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lightofdayeOkay so I've seen this a few places. Most recently reading some of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
writcraft's meta, though the actual point of that article is far grander than the bit I'm going to nitpick (asa nerd arguing over minutia is pretty much my stock in trade) as part of a larger point she wrote:
When I write Harry without his glasses, slim down Millicent, place queer characters in a world free from oppression, write Blaise as Draco’s side-kick or erase Ginny because it’s bothersome backstory the fic could do without, then am I guilty of precisely the same kind of marginalisation I vehemently oppose in original fiction?
So here and elsewhere, a few sign-up exchange forms come to mind, there's the idea that canonically Millicent was fat and thus slimming her down would be bad thing.
Firstly, I think I missed that bit. I remember Millicent being described as like a troll, which to me mean big and strong. In a tall, broad shouldered muscular way not fat. Not as overweight or fat. But I could be wrong... (too lazy to get out Chamber of secrets. but not to post this, go figure)
Second, lots of characters, and Slytherins in particular have unflattering descriptions, yet because I'm writing smut, that gets pretty much ignored. I mean if I were inclined to justify it I could say that in canon hary doesn't like these people and its from his point of view, hence the descriptions. In fics I write he probably wants to bang them and thus is more charitable.
When I started writing this it was mostly 'is milicent really canonically fat?' but I seemed to have wandered into the larger question of 'how much am i allowed to change their descriptions for smut fic?'
writcraft's meta, though the actual point of that article is far grander than the bit I'm going to nitpick (asa nerd arguing over minutia is pretty much my stock in trade) as part of a larger point she wrote: When I write Harry without his glasses, slim down Millicent, place queer characters in a world free from oppression, write Blaise as Draco’s side-kick or erase Ginny because it’s bothersome backstory the fic could do without, then am I guilty of precisely the same kind of marginalisation I vehemently oppose in original fiction?
So here and elsewhere, a few sign-up exchange forms come to mind, there's the idea that canonically Millicent was fat and thus slimming her down would be bad thing.
Firstly, I think I missed that bit. I remember Millicent being described as like a troll, which to me mean big and strong. In a tall, broad shouldered muscular way not fat. Not as overweight or fat. But I could be wrong... (too lazy to get out Chamber of secrets. but not to post this, go figure)
Second, lots of characters, and Slytherins in particular have unflattering descriptions, yet because I'm writing smut, that gets pretty much ignored. I mean if I were inclined to justify it I could say that in canon hary doesn't like these people and its from his point of view, hence the descriptions. In fics I write he probably wants to bang them and thus is more charitable.
When I started writing this it was mostly 'is milicent really canonically fat?' but I seemed to have wandered into the larger question of 'how much am i allowed to change their descriptions for smut fic?'
no subject
Date: 2015-03-24 12:02 am (UTC)From Wiki: Millicent was black-haired and had a heavy, jutting jaw. She was described by Harry Potter as being "no pixie." She had a large, square build that allowed her to physically intimidate smaller people, and was bigger than Harry Potter in their second year. Ron Weasley once remarked that Millicent was "ugly," and Harry thought that she looked like a hag he'd seen pictured in Holidays with Hags. We are given no non-Gryffindor opinions of her physical beauty or lack thereof.
Now, being bigger than Harry at age 12 tells us absolutely nothing. He was small and many girls have started growing and the boys haven't. The "no pixie" can be looked at in two ways--yes, she's not a skinny girl, but as you say, just a big girl. OR it could be JKR's euphemism for actually meaning she's truly overweight. TBH, I think fandom has embraced her as the one overweight character that we know of and therefore just don't want her to be made thin. Representation for the people who aren't built like models.
As for the descriptions-she's called ugly. Surely that's up for discussion. One man's trash is another man's treasure after all. Making her a femme fatale on the other hand would seem not true to her character.
So if I was writing her, I would neither describe the rolls of belly fat NOR talk about seeing her rib cage. I likely wouldn't put her in a skin tight dress or on 5 inch heels, just because I do feel like she's a little less glamorous, between her broad build and so called "ugly" appearance.
As you know, I read a lot of Snarry and that's relevant because there are a million ways to make Severus more attractive than he was in canon but the ones that ring truest to me are the ones where Harry realizes he's not going to win any beauty contests but realizes there is more to him than greasy hair and a snarky attitude. So unless someone really likes heavy girls (which can appear to be a fetish if one isn't careful), again I don't see the point in getting too detailed. If you're writing Pansy you're not going to say she's got a face like a pug, you know?
Oh, and Hermione said Pansy was "thicker than a concussed troll" so maybe that's where you got the thick troll thing from?
no subject
Date: 2015-03-24 09:01 am (UTC)I definitely get what you're saying regarding Snarry and it#s all points of view right? Though I do recall in my first fanfic I went to great lengths to reinterpret 'face like a pug' to be a good thing. lol. And of course there's always the option of saying they grew into features that didn't suit them as a child.
no subject
Date: 2015-03-24 10:02 am (UTC)One last thing though. If JKR had wanted to say Millicent was overweight, how do you think she'd have described her? There's no way Ron was going to say she was a 'fat cow'. The bit with her being "not a pixie" was that she, Crabbe, and Goyle wouldn't fit in a bathroom stall together. Then again, I think of those guys as being pretty big so it would be curious to look at their actual canon descriptions as well.
Mentally I'm OK with having her be the single overweight girl at Hogwarts, rather like Dumbledore is the one gay character in the series. :P But I do think there's a bit more room for interpretation--unlike Blaise's skin color.
no subject
Date: 2015-03-24 01:28 pm (UTC)Well I don't know. JKR hardly shied away from saying people were overweight if she wanted to. options range from as Mrs Weasley was described (dumpy, plump etc) to Fudge (portly) all the way up to Dudley. (wider than he was taller, weight of a killer whale etc).
as an aside I'm a bit dubious you can fit three people of any size in a bathroom stall with a cauldron tbh.
Oh, I'm okay with her being written as overweight. I'm okay with her being written as overweight. (Mentally, I always think of Hannah Abbot being on the heavier side with no evidence at all) and I'm okay with people requesting that she be written that way. I'm just eyebrow raising slightly when people say 'because that's canon.'
I'm just really nit-picking the definition of 'definitely unarguably canon' that I would mean when I say Canon. As opposed to fanon or head!canon that's reasonable and has a real basis in canon.
no subject
Date: 2015-03-24 07:54 pm (UTC)