Well, no, meaning something rather different: Go from defining and judging the characters in the story in terms of good and evil, to acknowledging and understanding them for themselves - from morality to humanity.
I don't see that ever happening, though. One of my problems with the series is that the closer a view we get of the characters, the broader they become. Rather than becoming all too human characters with the gifts and foibles fully fleshed characters should have, they become almost caricatures. Zach Smith isn't a cynic, he's a filthy coward. Voldemort is a pure monster, a psychopath incapable of feeling love. House elves really are stupid; giants really are violent; goblins really are greedy. Oh, and Harry is always the winner.
JKR flattened out any nuance. Except when she begs us to give the old wink, wink, nudge, nudge to her heroes behaving badly. When Draco throws a torture spell, it's proof he's a bad boy and justification for gutting him. When Harry throws a torture spell it's gallant.
Which leaves me to conclude that if one does try to get to know the various characters for themselves, one is left with a series that's an awful moral mess. Not in the sense that I can't tell who I'm supposed to like and who I'm supposed to loathe (JKR is very loud about that particular breakdown); just I can't figure out why I should feel that way.
HP is not always serious, and we should never be afraid to laugh!
When the joke depends on dehumanizing the victim of the joke, I actually do feel a bit nervous about laughing.
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I don't see that ever happening, though. One of my problems with the series is that the closer a view we get of the characters, the broader they become. Rather than becoming all too human characters with the gifts and foibles fully fleshed characters should have, they become almost caricatures. Zach Smith isn't a cynic, he's a filthy coward. Voldemort is a pure monster, a psychopath incapable of feeling love. House elves really are stupid; giants really are violent; goblins really are greedy. Oh, and Harry is always the winner.
JKR flattened out any nuance. Except when she begs us to give the old wink, wink, nudge, nudge to her heroes behaving badly. When Draco throws a torture spell, it's proof he's a bad boy and justification for gutting him. When Harry throws a torture spell it's gallant.
Which leaves me to conclude that if one does try to get to know the various characters for themselves, one is left with a series that's an awful moral mess. Not in the sense that I can't tell who I'm supposed to like and who I'm supposed to loathe (JKR is very loud about that particular breakdown); just I can't figure out why I should feel that way.
HP is not always serious, and we should never be afraid to laugh!
When the joke depends on dehumanizing the victim of the joke, I actually do feel a bit nervous about laughing.