Someone's made a Snape-centric com on DeviantArt. They want only canon!Snape, though they accept various ships as long as Snape is sallow-skinned and big-nosed. There's lots of kiddie!Snape and Snily, too.
I submitted one of my most angsty artses... and it was rejected because Snapey wasn't pallid enough. Right. I'll go back to drawing him dressed in pink with bunny slippers, I think.
Oh, I know just the com you mean. They actually have some of my stuff up there, even. The amount of Snily, it boggles the mind. I always liked Snermione better because, since it's pretty much a crack ship, there's a great habit of not taking them too seriously, and therefore there are much bigger proportion of great stories, the ones that forget about the angst and just aim to make me laugh.
Whatever! If he was any more ~~~~pallid~~~~ in that picture, he would be a ghost! If they accepted this sort of tan Snape of mine, I don't know what crack they're smoking.
I have had this experience, reviews where people "kindly" pointed out that I had someone entering a room but "failed" to give a blow by blow detailed account of them opening the door.
This is the aspect of fandom that annoys me to no end, the pedantry and the canon obsession. Clearly in fanfic there is no "right" characterization or interpretation. Any work written by a person other than the original author is a subjective interpretation and what strikes me may not strike anyone else. Iunderstand having once's own tastes and preferences but I don't understand the mentality behind fixating on the minutae to such an extent.
Some people just don't want to suspend their disbelief and be entertained, I suppose. It's so frustrating when that's all you aimed to do for them, be entertaining, and all they had to do to make it work was just shut up and play along.
It's equivalent to someone going to a stage production and raising their hand right in the middle of the performance. "Those camels are made out of cardboard! Those swords aren't sharp at all! Cleopatra was Egyptian, not Asian! What are you trying to do, pull the wool over my eyes? I'm not going to be fooled that easily!"
It has always been tough for me to know how to react when someone does this. It's like they see a fan work, and then it becomes a contest to them, an opportunity to get a medal in knowing the most minute, pointless details about the subject. A way to prove how deeply concerned a fan they are. But like the stage director, usually I know most of those details, but I disregarded them to be more entertaining. I try not to be irritated, but it's hard.
I don't know. Maybe because I see all kinds of crap in my RL, and I don't need my hobby to be an unremitting bog of depression? Geez, if people enjoy that, then great. But some of us don't. It doesn't make either of us wrong; it just makes us different.
For all that fandom jumps up and down and waves its arms to claim that it's a place that embraces diversity, it really falls on its face at times when it comes to accepting that diversity can exist in fic preferences, too.
How dare I not care about him being redeeeeeemed?
He redeemed himself. Lily was the catalyst for an obsessive man to rethink some stupid choices. Like you, I think I would have enjoyed the plot more if Snape had come to that realization through his own intelligence rather than for the love of Lily. ~shrug~ But again, that's just my preference. ;P
When I like something, I make fun of it. I think of jokes all the time to make fun of it. It's just how I like it. Other people can get their panties in a twist all they want, but I think most people would rather hear a good joke than hear some horribly depressing story.
I'm uncomfortable with the thought of any person being redeemed mainly through love of another person. It reminds me of Darth Vader's shallow redemption scene at the end of Return of the Jedi -- after every atrocity he committed, he performed one good deed and becomes a good guy worthy of being a Jedi-ghost with Yoda and Obi-wan. Just... it seemed so shallow and tacked-on.
If Snape was searching for redemption only because of Lily, and he wouldn't be doing the things he was doing throughout the books without her memory to guilt him into it, it doesn't seem like real, honest repentance to me. It would have been better if he did it on his own... I might have actually been interested in it, then.
Oh god, I know what you mean about the whole SAD BAD GUY WHO LOVES SOMEONE AND HAS ANGST thing. This is partly why Kain from FFIV annoys me so much; not only is there the whole I LOVE THE MAIN GUY CHICK, he's also a betraying bitch about it. And I'd be cool with the betraying bitch thing if people would sympathize with it less and stop writing so much damned ANGST. SO WHAT HE DIDN'T GET THE GUY GIRL OBVIOUSLY HE DIDN'T BECAUSE HE'S UNBALANCED.
And yes, this is half the reason I turn Vincent Valentine gay and spend more time in his Turk years when he's still fun. XD YOU REMEMBER ME PLAYING HIM IN MHS AND HOW I LOVE TO MAKE FUN OF THE ANGST IN THE FORM OF FOPPISHNESS.
Your sense of humor is what makes you my online friend. XD
I LOVED THE FOP IN MHS. GOD I NEARLY FORGOT ABOUT THAT GAME, GOOD TIMES~~
My favorite characters in FF7 used to be Vincent and Sephiroth, but now I can't even think of why I liked them. They're really hard to have fun with... mainly because the FF7 fandom takes those characters too seriously, in the same way the HP fandom takes everything too seriously. If fans would just calm the hell down and drink their goddamn tea, maybe I wouldn't get so sick of my favorite characters.
Now my favorite character from FF7 is Cid, for being both incredibly attractive and hilarious.
It's weird how my tastes have changed since I was a teenager...
If you weren't already my friend, and I had come across this post of yours randomly, I would totally have friended you right now.
The pedantry is bad, but the sanctimoniousness of some of the fans... it's repressive.
(Granted, I may be one of those fans who will deadpan correct, but I am deadpanning when I do so. (Usually.) With tongue firmly in cheek. And mostly, people don't get it. But that's okay.)
Comments 9
I submitted one of my most angsty artses... and it was rejected because Snapey wasn't pallid enough. Right. I'll go back to drawing him dressed in pink with bunny slippers, I think.
Reply
Whatever! If he was any more ~~~~pallid~~~~ in that picture, he would be a ghost! If they accepted this sort of tan Snape of mine, I don't know what crack they're smoking.
Reply
This is the aspect of fandom that annoys me to no end, the pedantry and the canon obsession. Clearly in fanfic there is no "right" characterization or interpretation. Any work written by a person other than the original author is a subjective interpretation and what strikes me may not strike anyone else. Iunderstand having once's own tastes and preferences but I don't understand the mentality behind fixating on the minutae to such an extent.
Reply
It's equivalent to someone going to a stage production and raising their hand right in the middle of the performance. "Those camels are made out of cardboard! Those swords aren't sharp at all! Cleopatra was Egyptian, not Asian! What are you trying to do, pull the wool over my eyes? I'm not going to be fooled that easily!"
It has always been tough for me to know how to react when someone does this. It's like they see a fan work, and then it becomes a contest to them, an opportunity to get a medal in knowing the most minute, pointless details about the subject. A way to prove how deeply concerned a fan they are. But like the stage director, usually I know most of those details, but I disregarded them to be more entertaining. I try not to be irritated, but it's hard.
Reply
I don't know. Maybe because I see all kinds of crap in my RL, and I don't need my hobby to be an unremitting bog of depression? Geez, if people enjoy that, then great. But some of us don't. It doesn't make either of us wrong; it just makes us different.
For all that fandom jumps up and down and waves its arms to claim that it's a place that embraces diversity, it really falls on its face at times when it comes to accepting that diversity can exist in fic preferences, too.
How dare I not care about him being redeeeeeemed?
He redeemed himself. Lily was the catalyst for an obsessive man to rethink some stupid choices. Like you, I think I would have enjoyed the plot more if Snape had come to that realization through his own intelligence rather than for the love of Lily. ~shrug~ But again, that's just my preference. ;P
Reply
I'm uncomfortable with the thought of any person being redeemed mainly through love of another person. It reminds me of Darth Vader's shallow redemption scene at the end of Return of the Jedi -- after every atrocity he committed, he performed one good deed and becomes a good guy worthy of being a Jedi-ghost with Yoda and Obi-wan. Just... it seemed so shallow and tacked-on.
If Snape was searching for redemption only because of Lily, and he wouldn't be doing the things he was doing throughout the books without her memory to guilt him into it, it doesn't seem like real, honest repentance to me. It would have been better if he did it on his own... I might have actually been interested in it, then.
Reply
And yes, this is half the reason I turn Vincent Valentine gay and spend more time in his Turk years when he's still fun. XD YOU REMEMBER ME PLAYING HIM IN MHS AND HOW I LOVE TO MAKE FUN OF THE ANGST IN THE FORM OF FOPPISHNESS.
Your sense of humor is what makes you my online friend. XD
Reply
My favorite characters in FF7 used to be Vincent and Sephiroth, but now I can't even think of why I liked them. They're really hard to have fun with... mainly because the FF7 fandom takes those characters too seriously, in the same way the HP fandom takes everything too seriously. If fans would just calm the hell down and drink their goddamn tea, maybe I wouldn't get so sick of my favorite characters.
Now my favorite character from FF7 is Cid, for being both incredibly attractive and hilarious.
It's weird how my tastes have changed since I was a teenager...
Reply
The pedantry is bad, but the sanctimoniousness of some of the fans... it's repressive.
(Granted, I may be one of those fans who will deadpan correct, but I am deadpanning when I do so. (Usually.) With tongue firmly in cheek. And mostly, people don't get it. But that's okay.)
Reply
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