A lot of us are probably preparing ourselves for things to go in a way we're not going to like...perhaps this makes me secretly hope they do go in a way I'll enjoy, not even just because I would like it but because it would freak people out who are possibly even less prepared than I am on this.
::sigh::
Yeah. And you know, in some ways, that dynamic really did reduce my enjoyment of reading OotP? Rather than just being able to feel pleased over the Sorting Hat song--to take just one example--instead there was this awful gloating part of my mind doing the Simpsons "hah hah!" at people who I knew would be made unhappy by that outcome. These were people who had spent an awful lot of verbiage telling me all about what a bad reader I was, and how my feelings about the House System were "inappropriate" and "reading the wrong books" and other such nonsense, so on some level I did feel that they had started it, but...well...
Well, it wasn't a very nice feeling. I don't approve of Just Deserts gloating in the least, and "he started it!" is a totally pathetic excuse for ill feeling, and it just all felt, oh, nasty and unpleasant. And also somewhat ideologically inconsistent. After all, I've always been the one arguing that reader response to the text as it currently exists are not and should not be contingent upon what might or might not happen later on in the canon, right? So where did I get off feeling all gloaty when the author happened to agree with some of my readings? How hypocritical could I get?
And, well...then I started thinking far too much about all that sort of thing, and while I wouldn't say that it ruined the book for me, it did seriously detract from my reader enjoyment.
It's late, and this is sort of incoherent, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that sometimes even when the author does end up supporting much of your reading, fandom's pathological emphasis on authorial intent can still end up getting up your nose and in the way of your fun.
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Date: 2004-12-05 02:18 am (UTC)A lot of us are probably preparing ourselves for things to go in a way we're not going to like...perhaps this makes me secretly hope they do go in a way I'll enjoy, not even just because I would like it but because it would freak people out who are possibly even less prepared than I am on this.
::sigh::
Yeah. And you know, in some ways, that dynamic really did reduce my enjoyment of reading OotP? Rather than just being able to feel pleased over the Sorting Hat song--to take just one example--instead there was this awful gloating part of my mind doing the Simpsons "hah hah!" at people who I knew would be made unhappy by that outcome. These were people who had spent an awful lot of verbiage telling me all about what a bad reader I was, and how my feelings about the House System were "inappropriate" and "reading the wrong books" and other such nonsense, so on some level I did feel that they had started it, but...well...
Well, it wasn't a very nice feeling. I don't approve of Just Deserts gloating in the least, and "he started it!" is a totally pathetic excuse for ill feeling, and it just all felt, oh, nasty and unpleasant. And also somewhat ideologically inconsistent. After all, I've always been the one arguing that reader response to the text as it currently exists are not and should not be contingent upon what might or might not happen later on in the canon, right? So where did I get off feeling all gloaty when the author happened to agree with some of my readings? How hypocritical could I get?
And, well...then I started thinking far too much about all that sort of thing, and while I wouldn't say that it ruined the book for me, it did seriously detract from my reader enjoyment.
It's late, and this is sort of incoherent, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that sometimes even when the author does end up supporting much of your reading, fandom's pathological emphasis on authorial intent can still end up getting up your nose and in the way of your fun.