives Harry a more-than-canon honesty about that which is why the fact that he can recognise the problem and correct his behaviour because of it doesn't jar.
To end this long and unbrilliant critique, there's a thing that… no I tell a lie, two things that intrigue me a LOT in DDD.
One is the conundrum of Draco's perceptive capability. Apparently he can read subtle signals that Harry is not aware of transmitting – alright, they could be huge anvil-like flashing neon signs as Harry is fairly oblivious of his own facial expressions – and can react accordingly, BUT is he aware of Harry's all-consuming passion? One is tempted to say that yes, he is and he's not reacting to it because he's trying not to complicate matters and would do nothing to jeopardise this 'beautiful' friendship he has with Harry now, a thing that, according to Pansy – and canon – he's wanted since he was eleven. But it's not a given. Not at all, o subtle and wise Maya. I just love to see how that will resolve, I love puzzles and this particular puzzle gives suspense and thrills in the whodunnit of the boys' ultimate personal fate.
The other is one of THE most hilarious mistake by absent-mindedness in the history of fanfics:
Malfoy had righted Dixon’s chair and was lounging in it. When he caught Dixon’s eye he smiled in a truly horrible way he’d perfected, rolled down his sleeve and showed him the Dark Mark.
Rolled DOWN? rolled DOWN?? MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Sorry, sorry but the image is totally absurdly funny. I can see Malfoy, Draco, Auror and ex Death Eater, ripping his sleeve from his shoulder to make a cloth ring around his wrist to show the Dark Mark (TM) to right bastard Dixon.
All the other characters are either extremely IC with a
mistful slant or delightful OCs, all – and this is extremely important – are real, fully flashed out people, even if they are kind of extras. I feel immensely for poor Chrysanthemum; I could cheerfully strangle Cuthbert (who's a very Pratchettian kind of character); I could, and in fact did, cheer Harry for punching Theophilus (who's a very Austenian character) and so on.The one I love best, though, is Pansy. Maya is the only fanfic author I've read that can write a Pansy I can believe in, a Pansy who won't admit in public she loves unicorns, but can wear in public a PINK frilly dress, a Pansy who's intelligent and earthy and who can move on from things, a Pansy Ron deserves because in Mayaverse he's got the nous to finally move on from hero-worship and star-junkie to become his own man.
Oh, and because I'm a Draco-loving woman – no surprises here – I absolutely love Maya!Draco, the White Dove Unicorn of Sarcasm and Hiding Behind Words. And you know what? Harking back to the one real quote in the series – so far - I can actually see Draco in the Watch drawing Carrot absolutely crazy, flirting with Angua, doing impressions of Nobby and Detritus and things.
So, leaving you with this cheerful image, I conclude by saying: Your Original Works have absolute precedence, Maya dear, but please don't stop writing fics, don't stop writing DDD and, to me MOST important, don't stop writing QOM, your fanfic masterpiece. We need you to give life to that dead thing: canon.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
DDG
Date: 2007-02-21 06:38 pm (UTC)Will most definitely rec this on my LJ.
*memories*
Also, you make me want to read Pratchett's watchguard series--which book is the first one?
And gawd! I didn't realize the reverse fairy tale going on there. SnowWhite!Draco bwahahahaha.
I personally think Draco's oblivious to Harry's attraction to him. I think this Harry has grown up and become more observant--and consequently, more in control of the signals he broadcast.
It seems like nobody has a clue whatsoever that Harry's yearning for Draco with his whole being--so I think it makes perfect sense for Draco to be oblivious. Add to that Draco's fundamental fear that he's never good enough for Harry, even as a partner (at least until Harry "crawls back" to him).
Also, although I identify most with IYaRM!Draco, DDG!Draco is slowly but surely inching to the position of my most favoritest Draco ever.
P.S. Have you read any
HP/DM, LM/SS (in the future), AU 6th year, WIP
At the start of seventh year, the Malfoys perform a dramatic double-cross and Draco educates Harry about what exactly dark magic is.
This is what's missing from Rowling's world: meaningful demarcation between "Light" and "Dark" magic. As opposed to 15 y.o. kids defeating the big bad Death Eaters (who have the Unforgivables in their arsenal) with jelly-legs jinx.
I think you'd also like her "Paper Dragons"
Draco-centric one-shot, pre-slash, where Draco works on catching something rather precious to him.
This is the fic that made me stop and take notice of her.
Re: DDG
Date: 2007-02-21 07:08 pm (UTC)*blushes like mad* Yeh, well, I love you too, dear.
Am not so sure Draco is quite that oblivious to Harry's - and Horace's - undying passion, not when he can read every Harry nuance like a book, but, as I said, I don't mind however it is resolved, I just love that I have something of a puzzle. You might very well be right.
I absolutely LOVE Paper Dragons I left her a sizzling delirious rave of a review. For some reasons, prolly because of Wings Eclipsing Night, or prolly not as I seem to remember I started to read something of her I didn't like as much as PD, I haven't read the Oath Breaker. Will proceed to do so immediately, firstly because if you recommend it, it's good and secondly because you're so bloody right about the the 'easy cliché' thing about Light and Dark magic. Personally I think JKR hasn't got the slightest idea what she's blathering about and makes it up - badly and getting worse with every book - as she goes along.
Thanks for kind words, luv. MUCH appreciated.
Re: DDG
Date: 2007-02-21 07:17 pm (UTC)I totally love Pterry so I can't really say I love the Watch as if I implied I don't love the Witches and so on, but Vimes is one of my personal favourites - actually Vimes and Granny Weatherwax make my life worth living - and the ever-growing cast of the Watchmen is a terrible joy to contemplate. Maya!Draco would fit right in.
Light v. Dark
Date: 2007-02-21 07:23 pm (UTC)Wings Eclipsing Night is her Veela!Draco series. It's my least favorite fic of hers, but things are looking up because Snape and Lucius showed up in the last chapter.
I never realize how much I love her Lucius until I literally squeed when he showed up in the end of the latest OB chapter. Haha, spoilers :-P *is evil* Well, not a spoiler unless you love Lucius.
Will proceed to do so immediately, firstly because if you recommend it, it's good
:-) *preens*
I'm v. particular about my fanfic recs, that much is true.
you're so bloody right about the the 'easy cliché' thing about Light and Dark magic. Personally I think JKR hasn't got the slightest idea what she's blathering about and makes it up - badly and getting worse with every book - as she goes along.
Yeah, Book Seven is probably her worst >_>
Oh well as long Draco doesn't die please. And if possible, Snape too.
It's such a shame about that not more fanfic writers explore the Light v. Dark tension that's so glaringly absent from canon. The only other writer I can think of that explores this tension is Mira with her SoHW. Oh! And Illuferret also--sort of.
Re: Light v. Dark
Date: 2007-02-21 07:25 pm (UTC)I say that yet I also shy away from writing it, hahaha.
I think it's too epic for me to handle X_x;;
...I suppose I might try incorporating some of that in "Dragon Rose" and "Dragon Flies." Hmm...that might work, if I have the patience and persistence to do it. *ponders*
Re: Light v. Dark
Date: 2007-02-21 07:40 pm (UTC)Just my opinion, luv.
HUGZ
Re: Light v. Dark
Date: 2007-02-21 08:02 pm (UTC)I can make it sort of a background tension instead of addressing it directly. I think that would work. So "Dragon Dreams" is all fluffy and fairy tale-ish, but it gets progressively darker as Draco wakes up and encounters reality, so to speak.
Lucius and Narcissa would try to present a front of all that is light and good, but no amount of French windows would erase the Malfoy's Dark heritage.
Similarly, Sirius may redecorate Grimmauld Place, but it's superficial.
Hmmm...libraries... *is random*
Re: Light v. Dark
Date: 2007-02-21 08:29 pm (UTC)As Maya points out in QOM Sirius doesn't redecorate, he destroys and kills the house. Granted he has reasons, but the real problem isn't about Dark or Light, in a sense. It's about his own pet hatred for his family.
I think Hermione is as Dark as they come, BTW. OTOH, lots of medicines are made from poisons and other assorted clichés. What is Dark or Light is the intention of the user, not the thing. Reducing Light and Dark to a set of spells one does not or does use for several purposes is infantile and facile and other derogative terms.
Libraries are never random. Don't forget L-space, maybe one just interfaced with you.
Re: Light v. Dark
Date: 2007-02-21 08:36 pm (UTC)But yeah, stupid canon!Sirius. GAH!
I would soo love it if Regulus turns out to be blond and grey-eyed in canon X-D They're a "matched set" because they're negative images to each other.
Although dead-ringer-to-Sirius!Regulus is cool too, I suppose.
Yes, I believe in Dark!Hermione more than I do Dark!Ron, esp. since Ron is now canonically desirable. Quidditch player plus there must be a reason why Lavender's all over him ;-)
What is Dark or Light is the intention of the user, not the thing.
I think you'll be intrigued by KC's take on this :-D
In her OB universe, Dark and Light is about how the spell works. Dark spells are more devastating/explosive than Light spells, both for healing and destructive purposes. Consequently Dark spells take a lot out of the caster compared to Light spells.
People should write more library!fics. *nods*
Re: Light v. Dark
Date: 2007-02-21 07:39 pm (UTC)Personally I'd much prefer Draco and Snape to have at least a tragic death and regain at least a little bit of the dignity that was always denied them in canon than have them live to be kicked in jail with extreme prejudice or to turn into weepy ukes and beg forgiveness of Light. BLEGH. Also, if Snape was in love with Lily I shall vomit.
Mira is another HP goddess, if you ask me. I love her SoHW to pieces. Her Lucius is seriously kick-ass and, though I think she has a too exalted view of Harry and Ron, I love and delight in all she writes.
Re: Light v. Dark
Date: 2007-02-21 07:54 pm (UTC)I may or may not have a crush on CoS!Tom Riddle *g*
I love the implications of him using his looks to charm women (and men? *g*) into showing him their heirlooms.
Lucius, OTOH, is two-dimensional but real, so I can like him in peace.
lol true. I really think Draco is a spoiled child though. Although I agree with Maya that when forced to choose between Lucius and Narcissa, he would choose Narcissa.
Alright, I'll give a whirl to her Veela!Draco too. Am not so fond of Sub!Veela!Draco and ALL!DOMMY!POWERFUL!SMIRKING!Harry, though.
...I really think you won't like it. Especially the first two chapters. Or three. I guess you can skim-read until you get to the last chapter X-D
or to turn into weepy ukes and beg forgiveness of Light.
AHAHAHHAHA X-D
The scary thing is, I can so totally see that happening to Draco X_x;;
*mental breakdown*
I hope I'm not leaving the fandom after Book Seven, because I still have so many fanfics I want to write :-/
But if Book Seven destroys any desire for me to write them, then...
I'll still continue IMR4MR no matter what though. *crosses fingers* And "Dragon Rose" because I'm too obsessed with the idea already.
Also, if Snape was in love with Lily I shall vomit.
Hahahaha. Oh, did you see this btw? Interested?
Her Lucius is seriously kick-ass and, though I think she has a too exalted view of Harry and Ron, I love and delight in all she writes.
I love her Harry to pieces, yes I do. It's clueless-about-his-own-power!Harry :-D
And I so wish her SoHW will last another ten chapters or twenty, haha.
Re: Light v. Dark
Date: 2007-02-21 08:19 pm (UTC)Well, okay, Tommy is, in Maya's masterful description, tall, dark and mind-blowing which is at least something. My problem, in fact, is not with Tommy as such, but that there is no real connection between Tommy and Voldemort who was born as a sort of Sauron figure, alright alright, Satan.
To say that Tommy became Satan because he was born bad makes all the Orphanage Abuse sequences useless and to say that he resorted to anagrams to proclaim his everlasting evil because he wasn't allowed to teach DADA is beyond cretinous. Yet those are the only links between the two we have in canon. I'm a bit ranty, amn't I? Sorry. I love me a good villain and this cardborad cutout just doesn't make it.
I don't think canon!Draco is spoiled, y'know? At least he's not what I mean by spoiled. In his scenes with daddy he isn't much indulged, though it's possible that A) Lucius is bipolar or B) for some reasons he's all butter-soft at home and never in public. But if Draco is spoiled, he's spoiled by Narcissa, that's for sure. Now here's an interesting character for me.
Well, I fear that 'weepy uke' is what's in store for Draco and possibly Snape in book seven, but let's hope not. BTW, I think Draco is not one, Victorian Consumptive Heroine, yes, Dying Keats Under Stress, yes, but he's really quite formidable and indomitable if you think about all that's been thrown at him in the books and the fact that he always bounces back as if being constantly bullied, beaten, humiliated, hexed and eviscerated were all things that happened to someone else. He must also be THE most reserved person in the universe because he never throws back these things at Hero!Harry. Not the reactions of a weepy uke, methinks. But, alright, I may be reading an internal text in despair that has nothing to do with the author's intentions.
Fake Book Seven? Harry Potter and the Hallowed Halloween or whatever? HAHAHAH! I can't write so well, but I'm interested, yes. Maybe I can provide plot? Hmmm... will think about and get back to you. The idea is gorgeous!
About SoHW: oh I so hope she won't let it die! And yes, I put it badly, I like her Harry, the point is I can't see where Harry is so powerful. He hath the Power that Voldemort Knows Not, but given Voldemort's track record that could be the power to make paper-clip chains. Because if it's love, then Voldie has already won and we can all get a fascinating, though yobboish, new tattoo. I mean, if Harry's the Chosen One, he don't have to be powerful to off Tommy, it's all fated anyway.
BTW, why o why, except that we have to have a Gandalf/Kenobi moment, does canon say that Dumbledore is so very powerful? He gets smashed by a ring and has his guts dissolved by a potion: both things the work of SUPER!Tommy. And can we PLEASE PLEASE have Hermione lose an arm and a leg by Horcrux? Can we have Ron - sorry I like Maya!Ron, not canon Ron - burned away by another? Can we have Dead!Neville by an ulterior one? And so on. Because they have to destroy the things to off the bad guy, don't they? And if Dumbledore fared so badly...
*sigh* A woman can dream, can't she?
Re: Light v. Dark
Date: 2007-02-21 09:05 pm (UTC)X-D
Rowling's philosophy is screwy and illogical :-P
I just hate hate hate Dumbledore's attempt to explain--what was it?--the power of love or some such to Harry in Book Six. I don't remember what exactly got me so ticked off, but at the very least his "explanation" contradicts what he said in the previous books.
*shakes head resignedly*
I don't think canon!Draco is spoiled, y'know? At least he's not what I mean by spoiled.
Hmm, pampered maybe? I realize "spoiled" is such a negative word for Americans :-P
In his scenes with daddy he isn't much indulged, though it's possible that A) Lucius is bipolar or B) for some reasons he's all butter-soft at home and never in public.
Bipolar!Lucius ROTFL X-D
That would make perfect sense, wouldn't it?
*wipes tears of laughter*
I was thinking he's more the type that would spend all sorts of money on Draco, but not necessarily praise him or hug him. He probably only hugs Draco once a year before he leaves for Hogwarts or something. To me, that's not a contradiction.
But if Draco is spoiled, he's spoiled by Narcissa, that's for sure.
Oh yes, Narcissa and her care packages :-D
I love love love how QoM!Draco's appearance took a decline after Narcissa died. And Harry's attempt to restore Draco's pampered pet looks! *dies*
Draco is not a cat, Harry dear.
Victorian Consumptive Heroine, yes, Dying Keats Under Stress, yes,
X-D Drama Queen, ahaha.
I may be reading an internal text in despair that has nothing to do with the author's intentions.
To hell with author's intentions :-P
When the author is sloppy like Rowling, who cares? The text exists outside of her, and with the last book in the horizon fans can make of canon what they will. YES!
...I have no idea where I'll drift off after Book Seven. Perhaps Good Omens. If only DWJ has a fandom, lol. (It does exist, but it's miniscule as far as I know). Fantasy series...fantasy series...
Maybe I can provide plot? Hmmm... will think about and get back to you. The idea is gorgeous!
Yes please :-DDD
And, do you know how to filter a post only to me?
Or you can post comments here so it doesn't leak out unnecessarily.
About SoHW: oh I so hope she won't let it die!
I don't think she'd abandon it, but according to her plans, there are only five or so chapters left :-/
I want moreee.
He hath the Power that Voldemort Knows Not, but given Voldemort's track record that could be the power to make paper-clip chains.
Harry: "Voldemort, I smite thee with this paper-clip chain of love!"
Voldemort: "..."
D.E.s: "..."
Harry: "I rummaged through the ruins of Godric's Hollow and found this in my
HolyVirginmother's pencil case. Cower before the power of love!"Voldemort: "Bellatrix, call my manicurist and tell him that I can make that appointment after all. Wormtail, see the brat to the door. Make sure he didn't steal any shiny things on his way out."
Harry: *is dragged out* "HEY! Aren't you listening to meeeeeeeeeeee?!111"
if Harry's the Chosen One, he don't have to be powerful to off Tommy, it's all fated anyway.
Hmmm...true. I personally think Harry's raw power is mostly thanks to Voldemort.
And can we PLEASE PLEASE have Hermione lose an arm and a leg by Horcrux? Can we have Ron - sorry I like Maya!Ron, not canon Ron - burned away by another?
X-D
Can we have Dead!Neville by an ulterior one? And so on.
I kinda like Neville really. Hey, what about those Inferi kittens?
Re: Light v. Dark
Date: 2007-02-21 09:26 pm (UTC)Er... am not American. Am Brit. Alright, Jamaican/Irish/French/Brit, still not American last time I looked. I said Draco doesn't seem spoiled to me because spoiled to me carries overtones of 'you can NEVER be wrong my child' and 'you are all perfection dear, do what you want' with a side dish of lots of things given. Lucius could very well be a doting father and a sadistic murderer at the same time, history provides us with lots of examples. As Pterry shows in Small Gods and other places - Good Omens for one, cfr. Crowley musings - there's nothing that human being can do to one another while being perfectly loving parents at home, but somehow I doubt it.
As you say, he ain't the hugging type and lack of affection is not spoiling IMO. But, to repeat, Narcissa may be the spoiling one and it would all work anyway. BTW, I'm starting to warm up to the idea of bipolar!Lucius. *G*
Oh, I love everything about QoM. When I re-read it sometimes my blood freezes. Also I laugh a lot, but then that's what makes my blood freeze more.
A propos of DWJ, have you read her Tough Guide to Fantasy? I recommend it very highly indeed.
I have NO idea how to filter a post only to you so I'll post any blathering about the thing we can't speak of at your LJ, though actually only
Harry: "Voldemort, I smite thee with this paper-clip chain of love!"
*laughs until she cries* Love you to pieces, oh excellent satirist!
"spoiled"
Date: 2007-02-22 12:26 am (UTC)j/k :-P
I don't think the fact that you're British ever crop up in our conversation before. I've been in the HP fandom too long that British-ism just goes unnoticed. Umm, probably your use of "luv" is the only thing that niggled at me.
Okay okay, "spoiled" is a dirty word to Westerners, it seems. Probably the whole self-sufficiency thing. In my home country, to children from families in middle and high economy levels, "spoiled" is a way of life. Maybe it's too strong a word, but definitely "pampered"--sometimes even "coddled."
Some children don't feed themselves even when they're nine, I kid you not. We don't even bring our dishes to the sink, what's more wash the dishes. Some rarely bend down to take off their shoes and socks--there's the maid to do it. School bag? There's the driver/chaffeur. Shopping bags? Maid.
Lots of people in my home country have maids/babysitters/cooks and chaffeurs/drivers. We don't have to be rich to afford to hire these people. Even if the household subsists on one salaryman's income, they can afford one maid.
I said Draco doesn't seem spoiled to me because spoiled to me carries overtones of 'you can NEVER be wrong my child' and 'you are all perfection dear, do what you want' with a side dish of lots of things given.
That too. Thankfully my parents are not nauseating like that. But it's not like I ever lack praise, so. I guess if you don't let it go to your head, you're not spoiled? lol
As Pterry shows in Small Gods and other places - Good Omens for one, cfr. Crowley musings - there's nothing that human being can do to one another while being perfectly loving parents at home
Yep.
As you say, he ain't the hugging type and lack of affection is not spoiling IMO.
Well...there's spoiling with material goods and there's spoiling in other ways.
My parents don't really hug me either. A few times a year but that's it. To us, overexuberant affection means false love. It's like--saying thank you too often equals boot-licking. Maybe it's just an Asian thing, lol. My family is unique, haha.
BTW, I'm starting to warm up to the idea of bipolar!Lucius. *G*
X-D And Snape discreetly provides Lucius with his medication. Also the reason why Lucius didn't tell the Dark Lord his suspicions re: Snape's allegiance.
Poor Lucius, trapped in Azkaban without his
prozacpotions.A propos of DWJ, have you read her Tough Guide to Fantasy? I recommend it very highly indeed.
Ooh no will have to check it out :-D
And I do love Christopher Chant more than Howl. I have this strange fixation for brunettes--it's only in HP fandom that I prefer blonds :-P
*laughs until she cries* Love you to pieces, oh excellent satirist!
*preens*
Re: "spoiled"
Date: 2007-02-22 02:19 am (UTC)On more serious matters: yes, 'spoiled' or 'pampered' is not a good thing in Western culture - not that it isn't done a lot, though. The point being: 'teach a child s/he has limits in her/his behaviour and mainly s/he has responsibilities and actions have consequences ALWAYS no matter what'. A child who's not brought up with this tenet is considered spoiled. For example Harry is spoiled rotten by JKR, so his action - often murderous - have no consequences for him. The being drowned in presents is being spoiled, but in a relatively minor way, it's the psychological spoiling that matters.
Which is why I can't see Draco as spoiled, neither by his parents or by the author. Hope this clarifies things a bit.
As for you, I knew you are Chinese, I think you said so in your LJ or somewhere where I read it. Or maybe I dreamt it, who knows? Anyway, about hugging... I wouldn't know. I had a schoolmate whose parents were all stiff-upper-lip Englishpeople, but in my family touchy-feely was - and is - the order of the day. Being used to it since being born I rather love it. It's all about what you're used to, innit?
Christopher is my ONE exception to my fixated-with-pale-thin-elegant-nervy-intelligent-sarcstic-blondes mania. I mean, I'm not really that exclusive, but I generally go for that type. Prolly a sort of hankering after one's physical opposite or something. But one can't not love Christopher because DWJ is just that good when she's at her best.
You're right to preen, you're quite good. :-D
Re: "spoiled"
Date: 2007-02-22 02:34 am (UTC)The point being: 'teach a child s/he has limits in her/his behaviour and mainly s/he has responsibilities and actions have consequences ALWAYS no matter what'.
Ahhh...ic ic. So it's beyond finances. Gotcha.
But then again, because Asian kids ask their parents for money, they're sort of under their parents' financial control--so there really is no room for error. (As opposed to American kids being irresponsible with their credit cards).
For example Harry is spoiled rotten by JKR, so his action - often murderous - have no consequences for him.
Hmm, I see what you mean. And yes that's dangerous upbringing.
I guess for me (and many of my friends back home), it's not quite psychological spoiling but the thousand little things. You don't have to worry about doing the dishes, doing laundry, dusting the furniture, sweeping and mopping the floor, taking out the garbage, etc. etc.
You can be sloppy like a pig and your maid will take care of everything within minutes. So there's no coffee cup marking the table, food going moldy inside containers, hair clogging the bathroom drain...
Heh.
Which is why I can't see Draco as spoiled, neither by his parents or by the author.
Hmmm...he hasn't really done anything unforgivable though. And I think to Draco all the lost Slytherin points and all the detention in the world is worth getting a one up on Potter and co.
Maybe it's precisely because he didn't get away with those pranks that he didn't try anything unforgivable. Yet.
I doubt that his Cruciatus attempt would've worked.
Following your definition of "spoiled," yes I agree that Draco's mostly not spoiled--except maybe by Narcissa.
in my family touchy-feely was - and is - the order of the day. Being used to it since being born I rather love it. It's all about what you're used to, innit?
Yeah...we express affection a different way I suppose. Being thoughtful instead of hugging.
Christopher is my ONE exception to my fixated-with-pale-thin-elegant-nervy-intelligent-sarcstic-blondes mania.
X-D
Prolly a sort of hankering after one's physical opposite or something.
So you're a brunette then? ;-)
I think my favoring brunettes stemmed from my childhood revulsion against the imposed manufactured Barbie beauty :-P
I've seen lots of white blond, icy blue-eyed Scandinavians here though, and yes their coloring is v. v. pretty.
You're right to preen, you're quite good. :-D
Thanks :-)
Re: "spoiled"
Date: 2007-02-22 02:44 am (UTC)But yeah, me black, he pale, complementary colours... nice! I AM horribly shallow if you hadn't noticed yet. :P
Oh and don't say 'Barbie' at me, it makes me puke. I was never one for the dolls and I so wish retrospectively that we could have afforded a maid because I'm not at all in love with housekeeping.
Re: "spoiled"
Date: 2007-02-22 06:18 pm (UTC)I bet *g*
I was never one for the dolls and I so wish retrospectively that we could have afforded a maid because I'm not at all in love with housekeeping.
Oh me too. I mean, even people who grow up having to do chores hate housekeeping. Imagine spending the first seventeen years of your life not having to lift a finger X_x;;
The only "chore" my hands got those days was playing the piano. After I moved to the U.S. I keep on breaking fingernails...forget weekly manicures. *pouts*
Re: "spoiled"
Date: 2007-02-23 03:40 pm (UTC)Re: Light v. Dark
Date: 2007-02-23 09:48 pm (UTC)At least Draco is NOT some sort of frail terrified uke which, I must say, he is in Oath Breaker, though I will admit freely her take on Dark magic is quite interesting. Paper Dragons remains her best work IMO.
Re: Light v. Dark
Date: 2007-02-23 09:58 pm (UTC)In fact, you friended me because of that and "Dragon Dreams" and IMR4MR :-)
I have to be in a certain frame of mind to read that series, so I've only read up to mid-Sixth Year.
Here's our conversation: http://lilian-cho.livejournal.com/13694.html#cutid1
Re: Light v. Dark
Date: 2007-02-25 07:13 pm (UTC)*SHAME* yeah, it was when I was in and out of hospital and ops and was always smashed on meds. Sorry luv, I really forgot which is unforgiveable. Sorry.
OTOH nothing would make me ever forget Dragon Dreams. Nothing, I tell you! Still got the image of Morpheus and poppies and Draco... *SIGH*
Go read the last one, it's definitely the best of the series, mostly beacuse the so-called clou isn't. Very IC, Lighning managed to make a non event of the expected main event and an event of other things. Quite liked that and Draco in seventh novel of the Arc. Odd that, because I was interested, but not really taken by all the rest of the arc. Oh, well. I don't squick easily, or at all, so blood and gore rates last in my perception of things read.
Re: Light v. Dark
Date: 2007-03-28 06:20 am (UTC)Nah, I just have an elephant's memory about the strangest things :-)
What's OTOH again?
Still got the image of Morpheus and poppies and Draco... *SIGH*
That's great to hear, thank you :-)
No, it's not about blood and gore...it's about LightningWave's perception of the characters. I'm not invested in any of her characters except maybe Snape--and even he can be annoying and immature sometimes.