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Which characters do you think have been most stereotyped by fanfiction?

Discussion in 'Fanfic Discussion' started by adamsmitgh, Sep 29, 2017.

  1. adamsmitgh

    adamsmitgh Squib

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    I would say Dumbledore has been distorted the most. In a vast majority of fics that I've read, he is portrayed either as a despicable, manipulative, heartless old man, or as a moron who does nothing but "twinkle" and offer people lemon drops.

    Snape I have a hard time finding the greasy, snarky, unpleasant man of canon in the handsome, kind, chivalrous, debonair bachelor that fanfics tend to make of him.

    Hermione the sharp, bossy, bushy haired, buck-toothed schoolgirl is lost beneath the swoony, auburn-curled, curvaceous, stereotypical heroine of fanon.
     
  2. BTT

    BTT Viol̀e͜n̛t͝ D̶e͡li͡g҉h̛t҉s̀ ~ Prestige ~

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    There's no doubt in my mind: Ron. Poor fucker got extremely badly done by in the movies and then fanfics just piled loads of shit on his undeserving shoulders.
     
  3. Ludwig

    Ludwig Fourth Year

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    I'll go ahead and agree with BTT. Nearly every story out there has Ron/Weasley bashing in the summary.
    Ron is a great friend and has many amazing moments in the books, but fanfiction seems to just make him into a ridiculously stupid and aggressive caricature of what he is supposed to be.
     
  4. Warlocke

    Warlocke Fourth Champion

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    Snape is in the opposite boat as Ron.

    The only reason ANY kind of positive attention is shown to Snape in fan fiction is because of the movies (damn Tim Roth for deciding Planet of The Apes sounded like a safer bet). Thus there is a ton of fan fiction that has stereotyped him as a dark, smoldering, S&M sex god, with a foreboding exterior hiding a soul full of poetry and passion, who could be the perfect guy if only the right under-aged girl (or boy) could heal his wounded soul... or at least be too weak-willed to call the authorities after he forces himself on them with the excuse that he needs to do it to maintain his cover.

    That accounts for roughly 75% of representations of Snape in Harry Potter fan fiction, with another 20% being Snape as a totally evil dirt bag who only hasn't killed Harry already because Dumbledore has him on a leash. The remaining stories are a mix of faithfully greasy, yellow-toothed, portrayals of the character and stories where he adopts/raises/is actually the father of Harry that miraculously aren't just creepy excuses for him to spank a teenage boy.

    Fan fiction stereotyped Hermione as beautiful with a tolerable personality, though, so she probably wins this one by a nose. :cool:
     
  5. Download

    Download Auror ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    Snape, Dumbledore and Ron all tie I think.

    Ron and Dumbledore have the same characterisation; they want Harry's money for ~reasons~ and are (usually) conspiring together to do it. Snape either gets turns into more evil than Voldemort or turned into a handsome sex god to fulfil the Authors sexual fantasies.
     
  6. Moukaboy

    Moukaboy Banned

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    lmao we're not reading the same fanfictions , legit everything i read lately just has Snape turn into the evilest guy who will betray everyone but old dumbeldores will forgive him for reasons , then ofc Harry has to kill him because he can't trust him
    Which is a shame because i really like cannon portrayal of Snape : a bad man that did some right , sometimes for the wrong reasons
    I always found that a good contrast to Dumbeldore who's a good man who did some wrong but for the greater good (xd)

    Also cannon Snape isn't necessarily ugly , he isn't pretty tho : that's for sure lol

    edit : added some shit cause i'm a dumbo
     
    Last edited: Sep 30, 2017
  7. Distaly

    Distaly Fifth Year

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    Ron for sure. But I want to give an honorable mention to Luna of whom I have yet to read a story which shows her in the canon spirit. But I admit she is also extremly hard to get right (and in my own opinion, she could go unmentioned, anyway).
     
  8. ScottPress

    ScottPress The Horny Sovereign –§ Prestigious §– DLP Supporter

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    Fanfiction: putting "dumb" in Dumbledore since 1998

    I don't think there's a way to say who is "most" stereotyped, because all major players have been turned into terrible charicatures thousands upon thousands of times. I can tell you though that few things make me facepalm harder than sexy!redeemed!Draco or torturedsoul!Draco that was spawned by the Draco Trilogy.
     
  9. Zombie

    Zombie Black Philip Moderator DLP Supporter

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    There was a Farmer!Harry fic that had a decent Luna. Thing about Luna is that she was ruined by Jbern. I'm pretty sure if it wasn't for him we wouldn't have so many of those "my eccentricities are just a mask" fics. As it were, she has about as much depth as Neville did in Canon. I would say Daphne in response to OP is pretty stereotyped. I don't remember her ever being anything more than a 2D character in Canon and she's apparently an ice queen. I don't know why that's everyone's favorite build for her.
     
  10. Moukaboy

    Moukaboy Banned

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    In cannon we know virtually nothing about her then some long time ago a relatively good fic with her as the ICE QUEEN , it wasn't the first time people wrote her as an ice queen but it's the fic that introduced the trend so to speak , i think i have the link somewhere

    Long story short it's just an easy trope to fall back on nowadays since it's way easier than writing something original with her

    Now what i wanted to ask is what would you like see Luna written as ? Idk but my memories of cannon Luna aren't that great
     
  11. Zombie

    Zombie Black Philip Moderator DLP Supporter

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    She's flat. She's an eccentric girl who talks about things that people can't see and has a father who is slightly unhinged, and a mother who is dead. She's never shown as more than that in Canon. I remember the chapter heading when she was introduced, was her with her wand behind her ear, and the quibbler in her hands and it was upside down. It was like JK intended for her to have more of an impact, but like Neville she just didn't use them as much as she thought she would. Because at the very least, she has more back story than the rest of the cast in HP, but only enough to make her be an interesting character to fanfic. I don't want to see her as anything tbh. I read HP for HP. Not any other character, and I've moved away from Shipfics, and shipping in general.
     
  12. Xiph0

    Xiph0 Yoda Admin

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    Reading fanfic for years and then going back and reading canon - Ron. Ron by far. He becomes completely one dimensional in fanon.
     
  13. Socialist

    Socialist Professor

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    Ron indeed. Leaving his movie portrayal aside, I would argue his character has been shredded mainly due to laziness. It's easier for authors to focus on the two shitty things he did, instead of writing an otherwise competent character that is funny and witty. I mean that sort of dialogue actually takes effort.
     
  14. Andrela

    Andrela Plot Bunny DLP Supporter

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    Ron, Dumbledore and Snape.

    But, once again, ALL of this can be blamed on the Harry Potter movies. If they didn't exist, we wouldn't have this problem.
     
  15. Sey

    Sey Not Worth the Notice DLP Supporter

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    I wouldn't go that far. People would find a way in hating them.
     
  16. Distaly

    Distaly Fifth Year

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    Seriously? While they most certainly had their impact laying those misconceptions solely on the movies and either damn naive or blind hate.
     
  17. Anarchy

    Anarchy Half-Blood Prince DLP Supporter

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    Hermione. Her talents always get expanded to ridiculous levels.

    Other than her, Daphne Greengrass probably. It's like people stopped using her as the blank slate she was, and just follow one of two preset versions of her.
     
  18. Ludwig

    Ludwig Fourth Year

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    I know "Ice Queen", but what's the other one?
     
  19. Andrela

    Andrela Plot Bunny DLP Supporter

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    If the movies didn't exist, we wouldn't have the "Sex God Snape" trope or the "Evil Dumbledore" trope. The first one is because Rickman, the second because Gambon.

    And the damage Emma Watson did to Hermione is unspeakable.
     
    Last edited: Oct 8, 2017
  20. Ludwig

    Ludwig Fourth Year

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    I'm lucky enough to have never come across that one, and if I did my mind just exploded and reset so I wouldn't remember.
     
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