OOTP Chapter Thirty-Three: "Fight and Flight"

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

* A mercifully short chapter, this – only eleven pages long.

* Umbridge’s breathing is “ragged” now. Is this meant to be another example of Sadist!Umbridge? Like getting a thrill of pleasure at the prospect of using the weapon on the students?

* It “seemed incredible to Harry that twenty feet away there were people enjoying dinner, celebrating the end of exams, not a care in the world…” Meanwhile, it seems incredible to me that JKR has to keep resorting to this sort of contrast to emphasise Harry’s emotional state. Couldn’t she try something new once in a while?

* What’s with this emphasis on Umbridge struggling to keep up with Hermione? It’s been mentioned twice now on the first two pages (“Hermione marched purposefully across the grass – Umbridge jogging to keep up” and “She… plunged straight into the trees, moving at such a pace that Umbridge, with her shorter legs, had difficulty in keeping up”). Is it just meant to belittle Umbridge even more by making her seem physically weak and weedy, since constantly comparing her to a toad just isn’t enough?

* Umbridge isn’t doing a very good job controlling Harry and Hermione, is she? You’d have thought that as the person with the wand and no moral scruples about using it, she’d be able to force Hermione to slow down and tell her what exactly the weapon is.

* Also, how does the school make sure that no animals ever run out of the Forest and endanger pupils? There don’t seem to be any physical fences or other boundaries which could prove a hindrance, and we’re never told of any invisible magical field either. What if the Acromantulas (say) grow too numerous to support themselves off what they can catch in the Forest, and decide to spill over into the Hogwarts grounds?

* Maybe the plan is to just keep feeding them Hufflepuffs so that they’re too full to go after any of the more important students. That’s why the school authorities keep Hufflepuff as a sort of rag-bag House with no real distinguishing characteristics; it’s so that they know who can be sacrificed without real loss.

* In the finest tradition of HP villains, Umbridge suddenly has an attack of stupidity and angers the centaurs enough to make them all go after her.

* “Nooooo!” shouts Umbridge as the centaurs drag her off. Is it just me, or is that the sort of dialogue you’d expect in a comic book rather than a (supposedly grown-up) novel?

* Hermione’s worried lest Grawp kill the centaurs. Personally my money would be on the centaurs winning: they’re faster, more intelligent, more numerous, and their bows give them greater range.

* Now Harry’s started spitting at Hermione, who’s just saved Harry from being tortured and got rid of Umbridge for them. What a charming boy he is.

* Harry and Hermione’s friends appear, and say that Ginny was the best out of all of them at fighting off the Slytherins. As if we needed to be told.

* Ginny’s set her jaw “so that the resemblance to Fred and George was suddenly striking.” There is a striking resemblance, but probably not in the way JKR thinks.

* Ginny’s acting “coolly” again, a sure sign of danger.

* So Harry was all upset a few pages back because he and Hermione supposedly didn’t have enough time to go back to Hogwarts and retrieve their wands, but now they’ve got enough time to fly all the way to London? Seriously? Isn’t there a better plan they could think of? Like, I don’t know, going back and trying to convince Snape? Or using Umbridge’s fireplace to try and contact the Weasleys? Are they really stupid enough not to think of any alternatives? On second thoughts, don’t answer that last one.

Comments

[oneandthetruth.livejournal.com]

If I could just wave a magic wand and have all of my work done then I would probably be more competent, but I would probably also become incredibly lazy in a short period of time.

That reminds me of an old comic book I have. It's about these space travelers who go to a distant planet where only one person is left alive. The man explains he's the last survivor of a once-thriving civilization that created a fatally useful invention: a machine that allowed them to instantly bring into being anything they wanted. All they had to do was imagine it. When they got bored with whatever they'd imagined, it would disappear. With this invention, they no longer had to work, let alone struggle, so they had nothing to do but sit around and have fun. Eventually, even that became boring, so one by one, they all literally died of boredom. At the end of the story, the man tells the space visitors that they're also figments of his imagination, and he's become bored with them, too. They beg him not to wish them out of existence, but he does, and they disappear. That's the end of the story.

Not only is that story more interesting and imaginative than anything in the HP books--the proof being that I haven't read it in over 30 years, but I still remember it vividly--but it also explains why wizarding civilization is so backward: Their magic makes them lazy, so they have no reason to advance, either socially or technologically.

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's a really interesting idea. It would definitely explain why wizarding society never really made it past the Industrial Revolution. I mean, why innovate when you can get everything you want without having to work for it? As a side note, I wouldn't really consider what they do at Hogwarts as "working". I mean, it doesn't seem like waving a wand and memorizing words would be that hard. You would just have to have the right genetics. Eew.

[oneandthetruth.livejournal.com]

Well, sure. That's why they're so conceited about their innate superiority and contemptuous of non-magical society. After all, if they get along just fine without technology or social advancements, why would anyone else need them? They set the standard for human excellence, after all.

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

I'm just waiting for a few hundred years to pass and the muggles to invent some sort of technology that can nullify or reveal the effects of magic- or better yet, duplicate its effects. I doubt the wizards will be as haughty then.

As vague as JKR's explanations of how magic works are, I have a hard time believing that no muggle government has ever become suspicious of wizards and decided to keep tabs on them. I mean, it isn't like they do that great a job of hiding themselves when in public. They can't figure out how to dress themselves in a non-conspicuous manner and they talk about magic and such right out in the open. At the very least they would be seen as some sort of weird cult, and thus worth investigating. Couple this with the experience of all those prime ministers and surely they are bound to figure something out. The wizarding world (ironically) lacks imagination and creativity, but that's something that muggles have in spades.

Or maybe I just say this because I would find it really satisfying. ;-)

[sunnyskywalker]

So... the Muggles would be the villain in the Incredibles? That would be kind of neat!

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

Yes, but not necessarily villainous, you know. The WW is a pretty potent threat and they would be pretty justified in addressing it.

[sunnyskywalker]

Oh, I agree there's more than enough unprovoked attacks by wizards on Muggles to justify some self defense! But wizards would probably see it as some upstarts creating ridiculous mechanical substitutes to usurp wizarding powers and going on supervillanous rampages (and what's with that concept in The Incredibles, anyway? why wouldn't he go rescue people from mines or other jobs superheroes used to do to put himself forward as a substitute? it's not like you need to rampage around a city to create a disaster, after all!).

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

You know, I kind of wondered about that too. I mean, he essentially was kind of a Batman (as far as the gadgets go) when all the other heroes were like that from birth. The Incredibles has kind of a weird message if one thinks about it- "if you weren't born with cool abilities, then you shouldn't try to improve your lot or it will make you evil." Huh? Wasn't that the movie that had the line "if everyone is special then no one will be"?

[sunnyskywalker]

And they even threw in that Mr. Incredible was kind of a jerk to the kid at the beginning, which... was retroactively justified? Huh? And the whole scandal thing at the beginning had a point about superheroes causing a lot of destruction, and it was never resolved whether they could superhero (...it's a verb now...) less destructively. And since there don't appear to have been any supervillains either until poor gadget kid grew up, you have to wonder what the implications of that are. (Supervillains' kryptonite is lawsuits, maybe?)

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

You know, Mr. Incredible's attitude was what made me much more sympathetic towards Incrediboy/Syndrome. I mean, if he had explained that he didn't want to involve a minor like him because it was too dangerous and he would feel terrible if something happened, that would be one thing. Instead, he rather rudely told the kid that he "works alone". I actually had a lot more sympathy for Syndrome than I think I probably was supposed to- while his actions were still wrong, I can definitely see why he ended up that way.

And I think that I may have just summed up why I dislike Harry Potter and a lot of other fantasy/superhero stories I have been exposed to. It's always about the special people, and what's annoying is that it's pretty rare that they actually had to work at becoming special. Studying hard and dedicating a good portion of one's life to becoming a good mage or hero is one thing, but when they are just born with it I already start losing sympathy for them. "Aww, poor baby! You can't help the fact that you are genetically better than everybody else! Let me weep single tears for your super-special and tragic life!" Oh wait- I'm just a gross average person, so I'm sure they wouldn't want my sympathy anyways.

Good to see that modern eugenics are alive and well. *barf*

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

"You know, Mr. Incredible's attitude was what made me much more sympathetic towards Incrediboy/Syndrome. I mean, if he had explained that he didn't want to involve a minor like him because it was too dangerous and he would feel terrible if something happened, that would be one thing. Instead, he rather rudely told the kid that he "works alone". I actually had a lot more sympathy for Syndrome than I think I probably was supposed to- while his actions were still wrong, I can definitely see why he ended up that way."

I'd always assumed that that was sort of the point, that Mr. Incredible had helped to create Syndrome through his own arrogance and rudeness.

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

That's true, though I always thought that he kind of got off the hook for it in the end. Eh, I might be wrong.

[oneandthetruth.livejournal.com]

And I think that I may have just summed up why I dislike Harry Potter and a lot of other fantasy/superhero stories I have been exposed to. It's always about the special people, and what's annoying is that it's pretty rare that they actually had to work at becoming special. Studying hard and dedicating a good portion of one's life to becoming a good mage or hero is one thing, but when they are just born with it I already start losing sympathy for them. "Aww, poor baby! You can't help the fact that you are genetically better than everybody else! Let me weep single tears for your super-special and tragic life!" Oh wait- I'm just a gross average person, so I'm sure they wouldn't want my sympathy anyways.

Good to see that modern eugenics are alive and well. *barf*

It doesn't have to be handled that way, though. I'm reading the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, and in those books, being a demigod or demigoddess is actually a liability because some angry or jealous god or goddess is always siccing monsters on you, trying to get you killed. Normal people, or Mortals, in those books aren't regarded as inferior, just different, and even luckier than the demis because they don't have to deal with monsters and prophecies. There's something called the Mist, which is like Obliviation, that keeps Mortals from seeing the truth about gods and monsters, but it's far less toxic than Obliviation because it just causes temporary confusion and forgetfulness. Some Mortals can see through the Mist, which can make them very useful to the superpeople.

Regarding series that don't feature innately superior characters, in Warriors, any cat can be a great leader or healer. They just have to be willing to work hard, be responsible, follow the rules, treat others with respect, and be the best cat they can be. It's a very democratic series, which I think is probably why it's my favorite.

In the Series of Unfortunate Events, although it's clear to the reader that Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Beaudelaire are extraordinary children, their genius is presented matter-of-factly in the narration. And they always succeed by pooling their talents, working together, and doing what's right.

I think the difference between these three series and the ones you dislike is that Percy Jackson, Warriors, and SUE are all written by mature adults with good values who want to present healthy role models to their readers. HP and the other "special people" stories are wish-fulfillment fantasies written by immature adults who have never gotten over their childish desires to have everyone adore them and every good thing in life drop into their laps by magic just because their Oh-So-Specialness makes them deserve to have the entire universe bend itself to their wills.

These are yet more reasons why people like Snape so much. He's one of the "special people," but he's not treated like one. And his particular talent, Potions, required years of hard work and study to master. So he's kind of a stealth "normal person" among the "special ones."

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

You know, I think that you are right. Mary Sues and wish fulfillment fantasies are pretty common among younger writers (and believe me, I thought up some pretty horrendous ones when I was a teenager), but it takes maturity to realize that characters who are not idolized for passive accomplishments (the Boy Who Lived, anyone?) are much easier to relate to and ultimately make for a more satisfying story. I have to say that while I am not that great of a writer, at least I can write characters who don't get everything handed to them on a silver platter.

Good point with Snape, too. Potions seems to be one of the only things taught at Hogwarts that doesn't involve wand waving and rote memorization. I can respect him for mastering it.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Well, Herbology takes work too, but doesn't even have the mystique of Potions (or so it seems, maybe Herbology would have been more intriguing if it had been taught by Severus). And of course it is associated with Hufflepuffs and Neville, who cares about them?

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

Augh, I always forget about Herbology, which is weird because I remember that it was the Hogwarts subject I thought was the most interesting when I was a kid.

[oneandthetruth.livejournal.com]

Potions seems to be one of the only things taught at Hogwarts that doesn't involve wand waving and rote memorization. I can respect him for mastering it.

Don't you mean foolish wand waving? Bwahahahaha!

[oryx_leucoryx]

I only watched a Percy Jackson movie, haven't read the book. My impression was that 'Muggles' are treated as collateral damage or hostages to be held at ransom in the gods' internal bickering. I couldn't care less who had Zeus' lightning, nor did I get the feeling Percy went after it because he cared about the fate of humanity rather than the danger to himself and his mother. (And the way he arranged his step-father's death is worthy of Hermione. Was that in the book?)

[oneandthetruth.livejournal.com]

Wow, they must have really corrupted that book in the translation! That bigotry towards Mortals does not exist in the books, as I stated above. Percy went after the lightning for a variety of reasons, but one of the major ones was that he was trying to prevent a war among the gods that would wreak havoc on Earth. And he did not, repeat, NOT kill his stepfather! He thought about it. He seriously considered it, in fact, in large part because step-dad was beating Percy's mother. But he ultimately decided not to do it, even though that's what traditional Greek heroes would have done, because he didn't want to be a murderer. I wish I could remember what it said in the book because it was put really well. He also decided his mother was an adult, so it was up to her to deal with her abusive husband. It wasn't Percy's place to treat her like a helpless damsel and rescue her. After Percy went back to Camp Half-Blood, his mother received a lot of money for her "amazingly realistic statue" of a man playing cards. She used the money to go back to school.

There's also a great scene near the end of the book where Percy meets his father, Poseidon, who tells Percy that, even though he's a great kid, Poseidon wishes he'd never been born because "a hero's life is never anything but tragic." That's a message you don't see in conventional fantasies that deserves a book all its own.

GDMFING HARRY POTTER!!! I know damned well this corrupt morality was lifted from that series to make the PJ movie more "marketable" (i.e., similar to HP) because everything you've written is CONTRARY to the morality of the books! It's bad enough HP has to corrupt the people who read it. Now it's corrupting movies made from better book series as well. THIS SUCKS!