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Annoying vs. funny
May. 10th, 2007 02:15 pmWe've now finished Chamber of Secrets (actually we're most of the way through PoA, but I'm slow posting), and I was trying to figure out why Gilderoy Lockhart is funny to me, while on the other hand my hatred for Dobby burns with the fire of a thousand suns. Both of them are kind of over-the-top characters who cause a great deal of unnecessary damage. In fact, you could argue that bumbling, thick Lockhart is really more of a Jarjar binks character than is Dobby, but I rank JarJar and Dobby together in terms of sheer and utter annoyance, whereas I actually like scenes with Lockhart quite a bit.
Part of it is that I have a deep hatred for characters not being given the information they need. (Dumbledore, although I love him, has suffered substantially in my estimation, especially in Books 5 and 6, because of this. (It was always fairly easy to ignore him before, because he was relatively such a small part of the books.) I mean, it just seems like he could have given Harry *much* more useful information than stupid forays into Tom's past...) And Dobby is a prime offender in this regard, though he has plot reasons for not being able to reveal things. Lockhart has no important information, so he doesn't annoy me as much.
Also, I have an even deeper loathing, in real life as well as books, for those who don't even make the semblance of rational discourse, and Dobby falls into this category. Note that my standards are not exactly high, here. I don't need you to agree with me, or to display ironclad logic (or really any logic at all), or even to change your opinion when I display some ironclad logic or point out some fallacy in your argument. I'm merely asking here that you at least make the effort to look like you're listening to what I'm saying.
Dobby basically does this exact thing early in the book-- Harry's asking him nicely not to get him in total trouble, and Dobby acts as if Harry isn't even saying anything, which I can't stand. Of course, Lockhart doesn't do the whole rational-discourse thing either, but at least a) Harry and friends use this tendency (to get the pass for the Restricted Section), which is nice, and b) Lockharts gets whapped a lot for it. And that's my other thing-- perhaps because I am not a very nice person, I thrive on the annoying and evil characters getting their comeuppance. I just love it. One of the reasons I read trashy novels every so often. And Dobby gets rewarded for being annoying. So not fair! Whine whine!
More thoughts on CoS:
-Harry is really, really likeable in books 1 and 2. Too bad he becomes such a whiny teenager.
-Snape being a Legilimens has been foreshadowed, I think, 3 times so far (e.g., Harry thinks Snape knows it was Harry who made the diversion so Hermione could steal the Boomslang). I hadn't noticed this before. Well, either that, or Snape and/or Harry are paranoid.
-Given that Hogwarts didn't expel the Marauders who, you know, endangered another student's life, what made Snape, of all people, think that Harry would get expelled for flying a car? Are the outside-Hogwarts-magic restrictions really that much more serious?
Part of it is that I have a deep hatred for characters not being given the information they need. (Dumbledore, although I love him, has suffered substantially in my estimation, especially in Books 5 and 6, because of this. (It was always fairly easy to ignore him before, because he was relatively such a small part of the books.) I mean, it just seems like he could have given Harry *much* more useful information than stupid forays into Tom's past...) And Dobby is a prime offender in this regard, though he has plot reasons for not being able to reveal things. Lockhart has no important information, so he doesn't annoy me as much.
Also, I have an even deeper loathing, in real life as well as books, for those who don't even make the semblance of rational discourse, and Dobby falls into this category. Note that my standards are not exactly high, here. I don't need you to agree with me, or to display ironclad logic (or really any logic at all), or even to change your opinion when I display some ironclad logic or point out some fallacy in your argument. I'm merely asking here that you at least make the effort to look like you're listening to what I'm saying.
Dobby basically does this exact thing early in the book-- Harry's asking him nicely not to get him in total trouble, and Dobby acts as if Harry isn't even saying anything, which I can't stand. Of course, Lockhart doesn't do the whole rational-discourse thing either, but at least a) Harry and friends use this tendency (to get the pass for the Restricted Section), which is nice, and b) Lockharts gets whapped a lot for it. And that's my other thing-- perhaps because I am not a very nice person, I thrive on the annoying and evil characters getting their comeuppance. I just love it. One of the reasons I read trashy novels every so often. And Dobby gets rewarded for being annoying. So not fair! Whine whine!
More thoughts on CoS:
-Harry is really, really likeable in books 1 and 2. Too bad he becomes such a whiny teenager.
-Snape being a Legilimens has been foreshadowed, I think, 3 times so far (e.g., Harry thinks Snape knows it was Harry who made the diversion so Hermione could steal the Boomslang). I hadn't noticed this before. Well, either that, or Snape and/or Harry are paranoid.
-Given that Hogwarts didn't expel the Marauders who, you know, endangered another student's life, what made Snape, of all people, think that Harry would get expelled for flying a car? Are the outside-Hogwarts-magic restrictions really that much more serious?
