Musings on Harry Potter Fanon
Oct. 11th, 2010 07:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kerravonsenIt is odd how fanon permeates the consciousness of fanfic writers, even without them noticing it. Harry Potter fandom is no worse and no better than other fandoms that have a lot of teenagers writing in them, but since I've been reading much HP fic, that is the fic which is on my mind.
Take the concept of "Dark Revels". They seem to turn up a lot in Snape-centric stories, especially Snape/Hermione stories. It was only recently that I came upon a comment which attributed the origin of this concept to the famous early SS/HG story, "Pawn To Queen". But so thoroughly has it become fanon that I've read more than one story where the author goes to great pains to explain how Snape manages to avoid participating in Dark Revels... when the only thing that has to be done to avoid Dark Revels is to remember that they aren't canon.
Sometimes the fanon highlights more than ignorance of canon...
One egregious error that I've seen twice (which makes me wonder whether one author picked it up from the other author) is a failure of basic biology. Listen folks, snakes are not mammals. Voldemort cannot be taking a mixture of Nagini's venom and milk to keep him alive. Nagini is a snake. That's a reptile, not a mammal. And reptiles don't have milk. Mammals are the ones that have milk, it's their determining characteristic.
What I suspect is that whoever started this piece of nonsensical fanon was confused by the practice of "milking" snakes for their venom. Yes, folks, a snake's "milk" is their venom. So you can't have a mixture of Nagini's "milk" and venom, just a mixture of her venom and her venom, which is meaningless.
On another note... I wince at the trope of a dotty, twinkling, matchmaking Dumbledore. Or of a matchmaking anybody, really, when dealing with the characters of Severus and Hermione. I guess the last straw was a SS/HG story I started reading, where we had the not-unreasonable situation where both Severus and Hermione were attracted to each other but didn't say anything because they were certain that the other party would never ever be interested in them. That's fine for a SS/HG scenario. What wasn't fine was how multiple people around them not only knew that they were crushing on each other, but thought that they were perfect for each other and were plotting to get them together. First it was Ginny extracting from Hermione that she was attracted to Snape. Then it was Dumbledore and Minerva having all these matchmaking thoughts. But when Lucius Malfoy got into the act, that's when I stopped reading. Pu'leaze! Even one matchmaking person is a bit much. Having four has gone beyond "over the top" and into the stratosphere of incredulity.
I think about the only "matchmaking" in a SS/HG fic that I find believable any more is that done as the result of a Weasley prank. 8-P
Take the concept of "Dark Revels". They seem to turn up a lot in Snape-centric stories, especially Snape/Hermione stories. It was only recently that I came upon a comment which attributed the origin of this concept to the famous early SS/HG story, "Pawn To Queen". But so thoroughly has it become fanon that I've read more than one story where the author goes to great pains to explain how Snape manages to avoid participating in Dark Revels... when the only thing that has to be done to avoid Dark Revels is to remember that they aren't canon.
Sometimes the fanon highlights more than ignorance of canon...
One egregious error that I've seen twice (which makes me wonder whether one author picked it up from the other author) is a failure of basic biology. Listen folks, snakes are not mammals. Voldemort cannot be taking a mixture of Nagini's venom and milk to keep him alive. Nagini is a snake. That's a reptile, not a mammal. And reptiles don't have milk. Mammals are the ones that have milk, it's their determining characteristic.
What I suspect is that whoever started this piece of nonsensical fanon was confused by the practice of "milking" snakes for their venom. Yes, folks, a snake's "milk" is their venom. So you can't have a mixture of Nagini's "milk" and venom, just a mixture of her venom and her venom, which is meaningless.
On another note... I wince at the trope of a dotty, twinkling, matchmaking Dumbledore. Or of a matchmaking anybody, really, when dealing with the characters of Severus and Hermione. I guess the last straw was a SS/HG story I started reading, where we had the not-unreasonable situation where both Severus and Hermione were attracted to each other but didn't say anything because they were certain that the other party would never ever be interested in them. That's fine for a SS/HG scenario. What wasn't fine was how multiple people around them not only knew that they were crushing on each other, but thought that they were perfect for each other and were plotting to get them together. First it was Ginny extracting from Hermione that she was attracted to Snape. Then it was Dumbledore and Minerva having all these matchmaking thoughts. But when Lucius Malfoy got into the act, that's when I stopped reading. Pu'leaze! Even one matchmaking person is a bit much. Having four has gone beyond "over the top" and into the stratosphere of incredulity.
I think about the only "matchmaking" in a SS/HG fic that I find believable any more is that done as the result of a Weasley prank. 8-P
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no subject
Date: 2010-10-11 11:24 am (UTC)Ye gods and little fishes!
no subject
Date: 2010-10-11 10:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-11 11:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-11 10:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-11 11:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-11 10:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-11 02:40 pm (UTC)But didn't recognize her? Didn't know who she was? Completely ridiculous.
(also, LOL! "milking" a snake! I can just see the scene - presented with a snake and "but where does the milk come out?")
no subject
Date: 2010-10-11 10:57 pm (UTC)Indeed.