"It seems elitist and wrong"

[donnaimmaculata]

I've made a worrying observation about my reading habits. I haven't been reading much fanfics lately, partly due to RL, and partly due to the fact that I have less and less tolerance for things that don't fit into my personal view on canon. Wading through the fics that I have saved for later perusal in the course of the last few weeks, I came across one which I liked a lot. It's got some of my favourite characters, it's got excellent characterisation, it's touching and well-written and lovely. But. It also works on an absolutely uncanonical premise, which I can't overlook, as much as I'd like to. This is something that happens a lot to me and stops me from sending feedback for an otherwide excellent story. As I don't want to point out that fic, I'll use a purely hypothetical example: Imagine this fantastic story, full of dark realism and understated communication, which works around the plot point that Peter is unable to cast the Killing Curse. In fact, the story is called "The Death Eater who couldn't kill". - No matter how brilliant the fic otherwise is, this uncanonical plot point would grate on my nerves so much that I would not be able to fully enjoy it. Am I too fastidious? I fear I am.



Another aspect that puts me off instantly are Remus' ubiquitous facial scars. Now, about 60% of all fics I read have Remus in them, and the scars make me shudder. They don't exist in the books. Harry would have noticed them. He mentions the "lines" on "Lupin's young face" several times, and scars would be somewhat more visible. Ron and Harry talk about how ill Lupin looks when he comes back to teach after a few days absence. The state explicitly how pale he is and that he's got shadows under his eyes*. No scars are mentioned, ever. (The same goes for the cardigan. Book!Remus wears robes, as it is explicitly stated several times.)

I wouldn't mind the occasional scarred!Lupin fic, honestly. Scars can be used to great effect every now and then. But what annoys me is that they have been adopted as an element of canon and are everywhere. It also makes me wonder: If movie!canon is so well accepted when it comes to Lupin's appearance - why is it wrong to do the same for Snape? Embrace the shiny, glossy, fluffy hair. It's in the movie, after all.

*Yes, he takes Wolfsbane when in Hogwarts, so there would be no fresh wounds after full moon. But Harry doesn't notice any older scars, either.

Comments

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

I'm curious as to how much more scarred Remus got after the movie came out. Unfortunately, I didn't read much Remus-centric fic prior to the movie, so I have no basis of comparison.

[midnitemaraud-r.livejournal.com]

I wasn't in fandom before the movie came out, but I think that most people (myself included, though now I waver) rather imagined Remus to have scars on his body from when he "bit and scratched himself". Plus the original bite scar - which people have put anywhere from his neck to his waist to his thigh, from what I've seen. It's also popular for him to be wearing bandages after transformations - especially while in school, and while it didn't bother me at first, I look at how quickly Madam Pomfrey heals Harry's injuries and I very much have to wonder. I suppose it also depends on whether you ascribe to the notion of werewolves having some sort of (major or minor) healing powers. So many theories about werewolves are rampant in fandom (including the silver thing - i.e. Peter's hand) that I was rather disappointed by the lack of information in "Fantastic Beasts" myself. :)

After the movie came out, the scars on his face became much more, err, visible in the fics and art I've seen.