whatladybird:fandomsandfeminism:allinom:fandomsandfeminism:Ugh. Yes. I find the Snape/Lily narrative
whatladybird:fandomsandfeminism:allinom:fandomsandfeminism:Ugh. Yes. I find the Snape/Lily narrative to be really horrific, honestly. The fact that we are asked to feel oh so bad for poor little Snape makes me a little bit queasy. Because, yes, I do sympathize with Snape for having a rough childhood. But he was a horrible friend to Lily. He ignored her feelings. He screamed racial slurs at her. He favored the idealized version of her he had built up in his mind over the REAL her (I think it is significant that James’ patronus is a STAG, showing compatibility with Lily; while Snape is a DOE, showing a mimicry of Lily). That idealization and inability to reconcile how his own actions contributed to the failure of their friendship literally KILLED Lily.I understand that we can show some sympathy for him. Watching someone self destruct their own relationships because of abuse and peer pressure and the tribulations of childhood? That’s tragic. But then he grows up to emotionally abuse Lily’s son for having a physical resemblance to her husband. And we’re supposed to feel sorry for him? We’re supposed to think it’s lovely and sweet that Harry names his child after the teacher who emotionally abused him for years? Who emotionally abused OTHER children for years as well? The fans who sit around and cry about how Lily SHOULD have picked Snape, how Snape DESERVED her? How James was a horrible douche and Lily was a bitch for choosing him? Ugh. No. nno no no no on oonononononononoooooo. also snape actually ruined a mans career fully knowing he probably couldn’t get another one.Oh the shit that went down with Remus makes me really want to break his teeth. Remus had been HOMELESS. Remus had spent much of his adult life implied to be on the streets, unable to find work, and completely unable to make new friendships or relationships after Lily and James died, Peter vanished, and Sirius went to jail (ALL of which is DIRECTLY Snape’s god damn fault.)And then just as Remus picks himself back up again? Becomes a positive force and father figure to Harry? Snape deliberately and purposely gets him FIRED so that he will be unemployed and potentially homeless AGAIN. How the fuck am I supposed to show any sympathy for an adult who completely lacks the ability to show sympathy, or even human decency, to others? Don’t forget Snape’s bullying of his other students a.k.a. the children he was hired to teach and nurture. When thirteen-year-old Neville Longbottom was confronted by a boggart for the first time, his worst fear was Severus Snape. Most of his classmates saw monsters or creatures, things that could do you physical harm (Harry’s boggart literally turned into a SOUL-SUCKING PERSONIFICATION OF DEPRESSION) but Neville, whose parents had been tortured by this point, Neville’s worst fear is the emotional abuse of his potions teacher.And when a fourteen-year-old Hermione was cursed by one of her fellow students, amplifying a physical feature she was already self-conscious about, did he defend her or punish the boy who cursed her? Did he offer her the barest form of human decency by sending her to the hospital wing or undoing the curse himself? No. He looked at her and said, “I see no difference.”Snape apologists can get out of my face. -- source link