(no subject)

[avevale_intelligencer]

I remember being very upset when Richard Harris died, not because he and I were particularly close (or even aware of each other at all) or because I thought he was a very great actor (though I never found his performances less than enjoyable and engaging), but because in my perception the main emotion being evinced among HP fandom was “Great, now they can get someone decent to play Dumbledore.” This perception was corrected when I commented upon it, but I still feel it wasn’t entirely unfounded. Whether those who expressed that wish feel that it has been gratified I do not know: personally, I think Michael Gambon is a good actor in the wrong part. However.

I do not see cause for rejoicing in anyone’s death, real or fictional. Death achieves nothing. If Osama bin Laden, wherever he may be, were to keel over and die tomorrow, it would detract in no way from the threat of religious extremism. If Hitler had died but the Nazi regime had survived, it might have become even more of a threat than it was. If Voldemort dies, there will still be Dark wizards and former Death Eaters out there, any one of whom might step into his shoes and become an even greater terror than he was.

ffutures said recently that he wished Buffy had stayed dead in subsequent seasons of the series that bore her name. Several people agreed: I obviously disagree. While I may not have been too enamoured of the character or the actress, I don’t find that sufficient ground to wish her dead, and there also seems little ground for supposing that if she had not been resurrected the show would have been better written. (Why?)

It’s currently popular to be very cosmic-minded about death. It’s a necessary and even desirable part of life, apparently, it makes life bearable (a little late, surely?), it’s an awfully big adventure and the gateway to the next level and all that jazz. To me it’s just the guarantee that I will stop living and experiencing at some point: nothing else is known about it. It’s just an end. There are dark times when I welcome that end, but I recognise that at such times my worldview is skewed. In my ground state, I want to live and be at most middle-aged forever and (having heard all the arguments about overpopulation and alleged boredom and all the rest of it, so please don’t) I see no reason why I shouldn’t. I have brought no lives into this world (not that I believe that should be a criterion--I do not): why should I surrender mine if I’m not done with it?

It is no secret that a character on the side of light dies in the latest Harry Potter book. I have seen no-one, no-one, express anything but obscene glee at this development. Maybe my perception is off yet again. I don’t know. I just find it slightly sad.

Comments

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

"I have seen no-one, no-one, express anything but obscene glee at this development."

I cried. I was shocked. Most of my flist reported being shocked, stunned, saddened, having cried. Not sure who you're finding glee from, but they don't seem to be people I'd want to spend time with.... and yes, that character pretty much *had* to die, makes the story work and is a logical development, but gleeful? Strange reaction.....

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

I often am disappointed by character deaths. I am *invariably* disappointed by character resurrections. I've done them at times in my own roleplaying, usually when I badly underestimated my attachment to the character and really needed them back, but it always weakens the story. Death is Bad, yes, but for that very reason, it is *important*. It's one of the most significant facts about our existence, that we will someday die and that from that death there can be no return. Fiction or roleplaying that trivializes death by playing fast and loose with that second fact about it loses my interest pretty quickly. I'd usually prefer that characters not die unless it is too perfect a dramatic moment to be missed, perfect enough to be worth going through the rest of the story or game without ever seeing that character again. But if it is, I expect not to see them again, except maybe in flashbacks or cameo time travel; they're *gone*. To do otherwise makes death, and therefore life, seem less important in that world.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

As far as I can tell, the glee of which I speak arose from the fact that they disliked the character concerned and wanted him dead. As I said, I may be misreading, but it seemed a fairly unambiguous reaction...and at least some of the people concerned are on my flist and I do like them. If it had been strangers I wouldn't be so saddened by the reaction. I will defend to the fairly nasty papercut their right to dislike the character: exulting in his death is more than I can go along with.

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

We must read different folks in this regard. I haven't seen *anything* like the reaction you report to the death of that character. Quite the opposite, in fact.

[artbeco.livejournal.com]

I agree. I haven't read any comments (until now!) on the Potter book, having just finished it, but I can well imagine people saying such things. It always surprises me just how demanding and critical fandom can be. They're so often people who follow a particular creation obsessively, yet they are also the harshest critics. Whether this is usually indicative of their overall world view and way of dealing with life I'm not sure, but the levels of negativity involved are sometimes stunning.

I confess I was shocked that he really died (and cried), but it certainly gave the story a hard punch it would have lacked otherwise. Death is so difficult; it's always seemed to me that people so callous that they can jeer or cheer at someone's death (even of a fictional character) have probably never had anyone they cared about die. Or perhaps they're incapable of feeling loss. Or something. But hearing others treat death in a light and callous way never fails to make me angry and disappointed in them.