How can people read the books, buy the merchandise, go to the websites, watch the movies, and yet profess that they truly, madly, deeply despise the character of Harry Potter
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I completely agree. Harry is certainly not perfect and irritates me sometimes, but I love him nonetheless - he's my second-favourtite character in the series. And I really don't understand how anyone can hate Harry and enjoy the series nonetheless. I know that if the books were from Ginny's perspective, I wouldn't have given them a second thought. *shrugs*
Harry can be self-righteous, irritating and selfish, but he can be also adorable, innocent, trusting and self-sacrificing. Why hating someone for being human? I don't get it.
Why hating someone for being human? I don't get it.
Me neither. He is a very human character to me, and his flaws do round him out, and endear him to me. Reading these replies though, I'm starting to think it's a matter of what you tend to focus on when reading. If it's characters and how they're portrayed, then not liking Harry will give you problems with the book. But if you focus more on the plot, and the magical world itself, then a dislike of Harry might not cause you to hate the books as a whole, as you're more interested in other things. Maybe. *guessing* It's all quite interesting, but no, I can't imagine ever hating Harry. Love him to bits, warts and all.
Really? That's so strange to me. When I don't like a main character it's always been enough to make me dislike the book too. Like David Copperfield *shudders* or Mansfield Park *ugh*
I didn't like him much at all for the first couple of books. (Two quotes about him from when I was reading GoF: "...the self-involved one who seems to do things because he doesn't want to let other people down--or out of spite--rather than out of any courage or conviction of his own" and "I still don't much like Harry, but I might just be upset that his strongest feelings seem to come when he pities or despises someone.") I liked practically no one at first. Seriously, it was just McGonagall, Dumbledore, and Snape. :/ I still liked the books, though, because I liked the idea of the world.
...but, yeah. If I didn't find him at least tolerable, I can't see how I could deal with reading the books. Maybe the people who hate him didn't read them at all, and are in fandom for fandom's sake, relying on fanfic to tell them what they need to know about the characters.
Your quotes make me think we view Harry in entirely different ways, but such are the joys of interpretation *g*
Maybe the people who hate him didn't read them at all, and are in fandom for fandom's sake, relying on fanfic to tell them what they need to know about the characters. G'lord, do you think so? I can't imagine doing that either! Though some of the fics I've tumbled across have made me wonder if the author is at all familar with the concept of canon... o.O
:D Well, I like Harry now, though I don't remember why I do anymore. GoF and OotP did something, and I ended up even liking Ron (who I thought was a bit of a pissy little bitch before). Maybe just because they all seem less like caricatures than they did, and Harry did seem to get a little bit of his own motivation.
Though some of the fics I've tumbled across have made me wonder if the author is at all familar with the concept of canon...
There's that, totally. "Well, I sorta skimmed through four of the books and have read six hundred thousand pages of fanfic about him--that's enough to get the character down, innit?" And then you end up with a Snape who doesn't show a hint of grease and a Hermione who, like, punches boys [Sorry; been reading movie spoilers] Smooth Super-Leather-Action Draco who glides with self-assurance into the Gryffindor common room to kiss the back of Neville's neck while not under Imperius. :D And that just perpetuates it with the new section coming into fandom and thinking, "Hey, that Draco's way cooler than
( ... )
I have to disagree - I think Harry's irritating and self-centred but I'm in love with the whole world of Harry Potter and the other characters. I think it might be because when I read the first four books I was all whoo-hoo, go Harry, whereas now I'm far more interested in the minor characters and the actual plot and Harry just annoys me - but I'm already too interested in the books to think of stopping reading them. However, I think disliking Harry affected my enjoyment of the fifth book; I liked it far less than the others when I first read it, but since then I've re-read it a few times ignoring how Harry annoys me, instead paying more attention to everything else in the book and now it's one of my favourites. So, yeah, I think you can like the books without liking the main characters so long as you really like everything else about the books.
It makes sense! And it's very interesting. So you started to dislike Harry after you were already locked into wanting to know the plot. That makes more sense to me, actually, than hating him all along.
now I'm far more interested in the minor characters and the actual plot and Harry just annoys me Hm. Perhaps what a person focusses more on while reading has something to do with it: I'm very much about characters, so a hatred of Harry's character would be a real problem for someone like me. But perhaps someone minded more like yourself, who is more interested in overall plot and minor characters, wouldn't lose all enjoyment in the books by hating the main character, simply because you're able to focus on other things. Is that what you were saying? *g* I've never really considered this way of looking at it before; it's very interesting.
I love the world that Rowling created. I think there's many things to explore that she barely touches on. I don't hate Harry, I just don't like him all that much. It's like asking, "Well, how can your favorite character not be Harry? He's the star of the books!"
-shrugs- The world Rowling created is far better than just the events surrounding Harry, to me.
I think there's many things to explore that she barely touches on. Just as well we have fanfiction, eh? :)
The world Rowling created is far better than just the events surrounding Harry, to me. It does intrigue me that so many people seem to think that way, that everything else is of more interest than Harry himself. Just so different from my own view. But I can (sort of) understand people not liking Harry, it's hating him and still reading that's a bit beyond me.
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Harry can be self-righteous, irritating and selfish, but he can be also adorable, innocent, trusting and self-sacrificing. Why hating someone for being human? I don't get it.
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Me neither. He is a very human character to me, and his flaws do round him out, and endear him to me. Reading these replies though, I'm starting to think it's a matter of what you tend to focus on when reading. If it's characters and how they're portrayed, then not liking Harry will give you problems with the book. But if you focus more on the plot, and the magical world itself, then a dislike of Harry might not cause you to hate the books as a whole, as you're more interested in other things. Maybe. *guessing* It's all quite interesting, but no, I can't imagine ever hating Harry. Love him to bits, warts and all.
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...but, yeah. If I didn't find him at least tolerable, I can't see how I could deal with reading the books. Maybe the people who hate him didn't read them at all, and are in fandom for fandom's sake, relying on fanfic to tell them what they need to know about the characters.
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Maybe the people who hate him didn't read them at all, and are in fandom for fandom's sake, relying on fanfic to tell them what they need to know about the characters.
G'lord, do you think so? I can't imagine doing that either! Though some of the fics I've tumbled across have made me wonder if the author is at all familar with the concept of canon... o.O
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Though some of the fics I've tumbled across have made me wonder if the author is at all familar with the concept of canon...
There's that, totally. "Well, I sorta skimmed through four of the books and have read six hundred thousand pages of fanfic about him--that's enough to get the character down, innit?" And then you end up with a Snape who doesn't show a hint of grease and a Hermione who, like, punches boys [Sorry; been reading movie spoilers] Smooth Super-Leather-Action Draco who glides with self-assurance into the Gryffindor common room to kiss the back of Neville's neck while not under Imperius. :D And that just perpetuates it with the new section coming into fandom and thinking, "Hey, that Draco's way cooler than ( ... )
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(Sorry if that didn't make any sense!)
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And it's very interesting. So you started to dislike Harry after you were already locked into wanting to know the plot. That makes more sense to me, actually, than hating him all along.
now I'm far more interested in the minor characters and the actual plot and Harry just annoys me
Hm. Perhaps what a person focusses more on while reading has something to do with it: I'm very much about characters, so a hatred of Harry's character would be a real problem for someone like me. But perhaps someone minded more like yourself, who is more interested in overall plot and minor characters, wouldn't lose all enjoyment in the books by hating the main character, simply because you're able to focus on other things. Is that what you were saying? *g* I've never really considered this way of looking at it before; it's very interesting.
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-shrugs- The world Rowling created is far better than just the events surrounding Harry, to me.
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Just as well we have fanfiction, eh? :)
The world Rowling created is far better than just the events surrounding Harry, to me.
It does intrigue me that so many people seem to think that way, that everything else is of more interest than Harry himself. Just so different from my own view. But I can (sort of) understand people not liking Harry, it's hating him and still reading that's a bit beyond me.
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