Well, by 'anomaly' I meant in terms of focus on Draco's development and Slytherin issues; it reminds me how PoA focused on Sirius & Remus (and then that's it), and OoTP focused on Harry's anger/angst (and then that's it), and then there was HBP for Snape, Tom & Draco and the last book for Dumbledore-- all sort of isolated in the narrative, except for Harry & slightly Tom (who we got new info about more often, I guess). So in book 7 with Draco, it was back to small things-- and remember, you did say that half the time, at least, Draco seemed to be there to serve the plot, like I remember discussions about in book 4. Most characters (other than Harry) seem at least partly a plot device. And I think depending on how you want to stretch it, Draco had his moments of 'Draconess' in book 7 as well; it's not like a total loss the way Ginny is, mostly.
It's true that the 'not recognizing' & following + being in a way seem contradictory, but at the same time he's always had flashes of... something like decency/goodwill/something in the midst of typical 'tricksy wabbit' type behavior. Um... treating book 6 as an anomaly (that's what I meant). I feel like the incident at Malfoy Manor could have led to more, or he could have, I guess, snapped back to 'normal' under greater pressure-- which is what did happen. Besides, he couldn't have followed Harry before he was in Hogwarts (which is apparently where Draco was). He'd have needed quite the resources to follow Harry around otherwise when even Voldy wasn't sure where they are. So I can see how it's both-- both that JKR just wanted them to provide drama/be in the way, but also that this completes the H/D arc (Harry goes from pity to more mature/impersonal concern/rescuing Malfoy) and reflects their past a bit in a circle-- from following to taunting with wands to broomsticks to Harry seeing Malfoy as someone who needs his help. Or at least there seems more there than just being in the way insofar as their dynamic acquired a final new element, I guess; not what I was hoping for, but still some small progress.
Anyway, yeah it does say it's bad-- I do criticize HP too, y'know, haha, especially in my bitterness that HBP wasn't what I wanted for Harry even though it was for Draco. Character jumps, yeah. I know what you mean about the muddiness-- like some final element that'd bring it all together is missing-- but at the same time, perhaps from a distance squinting(?), it does make sense to me at least with Draco (I'm hopeless with his mum & dad, sorry Draco). A lot of times I was wondering what was going on with him and why he reacted like this all of a sudden-- but then I felt like, 'oops, expectations interfering' and restarted-- and realized it was just that he wasn't going where I wanted him to go rather than not making sense, per se. So in that sense there wasn't really a dramatic direction, especially not like in HBP-- only meandering with highlights, almost like JKR was purposefully trying not to do anything else with Draco 'cause he was to stay the way he was. Perhaps this is subconcious, because she wrote herself into a corner with him-- in JKR's world, no one transforms, only becomes more of themselves, right, so in that sense book 6 was a red herring, an anomaly for Draco, or perhaps this means that in terms of Authorial Intent, HBP should be seen in terms of book 7..?? I see what you mean, anyway. I agree that for Draco, OoTP-->HBP was an awesome follow-up (an anomaly in that sense too, heh).
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Date: 2007-09-26 10:25 pm (UTC)It's true that the 'not recognizing' & following + being in a way seem contradictory, but at the same time he's always had flashes of... something like decency/goodwill/something in the midst of typical 'tricksy wabbit' type behavior. Um... treating book 6 as an anomaly (that's what I meant). I feel like the incident at Malfoy Manor could have led to more, or he could have, I guess, snapped back to 'normal' under greater pressure-- which is what did happen. Besides, he couldn't have followed Harry before he was in Hogwarts (which is apparently where Draco was). He'd have needed quite the resources to follow Harry around otherwise when even Voldy wasn't sure where they are. So I can see how it's both-- both that JKR just wanted them to provide drama/be in the way, but also that this completes the H/D arc (Harry goes from pity to more mature/impersonal concern/rescuing Malfoy) and reflects their past a bit in a circle-- from following to taunting with wands to broomsticks to Harry seeing Malfoy as someone who needs his help. Or at least there seems more there than just being in the way insofar as their dynamic acquired a final new element, I guess; not what I was hoping for, but still some small progress.
Anyway, yeah it does say it's bad-- I do criticize HP too, y'know, haha, especially in my bitterness that HBP wasn't what I wanted for Harry even though it was for Draco. Character jumps, yeah. I know what you mean about the muddiness-- like some final element that'd bring it all together is missing-- but at the same time, perhaps from a distance squinting(?), it does make sense to me at least with Draco (I'm hopeless with his mum & dad, sorry Draco). A lot of times I was wondering what was going on with him and why he reacted like this all of a sudden-- but then I felt like, 'oops, expectations interfering' and restarted-- and realized it was just that he wasn't going where I wanted him to go rather than not making sense, per se. So in that sense there wasn't really a dramatic direction, especially not like in HBP-- only meandering with highlights, almost like JKR was purposefully trying not to do anything else with Draco 'cause he was to stay the way he was. Perhaps this is subconcious, because she wrote herself into a corner with him-- in JKR's world, no one transforms, only becomes more of themselves, right, so in that sense book 6 was a red herring, an anomaly for Draco, or perhaps this means that in terms of Authorial Intent, HBP should be seen in terms of book 7..?? I see what you mean, anyway. I agree that for Draco, OoTP-->HBP was an awesome follow-up (an anomaly in that sense too, heh).