Defining Draco Malfoy.
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| Title: | Defining Draco Malfoy. |
| Creator: | Aja |
| Date(s): | November 28, 2004 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom: | Harry Potter |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | at notquiteroyal; LiveJournal post; archive link page one; archive link page two (includes comments) |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Defining Draco Malfoy. is a 2004 essay by Aja for idol_reflection.
It was posted to Aja's website, notquiteroyal, and to LiveJournal.
The essay has a focus "on Draco Malfoy as he is presented in canon, and how this translates into fanon interpretation."
Some Topics Discussed
- lengthy analysis of the canon Draco
- the fanon Draco vs the canon Draco
Excerpts
Draco Malfoy is the most controversial character in the Harry Potter canon. The questions underlying not only J.K. Rowling’s treatment of him in the books, but our reception of him, have been the subject of constant disagreement throughout the fandom for the past five years. Is he a sympathetic character? Is he Hitler youth? Is he meant to provide a very crucial lesson to Harry about tolerance, prejudice, and inter-house unity? Is he filler, a comical stock bully? Is he nuanced or cardboard, or both at once? What the heck is up with his status as widespread fandom idol, a reading of his character which Rowling herself has openly and frequently rejected?
I was introduced to Draco the way most of us were--through the books. I read the HP series in 1999 and then began lurking in the fandom not quite a year later, just a month before Book 4 came out. So for the past, what, four and a half years, I have been listening to the debates over Draco Malfoy, who is one of my favorite characters in the books, and who forms 1/2 of my OTP. I had the privilege of moderating the first academic panel on Draco Malfoy at last year’s Nimbus convention in Orlando, and then as now I was fully aware of how overwhelming this topic is, both in terms of the outpouring of discussion we find about him, and in terms of the polarization of response this character seems to evoke. The subject of Malfoy invites side-taking and scorns moderation--all of which is very indicative of the character himself.
Despite his lack of depth as a character, Draco Malfoy is one of the most important characters in the books. He has more spoken lines in the book than Snape, and figures prominently both as Harry’s schoolyard rival and his Shadow.
The little we know of him in canon paints a portrait of a character who is weak-willed, histrionic, dramatic, and malicious. And yet many readers see him as smart and witty--his sarcasm and running criticism in Care of Magical Creatures is hilarious, as well as being completely understandable. He gets up every time he is knocked down, and continues to exude an incredibly smug, confident attitude whenever he interacts with Harry, even when we see him humiliated time and again. He remains eerily observant about the people and events around him, and knows exactly how to get under Harry’s skin. He writes lame songs with lame lyrics, makes badges, is good in school, and seems to be able to beat every other Seeker at Quidditch except for Harry. He is a talented bragger and a complete drama queen, he knows how to get attention and capitalize on it, and seems to be particularly good at uniting the sympathies of his housemates.
All of these qualities taken together and magnified create a rather colorful, flamboyant opposite extreme from the personality he exhibits to Harry in canon. Thus fanon!Draco becomes a Draco who is misunderstood, heroic, smart, witty, snarky, and essentially sexy. This Draco dresses well, is often gay, and very often powerfully attractive, a trait embodied in the creation of specific fandom stereotypes such as Leather Trousers!Draco and Veela!Draco. In most fanfic centering around Draco, his jealousy and obsession with Harry is central, and it is hardly surprising that Harry/Draco is the most popular single ship in the fandom. Because Draco’s motives in canon are so unclear, even if you have a canonical take on his voice and his mannerisms, you can still wind up with a million and one different takes on his character simply because there are so many different directions to go with him--directions that are prone to change every time new canon comes out and forces us to completely re-evaluate and reconsider the conclusions we had drawn about him before. And fanon!Draco as a variable has undergone several distinct phases of growth and development since he first appeared as an entity with distinct characteristics. In many respects Malfoy in canon is a cipher, a blank page we in fandom have been writing and rewriting for years.