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NM ([info]narcissam) wrote in [info]fandom_wank,
@ 2006-05-24 12:09:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
JKR Ruined Draco's Armani Suit
Thanks to [info]estrella for pointing this out to me. petterspider started a thread on Fiction Alley Park:Which character(s) do you think JKR ruined? There's a poll with many options, but the real point of this is to rant about how JKR can't write Draco Malfoy as well as Cassandra Claire, and that Draco should wear an Armani suit.

"I think Draco's (yes not Malfoy's :P) character has been completely slaughtered by JKR !! (Yes, I just read the "Draco Triology"...) He has been far better developed by writers such as Cassandra Claire where he is portrayed as the erm *hero* but a complete "bad-boy" all the same (with a BRILLAINT sense of humour!). So rather than being like Harry, with his selfless heroism, Draco is seen as somebpdy who would sacrifice himself for someone else, but be dragged kicking and screaming to the altar all the same.

In the books, Draco's obviously evil, and can't *magically* become a hero , but JKR has potrayed him as being a rather unsophisticated and unintelligent villainous git (This impression has been worsened by his portrayel in the movies, especially PoA). It would have been so much more fun to have him as a slick, extermely sophisticated and witty villain with a love for Armani (etc) "

Some of the other posters attempt to give petterspider a basic introduction to reality. Petterspider doesn't get it. Until that is, she does get it and decides to pretend everyone else is just misunderstanding her thread topic.

baghee: In order for JKR to "slaughter" some character, there needs to be previous development in the first place to take away. Canon!Draco has always been very much the way you describe

emsworth: I think petterspider was saying that certain characters had the potential for much development, and that Draco was a primary one of them. That is a perfectly legitimate way, and if she prefers Fanon! Draco, that's also legitimate. I do think that if JKR had developed Draco in a manner close to the way certain writers have, he could have been a very interesting canon character, which he certainly isn't. Fanfic opens your eyes sometimes.

Marauder: Saying JKR slaughtered Draco because she didn't make him witty and sophisticated with a love for Armani is like saying that George Lucas slaughtered Luke Skywalker because he didn't make him a genius with a passion for folk music. He never was in the first place. Liking a fanfic characterization is one thing, but who's the ultimate Draco authority? JKR, not Cassie Claire.

Draco in canon does not have a brilliant sense of humor; it takes him years to get his insults beyond "my dad is rich, your dad is dead, your friend is poor and your other friend is a Mudblood". He hates everything having to do with Muggles, which most likely extends to Armani.

petterspider: Not trying to say JKR is bad, I'm just saying that it WOULD have been COOLER if Malfoy was more like the character explored by Claire AND AngieJ. ANd Luke Skywalker never had it in him to be a classical music loving genius, his dumb heroism suits him perfectly well. You're completely missing the point of my post. I'm not saying that because Draco is potrayed better in some fan fics that he should have been exactly like that in teh books. I just think if his character was a bit more, oh I dont know, classy, it would have been undeniably interesting and cool.

Neville: JKR wrote Draco like she always did. I do like the style of some fanfiction writers, including Cassandra Claire, very much, but the Draco mentioned in the first post here, is strictly speaking a misinterpretation and a completely different character, and it's not JKR's fault, when readers start to take fanon Draco for the real deal or wish Canon Draco was more like the fanon version. For the same reason you could argue that she ruined Harry, because he wasn't more like Mr T (well, okay, that's an extreme example)

petterspider: I'm not trying to say that i dislike JKR's plot, characterisation or anything, because i don't, i love it. And obviously she has a right to do wahtver she wants with the story and we can't complain. All I wanted to say is, that Draco would've made (IMO ONLY) a cooler villain being less petty and less riding on his fatehr's glory. Maybe he wasn't meant to be like that, FINE ! But then maybe Tonks was meant to show a degradation in her character too? And H/H shippers, maybe they were never MEANT to be. But that doesn't mean we don't have the right to wish otherwise..

Then a few people pick Ginny as the ruined character. Petterspider isn't having with that.

petterspider:
I sort of agree with your point about Ginny (and the many above), however, I don't think JKR really ruined her because she didn't have potential to start with! I felt that she was an awfully mousy sort of character and to have her grow into this *sex symbol* who cause Harry heart-ache seemed just *a bit* out of character.

So. Draco had potential to wear Armani. But Giny hadn't any potential for *anything*.

TeaWithVoldy:
For me, I'm definetely happy with Canon!Draco. If anything, Cassie Clair's fanon version of Draco fails in comparison. Rather to me, Cassie's Draco is more of the embodiment of Spike from Buffy and Angel. And she uses quotes from those sorts of shows. Yes I might fangirl over Spike, but I do separate him from Draco.... most the time.

The thing is not every character in HP's world is to be liked and swoon over by millions of fangirls. Draco Malfoy is one of such characters yet, the girls always go for the bad ones. If JKR were to expand Draco's character she might as well make the books Draco Malfoy and the Whatsit Mystery.

Fanon!Draco should stay in fandom, and leave the canon one the way he is, cos although he's a rich twit, that's how he's meant to be. Not every rich blonde haired boy has to be a hero with snarky lines.

petterspider: I am tired of expaining my point over and over. This isn't a thread meant to bash JKR or any of the real books in any way, or compare how much greater fanon is to canon. And anyway, how do you know what Draco's meant to be? I agree that maybe he wasn't meant to be "a hero with snarky lines" and him being a rich twit abusing his father's power is perhaps much more realistic. However, the only point I wished to originally make, was that Draco showed a lot of promise for perhaps evolving into a "a hero with snarky lines" and if he had done so (and had teh description be a bit more sophisticated:P), I think it might have been more interesting.
And Cassie Claire's Draco isn't exactly a copy of Spike though I do appreciate the slight simialrities in their character.

TeaWithVoldy: Well from what we've seen of Draco throughout the books. That's what he's meant to be. True his character hasn't been explored well enough, but JKR did say he wasn't meant to.

petterspider: I guess your point is very valid, and I do whole heartedly agree about fanon being fanon and canon being canon. And I didn't mean my post to be offensive in any way. Whenever someone writes something, however great it may be, there'll always be a million things people find which they would've wanted to be different. This was just an outlet for that! Otherwise three cheers to JKR, lol.
But admit it, you would enjoy some Draco in leather pants, wouldn't you?

Lady Lycanthrope: You know, these things always bug me. Because, do you know WHY he's not so well-developed? BECAUSE HE'S NOT THE FREAKING MAIN CHARACTER, PEOPLE!!!!!! HARRY is well-developed-- he HAS to be. He IS the hero. DRACO is not!!! We know only as far as Harry knows about Draco's character. To Harry, Draco is just a jerk and a pain. The books are written in 3rd person-limited POV. That means that the books are limited to HARRY! NOT Draco! He's not as well-developed because he doesn't have to be! Now, maybe he'll be more developed in the 7th book...possibly. But right now, we can't do anything but wait.

petterspider: ah well, you obviously haven't read any books with third person narration centering around more than one character have you? :P lol. And it's not so much the development I was quibbling abut, but as everyone's said, hot Draco is leather pants is terribly unrealistic, but so much of fun to envision

Hooray4Nay: Ruined???
I didn't vote, because personally I don't think Jo ruined anyone. They're her characters! To say that she's ruined her own creation because she simply went into a different direction than some of the fans didn't like, is not very fair in my opinion.
It's not always easy to please everyone all of the time, and I agree that we can become disappointed in some of the character archs and their actions.
I just don't think the verbage is right or very fair. It comes off as rather pretentious and er well...persnickety. And if you'd glance down at my sig you'd notice I'm sort of the 'persnickety police' and apparently felt the need to stand up for Jo in this instance...
hehehe...

petterspider : *winces* Am awfully sorry, I know I worded my thread all wrong and I've got enough slack for that (I think if anyone else puts "ruined" or "slaughtered" in quotes one more time I'll scream! But I can't edit what I origianlly said because oh-so-many people have quoted it..) I didn't mean to come across as being "persnikety" because I love JKR and her 'creations'. I guess I was just a bit fevered about my love for leather pants Draco when I started this thread.
Also, just because someone doesn't neccessarily like a direction JKR has taken one of her characters in, doesn't mean we hate her or disrespect her in anyway! Nothing's ever perfect...

Lutter brings out the extensive surveys she's done about Ginny among offline fans: Half the fandom(going by the polls) can't stand her and HP fans who aren't part of the online community are as indifferent to her as it gets from what I've noticed. I'm yet to meet a Ginny fan outside the net.

drowninmybrain: THANK YOU. I totally agree with everything you said and I'm glad someone finally has eloquently said everything about the Harry Potter fandom that quite frankly - sucks. Too bad, but every charater that appears in the Harry Potter novels belong to JK Rowling. If people are so concerned about Rowling "destroying" characters, stop reading fan fiction. I'm especially sick of the Draco backlash. I read The Draco Trilogy and absolutly hated it because it seems so unlikely. I guess that's my problem with fan fic and why I haven't read anything worth the effort in nearly a year

petterspider: You know waht really annoys me? People who can't have an objective discussion. We all agree that JKR is brillaint *sings her praises* but come ON. No one can do ANYTHING perfectly. SO what if they're her characters? WHY can't we discuss how we would've preferred their development? We're in no way bashing the books, or JKR (atleast I'm not) I agree my terminology in "ruined" was a bit harsh, but I am an excitable person and I did not mean she sucks as a writer because she doesn't. If you would open your eyes a bit beyound your obsessive "only JKR can write"ness, maybe you'll enjoy what we fandom members love.

Me: LEATHER PANTS AND ARMANI!.... Errr...sorry, there. On to the next quote.

drowninmybrain: Lol, "[my] obsessive 'only JKR can write"? Wow, I usually don't throw my academic background at people (because that's lame and I'm cringing as I type) but I'm an English Lit major and Rowling is definitely NOT the best writer I've come across. She's great and I love the world she created but I've read better books. Of course Rowling's readers have the right to question her character development but what pisses me off is the fanatical "OMG she did EVERYTHING WRONG WITH [insert character]" mentality that I've seen some fan fic authors and readers share. For example, when Rowling specified that Blaise Zabini is black, the 'wank' the ensued was disturbing to say the least. And dissapointing.

Listen, sorry if I came off as condesending but this fandom can quite frankly be a pain in the ass and I think it has a lot to do with the "internet culture", the fact that the lines between author and reader has blurred significantly since the rise of the internet, and the popularity of fan fiction (which has existed for quite some time, but rarely shared outside of 'zines and a few other outlets before the internet). I think that Rowling creates her characters and the idea that she didn't write them "right" is quite frankly, absurd. Without Rowling, none of these characters would have existed.

But you are right, objective discussions are necessary and I'm sorry for questioning the need for a thread like this.

petterspider: I didn't mean that she didn't write them "right" ! Because ofcourse they are her characters and she has the right to do whatever she wants with them! My point was just... Oh well, I've said it enough, read any of my replies, hehe.
I'm really new to this whole fanfic thing as I've only read two fanfics, so i don't think i qualify with your "net culture", and It does sound pretty terrible so you have every right to be annoyed.
I didn't really know about the whole Zabini being black controversy! That's horrible.
Anyway, this thread wasn't intended for people to go around saying ""OMG she did EVERYTHING WRONG WITH [insert character]"" that really wasn't the point. I just thought it would be interesting to see people share their views on their various visions of characters!

Endlessmix : I feel she ruined a lot of characters with HBP. The whole Harry/Ginny 2-3 chapter romance was a shoutout to the fandom, I thought. Killing Dumbledore was a big mistake, because either Harry's guidance is gone, or he's going to be very Gandalf-esque in the next little bit. Hermione, as someone else said, was positively un-Hermione-like in HBP, worrying too much about Ron. And Ron is Ron.

petterspider: Yay! People are fianlly seeing my point *jumps up and down in glee*. Don't you think it would be cool to read a chapter from Draco's point of view?
And as I was trying to say, even though some of us prefer the development of characters in certain fan-fics, we are by no means disrepecting JKR because they ARE her characters (who's, in my opinion, potential she didn't fully utilise the way i would have liked her too, but that's her choice entirely)

Sorceress014's sig to a pretty normal post:

Reasons that HBP was not really written by J.K. Rowling
Because chest monsters are unhealthy/Because Snape is not evil/Because Hermione doesn't sink that low/Because Ginny is not a slut/Because Luna makes Harry feel happy/Because Harry never felt anything towards Ginny but friendship/Because Draco isn't his father/Because Harry couldn't have forgotten about Sirius that quickly/Because Dumbledore does not give up/Because Lupin is not a pedophile/Because Harry's connection to Voldemort just 'went out'/Because Blaise is Italian/Because this is the first time that I've ever complained about a Harry Potter book
*patiently waits for the real sixth book to come out*

Remember women, if you're in your twenties (like Tonks) and you date a man about thirteen years older than you (like Lupin), it's pedophilia!

MagicianGirl:
I didn't vote because I don't think JKR ruined any character. I think that all her characters we're developed the way they fit into the whole arc of the series. A character is only ruined, IMO, when a reader thinks it's ruined because what the author was intending didn't coincide with what the reader wanted.

petterspider : I agree.. which is why my post started off with "IMO JKR could've written _______ character better because "I" think it would have been cooler. Get the MY OPINION, I THINK, etc
This is a thread about people's fantasies and opinions, not a JKR bashing thread !

Knowing FAP, this thread has the potential to carry on for another three years.


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