TV Tropes fanbrats on Bellatrix: A Parody of a Rant

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

So… as I believe I have lovingly demonstrated, occasionally I’ll come across something on TV Tropes pertaining to Harry Potter that makes me want to kick babies. Case in point: I was reading reviews of a My Little Pony dark fic entitled “Cupcakes” when there was one author who threw in a casual mention about how Bellatrix was ultimate evil, and not worthy of any sort of Freudian excuse. So, to ease my troubled mind, I made this parody of their opinion of Bellatrix (for example). The rant below is technically taken from a series of rants by a fanfic author about characters who figure in her stories, but I’ve adapted it for my own purposes:
 
I truly hate this woman because...well, there's absolutely, positively nothing to like about her! She has no redeeming qualities, whatsoever!
First off, she tortures [Hermione]! Need I say more?! How can any [HP] fan like this psychopathic bitch or think she's just misunderstood?! There's nothing TO understand about her -- she's just an evil lunatic! \_/
There's absolutely NOTHING that can possibly be said to defend [Bitchytrix’s]* rotten behavior or explain why she's so detestable! I know a lot of people theorize that she was abused as a child or that somebody who was really close to her died and she just doesn't know how to express herself, but you know what? Those theories are pure speculation! There's NO evidence to back them up, which technically renders them invalid! (At least [Dudley], [James], and the like have actual proof, no matter how subtle or obscure, so that a case can be made in their favor, but with [Bellatrix] it's all "maybes" and "what ifs," and that just doesn't fly!) Besides, even if [Bellatrix] really is from an abusive family or if somebody close to her died, it DOESN'T excuse her from being so mean to [Harry, Ron, and Hermione]! Uh, [Harry] came from an abusive family, [his parents] died when [he] was a little [boy], and [he] was abandoned and tortured by [Muggles] for most of his life, but do you see [HIM] out [killing] and torturing people?! I don't think so – [Harry is] the sweetest, most loving character [in the book], despite all of the hardships [he’s] been through! This chick has serious problems! O_o
So once again, nuff said. [Bellatrix] isn't misunderstood at all -- some people are just evil, and she's one of them. She's a self-centered, psychotic bitch. Period. Paragraph. End of story.
Okay, I'm pretty much done playing lawyer for now. So to recap, [Harry, Ron, Hermione, and James Potter] = good. [Voldemort, Snape, and Bellatrix] = bad.
 
*XD

Comments

[oryx_leucoryx]

In real life real people have real motives for what they do, whether good or bad. Even those who end up doing pure evil stuff. They end up doing their evil deeds, but they got that way somehow. Some of it may have been some congenital aspects of their personality, some of it the result of how they were cared for in their early years, some of it the result of their interactions with peers, some of it may have been the result of cultural influences - and the interaction of all these and many other factors. Somehow everything got together with the end result of a person for whom harming others horribly makes more sense than other actions.

Understanding how these things come to be has nothing to do with excusing those horrible actions. Such understanding is an essential step towards preventing or stopping other people from following a similar path. Refusing to look for explanations by slapping the 'evil' tag on these people and looking no further is not helpful in this regard. It also prevents one from seeing the continuity between people who are still within the norms of society and the 'evil' ones.

In literature we don't always get a full explanation of how a character ended up where it was when we met it, but if the story is to be read in any way realistically one must assume that path was there in the background. Readers who want a story that is realistic psychologically will fill in missing backstory. It's just making sense.

As for Bellatrix herself, following Terri's last essay I wonder if a young Bellatrix who was as idealistic and self-righteous as Hermione works as a backstory. I doubt Rowling intended it that way. I doubt she thought it out. On first read she reminded me of the women who participated in terrorist cells that committed the aircraft hijackings in the 1970s. Passengers often reported the one woman among the terrorists was the worse of them. And I'm sure those women (like their male comrades) had reasons for their actions and followed some kind of developmental path that brought them where they ended up.

[static-pixie.livejournal.com]

It may have been intentional. Rowling might not put it out there but Bellatrix wasn't the only person in the series to scar a word into a child's skin.

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

That may be true. Unfortunately, she didn't really explore this possibility further, which...sucks. :/

[oryx_leucoryx]

Actually in canon (books) those are Hermione and Dolores, not Bellatrix. Bella 'just' used the Cruciatus. And Rowling chickened out of the Hermione/Dolores comparison by changing Hermione's middle name between interview and DH.

Even Obi-Wan thinks Rowling's Doing It Wrong.

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Rowling, seriously -- if you didn't want the Umbridge comparisons, why'd you just change her middle name at the *last minute*?! If you wanted, by any weird chance of pigs sprouting wings, to explore the Hermione/Umbridge comparisons, at least do it properly. Go into Umbridge's backstory and why she behaves the way she does (but don't go on full on apologist for it, but don't be too unsympathetic either. Be balanced, at least), go into Hermione's backstory and character a little more, and show how they took different routes: Hermione fighting for the side of Good (in the loosest sense of the term, but that's not the point), and Umbridge, while not a Death Eater herself, ultimately choosing to assist Voldemort in his reign of terror. * And if not...well, that sucks, but your choice. Just don't retcon her middle name to "Jean" -- at least make it "Jean" from the beginning. In fact...why would Rowling be so disturbed that Umbridge and Hermione share a middle name? (I...okay, there's the mirrors part, but still...)

(Ditto for Bellatrix. Although carving "Mudblood" on Hermione's arm was only in the movies)



* And another thing: doesn't that bit in DEATHLY HALLOWS defeat the purpose of "The world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters", or am I overanalyzing?

Re: Even Obi-Wan thinks Rowling's Doing It Wrong.

[sunnyskywalker]

This is were coming down on the side of "Dumbledore isn't such a good person actually and he's an enemy of the DEs" would really have helped that message she set up. Instead we get Scrimgeour being moderately questionable and then dying while protecting people/information from the DEs, which isn't much.