haevchanie - Tumblr blog

[haevchanie]

I love the Lily Simpson video because it's so well done and I also still love the Harry Potter series. Why? Because the books aren't that deep and don't need to be nitpicked, but if you do find yourself doing that, it's still valid. You could also accept the canon stuff and create your own, more positive explanations using your imagination, because at the end of the day Harry Potter is a fantasy series that started off as a children's story and blew up, so if things don't match up too much, not to worry! You can be creative and immerse yourself more into this wonderful world.

I still think it's very well-written because I am personally very appreciative of simple, whimsical prose communicating more complicated concepts. Others aren't. That's okay. I can accept some of the weirder things in the books, plot holes, and mishaps because I can use my imagination, fill in the gaps, and call it a day. Others can't. That's also okay.

What irks me however, is the fact that shitting on it so wholeheartedly is really just being pushed out as almost something that should be a very universal opinion. It's weird and overdone, and that's exactly why I appreciate the Lily Simpson video at some parts, because it actually addresses some of the other things (I really liked the Eugenics section) in a logical and thoughtful manner. I think it's a really cool dissection. I don't really correlate it with the series too much because I don't see the point in doing that; it's just not that deep.

I genuinely like the books, and not just out of nostalgia. I think they're very good, writing, characterization, and world-building wise. It's got problems as does any original series, cause any new creative thing is bound to be imperfect and I think jkr did a decent job (given that she's jkr). You can also argue that's it's not really original, it's just a regurgitation of other concepts mashed together, but I've personally yet to discover any other series that includes the elements shown in Harry Potter as beautifully as the series does. (There's Le Guin with AWOES, and it's also got really cool elements and some of them aren't fleshed out entirely either, but I also love her writing, so there's that). It's still quite unique with its charm. It lacks more than a little depth, given it's got so many elements, but it's still very very cool. But to each their own, I could say.

It's just weird that all of a sudden there is everything wrong with the series, and more often than not, I find more criticisms than appreciation. Some of it stems from jkr bring jkr and some stems from the fact that people put it on a 'literary genius' pedestal (and while I think it's a very impressive series, just like pjo, neither are paragons of literature).

I have nothing against the criticisms, per se, it's just that most of them stem from advocative mindsets that set these expectations that the books ultimately don't fulfill well. The reality is that the writer of anything doesn't particularly owe an audience anything; authors can choose what they want to focus on more, be it plot, characters, worldbuilding, etc. It's more well rounded nowadays because of, well, the way things are now. This doesn't mean that the author is entitled to degrading issues vehemently in their writing (words are very powerful), but it is ultimately theirs to do what they want with it. And jkr wanted to keep it digestible and charming enough for the younger audiences. It definitely could've been really cool if it was a more serious thing like Hunger Games, but it wasn't really launched with that intent from the very beginning. I do think there was decent transition in tone between boom 4 and 5.

Some people expect too much from a fantasy series that started off for kids and grew into something for teens, that's all. Not saying they're wrong for what they want, it's just weird when you're straight up bitching about stuff that isn't as deep as you think it is. If y'all don't like the series, that's your business, cool, but you don't have to drag it through the mud and belittle it. That's weird, guys.

Anyway if you've read the entire thing, kudos to you, have a wonderful day.