I will probably comment more on this once I read the new chapters, but
one of those things that stands out (particularly with the discussion on
whether Kuno/Kodachi or Draco/Dudley can be redeemed), and I have two
separate comments on it - one more scientific, and one more story-based.
Whether this is actually C&C, I'll leave up to someone else.
1) The debate being raised over the insanity (nature) of Kuno Tatewaki
and Kuno Kodachi and the upbringing (nurture) of Draco and Dudley could
be a story in itself - I'd like to see a treatment of that (even if it
weren't anime fanfic). But this argument is Nature vs. Nurture (and for
those of you interested, Matt Ridley's "Nature Via Nurture : Genes,
Experience, and What Makes Us Human"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060006781) is an
excellent treatment of how we behave in this case.
Sebastian was correct in saying what he said - that redeeming the HP
characters is much different than redeeming the Ranma characters. Draco
and Dudley have been brought up to be what Christopher Vogler (who, as
a successor to Joseph Campbell, writers should be familiar with both of
their works) _Shadows_ of Harry Potter. (I recommend that you folks look
and read through
http://www.applewarrior.com/novelpalooza/heroquest_archetypes.htm and
the other pages on the site.)
"The Shadow represents the energy of the dark side, the unexpressed,
unrealized, or rejected aspects of something." Draco is the anti-Harry -
he's rude, he's nasty, everything he does is for himself. His father was
a Death Eater. He is, personality-wise, everything that Harry isn't.
Dudley is much the same - he's whiney, fat, ugly - a generally
dislikable character. Not so much evil as Draco is, but still, not
someone you would want to hang out with. But both of these characters
are products of their enviroments (as is Harry). If the Dursleys had
raised Dudley properly, perhaps even treating Harry kindly, it would
change the way the story goes (and reduce the comedy of Harry's house,
and many other things).
On the other hand, the Kunos are insane - where Draco schemes against
Harry and Dudley whines to get his way, the Kunos can't see the forest
for the trees. Writing a story about them is easy: "Ranma reveals curse.
They can't believe it. They finally believe it. They apologive. Ranma
gets hit on head." (By the way, in the case of Ranma, the Kunos are
Trickster/Fools - read the site, you'll understand.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
2) My other concern (and again, I have yet to read the latest chapters,
so take that in stride) is the idea of the "exchange". While I
understand that it is for story reasons, I can't help but feel like
there's something wrong with it (and maybe this is just the Dragonlance
reader in me coming out.
It just seems to me that it can't be a good idea to let Muggles
experience magic. Think about it, one day you're invited to this
exchange program. You get to see magic, mayhem, and a bunch of other
things. The rest of your life, though, you live knowing that there is
this wonderful "other world" out there, but you don't have the ability
to access it again.
It's similar to the more recent books in the Dragonlance series, where
the absence of the gods made magic disappear. Yes, they learned to cast
from within, but not nearly as powerfully as they could with the gods
present. They feel lost, they feel betrayed, they know they have lost
something precious - the other world they had is now gone (and they
think, for good).
I don't know how clear this comes across, but it just seems very odd to
me.
... Jerry Levine ................. www.patchmonkey.net [personal]
... jerry@onimedia.net ........... www.onimedia.net [media]
... jlevine@umd.edu .............. www.gaijeans.com [high fashion]
... patchmonkey@patchmonkey.net ..
.......I don't want life to resemble art. I want life to BE art.........
-----Original Message-----
From: ffml-bounce@anifics.com
[mailto:ffml-bounce@anifics.com] On Behalf Of The Eternal Lost Lurker
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2003 2:13 PM
To: FFML
Subject: [FFML] [announce/plug/www] Harry Potter and the
Mistress of the Cloe
I've been going over recent new materials for this story that
have not as yet been posted to my website, and in light of
the recent thread of HP crossovers being posted to the FFML,
I have decided to go ahead and start posting this story here.
However, I will not be posting the entire bulk of the story
to date. Because most of the first several chapters are
almost exclusively Harry Potter, I don't truly feel
comfortable posting the entire story here, so I'm choosing to
begin with the most recent chapters, which involve Sakura and
related elements more heavily.
For those who have not read chapters zero through nine of the
story, they can be found here:
http://www.lurkerdrome.com/hp.html
Chapter 10 will follow shortly, with chapters 11 and 12 to come later in
the day.
If I'm overstepping my bounds, I'd appreciate the admins letting me know
promptly so I'll know not to post further chapters.
-ELL
Still sans .sig
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