What makes me most annoyed is that I think there's a tendency to not only think that your point of view is the correct one (and no, not everybody does that) but then to admit that yeah, you hate Snape because he's a bully, unpleasant - whatever - but not see that your view is just as subjective as the ones who think he can do no wrong.
I tend to avoid the people who detest Snape, not so much because I can't see where they're coming from, but because it drives me crazy that they have so little awareness that their own bias colours their view of the character. If we didn't bring our own subjective reading to the text then I guess everyone would love Harry, hate Snape, love Hagrid, hate the Malfoys etc etc. I like Snape and I'm not sure why. I detest Remus Lupin and I do know why. He embodies characteristics that I despise, poor bastard, so he'll never get a fair crack of the whip from me. And I know that. I know that most people admire the qualities I despise in him and I really, really understand why he appears to be so widely loved - both by the author and pretty much all of fandom. My dislike of him is because of me, because of who I am, not really because of who he is, because who he is means something different to most of fandom than it does to me. And yeah I'm very much a Snape fan, but that's not why I don't like Remus and Sirius. And again that's another assumption that really gets my goat; that I'm bound not to like Potter Major et al because of what they did to poor 'Snapey-poo'. Well surprisingly enough that has very little to do with it. Bullying Snape didn't endear them to me, but it's the qualities they represent that I don't like. Had they never bullied Snape I still wouldn't have liked them. I. Just. Don't. Like. Them.
Funnily enough I can articulate the reasons why I don't like a character far more clearly than I can the reasons I do like them. I think it's because there are no characters I identify with on a personal level, but the ones I don't like remind me of or embody certain qualities found in people in real life or fiction that I just don't like. It's immediate and obvious. Which is why I can understand why people don't like Snape. And even though these same people may think the Marauders are the bees knees this doesn't make me despise them or conclude that they're seriously deluded. I just wish, probably vainly, that they'd offer me the same courtesy...
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Date: 2004-08-31 04:56 am (UTC)What makes me most annoyed is that I think there's a tendency to not only think that your point of view is the correct one (and no, not everybody does that) but then to admit that yeah, you hate Snape because he's a bully, unpleasant - whatever - but not see that your view is just as subjective as the ones who think he can do no wrong.
I tend to avoid the people who detest Snape, not so much because I can't see where they're coming from, but because it drives me crazy that they have so little awareness that their own bias colours their view of the character. If we didn't bring our own subjective reading to the text then I guess everyone would love Harry, hate Snape, love Hagrid, hate the Malfoys etc etc. I like Snape and I'm not sure why. I detest Remus Lupin and I do know why. He embodies characteristics that I despise, poor bastard, so he'll never get a fair crack of the whip from me. And I know that. I know that most people admire the qualities I despise in him and I really, really understand why he appears to be so widely loved - both by the author and pretty much all of fandom. My dislike of him is because of me, because of who I am, not really because of who he is, because who he is means something different to most of fandom than it does to me. And yeah I'm very much a Snape fan, but that's not why I don't like Remus and Sirius. And again that's another assumption that really gets my goat; that I'm bound not to like Potter Major et al because of what they did to poor 'Snapey-poo'. Well surprisingly enough that has very little to do with it. Bullying Snape didn't endear them to me, but it's the qualities they represent that I don't like. Had they never bullied Snape I still wouldn't have liked them. I. Just. Don't. Like. Them.
Funnily enough I can articulate the reasons why I don't like a character far more clearly than I can the reasons I do like them. I think it's because there are no characters I identify with on a personal level, but the ones I don't like remind me of or embody certain qualities found in people in real life or fiction that I just don't like. It's immediate and obvious. Which is why I can understand why people don't like Snape. And even though these same people may think the Marauders are the bees knees this doesn't make me despise them or conclude that they're seriously deluded. I just wish, probably vainly, that they'd offer me the same courtesy...