Headline: Fat people discovered to have sex lives; world aghast.

[pauraque_bk]

ani_bester complains of InexplicablyThin!Peter, and I quite agree with her. Let him be fat. Let Neville and Dudley be fat as well, while you're at it. When you write these characters having sex, it isn't necessary to excuse yourself by pointedly noting a convenient over-the-summer weight loss.

That is all.

Comments

[pauraque]

it does bother me the way JKR has made most of her worst characters fat

Yeah, it's a troublesome element in her writing. And in a way, it's why it makes me so very annoyed when people buy into that unfair stereotype, and can't write those characters sympathetically without taking off the weight. I don't usually have that "stick it to the man" feeling when I write in JKR's universe -- "Ha! I'm subverting your intentions!" -- but in this case, I do. She's doing a thing I disagree with, and I like to see it undone by fans.

I'm not a fan of pretty!Snape either. His hair's greasy, let it stay that way.

[dphearson.livejournal.com]

I'm not a fan of pretty!Snape either. His hair's greasy, let it stay that way.

Remus: (looks at pillow, which is smeary)
Severus: What?
Remus: Nothing.

[pauraque]

Aw. Now that's love!

[fizzingpop.livejournal.com]

In Europe, in general, I don't think that weight is as big a deal as it is in the US. Europeans are catching up to the US in the vanity department, but for the most part, according to people I've spoken to from the area (my spanish professor, and a few friends from England), it's just not looked at the same way. Also, JKRs good characters (Harry, Hermione for example) aren't actually good looking. At least, they don't start off that way. (And yes, I realize that if HP grows up, she probably will have him be stunningly handsome, but for now, let's give her the benefit of the doubt). Hermione starts out with buck teeth, and bushy hair. While she does fix the teeth (as really, any teen would, if given the opportunity to change what they most loathe about themselves), after that one dance where Hermione cleaned up prettily (trying to impress a boy) she goes back to bushy hair. Harry isn't necessarily handsome, having messy hair and bony knees (at least, as far as a hero goes his look is un-orthidox). Look at Snape, who she seems to be subtly implicating as a good character (he usually ends up doing something good, which she seems to underline, as well as saying in that one interview that he's one of her favorite characters- along with the fact she seems to be trying to excuse, or at least give him a reason, for being so nasty- the bullying he endured. She takes an inordinate care with giving his motives, which she doesn't really bother to do with the other "evil" characters). And then look at Lucius, who is supposedly rather good looking in her books- the "pointy face" is rather an ambivalent way of describing a character. All in all, she really seems to be merely relying on stereotypes that most people- whether they want to admit it or not- possess. For example, in describing Nevilles pudgy-ness, she seems only to be trying to highlight his clumsy, hopeless sort of character- the type that teachers just sort of shake their heads over and do their best to teach. With Uncle Vernon, she's emphasizing his largeness in comparison to Harry, as though trying to give the reader a visual of how ridiculous and horrible and unfair it is that he is bullying HP. With Dudely, she's merely emphasizing his self-indulgence, and with Peter Pettigrew, she seems to be trying to show us the jiggly, unhappy boy he would have been. Or maybe I'm just talking out of the crack of my butt. But overall, it does seem to me she just uses weight as a method of conveying particular bits of the character's personality, giving it a physical characteristic.