I think Harry Potter fandom has grown large enough that it's no longer all that much about the books or the movies, but more about the fandom itself. For example I wouldn't consider myself a fan of Harry Potter, but still I have written and published (in FFN) over 100k words of fanfiction of it...

Part of the reason for this I think (and again using myself as an example) is that the setting of Harry Potter is uniquely suitable for an active fandom. The wizarding world is right next door both in location and time, and it's easy to imagine up all kinds of scenarios that are just that much more awesome with magic, including the childish hope that just _maybe_ there could have been a letter waiting for me on my 11th birthday... And considering the world of Harry Potter pretty much by definition assumes all of mystical folklore as canon history (albeit distorted by the ignorant muggles), the possibilities are just endless.

Really the overarching canon plot wasn't all that solid and most of the characters were two dimensional at best (look no further than Hermione), but as a huge free for all playground with lots of other kids to play with, you couldn't wish for a better one.

 

Heh. I still like it though.

 

There's a reason I almost never. Though I read TLIL on the basis of positive reviews/word of mouth; if I was judging purely on the basis of the story summary ... yeah, that blurb wouldn't catch my interest.

 

Meh. Harry Potter is no litfic. Just because its mass appeal cannot be easily replicated by some rando doesn't mean that it surpasses the critical capabilities of the average educated reader. It's still a relatively lowbrow work that lacks the nuance of serious literature and employs lots of trite tropes, however entertaining and imaginative it might be. It's very possible that Rowling's writing isn't perfect in a way that a fan can correctly point out, despite lacking comparable skills with respect to technical execution. Attempting to displace an author such as James Joyce or Dostoyevsky or Nabokov from their position as "person who understands their own work better than anyone else", however, that's what I would call arrogant. Rowling just isn't on the same level. It doesn't take a Pulitzer to see what she could have done better.

Now, to tell the truth, despite the above it's understandable why you might feel justified to stand by your accusation: the reason is that most fanfic writers want to replace Rowling's decent, family-friendly YA fantasy with rampant masturbatory drivel. Super!Asshole!Harry, shipping & smutfics & harem, hurt/comfort, self-inserts, kill-offs, et cetera -- "there, I fixed it". Or just blatant misreading of the canon source on a point that wasn't really that hard to elucidate (see the above example with Ron).

I'd tell the OP to consider the criticism independently from the person making it. But that's not very convincing. You know what would be convincing? Having an author that's clearly head-and-shoulders above Rowling enter the fandom and show the world what could have been done with the potential of the series in the hands of a more skilled writer. The fact that there's nil chance of it happening does not preclude one from fantasizing about it

 

I agree with most of the opinions people here have on this topic. Most of the time if their story is quality and has an interesting plot I don't care what they rage about. What gets me is when they bash or talk shit and then go on to make a cliche bashfic with perfect everybody. I hate seeing stories with a good plot devolve into such a state. I think Harry Potter is a great story for what it was made as, a book for all ages. I don't mind writers saying they don't like what JK did with a plot point of idea (since there are some really nice opportunities lost) but I agree that they should at least respect the creator.

 

There's definitely a substantial difference between "I think JKR missed an interesting opportunity in canon, and would like explore that in my story" and "JKR is a dumb whore and my story is so much better than canon!"

 

As long as they can back up their arrogance with good writing I don't really care how bad their ego seems. If it bleeds into the way the story is written however, we might have a problem.

 

Fanfiction is simply a gigantic sandbox in which everyone is allowed to play. That includes (unfortunately or not) the kids you rather not have playing. There is not a doubt in my mind that those countless fics which have at least one of the aforementioned issues, tend not to be worth my time and I still get the occasional cringe when I misjudge a story by its outline. Yet I wouldn't call it arrogance. Let them have their illusions about being fantastic authors who are " fixing" all that might be wrong, I'm sure they will wake up eventually and in the mean time they get to entertain other people who lack certain standards.

 

I wouldn't say that the fandom is excessively arrogant, but it is huge and old. (I mean, it has had a few years since the final books) This means that people have had the time to form strong opinions, and there are more than enough people to look at every little hole in the stories. There are a few things that once introduced essentially required semi-divine intervention to clean up again, such as the timeturners, and some things could have been mentioned a bit earlier, like the Hallows, but those are essentially just little details.

And of course, while reading the books, people would have tended to project themselves onto characters. I had that with Hermione, and stupidly but strongly hoped that she would be gay like me. Of course, now I'm a bit older, I see that that would have been impossible for Rowling to do for economic reasons. In me, this is the cause for quite a bit of annoyance with Ron, but I do see his merits as a character now that I'm a little older, and more to terms with myself.

 

I agree with you in the sense that this is JK Rowling's franchise and that she owns the rights to what happens and her ideas are primarily final. But, people thinking that hp should end differently is how fanfiction came about in the first place. Yes, oftentimes it's a bit too much but at the same time the general idea is how fanfiction started.

Well, to them their idea of what should hav happened is why they're writing their story in the first place. In my opinion, they're both respecting the writer and writing out their own idea at the same time.

 

Yes, there are some writers who are a bit too enthusiastic about how right they are, and how bad canon is. And they act like jackasses too. But the whole point of fanfiction is to allow fans to interact with canon and extend/change it. While I do hate it when writers act with a "holier-than-thou" attitude, and bitch on JKR a lot, it doesn't mean that canon is perfect. As readers, we do have the right to critique the books. There's a lot of things about canon that was not perfect, or done poorly, even JKR admits that. I think that's inherently true in all form of art that attracts fan. How many good TV shows have ended badly? That's one of the reason fanfiction is so popular, people like canon, but sometimes the expectation doesn't live up.

 

I hate people like that! To be honest, I thought Ron was adorable. I liked Hermione more... But Ron was adorable.

 

That's rather exaggerated. Being an author of an successful multimedia franchise is no argument against any kinda critique (just think of Twilight), but the problem is, that most of the fanfic authors don't get the critique right and just go bashing the characters (you know all the cliches, right?) and the author.

 

I don't know about Once Upon a Time or Supernatural, but I don't believe the criticism of Steven Moffat on Doctor Who would constitute as arrogance, especially since many people have stopped watching the show after he took over. His one-dimensional female characters, sexism, plot holes, etc. are flaws that many Doctor Who fans try to resolve through fanfiction.

Same goes to Harry Potter- Obviously, no novel is perfect for everyone, even if it made a multi-million dollar franchise, which is why it's fantastic fanfiction exists so everyone could write what they could be their "perfect" version of the story.

I do agree that bashing characters like Ron is far-fetched and just a poor taste in writing, but that's just my opinion

 

Thank you for proving my point so well.