posted by [identity profile] kenjari.livejournal.com at 01:15am on 11/06/2005
I don't know, I didn't mind the angsty teenager stuff so much. Sure, Harry was a bit annoying, but on the other hand, I thought Rowling was remarkably realistic about the adolescent angst. I can remember feeling an awful lot like that (and I was probably just about as irritating). I kind of admired Rowling for not being afraid to show such feelings truthfully, even at the risk of annoying readers. So much other stuff for/about teens glosses over the angst or views it through a sort of nostalgic, rose-colored lens. Rowling reminded me of why I'm glad that part of my life is over with. Refreshing, really, when so much entertainment seems to idealize adolescence.
 
posted by [identity profile] orichalcum.livejournal.com at 02:55am on 11/06/2005
Yes, the book had some problems, but Rowling's greatest strength has always been describing a given age group as it actually is, and well, 15-year-old boys are like that. Sirius, to me, represented the dangers of _not_ growing up, and Dumbledore of the overprotective parent who wanted to keep Harry young and childish. The point of the book is that Harry has to grow up, whether or not he wants to, and accept responsibility and consequences. That's why the scenes in Snape's Pensieve are so key - Snape has never really let go of his adolescence or his adolescent hatreds, and neither had Sirius. Remus, otoh, has.

That, and Hermione is Always Right. Which does get a bit annoying.
 
posted by [identity profile] holmes-iv.livejournal.com at 07:36pm on 12/06/2005
Well, I will readily cop to being uncomfortable with some of the more socially awkward scenes in 4 and 5 partially because of my own insufficiently dim memories of being a socially awkward teenaged boy. But I don't recall ever having met anybody in high school who spent the whole day talking in all caps, which was how Harry reacted to anything more traumatic than a stubbed toe in Order of the Phoenix. I mean sure, if he's going to lose his temper at the drop of a hat, that's a legitimate choice on Rowling's part (though I'm still not sure I agree with it—most teenaged angst I encountered more morose and less explosive), but can we find some means of expressing it in print that doesn't hurt my eyes?

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