[spoilers] Sir Harry Pearce - Return of the Jedi (#3)

[Silktie]

(30-01-2011 01:17 AM)binkie Wrote:  I find the character of Harry quite compelling. There is a danger, though, that the fallout of season 9 could see him being translated as a kind of martyr looking for – or waiting for - a cause. This would require something of a reduction of the well-rehearsed complexity of the character, and of his rhetorical function in the larger narrative. I don’t want to see Harry become a passenger in his own fortune. That really would be a betrayal too far.

I think it is important to keep in mind that a character’s rhetorical function in the larger narrative, as you call it, is very much a subjective point of view. No two people are going to interpret it in the exact same way. No matter how hard we try, we are all incapable of evaluating a character, his function in a show, or his actions totally objectively. So, what for one viewer might be a betrayal of the established function of a character, might be a fascinating new facet of the same character being developed for another viewer.

Every person that watches the show brings to it their own view of the world, their own frame of reference. It is for this same reason that people find themselves more invested in the fortunes of one character rather than another. One person’s view is not more correct than the other, which is why I, for one, like to see different views expressed. As long as none of us expect everyone else to hold the exact same view that we do.

So Binkie, you can stop apologising for the views you express here. The Harry fans on this forum are quite a friendly bunch.

With regard to season 10 Harry, I agree with you that I wouldn’t like him to become a martyr looking for a cause. But then again, I didn’t expect to enjoy watching Harry experiencing an existential crisis the way he did in season 9, but I did. It’s all in the execution I suppose, so I'll keep an open mind.