You're gonna be bothered by how cool I am.

30 days of HP Meme

Question of the day bolded. All previous days' questions link to the entry for that day.

01. Discuss how you got into Harry Potter.
02. Your favorite book.
03. What house would you be in?
04. Your favorite movie
05. Wizard Rock: discuss
06. Your favorite character(s)
07. Song that reminds you of HP
08. Your favorite ship(s)
09. Fanfiction: discuss
10. Favorite book moment(s)
11. Character you're crushing on
12. Favorite movie scene
13. Least favorite character(s)
14. Moments in the books/movies that made you cry
15. Moments in the books/movies that made you literally LOL
16. How have you participated in the fandom over the years?
17. Your favorite celebs from the movies or fandom
18. If you could change one thing about canon, what would it be?
19. A favorite fanart
20. A favorite quote
21. How has the HP fandom connected you to other fandoms, interests, or people?
22. Your favorite villain
23. Share some HP icons.
24. Rant about Steve Kloves something
25. Favorite fandom moment(s)
26. What aspect of the books has been best translated to film?



27. What aspect of the books has been most poorly translated to film?
This may sound incredibly vague, but then "aspect" is an annoyingly vague and pretty much meaningless word to begin with.

Something I love about Rowling's books is her occasionally brutal characterization, particularly regarding her "good guys." Very few characters are 100% bad, and NO character is 100% good. I think she's even more ruthless in giving her good guys flaws than she is compassionate in giving her bad guys virtues (or at least something we can sympathize with). Perhaps this is why it's so easy for the people in our fandom who can't tolerate 3-dimensional characterization to react so strongly to the good guys doing not-so-good things and make heroes out of the bad guys. Here are some examples off the top of my head where I give a Colbert "wag of the finger" to characters who I can nevertheless manage to still love:

- Hermione's total unwillingness to admit even the possibility that a cat might have eaten a rat
- Harry throwing a "Potter Stinks" badge at Ron in GOF
- Harry's persistent hatred and whininess about Snape
- Hermione's not-very-thoughtful tactics in crusading for house elf rights
- Ron's insensitivity about girls
- Hermione leading Umbridge into the forest to perhaps (for all she knew at the time) be killed
- Ron "punishing" Hermione for kissing Krum by kissing (and kissing and kissing) Lavender
- Hagrid involving the trio in the Grawp situation
- Ginny flying into Zacharias Smith
- Dumbledore and "the greater good"
- Ron leaving Harry and Hermione in a huff
- Snape ... do I even need to make a list?
- Harry (HELLO!) casting Unforgivables, even the time he didn't really have a choice

There are a whole lot more, I'm sure, that are simply not occurring to me and which, the next time I reread, will hit me again. In particular, I distinctly remember reading HBP for the first time and musing that Rowling had certainly not made it easy for the filmmakers to "make it up to" Ron. Many examples on that list, though, did not make it into the films or were severely downplayed (though all three of my Ron examples - Kloves-haters crow to your hearts' content - are movie canon). While Rowling has no such qualms, the movies seem unwilling to make the good guys look bad, even though in the books this is what makes them such wonderfully drawn and complex characters. It is something that I suppose can't really be helped, since film characters are just a different animal, and you have much less time to win (or win back) an audience's affection in a couple of hours or less. Also, perhaps the peculiarly simplified plots and characterizations of the HP films make a character's negative qualities look like much more important (even in some cases the only) thing an audience takes away from the characters.

It's still annoying, though, and it's something foreign films do MUCH better, which is part of why I suppose Alfonso Cuaron was the director that ironically did this the best and, in turn, why his, say, less reverent contribution to the franchise is the most controversial.

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28. Hogwarts subject you would most like to take
29. Favorite location
30. Whatever tickles your fancy