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deathtocapslock
* Collin’s really acting like an obsessive stalker here. I wonder if that’s how Harry appeared to Draco in HBP?
* Ron’s malfunctioning wand actually sounds quite dangerous, but nobody thinks it might be a good idea to replace it. Although OTOH having a lax attitude towards safety seems to be one of the few things about the WW that seems consistent throughout the books (they’ll show it again when Percy tries to stop people using dangerous cauldrons), so maybe I should be thankful that it isn’t just one of these things that changes whenever the plot demands.
* I assume that JKR’s just forgotten to mention the try-outs that every Quidditch team apparently does each year.
* I’m just going to tune out while Harry recaps the rules of Quidditch for Collin.
* Everyone’s not bothering to pay attention to Wood’s new tactics. Remember kids, teamwork’s for suckers! You just do what you want to do!
* Wood is still upset over Gryffindor losing last year. Serves him right for being too thick to have a reserve Seeker, IMHO.
* Note how Wood’s first reaction upon seeing Collin is to jump to the conclusion that he’s a Slytherin spy. Not that he’s in any way biased against Slytherin, or anything like that.
* Remember chaps, looking like a troll = evil. Part-giant, OTOH, = misunderstood woobie. Even though trolls don’t really seem much worse than giants.
* There are no girls on the Slytherin team, just to remind everyone that they’re sexist, and therefore evil. JKR hates sexism, which is why she took care to include so many liberated, independent-minded women in the novels.
* Wood’s “spitting with rage” now. Christ, Oliver, calm down, it’s not the end of the world. Maybe the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams could just play a friendly, or something.
* “Aren’t you Lucius Malfoy’s son?” says Fred, looking at Draco with dislike. Remember kids, it’s wrong to judge people based on their family.
* Is it possible to smirk so broadly that your eyes are “reduced to slits”, or is Draco actually grinning with happiness here?
* I don’t think that Malfoy did buy his way onto the team. For a start, Seeker is the most (i.e., only) important position in the game, and I don’t think that flying on better brooms would compensate for having an inferior Seeker. Secondly, he’s on the team for at least three years, when the Slytherins could easily have ditched him as soon as they’d got the brooms. They’d even have had a good excuse after losing that Quidditch match in “The Rogue Bludger”.
* Lucius seemed like quite a harsh, demanding father when we saw him in Borgin and Burke’s, IMHO, so the thought that he’s pleased daddy enough to make him buy new brooms for the team is probably making Draco grin even more.
* I bet he looks adorable in this scene.
* Now I can’t stop thinking of Lauren Lopez in A Very Potter Sequel. “Don’t worry, daddy, you’ll love me after this! I’ll catch that Snitch, mark my words!”
* Just thought it interesting to note that Malfoy wasn’t involved in the conversation until Ron brought him in. It’s not like he was strutting up and down, boasting about his new broom, or anything like that.
* Hermione’s the one who starts with the personal insults. Really, I think that the good [sic] guys are acting worse than the baddies here.
* If the theory that Draco’s really just happy because he’s finally made his daddy proud is right, then implying that he’d just bought his way onto the team is probably one of the most offensive things Hermione could say. Unsurprisingly, he responds with one of the most offensive things that he could say.
* Draco calls Hermione a “Mudblood”, despite the fact that she’s a Muggleborn, and therefore cannot be expected to know what it means, suggesting that either she’s upset him so much he’s not thinking straight, or that he wants to keep face in front of his teammates by responding to her insults, but at the same time doesn’t want to upset her. If the latter, it could be evidence for some kind of D/Hr ship.
* JKR seems to be expecting us to go “ZOMG Draco’s an evil racist!” suggesting that she’s forgotten why exactly it is that racism’s considered so wrong. I don’t think it’s just that you’re looking down on people for the way they were born – if it were, then jokes about stupid blondes would be considered as bad as jokes about stupid black people. Rather, it’s wrong because minorities often suffer from discrimination (and in many cases have suffered from it even more in the relatively recent past), and racist language helps to reinforce and normalise the prejudiced attitudes which lead to such discrimination. Because we haven’t really see people suffering from anti-Muggleborn prejudice, it’s hard to think of “Mudblood” as a particularly serious insult.
* This, BTW, is why I disagree with people who say things like “Rowling uses the Harry Potter books to teach children not to be racist.” If she were really doing that, she’d show how racism affects people’s lives (cf. To Kill a Mockingbird). What she’s actually doing is taking real racism and using it in lieu of actual worldbuilding and characterisation. We already know that racism is wrong, and we think Draco’s a bad person because his use of the term “Mudblood” is superficially similar to real-life examples of racism; we don’t learn about how racism is bad from its effects on HP characters, because it doesn’t really have any.
* Anyway, back to the actual story…
* Once again, the good guys are the first to use force. Why am I not surprised?
* I think it’s sweet the way Flint dives in front of Malfoy to stop him being attacked. The Slytherins often seem to look out for each other the most (see also Lucius patting Snape on the back when he’s first Sorted). Contrast this with the Gryffindors in PS, who refuse to speak to Harry, Hermione, Ron or Neville after they lose some House Points.
* What’s this, one of the good guys has suffered some negative consequences as a result of attacking someone else? Hold on while I go make a note of this in my diary.
* Again with the clothes! Lockhart’s wearing robes of “palest mauve” today. Harry’s really starting to look rather gay now; given JKR’s fondness for stereotypes (viz. the Finnegans) and inability to write a decent romance (chest monster!), I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find her way of showing homosexuality would be having someone spend all their time looking at their crush’s clothes.
* Note how Hagrid doesn’t remonstrate with Ron for trying to curse Malfoy. Clearly he’s a responsible adult and an excellent candidate for a prestigious teaching position.
* I know Hagrid doesn’t like Lockhart, but he really should know better than to undermine him like that in front of his pupils.
* So the jinx on DADA has been in place for what, forty or so years now? And people are only just starting to twig? I know wizards are slow learners, but really…
* Also, couldn’t Dumbledore find ways to either discover how Riddle jinxed the position and undo it somehow, or to get around it, such as hiring two teachers who each teach on alternate years or getting rid of DADA and replacing it with a class which is functionally indistinguishable but has a different name (“battle magic”, perhaps?).
* I think that this scene was one which the film actually did better than the books. Yes, having Hermione getting all upset may not have been fully logical, but it at least made Draco look like a hurtful bully rather than an eccentric crank. It also suggested that someone might have called Hermione that before, hinting at actual day-to-day anti-Muggleborn prejudice, which is more than the books ever managed to do.
* “Maybe it was a good thing yer wand backfired.” Wait, is Hagrid glad that Ron got to be on the receiving end in the hope that he’ll be less likely to curse people in future? No, of course not, he’s worrying that Ron might otherwise have got in trouble.
* Hagrid comes across as so judgemental when he says “’Spect Lucius Malfoy would’ve come marchin’ up ter school if yeh’d cursed his son.” Clearly, caring about your children being attacked is a sign of great evil. Good guys know that being randomly hexed is what makes a man out of you.
* Although Lucius doesn’t seem to have done much when Draco was hexed into unconsciousness on the train (twice!), which probably foreshadows the Redeemed!Malfoys situation at the end of DH.
* Hagrid’s been breaking the law to make his pumpkins grow faster. Which couldn’t possibly be dangerous in any way, oh no.
* Suddenly, Draco’s gossip about him getting drunk and setting his bed on fire looks awfully plausible.
* Everybody hates Filch, which is entirely understandable, given all the times he complains about having to clean up the mess children make and, erm, gives them detention for breaking the rules. Yep, entirely understandable.
* So how does Parseltongue work, then? ’Cause surely Lockhart ought to have heard it, even if he didn’t understand what it was saying? Or is it a sort of telepathy? But then Ron managed to speak it in DH…
* Awfully convenient the way the basilisk goes around describing its evil plan to itself, isn’t it? Do basilisks just have really bad memories, and need to keep repeating their plans to themselves in case they forget?
* Part of me can’t help but feel pleased that Ron vomited slugs over that trophy. Maybe next time he’ll think twice before hexing someone. Or not.
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no subject
Date: 2010-10-23 02:31 am (UTC)Neither boy put under any pressure or concern regarding losing their girl, who would always be there waiting for them.
Thanks for giving me another realization that the romances in this book are ForeverFail.
Then again, Rowling has that stupid *thing* about Noah's Arking, doesn't she?
My God, she does. Everyone marries people they went to school with, even Molly and Arthur who were apparently tromping around the school grounds together. Then there's Dumbledore who quote "lost his moral compass completely when he fell in love and I think subsequently became very mistrusting of his own judgment in those matters so became quite asexual".
Everyone has just one person, only one, and everyone else before them is just a stepping stone to get to the end (Lavender, Cho, Michael, that chucklehead Hermione went to the ball with, Dean). My God is that self-indulgent fanficcy juvenile horseplop if I ever heard it.
And hey, Jay-Kay- saying "he became quite asexual" in this context is basically the same as saying "She became quite heterosexual." You don't ... it's... it...
no subject
Date: 2010-10-23 02:59 am (UTC)It's all part of what I think of as Rowling's "cookie cutter simplicity" with her romantic models. Parcelled up with her 'tunnel vision' and the artificial nature of her plots as a whole, where many choices or alternatives were never addressed by the book or the characters because she, the author, simply never thought of them. Harry does *this*, the Trio does *that* ... just because. Roads not taken are simply not seen either.
Similarly, yes, the romances went the same way. Ron couldn't marry his sister, so he gets Hermione; so that means, in Rowling's simplistic jigsaw (everyone gets a partner), Harry gets Ginny. Harry never ever EVER is attracted to the girl who is, just like she is to Ron, his best friend ... just because. (Because that would be inconvenient to the author.) No, he's awarded Ginny. Nice and clean, no dramas, no issues. Ginny was always there for Harry since day #1. Likewise Hermione, if you're a R/Hr fan and accepted the 'anvils' (before or after being instructed by Rowling on how the books were supposed to be read). Ginny waits for Harry to deign to notice her; she 'never gave up' on him. Hermione waits for Ron to grow up; he notices the elves, she ticks that item off her list, hey, how about that, Ron's adult enough for me now, I AM HIS! (no reasons given.) As I said, both girls' romantic actions/stances are at right angles to the otherwise I AM AN INDEPENDENT AND LIBERATED WOMAN attitude that Rowling wanted us to see.
(Do you know JUST HOW DIFFICULT it is to type this comment with that animated GIF of that woman right above the text area?!?!!!! Arrrgh!!! *is mesmerised*)
no subject
Date: 2010-10-23 03:44 am (UTC)You paint a grim picture there, buddy, of Hermione just waiting, patietly in book 3, still waiting in book four, tapping her finger on the desk and leaning on it in book five, arms folded getting impatient and frowning in book six, then in book seven going "Alright, anything, anything! ... He left? Oh for Fuck's sake... what? He said elves? ... Is that it? You're not gonna... Oh, close enough. *leap*"
Do you know JUST HOW DIFFICULT it is to type this comment with that animated GIF of that woman right above the text area?!?!!!!
In other words... you can't?
At least I'm not the livejournal user "nappyxheadedxho". Her default icon...
You don't want to see it. Trust me.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-23 04:33 am (UTC)Ha ha ha. "He left?". Heh. :-)
Yes, it's a grim picture all right, but that's exactly what some/many of the R/Hr fans love about R/Hr; for them it really and truly is a case of "Ron and Hermione? Please. I saw it from book #1". Since Ron was the one who was actively so jealous (in R/Hr eyes this is 'enamoured') of her and her relationships with other boys from book #4 onwards their only recourse when it comes to what *Hermione* was thinking at the time was yes, sure, she's just waiting for him. Hermione was in a permanent holding pattern for her one true Rowling soulmate. Meanwhile Ginny was, likewise, helplessly written into a fixed orbit around her crush!hero; her dating other boys is admitted to be a mere front. Independent and liberated? When it comes to romance Rowling kept the girls firmly in the 19th century.
I recall one big OBHWF fan blissfully sighing over how she saw the R/Hr thing as a "Knight's journey"; I think that was the phrase. You know, how in fairy tales the knight had to perform various tasks to win his lady's hand? Well, Won Won had to grow up. :-) No, I think the fan pulled out various canon events which she used as parallels for Ron's 'tasks' - he helped save her from the troll, he defended her honour against Draco's verbal slight in CoS, uhm ...well, I'm sure the R/Hr fan could think of more. (It's a huge laugh to me sometimes just how desperate some fans are to glean hidden deep meaning from Rowling's superficial words; mainly in their theorising over DH.) But yes, I do believe it's much more obviously a case of Hermione just waiting for him to grow up a little. She had *some* minimal standards as to a mate, you know.
You don't want to see it. Trust me.
Damn you. Damn me. You knew very well I'd pop over and have a look! *gak*
no subject
Date: 2010-10-23 06:56 am (UTC)...
Did that dumb tw... did that dumbf--... did that R/Hr fan also realize that that was Courtly Love, which was specifically never to be acted on because it might have produced heirs and that would have been disaster? Did she realize that the knight's final task was to spend a night with his lady, both of them naked in bed, but him not touching her?
I'm going to smack everyone into tiny little pieces. Do her a favor and never even try to find that bullsh*t again, for I will rain down on her and... and... no. No more fights with RhR-ta--- with those people. Not for me. No.
One more thing about those knights- they had respect for their f**king ladies. Also, their ladies were usually already taken. So I don't know where her bullsh*t metaphor is going. Well, ok, I do know, and that's only because I've been trained to look for these things as a slasher, but just... ugh, it's the romanticizing of their bull relationship that...
I mean look, I'm a Ron/Draco shipper. I know what it's like to enjoy unrealistic relationships where it's all fights. But the fundamental difference between Ron/Draco shippers and RHR shippers (the thumpers, not the cool people like Heron Advocate) is that they don't like it in spite of the fighting. They use it as justification.
And then they turn around and laugh at Slashers for the same thing? And then they go make fun of HHR shippers for... I can't.
Oh, and wasn't Harry the one who suggested they look for Hermione? (I forget, was he?). And the defending her honor. He defended her honor about a word that she really didn't find that insulting and even in the last book didn't seem to be offended by. And Ron and kind of failed at it, too. Alright.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-23 08:05 am (UTC)And this 'Courtly Love' / heirs thing, and the 'no touching' night is news to me, so I guess I didn't read it in her musings on the subject, and so perhaps she didn't know about it either. (Or it came under the heading of blinkered "doesn't meet my rosy vision of R/Hr so I'll ignore it" aspects of the trope).
One more thing about those knights- they had respect for their f**king ladies.
Yeah. Ron's behaviour to Hermione most of the time was anything but respect or admiration for his Lady. But refer to 'blinkers', 'occluding negative aspects', above. :-)
But it may be that it was only proffered as a *partial* metaphor; I forget that exact detail of her post. If so then there'd be plenty of wriggling room; pick this part, drop that part, etc. SQUEE! Isn't R/Hr WONDERFUL!!
:-(
Oh, and wasn't Harry the one who suggested they look for Hermione? (I forget, was he?).
You bet he was! (I'd be drummed out of the H/Hr ranks if I didn't know that off by heart.)
no subject
Date: 2010-10-23 08:55 am (UTC)OBHWooFers do remind me of those people a lot... the American Family Association, the Focus on the Family. They all only care about two things- what they interpret in their big, long-winded books and Noah's Ark-ing. Along with that tripe comes rigid, sexist gender roles and license to act like they own the world and that thinking for yourself or liking what they don't like isn't ok. Seriously, they can't conceive, they literally do not have the capacity to imagine people not being interested in dating, marriage, spitting out babies, or fornicating any more than a bowl of oatmeal has the capacity to do long division. I'm not even exaggerating.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-23 06:35 pm (UTC)Plus the way it was presented; Ron was much more pushed out of shape by her just being her than Harry ever was, and Ron had the power to send Hermione off to weep in the loo all afternoon (Harry never did). Way too much of an action/reaction setup not to have some kind of payoff.
But, where pairing off Book 1 Ron and Hermione made a certain amount of sense, plotwise, by the middle of the series Rowling's characterizations had slipped badly enough that they were no longer a viable couple. Book 1 Ron, was really rather cool. But after six books of being hacked down to make Harry look better he is practically a dwarf, and Rowling got flattered into writing Hermione into a "heroine" -- to all appearances because the film studio wanted one. They no longer even fit into the same narative, let alone a relationship.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-23 09:59 pm (UTC)Oh, God, no, no, please don't...
"I bet that guy gets a lot of chain mail!"
Auuugh, you did it, damn you! Argh, that's awful!
See it coming? Yes. Does that mean it's a good idea?
no subject
Date: 2010-10-23 11:21 pm (UTC)By now, I am not even sure that that wasn't a complete fluke on Rowling's part, but, then, a *lot* of things balanced in the first books -- for all their bugs and glitches -- that simply haven't a prayer by the middle of GoF. Her writing really did get *worse* over the course of this series.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-23 11:30 pm (UTC)So far, I have been shown nothing to indicate they would have something to do if they were alone together for nine hours and Voldemort was dead.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-24 09:19 pm (UTC)It's like she sort of understood that people who eventually get married are supposed to enjoy each other's company sometimes and started trying to create a plausible set-up, but just couldn't keep up the illusion.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-25 12:40 am (UTC)But yeah, JKR sort of presents it as a fait accompli, these two are meant to be together, look at the way I compare her to Mrs Weasley, she and Ron are totally married, see the way they deal with Harry like parental figures! *sighs*
no subject
Date: 2010-10-25 07:19 am (UTC)I always wonder how the books would've gone if there wasn't a movie franchise happening while she wrote them. *sighs* She seems to have let all these outside influences affect the way she wrote her characters. >:[
I'm quite amazed when I think back to CoS and how Hermione got turned into a cat by accident- that would never have happened later in the series, Hermione is just so perfect and never gets punished for any wrongdoing.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-25 05:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-23 11:47 am (UTC)I didn't know about the Courtly Love thing until I took a course in King Arthur at college (at the age of 52, mind you.) That isn't something that's generally taught. It's for all those (we!) geeks who seek out deep courses in the subject.
Everybody else is subjected to the re-writes of Lancelot/Guenevere shippers who have taken over the whole Courtly Love motif and re-written it to a modern-day version of "happily ever after," where the deserving knight gets his lady-love in the end. They're a few centuries up on the Potterverse shippers.
And, speaking of the fan-base, have you read the Winter King?
no subject
Date: 2010-10-23 02:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-24 02:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-23 03:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-23 05:34 pm (UTC)Cho was emotional and obsessed over/over-thought situations, but she had curiosity and tried to do the right thing and stood up for herself and her friend, and was presumably intelligent. She was a Seeker, dammit! Yet all Cho gets in the end is Hermione's pity, Harry's revulsion, and Ginny's spunky jealousy... and she doesn't loathe them; she still wants to help. I just wonder who Rowling hated so much that she had to punish Cho. (Then the movies had to do one worse and have Cho be the informer on the DA, but at least that got rid of the tarred-and-feathered Marietta storyline).
Needless to say, I'm a big Cho fan.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-26 08:33 am (UTC)And there's Harry smirking at the girl who's still wearing the marks of Hermione's jinx. *shakes head* This is the boy whose power of love is so immense and awe-inspiring?