(no subject)

[graculus]

I find myself in something of a quandary - historically I have been a fan of AU fic (though in my defense, I would say that's more the 'what would happen if...' episode/canon rewrites rather than Jack-the-pirate and Daniel-the-cabin-boy kind, though I can get with some swashbuckling at times...) but in Harry Potter fandom?

What exactly is the point of non-magic AUs? Isn't the whole concept of being able to do magic = wizard so much entrenched in the HP universe that taking that away actually essentially removes a significant chunk of who they are? How much is stripping the characters of this the equivalent of disability fic on steroids?

And don't even get me started on the whole ice-skating thing... ;)

Comments

[mer1973.livejournal.com]

Oh please, start on the ice-skating thing. I have not run across this particular AU yet, and I now curious about this crime against fandom.

For myself, I don't really see the appeal of stripping the magic from HP. If someone wants to try writing that sort of story, I hope they enjoy the process, but it's probably not going to be to my tastes.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I haven't read it, because I was all 'who with the what now?' but someone has written a non-magic AU with Snape and Lupin as competing iceskaters, with more than one story in that universe, IIRC.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. I *was* going to ask what you were talking about (ice skating, say what?) but wow, that says it all. I suppose something like that could be fun in a purely parodic way, but no? It was written seriously?

Maybe that writer took the "write what you *know*" dictum a little too seriously?

[mer1973.livejournal.com]

Snape and Lupin.

The mind, it boggles.

[miriam-heddy.livejournal.com]

Well, for me, as a Snarry reader (and having written one Snarry story), magic and wizardry isn't what I see as defining Snape.

I mean, put him anywhere, and he's a guy stuck teaching twits he hates while wanting to pursue his own archival research in peace.

I think the bigger problem with human AUs (of the non-magic variety) is that the whole arc of the books is driven by the whole "Harry is destined for greatness" and based in the kiddie fantasy of, "I may be nobody here and powerless and unappreciated, but I'm secretly important and ONE DAY YOU"LL SEE!"

So if Harry's just a guy, what kind of guy is he? And how would someone like Snape come to be interested in him, given that he's so much younger than Snape, and emotionally and temperamentally quite different.

I haven't seen much deal with this, really, though I'd be interested to see it happen, especially if it started with Snape encountering Harry as an adult.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

Taking both Snape and Harry out of the universe in which they both have significant roles to play (it's not just Harry with the 'one day I'll show you lot!' thing going on, after all...) strips them of a significant part of their context, though.

Like you, I would then have to have someone work incredibly hard to give the relationship between those characters the same kind of frisson and complexity that the canon universe does. And that seems like a bit too much effort, for me...

[leethet.livejournal.com]

Particularly in that (IMO) one's upbringing and experiences so shape one that a Snape who grew up in a nonmagical world, even with shit parents and bullies in school, would not be the same Snape at all - AUs, to me, with rare exceptions, are original fic with the same names.

[khek.livejournal.com]

Ice skating thing? The mind boggles.

(I'm picturing Harry and Snape as competing figure skaters in increasingly skimpy costumes...or maybe being the first male couples pair skating in Olympic competition..? So,am I close?)

I'm one of those people who can't read fanfic for books. It just doesn't do it for me, at all. Even when the books are made into movies, I just can't go that extra step. Weird, I know.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

The only book fandoms where I have read a large amount have been HP (because I'm a Snape-fancying perv...) and Nero Wolfe, because there are a few folks who've written stuff in that fandom which is scarily good. Other than that, I haven't really been led astray all that much... well, not in comparison to other things, I'd say.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty much anti AU, because I'm here to see the characters as the characters, in their milieu, not turned into someone whose only similarity is the name, in a place that has nothing in common with their canonical place. So I skip AUs. I skip nonmagical HP AUs even more. Like you, I don't see the point, except to get a built-in audience for what's essentially original fic.