We no longer have to understand him only through how he reflects or can be contrasted to Harry. That's why I think many conversations about roles in H/D are doomed to fail. It's no longer just a case of deciding whether you're going to use Draco one way or the other with regards to Harry, because he now exists more fully and independently of Harry.
Y'know, it sort of baffles me, the very idea of top/bottom relating to this question of reflections, though the truth is I think most people -do- see it that way (with Draco-loving fans recasting [at least emotionally] bottomish!Harry to be -Draco's- reflection and/or in his shadow). I always saw Draco as in Harry's shadow in terms of events, but needing/having to break out of it and prove himself to Harry & to himself before H/D could happen in any believable way-- so once H/D happened, this wouldn't be a question. I mean, they can't have a really enjoyable antagonistic dynamic if one is obviously more emotionally/generally 'on top'. Love itself is about 'joining two protagonists' if it's an absorbing/realistic love-story-- it's just that yeah, we had to develop this life for Draco on our own, before (and thusly mostly did a lot worse than JKR).
It occurred to me, though, that while I dismiss the importance of this Draco-the-shadow thing in terms of writing H/D, I did get pretty depressed/discouraged on the shippiness front post-HBP, at least partly because Draco became more self-enclosed and that took away the romanticism of seeing him in the Harry-frame. It now seems a bit ridiculous/naive that I was so invested in that, but I guess I just needed/wanted to take him through that journey myself. As long as he was only on the brink-- desperate to prove himself but always failing in canon-- I got my push to develop/engage him & also the sort of reassurance that H/D was sort of inevitable from [my] Draco's pov [as I wrote it, since canon hadn't gotten there at all yet]. It's like... H/D became more difficult for me post-HBP even if it was more difficult for most people before, just because of this growth into a protagonist, the separate storyline-- it's like, H/D became a lot less inevitable as their paths diverged (though they're still linked/reflective of each other in terms of their arcs).
Even so, the top/bottom thing is just on a totally different axis to all this, y'know? The overarching story, their needs and choices which bring them into a relationship and define them as people aren't the same forces that define their [more intimate] relationship. It's like looking at people against the back-drop of the sky & the cityscape vs. looking at two profiles in shadow & how they fit together, the shape they make in relation to each other rather than themselves + their environment. If that, er, makes sense. It's a much more close-knit, closely defined little system, less sweeping in its implications about their personalities and more just about them, this little piece of them where they interact/are attracted/are sexually active. Like, there are many factors that go into how people talk, their overall relationship issues, the events that influence their choices and future together, and all of this isn't the same as what influences their intimate behavior at a given [here, initial] stage of their relationship :>
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Y'know, it sort of baffles me, the very idea of top/bottom relating to this question of reflections, though the truth is I think most people -do- see it that way (with Draco-loving fans recasting [at least emotionally] bottomish!Harry to be -Draco's- reflection and/or in his shadow). I always saw Draco as in Harry's shadow in terms of events, but needing/having to break out of it and prove himself to Harry & to himself before H/D could happen in any believable way-- so once H/D happened, this wouldn't be a question. I mean, they can't have a really enjoyable antagonistic dynamic if one is obviously more emotionally/generally 'on top'. Love itself is about 'joining two protagonists' if it's an absorbing/realistic love-story-- it's just that yeah, we had to develop this life for Draco on our own, before (and thusly mostly did a lot worse than JKR).
It occurred to me, though, that while I dismiss the importance of this Draco-the-shadow thing in terms of writing H/D, I did get pretty depressed/discouraged on the shippiness front post-HBP, at least partly because Draco became more self-enclosed and that took away the romanticism of seeing him in the Harry-frame. It now seems a bit ridiculous/naive that I was so invested in that, but I guess I just needed/wanted to take him through that journey myself. As long as he was only on the brink-- desperate to prove himself but always failing in canon-- I got my push to develop/engage him & also the sort of reassurance that H/D was sort of inevitable from [my]
Draco's pov [as I wrote it, since canon hadn't gotten there at all yet]. It's like... H/D became more difficult for me post-HBP even if it was more difficult for most people before, just because of this growth into a protagonist, the separate storyline-- it's like, H/D became a lot less inevitable as their paths diverged (though they're still linked/reflective of each other in terms of their arcs).
Even so, the top/bottom thing is just on a totally different axis to all this, y'know? The overarching story, their needs and choices which bring them into a relationship and define them as people aren't the same forces that define their [more intimate] relationship. It's like looking at people against the back-drop of the sky & the cityscape vs. looking at two profiles in shadow & how they fit together, the shape they make in relation to each other rather than themselves + their environment. If that, er, makes sense. It's a much more close-knit, closely defined little system, less sweeping in its implications about their personalities and more just about them, this little piece of them where they interact/are attracted/are sexually active. Like, there are many factors that go into how people talk, their overall relationship issues, the events that influence their choices and future together, and all of this isn't the same as what influences their intimate behavior at a given [here, initial] stage of their relationship :>