HARRY POTTER & THE DEATHLY HALLOWS - thoughts (SPOILERS!!) (1 Viewer)

[AsyLum]

Fan fic is some idiot who is obsessed with either a movie, book or game using someone elses characters and passing them off with a slightly different storyline. Characterisation is key in creating a good story and if you steal someone elses characters then you're hardly being original.

Even if the writing is quality, it's still a despicable medium.

Pfft, thats the most ignorant and stupid thing I've heard.

Fanfics sustain and can produce quality works to service a certain demographic, there is nothing inherently 'despicable' about them. The mere fact that they use a pre-existing story, rather than a medium because the medium of writing is already there, should in no way be the sole judgement on the very nature of it.

The Japanese cultures of manga not only promote it, but use it to not only scout new writers/drawers but also endorse very well written ones. I should think no less of the Western equivalents.

 

[Tulipa]

Pfft, thats the most ignorant and stupid thing I've heard.

Eh. I've read it. I'm not saying this without something behind me. I've read fanfic and it's not pretty.

Fanfics sustain and can produce quality works to service a certain demographic, there is nothing inherently 'despicable' about them. The mere fact that they use a pre-existing story, rather than a medium because the medium of writing is already there, should in no way be the sole judgement on the very nature of it.

One of the most difficult, time consuming and creative parts of writing a story is the character and the canon. Taking that from another medium is taking most of the creativity out of writing. It's basically half writing something after stealing the most difficult part from someone else. That's also why a lot of it can read as disjointed and well, crap. Fan fic authors and readers aren't true fans of the original series, rather people who become obsessed with certain aspects and then twist them for their own means. It's not a creative and it certainly shouldn't be rewarded.

The Japanese cultures of manga not only promote it, but use it to not only scout new writers/drawers but also endorse very well written ones. I should think no less of the Western equivalents.

Unless you've actually had experience with the "Western equivalents" I don't know how informed your opinion here is. I haven't had much contact manga other than to read a lot of slash, which in my opinion was just as good as the HP fan fic.

 

[AsyLum]

I'll start this as civilly as I can:

One of the most difficult, time consuming and creative parts of writing a story is the character and the canon. Taking that from another medium is taking most of the creativity out of writing. It's basically half writing something after stealing the most difficult part from someone else. That's also why a lot of it can read as disjointed and well, crap. Fan fic authors and readers aren't true fans of the original series, rather people who become obsessed with certain aspects and then twist them for their own means. It's not a creative and it certainly shouldn't be rewarded.

I don't think ANY fanfic writer alive believes theirs to be canon, or even suggest that. What they understand is that fanfic to be their own 'alternate' reality, some sort of escapism. The very same escapism which roams into the majority of other people's minds, the very same escapism which is alluded with the act of reading a book. Writing a canon and a story are fundamental to the development of the actual series yes, and in no such way, shape or form does fanfic even touch open this, you misunderstand their purpose, and perhaps more importantly, their culture.

What is happening is not an assault on the canon but a 'realisation' of the imagined. Lets take a game for example, a game is made to be played in 'canon'. But modders can utilise this, and recreate the scenes, the actors and the story, to befit their own imagination. It is the very same game, but reimagined or with a slight twist. It is very much the same concept happening, it is not an insult to the person writing or their story, rather it is a compliment. Why? Because not only are their characters being used, but also the world in which they are imagined is playing as the underlying and overarching world which facilitates and stimulates their readers' minds. Predictions after a book and fancible thoughts on what may happen/what has happened are one step away from fanfics, they merely solidify storylines and our own desires of the authour into a story format for others to read.

What you want us to do is to purely read canon, no realisations, no dreaming, nothing. The whole concept it seems of imagining something outside of what is told to you abhorrent. It IS the positioning of stories and characters out of their canon which shits you yes?

Or is it the fact that these people are "copying" material? You don't support sampling as a valid form of music either then?

Or that they can't create original material? So basically you can't read anything which has traceable roots in a pre-existing story/culture?

Unless you've actually had experience with the "Western equivalents" I don't know how informed your opinion here is. I haven't had much contact manga other than to read a lot of slash, which in my opinion was just as good as the HP fan fic.

Eh. I've read it. I'm not saying this without something behind me. I've read fanfic and it's not pretty.

Get off your pretentious high horse. Do you have this concept that you're the only person who's read fanfic and are qualified to make a statement on them?

Your dismissive tone rings volumes, not only of your own closed mindedness but of the very same canon worship which conservatives all flock to when something other than this Dead White Male idea is perpetuated.

 

[Tulipa]

EDIT: I can't be bothered arguing over fan fic. I've done it too much in the past few months. I find that it's frustrating because people put fan fic on par with the original when it's not. You apparently like it. I don't. We have different reasons for that.

 

[lisajf]

I have to say i agree by putting Fanfic on the same par as Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows is really stupid. But People writing i can get. I have never read a fanfic myself but i do believe in what i have read on this forum about some of the Fanfic that it should in no way be put on the same level.
But thats my Opinion and i dont expect everyone or anyone for that matter to agree

 

[RabbitRabbit]

I have to say I don't agree in the least. I've read many, many novel length HP Fan Fics (mostly D/H) and in my opinion, you'd come across some incredibly crap stories and absolute rubbish, but that shouldn't blur your judgement on ALL fan fics. A few the best Fan Fics I've read, I can say definitely rate higher than JK's HP books, only because the story lines can be believable AND take risks JK would never consider in her children's books.

In my opinion, there's no doubt that HP books 1-3 was beyond great. Good story lines and shock-shock endings (ie Quirrell turned into Voldy, Ginny turned out to be the Slytherin heir, Serius was Harry's Godfather) but when it reached book 4-7, it seemed JK was too rich to care what happened to stupid harry, and the books were just a series of bad guys and heros blasting each other with wands.... Anyway I digress, HP books went down hill and that's why I turned to Fan Fic.

 

[$hiftyIceQueen]

I have to say I don't agree in the least. I've read many, many novel length HP Fan Fics (mostly D/H) and in my opinion, you'd come across some incredibly crap stories and absolute rubbish, but that shouldn't blur your judgement on ALL fan fics. A few the best Fan Fics I've read, I can say definitely rate higher than JK's HP books, only because the story lines can be believable AND take risks JK would never consider in her children's books.

In my opinion, there's no doubt that HP books 1-3 was beyond great. Good story lines and shock-shock endings (ie Quirrell turned into Voldy, Ginny turned out to be the Slytherin heir, Serius was Harry's Godfather) but when it reached book 4-7, it seemed JK was too rich to care what happened to stupid harry, and the books were just a series of bad guys and heros blasting each other with wands.... Anyway I digress, HP books went down hill and that's why I turned to Fan Fic.

Ginny was never the Slytherin heir, Voldemort was the Slytherin heir. Voldemort was only using her, which is why some people may have thought she was the heir.

Also books 4-7 aren't that bad, JKR had so much information in there about different people, which was all very ineresting...at least i thought so. Voldemorts past makes you sort of understand why the guy is weird, even if it is wrong. And i don't think anyone expected Dumbledores past to be how JKR puts it in the final book. There's Severus and Lily. And alot more good characters/storylines.

 

[miss-smexy]

haha sorry if this is repeated - I haven't been reading this whole thread cuz it's too long... but anyway, regarding the epilogue, I thought it was lame how the names of Harry's kids were James, Albus and Lily. I'm not sure why, but after reading the epilogue, the magic was lost.

But apart from that, I liked the book... although it took me a while to read with trials and all and i'm not sure if that was cuz:
1) the book wasnt interesting enough
2) I've grown out of my harry potter phase
3) just the trials

I wanna marry draco malfoy <3

[edit] oh and HP fanfic was good. it was steamier than rowling's style rofl

 

[princesskt]

i <3 severus

 

[HotShot]

i <3 severus

Snape = pedo.

Bah the movies are so crap compared to the books, sif they cant get some decent actors.

The trailer for The Golden Compass looks awesome. I mean HP is just shit compared to it.

 

[princesskt]

Snape = pedo.

Bah the movies are so crap compared to the books, sif they cant get some decent actors.

Yeah I don't like the movies much either, their still good.. to some degree. I much prefer the books though.

But snape is so cool lol, i love the 'memory chapter' i thought he was sweet lol it showed a different side to him

 

[ObjectsInSpace]

I have a friend who watches the films before she reads the books. She says that way she won't be comparing the film to the books, and can therefore judge the film as it is. She also says that while it does spoil the book, she thinks there's so muhc the films miss out that there's still a lot of reasons to read the books.

Personally I think she's out of her mind, largely because none of the actors look interested in what they're doing (honestly - and I've said it before - Alan Rickamn is one of the best actors ever - this was the man who was Hans Gruber - and he's got the single most interesting role in the franchise, but he looks completely bored with it in the films).

 

[The_highwayman]

i think alan rickman plays an excellent snape.

 

[ObjectsInSpace]

Not from what I saw in Prisoner of Azkaban ...

 

[The_highwayman]

i honestly feel he is the only actor to fulfil everything i imagined the character would be.
Maggie smith is next but i think i recall the character in the book being described as having black hair? other than that, she's great too.

 

[MaNiElla]

I think that Alan Rickman, and the Lucius, Draco, and Mcgonagall actors, are the best actors in the movie. Dan *shudder*, Emma *shudder*, and Rupert *shudder* are horrible :mad1:

 

[The_highwayman]

i think the trelawney character is pretty well done as well.

i'm so curious about who's gunna play slughorn.

 

[Lachlan18]

The book pissed me off. I've only given my opinions to hardcore fans who were offended that I was criticising the book so don't fucking scream to me if you don't like what I say. Just accept it.

Anyway, I was pissed off with the book.

1. Harry Potter was a complete and utter dickhead. He was unlikable, he's got a pretty horrible and boring personality and he's always angry. If Ron and Hermione didn't intervene, he would've completely disrespected the DA. Plus, he was kind of a dickhead to Lupin as well. At one stage I was thinking "Oh hurry up Voldermort, come on and kill him!"

2. The. Epilogue. Was. Bloody. Awful. It was a complete and utter anti-climax. It was abysmal. It was just fan fiction! And why did Harry, that stupid prick, name all his children, yet Ginny didn't name any? He names them after his bully of a dickhead of a father; after his mother who digs arrogant bastards, and then, perhaps the most corniest name in the lot, Albus Severus. *shiver* Ginny didn't even name any of her children Fred! Perhaps she was a gold digger? Horrible ending. I was so excited to read the book and I was prepared to feel sad that it was the end but that epilogue turned me off the books in every possible way. I won't touch a Harry Potter book for a long bloody time knowing that the epilogue was like that.

Apart from its corniness, I was annoyed that nothing was mentioned about what the careers became, what people got up to, etc. I don't care if it's too detailed. I hate the "uze ur imaginashion" lines as well. It's an epilogue. End it like one! I was pissed off that I had to find out what Hermione and Harry and Ron and Ginny, etc, went on to become through INTERVIEWS of J.K. It felt so inconclusive. It didn't really end for me.. you get a bunch of corny names (Malfoy naming his son Scorpius?), Ron reminded me of Homer Simpson, and it ends in a cliche "All was well". *shiver*

3. The UNCEREMONIOUS RUSHED deaths. The only death I actually felt sad for was Dobby's! Apart from that, Hedwig dies and Harry seems to forget about it pretty quickly.

- "Where's Hedwig?"
- "I don't know, can I have lunch?"

Your poor pet owl is dead you idiot! Mad-Eye dies, and we don't exactly know what happened to his body. Fred's death pissed - sorry - fucking pissed me off. It was a rushed unceremonial forgotten death. "oh wow, lyke, fred's dead, lol". Ron cries for a second and voila, the show goes on again! Terrible! And then other important characters die like Lupin and Tonks but there is no sense of "sadness" at all. It's just rushed. It's like Hermione dying out of nowhere and expecting the show to just go on without her with only 1 line of sadness to compensate. Lupin and Tonks are dead, great, now we have more orphans!1 And to make everything more sweet, that's basically the last mention of them you hear. No mention anywhere else. Just a rushed incomplete unceremonious not particularly moving bunch of deaths.

4. Hermione and Ron. We've been expecting them to hook up since Book 3 or something. And all we got was a 2 second forgotten kiss..... ... .... I felt kind of cheated... then they're married in the end.. wow, what a surprise.

5. Harry and his ability to scream out "MY PARENTS ARE DEAD" all the time. Get the fuck over yourself, you stupid wanker. Your father was a stupid horrible arrogant bully and your mother was a pricktease. Deal with it.

6. I was kind of annoyed also that Neville never actually got to avenge his parents' death and kill Bellatrix. That might have been predictable but so fucking what.. Also, we were never explained how he got Gryfindor's sword. Rather, we had to find out THAT in a bloody interview ALSO.

7. We found out nothing about what happened to the Death Eaters. One line was "Death Eaters were rushing out of the country, some would get caught" etc, which is too simple and rushed. Malfoy, the bully for all those years, gets away with it. So do his Death Eater parents! Umbridge goes to Azkaban, whcih we found out in yet ANOTHER INTERVIEW. Jeez, the whole plot usually involved Death Eaters and suddenly, boom, no more mention of them.

8. I never really understood Voldermort's death. He conquers the country, he's planned this for years, and in the end, he dies by a simple backfire spell or something. Cool..... :\

Overall, an annoying as fuck book. It was fun to read in some parts, but it mostly annoyed the hell out of me. To me, it's a completely different book to the first 6 and doesn't compare. It was a horrible ending to a great series and it was a complete and utter anti-climax. And it would help if Americans could fucking guard their books as safe as we do. All those fucking leaks because people were too lax on security. Bloody hell.:burn:

 

[atreus]

lachlan18- where did u find all these interviews?

has anyone asked jkr if the beggar dude with the eye patch in diagon alley is really mad-eye moody?

 

[Lachlan18]

atreus, the whole transcript is here:

http://mugglenet.com/app/news/full_story/1156

and here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20001720/

You find out lots of stuff. Like.. George named his first son Fred and so on. Harry was an aura, Hermione worked in the Ministry, Ginny as some Quidditch journalist, etc. Stuff that wasn't in the epilogue. Enjoy!

I reckon the 7th movie will be better than the 7th book.