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NM ([info]narcissam) wrote,
@ 2007-11-07 13:04:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
To dream the impossible dream
I've been digging through the HPFGU archives from 2000 and found a number of interesting posts from Steve Vander Ark. The wank has taken on the qualities of psychological drama for me. The correspondence I'm highlighting could be an illustrative case of Why You Should State Some Caveats When You Teach Your Kids To Pursue Their Dream No Matter What.

ETA: More stuff on Fandom Discuss. This time not about Vander Ark's ambitions, but about how he got from being Rowling's biggest cheerleader to here. And I reveal my odd empathy for Vander Ark.

(Post a new comment)


[info]waltraute
2007-11-07 10:42 pm UTC (link)
ILU BB!

No, this is all really interesting as a portrait of fannish involvement and where it takes us. I love your Archivist mind.

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]narcissam
2007-11-07 10:48 pm UTC (link)
I'm just so excited at the new Yahoogroups search function! In the old days, I'd spend *hours* trying to find a post, now you can actually specify date, author, subject line, and body text!

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]narcissam
2007-11-07 10:51 pm UTC (link)
Oh, and isn't it a bit ironic that Vander Ark is the exact opposite of the type of Entitlement Fan that everyone also predicted would land themselves in trouble some day?

That's what a lot of the commenters seem to be missing. This isn't like one of the Harmonians or Slytherfen going too far. This is the canon oldguard fan coming to the exact same place from a totally different direction.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]waltraute
2007-11-07 11:12 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, it's becoming angry at the author not from an immediate/first reading reaction, as many of the Slytherfen ("What? I like Snape better!") did, but a slower and finer process of disillusionment based on disappointment and different priorities.

Side comment: HP has been so fascinating to me because I've gotten to watch people read a work in progress where the ending makes sense to me, but I didn't predict the direction it went from the middle. Almost no one got the tone of OotP right, going by both meta and fanfic predictions over that three-year gap. I think the process of trying to Figure It Out From What We Have really made him and others snap.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]thecheese
2007-11-08 05:36 am UTC (link)
This is seriously fascinating and I'm thrilled you've dredged it all up. I was a big lurker back then, far too intimidated to post and I ate this stuff up at the time. I really think the archives of HPfGU are probably the best source of canon/fandom history anywhere. You could even define certain eras, name them and use them as shorthand for the type of thinking dominating fandom at any given time. How the once mighty dinosaurs have fallen and become extinct as the mighty meteorites of canon have landed (God, what a stupid metaphor! LOL).

Great work!

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]puipui
2007-11-07 11:49 pm UTC (link)
HA HA his girlfriend beta reads for the RDR Publishing website!

This has nothing at all to do with your post, really, it just amused me immensely and I wanted to share. Yeah, fangirls, try to say that RVA's not fully aware of what it says in RDR's statements now! Hee hee!

(Reply to this)


[info]tehrin
2007-11-08 12:06 am UTC (link)
Fascinating. Good job!

(Reply to this)

  
   
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