A curiosity.
Sep. 5th, 2004 09:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ashinaeHaving just read someone over in ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
fanficrants (where I ventured from a quote on metaquotes) say "as movies are NOT canon in this fandom" in regards to Harry Potter...
Why is that okay? Really. Why is it that so very many people reject the movies as being any sort of canon in Potterdom, even when, while Rowling says that no, Tom Felton is not Draco and no, Jason Isaacs is not Lucius, she still has a lot more say in what happens there than people seem to acknowledge?
On the flip side -- why in the name of all that is good and fantastical in this world, can a person barely escape from being lynched when wanting to deny the validity of the Lord of the Rings movies as canon? Why is it I still have to look nervously over my shoulder if I want to say in public that I thought Prisoner of Azkaban was a hell of a better adaptation than Return of the King -- saying this in fear of people from both fandoms, for opposite reasons?
Why does it seem far more okay to accept Sean Bean as the ideal Boromir, than Alan Rickman as the ideal Snape? Why are the fans of Tolkien's vision sneered at by fans of Jackson's vision, while fans ofColumbus's (*snerk*) Cuaron's vision are sneered at by fans of Rowling's vision?
Why is it more acceptable to do a mish-mash personal canon of both Lord of the Rings movie- and bookverse, while if you take both canons and combine them together in the Potterverse, you're looked upon as a second-class citizen?
After all, I could be snobbish enough to say that yes, The Lord of the Rings is most certainly literature -- true, it's only stood the test of 50 years, but if anything, it is the grandfather of the fantasy genre. Harry Potter? Not so much. What gives the Harry Potter fandom more right to be anal about their books than the Lord of the Rings fandom? Why don't the book fans get looked down upon the way the LotR book fans do?*
Why is it that there is such a polar difference in these fandoms, in regards to the source texts, and the movie adaptations?
*OMG. If it's not been made at all obvious, I love the Potter books. I adore them, though admittedly, I would so not put Rowling on the list of fantasy greats. Possibly not even among the greats of children's literature. Don't flame me over that last paragraph, for the love of God. It's certainly flame-baity in regards to the more militant of the Potterfans, but if you can't figure out that I was saying that to make a point, rather than saying something that might make people think, I can't help you. Don't go looking for stuff to get yer knickers in a twist in this journal. It's curiosity, that's all.
fanficrants (where I ventured from a quote on metaquotes) say "as movies are NOT canon in this fandom" in regards to Harry Potter...Why is that okay? Really. Why is it that so very many people reject the movies as being any sort of canon in Potterdom, even when, while Rowling says that no, Tom Felton is not Draco and no, Jason Isaacs is not Lucius, she still has a lot more say in what happens there than people seem to acknowledge?
On the flip side -- why in the name of all that is good and fantastical in this world, can a person barely escape from being lynched when wanting to deny the validity of the Lord of the Rings movies as canon? Why is it I still have to look nervously over my shoulder if I want to say in public that I thought Prisoner of Azkaban was a hell of a better adaptation than Return of the King -- saying this in fear of people from both fandoms, for opposite reasons?
Why does it seem far more okay to accept Sean Bean as the ideal Boromir, than Alan Rickman as the ideal Snape? Why are the fans of Tolkien's vision sneered at by fans of Jackson's vision, while fans of
Why is it more acceptable to do a mish-mash personal canon of both Lord of the Rings movie- and bookverse, while if you take both canons and combine them together in the Potterverse, you're looked upon as a second-class citizen?
After all, I could be snobbish enough to say that yes, The Lord of the Rings is most certainly literature -- true, it's only stood the test of 50 years, but if anything, it is the grandfather of the fantasy genre. Harry Potter? Not so much. What gives the Harry Potter fandom more right to be anal about their books than the Lord of the Rings fandom? Why don't the book fans get looked down upon the way the LotR book fans do?*
Why is it that there is such a polar difference in these fandoms, in regards to the source texts, and the movie adaptations?
*OMG. If it's not been made at all obvious, I love the Potter books. I adore them, though admittedly, I would so not put Rowling on the list of fantasy greats. Possibly not even among the greats of children's literature. Don't flame me over that last paragraph, for the love of God. It's certainly flame-baity in regards to the more militant of the Potterfans, but if you can't figure out that I was saying that to make a point, rather than saying something that might make people think, I can't help you. Don't go looking for stuff to get yer knickers in a twist in this journal. It's curiosity, that's all.
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Date: 2004-09-06 01:25 am (UTC)Just out of it I suppose.
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Date: 2004-09-06 02:26 am (UTC)Seriously, I think there are plenty of snobs to go around, and the movie adaptation of ROTK makes me froth at the mouth. Gorgeous vision of how stuff looks, yes, but Osgiliath a stone's throw across the Pelennor? Denethor a raving loony with no table manners who does a flaming nose-dive off the parapet? *GAH!*
*cough*
Anyway, I've seen LOTR fans get very up-in-arms about people combining movie-verse and book-verse (my personal peeve has to do with green-eyes and blond hair versus grey-eyes and black hair, and people who say Sean Bean made Boromir into a sympathetic character that he wasn't in the book -- Sean Bean showed Boromir to be the sympathetic character that a careful reading of the books will reveal), and the places where I hang out in fandom, the movies are a beautiful fanfiction of the books, which are where the deeper wealth lies.
I guess my only point is that the fandoms are probably big enough that depending on where you go, you'll find the full range of snobbery and non-snobbery. :)
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Date: 2004-09-06 08:45 pm (UTC)I love Alan Rickman, and yet, I don't see him as Snape per se - but this is a positive way. There is a deeply sensual, well fed hotness to his being that come throught the screen that does not seem to apply to Snape ( who I feel has deeply repressed sensuality and anger in his makeup- his anger at the kids is only the tip of the iceberg)as we see him in the books.
But then again, the interpretation is an intering one. As what all fandom is, really, isn't it? Interpretation of our favorite characters?
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