Thank you for articulating this -- many of your points here resonated with me, especially
...Liking a character doesn't equal to condoning their actions (nor does liking a person, actually).
One thing I've realized over the years is how non-rational I can be about whether I like or dislike a person -- so much depends on when and where I met them, and whether we were around other people who brought out our better or worse qualities. For instance, I met someone at Lumos I liked enormously and want to get to know better ... who I would have almost certainly tried to avoid had I first encountered them through their journal, because they have a very emotion-infused style that would have scared the hell out of me had I come across it on its own.
For that matter, as someone who came to the HP novels through fandom, rather than the other way around, my view of Snape has always been colored by his characterizations in triumvirate and the other pro-Snape fics I encountered early on. That, and he's my age. I would have been far less inclined to explore his side of things had I first read the books when I was sixteen or even twenty-six, because I was definitely more idealistic and dogmatic at those ages than I am now. Conversely, I doubt I would be as emotionally invested in Sayers's Wimsey/Vane novels were I reading them for the first time now, rather than over twenty years ago-- my love for them is very much entwined with hearing the BBC broadcasts and adolescent Anglophilia and the used bookstore in my hometown and a whole host of other factors that have less to do with literary merit and much more to do with what was(n't) in my life when I was in high school. Would I still find them fun? Perhaps -- but it's also all too possible that, were I to meet Lord Peter in the flesh, I'd just want to punch him.
(Come to think of it, would I want to meet any of the Snapes or Lupins I write? Hell, no. I love spending time with them as characters, but my life already contains as much drama and chaos and complicated-people-not-talking-to-each-other as I can handle, thankyouverymuch. ;-) ...)
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...Liking a character doesn't equal to condoning their actions (nor does liking a person, actually).
One thing I've realized over the years is how non-rational I can be about whether I like or dislike a person -- so much depends on when and where I met them, and whether we were around other people who brought out our better or worse qualities. For instance, I met someone at Lumos I liked enormously and want to get to know better ... who I would have almost certainly tried to avoid had I first encountered them through their journal, because they have a very emotion-infused style that would have scared the hell out of me had I come across it on its own.
For that matter, as someone who came to the HP novels through fandom, rather than the other way around, my view of Snape has always been colored by his characterizations in
(Come to think of it, would I want to meet any of the Snapes or Lupins I write? Hell, no. I love spending time with them as characters, but my life already contains as much drama and chaos and complicated-people-not-talking-to-each-other as I can handle, thankyouverymuch. ;-) ...)