(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

[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.