Another influence on Rowling?

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

A friend just loaned me her copies of Jeeves and Wooster, and my sister and I watched this one last week. We couldn't stop laughing! But - note the symbol in the background? WHY is Harry wandering around with the symbol of the English fascists on his forehead? It really doesn't make sense to me.

Comments

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

It's worth approaching this from another direction. JKR wanted the scar to be in the shape of *something*, clearly. She also presumably wanted it to not be too *obvious* that it was in the shape of something, because she didn't want Muggle characters, or Harry (pre-Hogwarts letter), to think that someone deliberately carved a shape into a baby's/small child's forehead. It had to be something irregular, and not a closed shape.

That doesn't leave her with much, especially since a cross (wince!) or even an X of any kind would be far too loaded. A lightning bolt was probably the best choice.

I will certainly admit that that symbol in the background of the clip you posted does match the specific lightning-bolt shape that we see in the movies, but keep in mind that "lightning bolt" shapes can vary, and that JKR probably wasn't the one to determine the exact shape of the scar in the movies. The symbol doesn't look as much like, for instance, the scar in the picture on the cover of the first book, or the *different* scar on Baby Harry's forehead in the art beginning the first chapter of that book.

So... I tend to doubt that it's anything more than a coincidence that a lightning bolt is the symbol of any political anything. Lightning has a lot of associations.

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

JKR still had a limited set of shapes to choose from, if she wanted the scar to be a meaningful shape. I'm not saying that she didn't know about that meaning, but regardless, that doesn't mean that that's the meaning she intended in this case. Lightning also is associated with strong supernatural power.

Please read my point about "identical," above, if by "identical" you mean anything more than "it's a lightning bolt."

Other than that, I don't plan to debate this.

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Well, I've been asking people this same question for years.

So you have! And, though we don't agree about everything, now that I've seen this clip, I totally agree with you about this. It is just deeply weird that little kids have come to think this symbol is cool. But they have. I know - I've heard them. Heck, I've even handed out stickers at library parties! And the children were happy to get them. Had I known what that mark was a symbol of, I certainly wouldn't have wanted to give it to innocent little children as a prize at a party.

As to the reasoning behind it, as with Harry's awful behavior in the last two books, I'm sure Rowling expects readers to see it as a symbol of Voldemort, not as something intrinsic to Harry. But that reasoning doesn't work for me. It might, of course, for some readers.

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Um - Lynn, I gather you don't agree. But, in addition to what Marionros said about the Mitfords, there is this: I do think Rowling was consulted about the movies. She didn't write the scripts; she didn't do the casting or directing, but, if they'd gotten something very wrong, I think she would have told them. All through all the movies, Harry has exactly that lightning bolt on his head.

Also, I don't really see why the scar had to have a significant shape. It was significant in itself, and could just have been a straight line, or an arc. You can't get more open than that if an open shape was needed, and it looks much more random and accidental than a lightning bolt. But Rowling chose a lightning bolt.

Whatever she intended; whatever her reasoning, the net effect is that lots of little kids think that the symbol of the British fascists is cool. They don't think Voldemort when they see that shape. They think Harry, the boy who lived.

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

An addenda: There is just no doubt anymore in my mind that Wodehouse was one of the many authors who influenced Rowling. We were watching again last night, and the awful twin cousins, Eustace and Claude, came on the screen. There's one scene in which the teenage boys disguise themselves with big beards. At once we exclaimed, "Fred and George!"

Not that there's anything wrong with a writer having influences, of course! But you should examine and acknowledge them.