While this is true, there can be a distinction between a character with flaws and a character who is extremely irritating to read about. And this is one of those judgement calls where The Audience is Always Right; it seems very reasonable to stop reading a story if the protagonist noticeably irritates you.
In general, commentary to the effect of “you should like this thing” is not very useful, especially if you are trying to figure out why someone reacted negatively.
(These discussions in which one group has an overwhelmingly strong “squick” or “ew” reaction and another group does not are fascinating to me, not least of all because they seem to pop up quite frequently here, e.g. about Eliezer’s OKCupid profile and NYC cuddle piles. Both sides spew huge amounts of ink explaining their emotional reactions, and yet there never seems to be any actual sharing of understanding. In the interests of trying harder...I was also very aggravated by the first few chapters of HPMOR, and would be happy to discuss it calmly here.)
I suppose if you really can’t stand the main character, there’s not much point in reading the thing.
I was somewhat aggravated by the first few chapters, in particular the conversation between Harry and McGonagall about the medical kit. Was that one where you had your aggravated reaction?
I found myself sympathizing with both sides, and wishing Harry would just shut up—and then catching myself and thinking “but he’s completely right. And how can he back down on this when lives are potentially at stake, just to make her feel better?”
Yes, I did find that section grating. I’m describing my emotions post-hoc here (which is not generally reliable), but what I found irritating about the first few chapters was the fact that Harry acts in an extremely arrogant way, nearly to the point of coercing the adult characters, and the story-universe appears to back him up at every turn. This is the “Atlas Shrugged” effect described downthread by CellBioGuy. Harry is probably right in most of those arguments, but he is only so effortlessly correct and competent because the story-universe is designed so that he can teach these rationality lessons to other characters. It feels like the world is unfair, and unfair in the favor of an unlikeable and arrogant character. There is a real-world corollary of this, of course—very arrogant people who always get what they want—and I suspect my emotional reactions to these real and fictional situations are very similar.
(I have since caught up with the rest of the fic, and enjoyed most of it.)
While this is true, there can be a distinction between a character with flaws and a character who is extremely irritating to read about. And this is one of those judgement calls where The Audience is Always Right; it seems very reasonable to stop reading a story if the protagonist noticeably irritates you.
In general, commentary to the effect of “you should like this thing” is not very useful, especially if you are trying to figure out why someone reacted negatively.
(These discussions in which one group has an overwhelmingly strong “squick” or “ew” reaction and another group does not are fascinating to me, not least of all because they seem to pop up quite frequently here, e.g. about Eliezer’s OKCupid profile and NYC cuddle piles. Both sides spew huge amounts of ink explaining their emotional reactions, and yet there never seems to be any actual sharing of understanding. In the interests of trying harder...I was also very aggravated by the first few chapters of HPMOR, and would be happy to discuss it calmly here.)
I suppose if you really can’t stand the main character, there’s not much point in reading the thing.
I was somewhat aggravated by the first few chapters, in particular the conversation between Harry and McGonagall about the medical kit. Was that one where you had your aggravated reaction?
I found myself sympathizing with both sides, and wishing Harry would just shut up—and then catching myself and thinking “but he’s completely right. And how can he back down on this when lives are potentially at stake, just to make her feel better?”
Yes, I did find that section grating. I’m describing my emotions post-hoc here (which is not generally reliable), but what I found irritating about the first few chapters was the fact that Harry acts in an extremely arrogant way, nearly to the point of coercing the adult characters, and the story-universe appears to back him up at every turn. This is the “Atlas Shrugged” effect described downthread by CellBioGuy. Harry is probably right in most of those arguments, but he is only so effortlessly correct and competent because the story-universe is designed so that he can teach these rationality lessons to other characters. It feels like the world is unfair, and unfair in the favor of an unlikeable and arrogant character. There is a real-world corollary of this, of course—very arrogant people who always get what they want—and I suspect my emotional reactions to these real and fictional situations are very similar.
(I have since caught up with the rest of the fic, and enjoyed most of it.)