Muggles. Gotta live with 'em.

[amanuensis1]

Whoa, are we all really that upset over that article in The Guardian about Lumos? I didn't find it negative, really; the article's written by someone who is not only NOT a fan but admits she hasn't even read the books or seen the films ("Well...some of them"). She's not a fannish type at all. She's gone into it frankly baffled by the whole concept of fans who sink into their medium so deeply. She is, to belabor the obvious, a classic mundane (which is what we called 'em before Rowling got Muggle into the OED). And she observes, and there's an air of "okay, this remains distant and odd to me," but, gosh, me, I don't expect anything else from mundanes. I thought the piece was presented with a reasonably neutral "not for me, and some of it's definitely strange to me, but, wow, there's a lot of devotion and variety here" air.

Given that the article didn't purport to be a detached record of the event, I think we got lucky that she didn't shriek "weirdoes weirdoes weirdoes!" all through it. Maybe some of you feel she did? Because she doesn't think Snape/Hermione is so much about empowering women as it is titillation? Because she thought some of the discussions/topics were lame or unfounded? Because the idea of HP bestiality got to her? Shoot, I think we got off light. And she does end on this positive note:

It's all amazing. And seeing anybody, let alone 1,200 people enthused with joy about anything is really quite uplifting. And not just anything. Books! It makes my girlish, swotty heart swell with pride.

Maybe that wasn't enough for fan readers. Perhaps a lot of you feel you've had enough of this kind of "not for me, but, whatever floats your boat" editorializing. Maybe in the same way I don't exactly want to see more films like Brokeback Mountain but rather am waiting for the gay James Bond to unapologetically flaunt the queer all over the screen.

Comments

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

We'll put a rubber-band thingy on him and harness useful energy for the country for the next couple of years!

Did I mention my favorite Bond film is The Living Daylights? Where he courts the sweet non-femmefataley girl for the whole film (and only has casual throwaway sex once before the opening creds)?

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I genuinely like hearing your perspective and outrage. I think there's a--trope, here, is that the word?--of people who took the words at face value and said, "Well, she had neutral things to say here and didn't vilify all of us as sick f**ks," as opposed to those who perceived a different tone when they read it and said, "You can tell what she's really thinking. Any reader can. That's pretty upsetting." And what you have to say about her lack of research rings an uncomfortable bell with me.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Er, "uncomfortable" (see above) as in "I'm glad you're making me think about that and not letting me sit back comfortably blase." ^_^

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

That's a particularly good point, about the fan sites. I mean, it's the WEB. It's right there in front of you.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this thoughtful comment! I think you and I (and a contingent of others) are looking at this with jaded eyes, with "what did you expect?" eyes. (I'm actually happy that so many not-jaded fans are unafraid to voice their outrage at not getting more. Good for them. ^_^ )

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Ah, Lucius and his bedroom habits! My icon nods at you approvingly. :D

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

Heh. :)

[persephone-blue.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Badly researched articles just don't fly with me. A web site might have clearified the context of HP fanon, too.

[midnitemaraud-r.livejournal.com]

And there's a WORLD of difference in those reads. That's interesting, innit.

You know, I initially read it as you did. Beth emailed me the link last weekend - late Saturday night, and I had a (LJ) friend over and we were giggling while reading it. That was until we got a little further along in the article. When I read it again, the word "seem" in her sentence completely took on a new inflection and emphasis for me. It was a bit at odds from what I remembered of her, because while, yes, she was very surprised upon learning about the 'adult' side of fandom, she didn't seem at all disgusted by it. What I'm still puzzling over is, was it just a 'poker face' or did she write the article the way she did for a reason?

Very interesting indeed.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

But why do we have to be happy that it isn't worse? Why can't we, like any other group of people, expect to be treated better than this simply because we are weird or odd to the onlooker?

And I think it's pretty nifty that some of us are refusing to be appeased with "it could have been worse." Why indeed? Hooray for those who think we deserve to be treated as perfectly normal, and I do mean that.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I do see why many people saw a mean-spirited read of this, and, rather than think everyone should grow a thicker skin, I applaud those who say we deserve better. Because, really, aren't we, as a model for a society of acceptance, allowed to hold people to the standards we have for ourselves? Good for us. ^_^

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

where the gay-ness isn't the whole point of the story

Exactly. We've had it in some sources, but never mainstream-y enough, in my opinion.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

the fact that she casually assumes she knows why we're all here

Oh, that's an excellent point. Yeah, amateur knee-jerk analysis, that doesn't help one's cause any.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Good thing I saved a copy, then. ^_^

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I think you are right, that it is all about tone. I read it as, "Well, aren't all these people rather sweet?" and all it takes is for one to read it as, "Well, aren't all these people rather...sweet," to create a whole new perspective.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

VERY not cool. I was really unhappy to learn about that.

Maybe start your mom out with some plotty gen? Maybe with some dark stuff in it just to feel her out? ^_~

long-ass pointless reply

[fabularasa.livejournal.com]

Oh, I meant to put it back up with an amendment about some things being more serious than tone or perceived tone, but forgot. Well anyway, you get my point, and that I'm basically agreeing with you. I thought the tone was a tiny bit out of date in terms of perceiving her likely readership's probable reactions to literary criticism/fandom extravagances/women porn writers; in other words, if the tone falls a little flat, it's because it reads as being about five to seven years behind where her readership actually is vis-a-vis these things, if you see what I mean. But yeah, nothing really objectionable.

I am reminded of a conversation a friend of mine in college had with one of her friends from back home, when she went visiting during a holiday. Her friend had become an earnest evangelical, who eschewed all manner of vice but most especially dancing. My friend was shocked at this, and tried at some length to argue her out of it, but the evangelical would not be shaken. "I don't so much think the dancing is wrong," she finally said. "It's what it leads to -- sex, and kissing, and groping, and all kinds of behavior like that. Dancing leads to sex, and that's all there is to it." And my friend just sort of sat there, momentarily poleaxed, and when she related this conversation to us later, she said, "You know, for the longest time I couldn't think of any response to that, because I thought back over how we spend our weekends, and what dancing generally DOES lead to when we hang out, and yeah. . it DOES in fact always lead to sex!"

Anyway, I don't know why I thought of that, other than that it serves to remind me that sometimes, when people accuse you of something, be it lewd behavior or (in the case of fandom) impossibly strange behavior, they just might posssibly be onto something.

[kabal42.livejournal.com]

:-) Seems we agree. Thanks for providing ranting-space.
(And that icon is absolutely fantastic!)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I'm glad people are able to come to this journal and speak their minds and they're all so civil about it! :D

(evolutioneve made that icon, isn't it a hoot!)

Re: long-ass pointless reply

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Not to stray too far from the sex metaphor, I suppose the whole "dress up and talk about Harry Potter because it's interesting" thing extends to "dress up and talk about Harry Potter because it's interesting because it's all about sex." Not that far from the truth for a lot of us. Not all, but a lot.

[kabal42.livejournal.com]

That's definitely a good thing :-) I love that this discussion has been so good so far - it's fandom when it's at its best.

(It's fantastic :-D )

[aillil.livejournal.com]

Just stumbled over this by pure chance and have to comment, because you hit it on the head. There was some complaining over it on my flist, but I must admit that first and foremost I found the article hilarious precisely because of her mundane/Muggle point of view. This is how we're perceived from the outside, and it's good to be reminded of it sometimes. We definitely got off lightly, through all my laughter, I was still bracing myself for the real blow, but the only mild blow there was, were her comments on the crowd that attended the Snape/Hermione panel. I found it a bit strange, though, was that as an English Lit major, as she said she was, she didn't approach the whole event from a more literary angle, I suppose she was too much expecting something like a Trekkie convention. I do thank her for the tears of laughter she brought on my face over quoting midnitemaraud_r all over the place.

[ex-rudeandre569.livejournal.com]

I found it (abbreviated) in an Australian paper on a train seat. It was called "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Zealots" and afterwards I wanted to ring her up and ask her if she needs any help getting the Pole of Self-Righteous Academic Snobbery out of her arse.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I suppose she was too much expecting something like a Trekkie convention.

Isn't that funny--that because we weren't just like a Trekkie convention, with celebrities and things to buy, but aimed for a greater literary bent, it seemed to count against us. Go figure.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

*cracks up*