(no subject)

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Am I the only one a little bothered by Dumbledore? Not only with the fact he could end up in the Guinness Book Of World Records for "Most Incompetent Headmaster of All Time" (though I'm sure there's worse. :P), but also because...he just bugs me. I know JKR was trying to write him as the "flawed Yoda", so to speak (and to be fair, he's nowhere near Yoda. XD), but it's also how...preachy he gets. Towards Fudge, for example. You know, in Goblet of Fire, with, "You place too much importance on purity of blood, yadda yadda et cetera et cetera" -- which considering how he treated Tom Riddle and the Slytherins is...slightly hypocritical isn't it? Probably bad writing on JKR's part, though. :/

Anyways, sorry 'bout the rambling. Thoughts?

Comments

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

Really? Wow... I thought she was above plagiarism...

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Um - really? I would like to point you to my (alas, terribly long!) essay, "The Mores of the 19th century". Before I wrote it, someone else had pointed out how very much Harry was like Oliver Twist. And others have pointed out the strong similarities between the Potter books and The Worst Witch, and also Eva Ibbotson's work and Neil Gaiman's.

You're joking, right?

Not that any of the above is deliberate plagiarism. But she had lots of influences and flung them together, IMHO, in a rather haphazard way-

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Permission to have a link to your essay? It sounds interesting. :)

Rowling and the Mores of the 19th century-

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

You certainly can! Here is the link (sorry I haven't yet figured out how to prettify links):
http://mary-j-59.livejournal.com/28732.html#cutid1

Re: Rowling and the Mores of the 19th century-

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Will read. :)

Re: Rowling and the Mores of the 19th century-

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

What a fascinating essay! Makes a lot of sense too.

Re: Rowling and the Mores of the 19th century-

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Glad you liked it.

Re: Rowling and the Mores of the 19th century-

[sunnyskywalker]

Very interesting! I've also had the thought that "Salazar" is originally a Basque name - so if Salazar or his family had recently (within a few decades, say) immigrated from Spain to England around a thousand years ago, they very well might have been coming from a Muslim-dominated area (unless they were waaaay in the north). So, even if in actuality they were Christians, there would be the "possibly heretics" taint about them as well as the "foreigners" one. Evil house indeed!

Also, here is the FAQ on link formatting.

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

Except Oliver Twist was actually likable and didn't get handed stuff just because he was special. (I choose to ignore the tacked on ending explaining Oliver's true birth because it cheapens the story, I think.)

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

*This*, just this! :D

Glad you brought it up, BTW. Charles Dickens is the man. :3

[oneandthetruth.livejournal.com]

Rowling also blatantly copied Snape off Sherlock Holmes. Almost a year ago on Snapedom, I came up with a list of literally dozens of ways the two are alike, and I didn't even mention all of them. In the interest of saving space, I only hit the highlights. I've included the link if you want to read what I said. Just scroll down to the end of the main essay I'm replying to to see my remarks. http://asylums.insanejournal.com/snapedom/262649.html?thread=2076665#t2076665

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

Wow, I never would have caught that! How interesting!

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Didn't really think of that one, really. ;-)

Speaking of which, anyone want to compare Dumbledore to Citizen Kane? *Runs*