Wednesday, July 13, 2011

HP Week - Why Snape is misunderstood

Fair warning my sparkly besties there are SPOILERS ahead. If you move forward, move with extreme caution. I will not warn you again.

This is your last chance.

I’m warning you.

The secrets will be revealed.

Snape kills Harry Potter.

*giggles erupt* *falls on the floor* *giggles* *picks self up halfway to the couch* *giggles more*

That’s what you get for not reading the book. No. I won’t apologize.

But seriously there are still potential SPOILERS ahead.

Enough messing around. Moving forward I should clarify something (I’m still not apologizing you should have read the book). If you read the books BEFORE the movies the beginning will seem shaky. Meaning most of you probably HATED Snape. I however watched the first movie and when I saw Alan Rickman it was all over for me (he's awesome).

He’s got a badass reputation. He favors Slytherin – especially Malfoy. He’s part of the Dark Lord’s team (or so one thinks), and hates EVERYTHING related to Harry Potter (unless we’re referring to his mother).

Why is he misunderstood then?

Because he’s badass. Every girl wants the bad boy and Snape fits the bill. He fell in love with the wrong girl. She didn’t love him. It’s a hard pill to swallow when your arch nemsis walks away with your girl and then produces a child all before they get themselves blown up. Not exactly the coolest. ESPECIALLY when you’re told that you have to PROTECT the boy from harm.

If I were Snape I would have asked “Is this a joke? Am I getting Punk’d?”

But no. He didn’t. Instead he watched Harry Potter (aka James) roam through the halls and protected him ONLY when ABSOLUTELY necessary.

Of course it gets a little fuzzy when Dumbledore dies (you should have watched PT 1 and you would have known already. Blame yourself). He turns to the dark side (sort of… I think I would have too to save myself – I could be a coward… I don’t know) but in the end you’ll find that he really was just misunderstood.

His life story says it all.

Boy starts off misunderstood. Falls in love. Gets denied. Goes on misunderstood. Gets a job at place where he’s misunderstood. Never gets the position he wants. Goes throughout life misunderstood. Has to teach the boy he hates. Still misunderstood. Has to kill someone he doesn’t want to. Ends up misunderstood.

Oh and then Harry names a kid after him.

See… Misunderstood. So what’s your take?

For all my other Snape lovers out there:
Laurel Garver
Michael Di Gesu
Abby Minard
Melissa Sarno
Renae Mercado
Colene Murphy
Lisa Galek

34 comments:

Jillian said...

I love Snaoe. Always knew there was a redeeming scene for him. Even when he killed Dumbledore, I stood steadfast and said D. Asked him to do it.

And, as to Alan Rickman, he's going to be my second husband (once I get rid of the first one and meet Alan, that is). Lol

Love this post.

Laura Pauling said...

Snape is my favorite character. I love his internal conflict and the position Rowling put him in. If only all our character could have such depth!

Stina said...

I loved Snape even more when Rick played him. He did an awesome job. Yep, he was definitely one misunderstood dude.

Unknown said...

Yes he was! He is brilliant and I hear his role in PT2 is well done. We will be given the scene we want attention on!!!

Hooray!

Lindsay N. Currie said...

We are a snape loving family here:) In fact, last year my 9 year old bought a Slytherin shirt at the Wizarding World - much to the chagrin of the others in line holding Gryffindor ones LOL:) Good post.

Creepy Query Girl said...

I had mixed feelings for snape- even after we discover the truth. But he still gets my respect- being able to dupe the master of darkness.

Unknown said...

You make a good point CQG... sounds to me like he was the sneakiest of them ALL!

Matthew MacNish said...

There is also the fact that he is one the most highly skilled wizards who ever lived. I mean he was inventing original spells when he was still a boy, for Pete's sake.

Unknown said...

SECTUMPSEMPRA!!!!

That's one badass spell.

Note: Not intended for children. Only intended for Dark Lords and those looking for payback.

Unknown said...

Good choice today. I love Snape and I've been paying closer attention to him as I've been re-reading the books and re-watching the movies. He's so complex and intense.

Laura S. said...

The only time I thought Snape was a bad boy was in the first book (I was really fooled by Quirrel!). After that I knew Dumbledore had something on him that we didn't know, so I wasn't worried after book 6. My mom is the only one I know of who guessed after the 5th book that Snape was in love with Lily. I wasn't so sure about that. And then it was true!

Snape's awesome, and I don't consider him a villain. He's just misunderstood!

Poor Albus Severus. Good thing he's a Potter or he'd soooo have his head thrust in a flushing toilet by Scorpius Malfoy, haha!

Suzie F. said...

Snape is one of the best written characters of all time, imho. I love how Rowling kept us (read, me) guessing until the very end.

Sarah Ahiers said...

i never felt snape was a super bad guy. I was pretty sure it wasn't him in the first book, i just wasn't sure who else it could be. I was always aware that we were seeing snape through harry's lens

Sara {Rhapsody and Chaos} said...

I would post a more insightful comment, but it's hard for me to talk about Snape without tearing up.

Not to toot my own horn, but I ALWAYS knew he wasn't evil. There was just... something that kept my faith strong for him.

Also? Alan Rickman? I LOVE HIM.

Nicole Zoltack said...

Snape definitely has to be my favorite character. By far the most complex and layered.

Tina L. Hook said...

JK Rowling is such an inspiration!

Thanks for sharing this and visiting my blog. (Since I haven't seen it yet I didn't read too closely.)

Jennie Bennett said...

I love the versatility of Snape and how J.K. Rowling was able to give us all this history without us getting bored. That's just one of the many things I love about Harry potter :)

Melissa Sarno said...

Snape is an AMAZING character. I hated him, misunderstood him, and was humbled by his bravery when I got to the end of the books. It helps that Alan Rickman is awesome, awesome, awesome in the films.

Laura M. Campbell said...

A very misunderstood character. He redeems himself when he reveals his love and devotion to Lily Potter. Although he felt like Harry was James reincarnated, he did protect him and did it for Lily. Someone for Harry to count on that JK eventually takes away from him. I'm super excited for Part 2. My midnight showing tickets are burning a hole in my pocket!

Emily White said...

This is what I love about Snape: With all these love triangles going on in YA fiction, we get to see what happens to "the other guy." And he's not some oh-I-lost-the-girl-of-my-dreams-now-I'm-going-to-shrivel-up-and-die kind of guy. No. He brought down You Know Who. Sure it was in a roundabout way, but Harry wouldn't have been able to get half as far as he did without Snape playing Voldemort along the whole time.

Snape is just awesome.

Sarah Tokeley said...

From the first moment we saw Alan Rickman as Snape could you ever imagine anyone else playing him? It's hard to believe that JK Rowling didn't have him in mind when she started writing years ago :)

Melanie Stanford said...

I love to HATE Snape. Although rereading when I know his whole story makes my heart go out to him. I think if he'd cleaned up his act during school, he might have had a chance with Lily, albeit a slim one. But he shot himself in the foot with his Dark Arts creepiness. But yeah, you can't help but feel bad for the guy when you realize how awful it would be to constantly see and have to protect the kid of the woman you love and the man you hate. Poor Snape.

Sarah Allen said...

Hee hee :) Totally wrote about Snape today.

Sarah Allen
(my creative writing blog)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I like Snape's character. And Rickman is an awesome actor. Ever see him in Galaxy Quest?

Laurel Garver said...

I agree with Emily W.--what is so cool about Snape is that he spends his life trying to avenge Lily by double crossing Voldemort. Now that's what I call devotion!

Also--as I plan to elaborate in a post, I think Snape also sees the part of himself he doesn't like in Harry. Both boys are described as uncared for with bad hair and baggy clothes.

TS Hendrik said...

I love me some Snape. While I love the broader characterization in the book, one can't deny Alan Rickman's fantastic portrayal.

He's really built to be that sadly misunderstood character isn't he? Building towards the end when you find out just how cool he really was.

Anonymous said...

I won't see the last HP movie until it comes out on DVD. We have all the other ones. Then we'll have to have a HP week so we can watch them all over again.

Shelley Sly said...

I've said this over and over in the blogging world, but I adore Snape. <3 He's the best because he's so complicated and misunderstood. And awesome. Oh, sometimes I wish Lily chose him instead of James, but then we wouldn't have Harry, would we?

Nicki Elson said...

Ahh! You have just summed up what drove me to write---the HP series ended and I could not STAND that **Spoiler Alert** Snape died w/ such an unhappy life. :( So I wrote a fanfiction in which we learn of the secret happiness that Snape DID have in his life. :D

Sharon K. Mayhew said...

(hangs head in shame) I haven't read the HP books. (Are we still friends?) Based on my limited attention span and ever failing memory...Snape has always kind of creeped me out.

Great post, Jen! I love the beginning...LOL!

Abby Minard said...

I've always loved Snape, and always knew he was a good guy. Through it all I told everyone that NOPE, he's a good guy. Just you wait!! I'm glad we stuck with him, and YES Alan Rickman will be forever my Snape!

RaShelle Workman said...

Jen - I'm a total Snape fan too! =D

Rhonda Albom said...

I am not a big enough fan to ever see it, dare I admit. Even so, I knew that Snape didn't kill Harry. Great post. Fun to read.

Kristin Rae said...

Snape is my lover